Summer, week 10

Believe it or not, this is the last full week of summer!  The girls go back to school on Wednesday.  I definitely have mixed emotions about it.

Monday: Stephen left town to go down to Jacksonville early this AM, and he drove our SUV... which left me with the electric car.  It's all fine and dandy except it only seats 3 kids!  So, Raegan came to play today and we planned to stay home all day.  Which, to be honest, was kind of nice.  However, our babysitter, Lindsey, came over for a couple of hours so I could go run some errands, have a little break.  When I got home, we watched a movie, chilled, ate dinner, and then I took Sydney over to her friend Mariella's house for a sleepover.  We stayed for about an hour, catching up with her mom and the kids got to play.  Taylor, Parker, and I came home, and found that the blinds in the playroom had fallen down.  I questioned each kid, who promised me that neither knew what happened.  I texted Mariella's mom to ask Sydney, who didn't know either.  The blinds are a little loose up in the brackets, so my logical thought was that somehow they came loose and fell.  But, in the back of my paranoid brain, I was a little concerned.  And the kids were freaked out.  Our angel neighbor came over (again) to walk around the house and check it out for us.  All checked out fine, so the night routine was on!  Whew.  (Though the kids would not go to sleep!)

This is what we came home to...

Tuesday: Taylor, Parker, and I were extra lazy this morning, mostly because we stayed up late last night.  We picked up Sydney from her friend's house and ran her to the doctor (she's been complaining about chest pains since cheer camp- wanted to make sure it wasn't anything more than a muscle pain).  We ate lunch out, went to the library, ran a couple of errands, then headed home for a couple of hours.  Later that afternoon, we headed to Athens to meet up with my parents!  We ran to Michael's for a bit, then ate at my favorite restaurant from college, Rafferty's.  It was a great night!

Can it be mid-October pronto, please??

Wednesday: Raegan came over to play today!  We hung around the house (mostly because of the car situation) and the kids played with their Beanie Boos, played hide-and-go-seek, painted, made bracelets, and more.  I had a doctor's appointment that afternoon, so Stephen stayed with the kiddos.  We headed to church that evening for the last summer grow group session, and we hit the hay!

Thursday: We slept in a bit more today (so much for getting ready for school, eh?) and hung around in the morning.  After lunch, we went to this really cool place called Tiny Towne, which is a building that's been transformed into a little town where kids can drive cars, ride a train, and play games.  The kiddos were soooo excited when we got there!!  They had a great time.  We came back home, hung out, played games, ate dinner, and got ready for bed.  Tomorrow is... White Water, again!

Guess who dressed Parker?

Mohawk and all.

Friday: We got up early, got ready, and headed to White Water!  This time, we went with Monica, Tim, and Raegan.  We were there from open to almost close.  They had to close the rides down a couple of times due to storms in the vicinity.  At one point, it was raining pretty hard, but no lightning, so game on!  We were all so tired at the end of the day, but we got to ride a lot of rides and had a great time.  (no pictures from today!)

Saturday: Ahhh, a Saturday with no plans!  Stephen took the girls to run while they biked at the park, and then I got a little run in when they got home.  I did a lot of cleaning, laundry, etc. while the kids played, did crafts, and went outside.  That night, Stephen took the girls to GA Tech to watch a movie on the big screen in the stadium.  They watched The Jungle Book.  It didn't start until 9 PM, so they didn't get home until about midnight!  Parker and I watched some Max and Ruby at home, then hit the hay on the early side.

A new friend visited our neighbor's yard today.  I've never paid much attention to an armadillo before.  It looks like a cross between a turtle and a big ol' rat!

Sydney sure has been creative this summer!

TV star!

GA Tech movie.

Sunday:  We went to church this morning, then had a low-key Sunday.  We played outside, played some board games, cooked, sorted school supplies, got the house together a bit.

It has been a WONDERFUL summer... but I'm exhausted!  So long, weekly updates!  Until next year...

Summer, week 9

Monday: Today was the first day of a week of camps for the kiddos!  The girls (and Raegan) were going to cheer camp from 9-1, and Parker was going to science/nature camp from 9:30-1:30.  The awesome thing was that their camps were less than a mile apart in Grayson, so it worked out swimmingly.  I asked Stephen to take Parker this morning, since he flipped out on me for VBS last month.  Stephen said he cried, but he wasn't fit-pitching.  I dropped the girls off at cheer camp and then headed to the Mall of GA to run some errands.  I also ran at the park in the thick humid air, trying to avoid running into all the Pokemon catchers.  I got the kiddos (Parker had a good day- score!) and we went home.  We were all tired, so we just hung around the house the rest of the night!

