Summer Catch Up: July Edition

Back to some playing catch up! Yay for almost being finished with summer!  Here we go with the rest of July and what all we were up to (or at least some of it)!  Remember I already did a post on our 4th of July adventure in Virginia and all the grandparent birthday shenanigans!

 

The kids also completed swim lessons!  They did so wonderfully and had amazing instructors!  Can't wait for them to do it again next summer!

When we got back from Virginia, we decided it was time to transition Jack's room from a crib (yes he was still in a crib at age 3 - ha!) to a big boy bed.  Whew!  SO here is the before picture -- this was the view as you walked into his room!

And the after picture!  He loves his bed - and actually wouldn't get out of it until we came in until just recently (a whole different transition - whoa nelly).  I will do a separate post with a few details of his big boy room since it is finished now!

We did this while he was at school, so it was a surprise!  He was beside himself with excitement - I'd say this picture of a blur of jumping describes it perfectly!

And we did a family selfie that night as we tucked him into his big boy bed for the first time!

And seeing this picture of Katie makes me miss summer weather for sure!  She looked so grown up at the time - and now she looks even older!  I guess this was like 5 months ago, and a lot changes with kiddos in that amount of time! 

When potty training, I told Jack when he pooped in the potty, we would go immediately to Toys R Us and let him get a toy.  Wouldn't you know it happened when I was getting ready to go to a concert? Ha!  But we stopped everything and he picked out this Blaze and the Monster Machines toy!  Doesn't he look proud??

Then I finished getting ready and headed out with friends for brunch and some Luke Bryan!  Here is our crew getting a drink at Whiskey Kitchen before heading to the stadium!

And me and Tanja once we got inside.  It was HOT out there - it included like 4 acts leading up to Luke Bryan, so it was a long day! 

Me with some of my very, very favorites!  We had such a fun time!

I thought this picture of Brad with the big kids was cute - aside from Jack's silly face.  I expect nothing less though!

We also took a day and let the kids wash my van!  They did an excellent job - there was only one spot that they missed!  And I think they had a fun time doing it too!

They even stopped to pose while working!

Then it was water table time - I was impressed that Katie still found it entertaining!  Of course Jack and Ryan loved it though!

I could actually sit back and "relax" for a few minutes.  And by relax, I mean chase Ryan and make sure he didn't fall on the aggregate.

And another day of cuteness - the boys matched!  Except after this picture I  realized Brad had put Jack's shorts on Ryan, so they were a little too big - ha!

Ryan also officially became a walker!  Here he is in action!

And a post-church picture with my three ring circus!  I have this one framed next to my side of the bed!

One day, we headed to our friends' house to let the kiddos play!  We need to see them again soon and play some more - we miss seeing them at preschool!  Here are Jack and Cal!

And Katie and her friend Annalane!

Then they changed and prepared for some water fun!

Jack got a scooter, so they had fun playing in the driveway on their scooters - Jack really likes his Cars helmet too :)

 

Another day, we went to Pump It Up to let the kiddos get some energy out! They had a blast - and I even went down the slides a few times...so much fun!

Afterwards, we met Brad for lunch and got some ice cream too!  It was fun to have lunch as a family during the week!

Sweet boy swinging :)

My mom and I took Katie to The Frist Art Museum and looked at the exhibit that was going on (years of fashion) and then played in the kid area - all three of us had a great time!  AND we managed a cute picture together!

Just before school started, Katie did an art campf or a few days with her friend Hannah Jo - here they are before going in one day.  Sweet girls!

And the products of her hours spent at camp!  I am so glad she loves art so much!

While I do wish that I had stayed up to date on the blog, I have to say it is pretty fun to go back and think about all the fun stuff we did throughout the summer!  Next up - August! :)

 

Summer Catch Up: June Edition

Well, hey there! Welcome back! I thought I'd take a moment and work on my summer update.  I won't post a ton because that would just be incredibly long.  But I thought I'd share a little bit from each month over the summer (mainly for when I print this bad boy into a book)!  I know I did a little bit from June with the boys' birthday parties, but I wanted to do a little bit more!

