We closed out the summer with some special things.
Elisabeth invited Kaydence for a birthday sleepover, and Brooke was kind to keep my boys for the night too. These two look hard at work. Roblox is a tough job.
We reunited all the kids on Saturday evening and planned to get takeout at our house, but then we had the brilliant idea to feed the kids leftover pizza and go out on a double date. Seriously, brilliant! We went out to dinner without the kids, and then of course ended up at Lowes, because it's not a double date without a trip to Lowes.
We even stopped for dessert before going home. Parenting big kids is pretty awesome sometimes!
Sweet Katherine graduated from the preschool area of our church in August. I insisted on a picture of her last day in preschool.
It was the most bittersweet moment. For all the years we've been attending FBCBA, we've had at least one (usually two or three) kids in preschool, and on that Sunday, we closed the door. I was more emotional than I thought I'd be. It marked the close of a sweet season of parenting.
These two were engaged in some silly game. Love that Nathan will still be childish with his sister.
They really do love each other.
We spent a long weekend in Iowa visiting the Flamings.
These girls were happy to be reunited.
The girl cousins put on a concert for us.
We spent all weekend hanging out. We never even left the house. I don't think anyone was sad about it.
The kids all played well together.
The adults spent all weekend doing this- lots of board games. We played several rounds of Terraforming Mars, Brass Birmingham, and the Castles of Mad King Van Ludwig.
The Flamings are some of our favorite people to play board games with.
Amelia played her harp for us. She plays so beautifully
The kids were worn out from late nights. They're so sweet when they're sleeping.
Samuel always loves visiting Pearl.
We were sad to say goodbye Monday morning but already have a place booked to meet in Kansas City in a couple of months.
We spent a lot of August watching the Olympics. The kids were inspired to compete in their own swimming races.
Despite busy schedules, we managed to squeeze in an end of summer playdate with the Dalmans. The kids love it when they get together. And they always continue the Best Day Ever cheer.
Our homeschool group hosted a kick off popsicles in the park event. The girls were thrilled and ate way too many popsicles. They'd missed their friends over the summer.
Continuing with the Olympic theme, the kids hosted a neighborhood gymnastics competition.
They even had their own medal ceremony. So cute!
This girl rarely plays with dolls, so when she does, I want to remember it. She's looking so grown up lately.
Papa was very generous and gifted Elisabeth a basketball goal for her birthday. It took a bit to get it assembled, but it was worth the wait. She's excited to play in a new basketball league this winter.
Elisabeth turned 10 on August ninth, and she was ready to celebrate!
She asked to have five girls over to our house for an afternoon/evening. She planned some games to play with the goal of spending quality time with her closest friends.
Elisabeth has such sweet friends. She (and I) are grateful for each of them.
They played a few board games, and also just paired off into some imaginary play too.
Elisabeth asked for Momoo's famous chocolate sheet cake for her birthday cake after pizza.
To end the night, the kids all played outside. Elisabeth was insistent that they play Ghosts in the Graveyard. She even asked to have her party go later into the evening, so it would at least start to get dark before it ended.
They also played Missionary Tag.
It was a special night for my girl!
The next night, she continued celebrating with her friend Kaydence. She asked to celebrate separately with Kaydence to get some quality time with her.
Friday night she asked for Cane's for dinner and then off to bowling.
Kaydence spent the night, and the next morning, I took them out for a smoothie treat.
We joined back up with the rest of our families that evening for dinner. So fun!
The celebrations weren't over yet. The day before her birthday, we had our family celebration. On her birthday, she got to pick the meals for the day.
For lunch, she asked for nachos.
And we all went to Freddys for dinner.
Papa Joe brought her a Nothing Bundt Cake, and she ate it for breakfast on the morning of her birthday.
Right after breakfast, we hit the road to drive to Iowa, so she could celebrate with her cousins. What a special birthday! When we were scheduling our weekend visit for the summer, Elisabeth was adamant that she wanted to spend her birthday with her cousins.
Amelia's birthday is only a few days before Elisabeth's so we had a joint celebration. Auntie Anna was so kind to make two birthday cakes for each of the girls.
Despite busy schedules, we managed to squeeze in an end of summer playdate with the Dalmans. The kids love it when they get together. And they always continue the Best Day Ever cheer. 
They even had their own medal ceremony. So cute!
This girl rarely plays with dolls, so when she does, I want to remember it. She's looking so grown up lately. 
Papa was very generous and gifted Elisabeth a basketball goal for her birthday. It took a bit to get it assembled, but it was worth the wait. She's excited to play in a new basketball league this winter. 
