The second part of June looked a lot like the first part. Samuel is always building/making/creating something. I love his little brain and the things he's able to do.
We had a fun play date with Grace, Bennett and Brett. They are moving in July, and we're all sad about it. They are such good friends to our boys and Grace is always the sweetest to play with Elisabeth even with a six year age difference.
We had another great day with them at the pool the following week. We had to drag them out of the pool after three hours, they were having so much fun playing together. They are the first good friends of our kids to move away. Maybe we can plan a beach trip to Georgia sometime.
We spent one morning in June at the dentist. With four kids, it felt like we were there all day, ha! This was Katherine's first real visit. She went right before she turned two, but didn't do much except sit in the chair. She did so great! I could tell she was nervous the whole time talking about not wanting to sit in the chair, asking all sorts of questions, saying she wanted everyone else to go first, but then when it was her turn she hopped up in the chair and sat still the whole time. Everyone was laughing at her because she NEVER stops talking! She has such an animated, bright personality. She's a gift to everyone she spends time with.
We spent another morning at the pool with Levi, Audrey and Brynn. Katherine had to have a snack before they even arrived, ha!
The girls loved playing with Brynn in the pool.
And these girls were telling each other secrets over lunch.
Elisabeth has been asking to help me cook/bake a lot these days. She helped me back chocolate chip cookies for Fathers' Day. She was proud of herself for getting to do most of it without my help. She can't wait for the day when she can cook all by herself.
Katherine had to take both her babies to church. She looks so grown up in this picture.
We're getting used to our ne normal on Sunday mornings at church. The kids are doing really great sitting in the adult service.
On nights when we don't go to the pool, we usually walk/bike to our neighborhood pond. Katherine's little legs move so fast on her bike, but I think her mouth might move just as fast!
We had a girls day/boys day with the Dalmans. I brought Emma home with me and the boys stayed at Michelle's house with Grant.
Elisabeth wanted to bake a cake with Emma, so we did that first.
Licking the bowl was their favorite part :)
They also spent time painting their nails and doing makeup.
Meanwhile the boys swam and watched a movie.
After lunch, the girls and I went to the pool.
Emma was sweet to play with Katherine. I always enjoy spending time with her because I feel like I get a glimpse into my future with what my girls will be like in a few years. I hope they are as sweet as she is.
We came back and decorated the cake and even shared some with the boys when they got home.
Another day of cooking in the kitchen with my girl. She was excited when her chore for the day said to make pancakes for breakfast.
Super Katherine is just too cute!
Summer days wear this girl out. She's still a great napper, even though she's inching closer and closer to being three (when the boys stopped napping).
Samuel lost a top tooth this month. It had been wiggly for weeks, and he finally pulled it out!
At the end of June, Mindy, Erica, and I had our 4th annual girls' weekend. We had a fabulous time eating, shopping, getting pedicures, visiting, and playing games. We had some crazy hotel drama but it didn't damper our time together a bit. I so enjoyed every minute with these ladies. I cherish their friendship so much. We already have next year's weekend scheduled!
It's a sign of a great friendship when we showed up for dinner on Friday night matching. We've been friends for a decade now, and I'm looking forward to decades more with them.
Our June looked different than previous summers because of the Coronavirus. We had a lot of things canceled- two weeks of VBS, two weeks of swim lessons, and a girls date to see Frozen the Musical. It was a sad day when I went through and deleted everything off of my calendar. We are certainly missing our summer traditions and activities, BUT after 6-8 weeks of extreme social distancing, June also brought back play dates, nights with friends, pool days and a somewhat sense of normalcy. We've had a slower pace this summer, and we've been so very grateful for face to face time with friends and some summer fun.
After cancellation after cancellation in June, the one piece of wonderful news was that our neighborhood pool opened as scheduled. We have been swimming multiple times a week so far and the kids are great swimmers and independent in the water which has made our pool days much more relaxing for me.
Nathan has been enjoying sleepovers with Wyatt this summer. They've taken turns sleeping over at each other's houses and always get along so well when they're together. They're always asking to play Roblox on their computers/tablets, but when it's not screen time, they're good at being creative and finding ways to entertain themselves- while still talking about Roblox, ha!
We so missed going to Weatherford for Bible school this year. It's probably been the biggest disappointment through all of this. I'm really missing my grandparents, and the kids were very sad to be missing all the traditions of that week. We did have to make Granny's famous S'mores snack to help us feel a little better.
We have all missed our friends through the quarantine, so we've had lots of playdates to make up for lost time. Ainsley is always one of Elisabeth's favorite friends to play with. They have a lot of fun when they're together. During the first part of June we also had play dates with Emma and Grant, Emmalynn, and Caleb and Asher- I just forgot to take any pictures of those.
I had signed Samuel up for a Spring soccer class, and finally in June he got to go! He's improved a lot this year, and I enjoy getting to watch him. He's scored some goals and is much more focused on the ball and staying with it.
At the end of school, I had bought a science/detective kit. We solved one of the mysteries on our last day of homeschool and finally got around to solving the second mystery during summer break.
Pool days are our favorite days, especially on the weekends.
We have the best Daddy in the world especially at the pool
We also got to go back to church this month. There are no children's activities, so we go to big church as a family. It's not ideal with little kids, but it is special to be worshipping all together as a family.
Samuel pulled out the perler beads and made an awesome ice cream sundae. He spent many hours working on it.
I took the kids strawberry picking one morning, and we had a great time. It was beautiful weather, and all the kids had fun picking fruit. Katherine watched the Daniel Tiger episode about picking strawberries before we went, so we all talked about how we were at the Enchanted Garden picking strawberries.
We made homemade strawberry ice cream with some of our strawberries and enjoyed snacking on the rest.
The girls and I had a random girls night while Nathan was at Wyatt's house and Matt was at soccer with Samuel. I took them out to dinner since it was just the girls. Elisabeth always talks about how much she likes our girl time. I love it too!
We had the Dalmans over for dinner and swimming. We always have such a fun time with their family. The girls did each other's makeup before we went to the pool.
I love all the sweet friendships between these kiddos.
Elisabeth likes to wear my jewelry to church. She also put makeup on and asked me to take a picture.
We bring out a full arsenal to keep this girl entertained at church. These toys last about 3 minutes before she's asking for something else.
During our extra free time this summer, Nathan rebuilt one of his old Knex sets. He's rebuilt it again into a different ride since then too.
Samuel has also been building with Knex sets. Boredom breeds creativity, right?!?
I love watching Katherine play. She loves dolls/babies/calico critters. She also plays so much more independently than her older sister. She's at the most fun age right now. I love her little voice, the way she talks and watching her mind at work while she plays.
