Our summer recap

Summer is an interesting mix of a lot of nothing and a lot of everything. Incredible growth tangled with a holding onto what we’ve always known.

I thought it would be fun to share with you a little of what the last 3 months have looked like for us. Almost zero writing for me, but a whole lot of living it up with these boys.

Our summer was a lot of reading. Lots and lots and lots of reading.

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Zachary saved up and bought himself a camera. He is officially the family photographer. Yay for one more thing I can strike off my list! He and Jacob mastered the selfie this summer. Cute aren’t they?

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Andrew learned to ride his bike. So, so wonderful. Family bike rides have forever changed. Love big kids!

 

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My boys plotted in secret and pitched a plan to me to have an ‘all kids day’. A day where there are no rules except kids rule. Anything they want, all day long. They wanted a day of no chores, no one telling them what to do or what to eat or not eat. The biggest surprise came when I said yes.

There was excessive tv watching in a home where 30 minutes a day is granted during the summer. All the junk food they could find was consumed. It was everything they hoped it would be. And I survived.

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Zachary learned to cook this summer and became a fantastic breakfast man. He’s mastered pancakes, eggs, and french toast. On this particular day, he woke on his own before anyone other than me was up and got to mixing and baking. His first homemade waffles.

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We went tent camping for the first time not in our backyard. Super fun!

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Macy our girl Schnoodle is nearing 3 years old. Bristol is now 8 months old. I never thought we would be a two dog family, but now we can’t imagine life without these little guys.

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We went to Seabrook Island for the 2nd year in a row. Steve and I realized we are about a 3-4 year in a row beach loyalist. We stick with one we love then we find one we love better. Currently, we can’t imagine loving any beach like we love Seabrook. Amazing. Beautiful. And the best part is that Steve turns his phone off and leaves it in the car for 7 days straight.

This picture cracks me up because seriously….my boys just don’t know how to match their clothes. And they are so all boy that they really don’t care. And we don’t either. So, there you go. No cute outfits and perfect poses. Andrew is throwing a gang sign apparently, and we are fortunate we got all smiles. Success.

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It will always be Zachary or Andrew throwing in a silly face or bunny ears. If I catch it while taking the picture, I become quite annoyed after 15.5 times saying, “Just smile. Put your hands down. Stop making faces. Just act like you like each other!!” Like these…

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After a few threats, we managed a decent shot.

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Jacob took a fishing trip to Missouri with his Paw-Paw. A 14 hour car trip. When he reminisces about the trip, his favorite parts are the car ride. Talking to Paw-Paw. Hearing his stories and just being with him.

We went to Georgia 3 times, a quick beach trip with my parents, Zachary did a Winshape day camp (oh my word, I love Chick-fil-A and all they do). Andrew had therapy upon therapy. And we all did VBS at our church, which I forced Jacob to do and he now thanks us for. His sweet compassionate heart fell in love with the people of Haiti through their missions offering and he is now working hard to raise money to go on his first mission trip to Haiti next spring. VBS at our church really impacted him this year and we were blessed to watch God working in his heart.

All in all, it was like many summers. Except we decided no bucket list this year. It was a bit too much pressure. Instead, we just focused on doing whatever we were doing and being thankful in the process. Many things we do every single summer that we didn’t do. We decided we are ok with that. Change is good sometimes.

Summer is by far my favorite time of the year. Sending the boys back to school is never easy. We are just grateful for the gift of another summer. Tomorrow is the big day of new school years and fresh starts. We made the most of the time we had and are ready to take on this new season ahead.

It’s good to be back here on the blog regularly. Glad you stuck around 🙂

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