Tuesday: I took all the kiddos to camp today... Parker pitched a fit but when I was walking out the main doors, his echoing wails seemed to have stopped.  I, again, ran at the park and ran errands before running home to put up the groceries.  I got the girls, picked up Parker, and we headed to a nearby park to play for a few brief minutes (holy heat!).  We came home and, like yesterday, we were all tired and we just hung out the rest of the day!

Wednesday: Off to camp this morning for the kiddos- Taylor cried when I was leaving, and Parker pitched another fit.  I swear, it's exhausting having to handle the cries about you leaving.  It's sweet and frustrating all at the same time.  I ran a couple of errands and then made myself go home and CLEAN!  (it was needed).  I left to go get the girls, and when I got them, they were all in tears.  Apparently, there is a substitute coach in this week (a.k.a. a college boy cheerleader who would rather text his friends than coach the girls).  So... these 3 little 11 year olds (ish?) were the ones leading the camp.  And they were apparently mean.  Yelling, making the girls do push-ups/burpees, telling people to "shut up" (a bad word in our household).  The girls have told me about it since Monday, but I guess today it was the worst.  They all cried that they didn't want to come back anymore.  I went and talked to the "coach" and asked him what was going on.  He seemed a bit clueless, even though I know this issue was brought to his attention by another parent the day before.  Anyways, long story short, the girls won't be going back, a long email was written to the owner (who was very kind and apologetic, even offering for the girls to finish the week out at the Duluth location).  DRAMA.  I swear, I worry about what the teenage years (or maybe I should worry about the 11/12 years) are going to be like. ?!?!  So, we got Parker, who was happy as a lark, and met Monica at CFA for playtime.  We then went home, I finished cleaning, the kids rested.  We went to church tonight, ate dinner, and came home and hit the hay.  Stephen had flown out this morning to go to Rhode Island and, whew! I am spent.

 Thursday: We took Parker to camp again today, and the girls stayed with me.  We went to Harbins Park so they could play and I did laps around the playground.  I caught up on some texts and phone calls, which is always a good thing.  We grabbed lunch out and ran some errands before picking P-man up.  We came home for a bit to chill, and then we went and the kiddos got some froyo and we did some grocery shopping.  We got home right when it started storming, and we stayed inside the rest of the night, watching Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (or something like that).  Poor Stephen's flight from Providence was delayed 5 HOURS, so he didn't land in Atlanta until 1:30! I don't think he went to sleep until 3:30 AM.  We're too old for that.

This makes me LOL.  Taylor was mad at me because I insisted that I put the frozen yogurt in their cups instead of them.  This girl likes to load her cup to the brim!  And look how big those cups are!

Friday: Last day of Science camp for Parker!  I took him in the morning (no tears today!!), and then went to pick up Taylor's friend, Addie, for a playdate.  They were in pre-K together last year and Addie lives in the next neighborhood over from us.  The girls had fun, playing in Taylor's room, painting, riding jeeps, building forts.  I took Addie back on the way to get Parker.  When we got home, the kiddos played both inside and outside.  Stephen went to play poker with some friends that night, so the kiddos and I had another movie night- this time, Night at the Museum.  It's really fun watching movies with the kids, because they all 3 actually sit for them now!

Science camp crafts!

Hanging up the bird feeder he made.

Saturday:  Stephen and I both got runs in this morning (Sydney ran 3 miles with Stephen!) and the kiddos and I headed to a birthday party while Stephen mowed the lawn.  The party took place at our church, a little girl was turning 6.  A huge bouncy/water slide was there, and the lovely princess-themed party commenced.  The kids ate pizza, cupcakes, and got lots of turns on the slides.  Today was Raegan's 8th birthday, so Sydney got to go with her to see The Secret Life of Pets, eat dinner out with them, and then spend the night!  That evening, I went to church for a women's event, where we had movie-style decorations and food and watched War Room on the big screen.

The movie spread at church.

Sunday: We went to church in the morning, came home for lunch, and went back to church for a leadership meeting.  We hung around the house until 4 PM, when we went to our friends Candice and Phillip's house for dinner.  The kids played with their little girl, and we had a great visit with our friends.  We came home, got ready for bed, and called it a night!

Parker and his buddy Tom chasing the ducks at church.