The End of Summer

August has been full of lots of fun as summer started to wind down.

We've made several stops at the library this summer. The kids loved doing the summer reading program.

Legos, legos, legos. All summer. The most common phrase in our house this summer has been, "Mommy, can you help me find a piece?"

I got to spend a special day with my almost Pre-K boy, and I soaked it up. We went to Hobby Lobby and picked out a car that he got to assemble and paint.

He did a great job and was so proud of it!

And we built with Duplos of course.

We also went to lunch. It was a great day.

We spent a great evening with friends too soaking up the summer nights.

The kids got to ride in the back of the truck to the pool. They were thrilled!

Brooke and I let the dads take over pool duty and we sat in lawn chairs and visited. We laughed that it was almost like we were on a cruise again. almost.

Then we came back and rode bikes and ate dessert.

It's SO hard to separate the kids when it's time to leave. They have so much fun together. It was the perfect summer night. We love our friends!

Nathan participated in a music camp at our church the first week of August. He went every morning for a week and then had a big performance Sunday night. He loved it so much, and I was so impressed with their singing. He's already ready for next year.

He was especially impressed with the root beer floats after the performance, ha!

I love this sweet note from my boy. I feel the same way, Buddy!

Sister has been working very hard on learning to obey the first time. She finally earned enough beads for obeying the first time that she got her surprise. She was proud!

We squeezed in some end of summer play dates with our favorite friends.

The morning the kids and I visited Emma and Grant (and Baby Luke), Brett was home and offered to take all five kids to the park/splash pad while Michelle and I stayed back in the air conditioning. We were so thankful. The kids had a blast with their best friends, and Michelle and I got to sit and visit uninterrupted for a couple of hours. So fun! And Brett even sent pictures to us.

Samuel and Elisabeth started gymnastics again. They get to be in the same class this year, which is super convenient.

And I get some one on one time with this kid while they're in their class. We played Go Fish and read books.

The end of summer will always mean celebrating a birthday girl in our family. She was so excited to be THREE!

We had church plans the night of her birthday, so we celebrated with a lunch at Chick Fil A.

And we had her favorite dinner, of course. We had spaghetti and meatballs and popsicles for dessert.

She loved being the center of attention all day and getting special treatment (no chores, always getting to choose what we did for the day). She had a rude awakening the next morning when it wasn't her birthday anymore. There were tears, ha!

This boy graduated out of the preschool ministry at our church this month. This was his last Sunday downstairs. He's pumped. I'm a little weepy but excited for all he'll learn in the Kids Ministry.

We had a few more jammy days to close out summer. These three had so many great moments of playing together this summer.

Nathan had his first official sleepover with Wyatt right before school started. They were so excited and felt so big! They had the best night. I heard giggling way past their bedtime.

We can't wait to do it again (and the Little Brothers are set on joining in this time too!)

 This girl always wants to put on a show!



Elisabeth gets to do ballet again this Fall and she is thrilled to have one of her favorite friends in her class. She told me, "I had so much fun with Audrey in my ballet class." She shines in ballet. I love it!

We had an awesome summer. I'm sad it's over, but we have a pretty exciting Fall to look forward to :)