Summer, Week 1

Summer is heeeeeeeere!

Monday: Today, Raegan came over to play.  I'm watching her a couple of days a week while her mom works.  The 4 kiddos started off by playing upstairs with their Beanie Boos.  That entertained them for over an hour.  I got a chance to do a few things around the house.  We met some of the MOMS club moms and kiddos at a local park at 10:30, and stayed for a good hour.  We got home, ate lunch, then hit up the inflatable pool!  Woot!  We were outside for a couple of hours, then came in to play, do some crafts, and chill.  We ate dinner, played a little soccer match with our neighbors, I walked for an hour with my friend, Angie, watched the Bachelorette... and called it a (late) night!

This turned into a little Monet piece of art.  

Tuesday:  This morning, we slept in (thank goodness, since I didn't get to bed until 12:30!)  Today was Parker's last day of preschool!  The girls and I took him to school, and walked him in to take some pictures and say goodbye.  Parker got to have a little celebration, involving bouncy houses and pizza, today!  While he was at school, Sydney, Taylor, and I headed to the Mall of GA to hang out.  We picked up Parker, went to Dunkin Donuts (his choice) for a "last day of school treat", and then headed home.  I guess the 12:30 AM bedtime hit me, along with not feeling super great, and I took a 2 hour nap on the couch in our playroom!  Luckily, the kids played semi-decently.  We made breakfast for dinner, played outside, Facetimed the cousin, and went to bed!

A little selfie.  Couldn't resist posting this one!

Superstar!

Post-last day of school treat.

Wednesday: Raegan came to play again today!  We had a few invitations to go out and do stuff today, but it turned into a great stay-at-home-and-play day.  I was super tired and the kiddos were playing so well together inside in the morning that I didn't want to rock the boat.  I got about half my of my chores done for the week!  Woot!  We did play outside a good bit, and our neighbors came over to play that evening for a while.  The girls stayed up a little later to watch the US men's soccer team play, before falling asleep on the couch.  It was a good day!

Thursday: The kiddos and I ran some errands this morning, and went to a park to play.  When we got home, I finished my chores for the week (hal-le-lu-jah) and they played so nicely together.  Our neighbor invited us over to play on their inflatable waterslide, so they played for a good couple of hours over there.  Raegan came over to play that evening, and the kiddos had a fun time playing together.  Another beautiful day!

Friday-Sunday: We hung around the house all morning, getting stuff ready for our trip to the mountains, where we spent the rest of the weekend!

Memorial Day Weekend

Friday afternoon, we headed up to heaven on earth... the mountains!  My favorite time of year is when mountain season begins.  We don't get up as much as we'd like, but it's a guaranteed minimum of three trips each summer, which definitely gives me some of my fill.

Friday night, we hung out with the family and then sat around the fire pit, talking and making s'mores with friends.

My favorite view, at dusk.

First golf cart ride of the season!  This has been much anticipated.

Saturday, we went to the local breakfast eatery, then came back home and got ready for the lake!  The lake was much easier this year.  Sydney and Taylor could play in the "middle pool", as we call it (it's about 3 feet deep there) and Parker could play in the "baby pool", which is about 1 foot deep.  I could actually sit back and catch up with friends on the porch of the clubhouse while watching them.  Score!

I ran/walked to the breakfast place... you know, to burn off some of those biscuit kcals.  Had to stop to view the river!

Dee-Dad got them some binoculars!  It's hard to see, but Taylor is looking into them the wrong way.  

We ate lunch, went to a little b-day party, played with the cousins, went back to the lake, took a few golf cart rides, and then eventually got ready for the picnic and square dance that night.  The kiddos stayed up waaaaaaay too late (I'm talking, 11 PM) and Parker didn't wake up until 10 AM Sunday morning.  That has NEVER happened.  Mom and I hung out with two other gals from the colony, and ended up talking until 2 AM.  That has also NEVER happened... in the last decade.  I'm too old for that.  But it was a nice distraction-free catch up time.

Henry's 6th birthday party.

Parker and his "best friend", Allen.  Or Alice, as Parker called him.  They played together a bunch this weekend!  I wanted to take Allen home with me.  Like, seriously.  He was so good with Parker.  He only lives in Alpharetta, so it's not too far to steal him away... I'm still thinking about it.  ;)

Sunday, after sleeping in a bit, we went to chapel and then ate a big lunch.  It was rainy, so mom mentioned going to Brevard, NC, which is a cute little town with fun shops and all.  We made the trek and actually hit the town up on its White Squirrel Festival weekend.  There were vendors, food trucks, inflatables, a little fair with rides, pony rides, games, and more!  We lucked out with having a lot to do and see.

Parker's in heaven.

Creepy squirrel.

No!  Don't make me leave!

They got to color a little square to contribute to this big drawing.

Sunday night, I went for a walk to alleviate my car sickness after coming down all those mountains, and ran into my friends Molly and Ben and had a good chat.  The girls spent the night at Aunt Kendall's cabin, and we hung out at my parents' cabin that night.

Monday morning, we went to the breakfast eatery again, and we were on our way back home!  It was a great weekend... so much fun, somewhat relaxing, and a great time spent with family and friends.