 

June brought the beginning of "summer school" for Jack!  He went to the preschool in our neighborhood 3 days/week for the summer.  It was amazing. :) Here is his first day!  Just looking at this (5 months later - wow!), he has changed so much!

We also had the beginnings of walking!  Ryan started walking behind push toys quite efficiently!

Katie and I got to enjoy a day of fun together.  I remember that day like it was yesterday.  I can't wait to do this again!

We ventured to Cheekwood for some fun!  Love Katie's side ponytail!  We will definitely be doing this again soon too.  It is so fun there and the kids love the treehouse and trains!

We celebrated Ryan's first birthday!  It was a rainy day, so Brad was picked up Jim n Nick's to bring home.  The main reason was that Ryan loves their cheesey muffins.  Well, Brad got home and they didn't put the order of muffins in the bag.  I called just to let them know AND SOMEONE DELIVERED TWO DOZEN OF THEM TO OUR HOUSE THIRTY MINUTES LATER.  I may have told them it was my son's birthday and he loves them. :)  It was so sweet.  And clearly Ryan was excited!

Katie had vacation bible school at our church!  I love that our church has such a great program for kiddos.  And VBS at our church is a big deal - including all of the volunteers, there were over 1300 people involved (including all of the kiddos attending)! Wow!

We ate some delicious BBQ at Edley's and followed it up with Jeni's ice cream to celebrate the birthday of a friend!  Such a fun night out.

And another VBS shot.  Katie and Hannah Jo have been friends since they were 15 months old.  Amazing!

At the end of the week, they have a family night and have a "family worship" where we learn what the kids talked about all week and sing all of their songs.  And there are bounce houses and Chick Fil A and food trucks and fun!

One more of Katie and HJ.  Sweet girls!

Brad and I went to a get together with his work folks - it was great to see some of them and meet others.  And a fun afternoon out!

And Jack turned THREE!  Sweet boy.

On his actual birthday, we had neighbor friends over to play and have cupcakes.  We got Jack this little bounce house for his birthday and all the friends made a tunnel for him to run through and be the first kiddo on there!  Fun memories!

The crew!  Ryan was there too, but I didn't trust all of them on the bounce house with him :) And all of them didn't end up bouncing at the same time.  We usually did three at a time, which ended up being girls and then boys!

Blowing out his "3" candle!

We took quite a few walks this summer too!  It just so happened that there was some construction on the other side of the neighborhood, so that was what I used to convince Jack it was a good idea to go!

And we celebrated Father's Day!  The crazy crew with Brad before he opened his goodies!

Then we walked to the pool, swam and played, and then walked home.  Whew!

We ate dinner with my Dad that night.  And I got a picture of just us!  Love it!

And then we got a picture of Daddy and the kiddos dressed cute.  Except Ryan wouldn't have any of the smiling :)

Katie and Jack did swim lessons!  And they did amazing!  Jack went from clinging onto me like a koala bear to, a week later, jumping off the diving board!  And Katie did well with learning strokes!

Here are a few more from that week - Jack finally relaxed in the water enough to float on his back!  And it was hard to get picture of Katie - she loves going under water and swimming there rather than staying on the surface for the strokes that need to be there. 

Katie learned all about Shopkins at Hanna Jo's birthday party.  And the obsession is still around now - 5 months later!

Brad and I celebrated 9 years of marriage!  Wow!  Here we are at dinner.  This is one of my favorite pictures of us in a while!

And we got to have an evening out with friends the day of Jack's birthday party!  It was so fun - I always love getting together with friends and having adult time!

We had a girls night at a local boutique - it was after hours and we brought wine and they supplied appetizers.  We got to shop and try on and laugh and then save some money on the things we decided to get!  Doesn't get much better than that!

And Katie lost another tooth to finish up the month!  She is still holding steady at 3 teeth, but the top two front teeth are super loose - I hope she loses them before Christmas so she can sing that song!

Check back to see what all we did in July and August!  And any other fun things I may have missed over the Fall -- including our Halloween!  I am going to get caught up by the end of the year for sure!