Hello Monday!

Wow, it's been over a month since I posted last! I'm determined to write a lot more this summer!! 



Of course we have been crazy busy!! The end of the school year is always insane.

The little girls finished up soccer towards the beginning of May.

S ran her first Fun Run at J's Girl's On The Run 5K last month! 



She's been accepted in the kindergarten, dual immersion program. I think we got like 3 acceptance letters in the mail ha! She isn't super excited going to a 90% Spanish classroom. She really wanted to go to school with C. I feel terrible because I talked up C's school so much and got her all excited about going to school there... then we found out she was eligible for the dual immersion and really felt like that was too great an opportunity to pass up. We passed up the same opportunity for our older kids back in Texas and really regret it. I think S will be really glad she can speak both languages in the long run and we hope to get L in the same program in a couple years. 

C finished up baseball and can't wait to play again this fall! Their coach took the team out for ice cream after one of their last games. 

He also finished up Trail Life. It was hard to balance both Trail Life and baseball but we really want him to do Trail Life again this fall. He loves it even though he had to miss quite a bit with baseball. Hopefully his baseball schedule will look a little different this fall. 

Just looking cute after a haircut last month! 

J's GOTR team painted one of the school rocks right before their 5K. They went with the spring theme that J chose! And she was named Rockin' Creative Thinker on her end of season award! Her coaches were both SO sweet this spring! I wish they could coach her every season. 

GOTR ended with the 5K last month. My husband ran/walked with her for the first time! 

J is just about finished up with American Heritage Girls as well. Their awards ceremony is next week!  



I've been super busy with buying and selling. I love it and I'm making money but it's a lot of work too! My husband has been working hard to make extra money as well. 



We're trying to save for our Disney & Lego Land trip this fall. Tickets are bought but we need plenty of spending money too and we don't use credit cards. 



S and I are also planning to fly out to Texas in August for my sister's baby shower. This will be S's first time on a plane! 



We're hoping to get to the beach once or twice this summer! I really want to go to the Outer Banks for the first time. My kids and I are dying to see the wild horses and I've just been wanting to go to Outer Banks since we moved out here 2 years ago. 



I can't believe we've lived out here 2 years already! We moved out the day after school let out for the summer back in Texas in June 2017. 



If everything goes as planned we'll have grandparents visiting in June, July and August (three different sets). 



We had our big, season grand opening/20th anniversary of our neighborhood pool party Saturday night! The pool actually opened mid-May but the first pool party date was rained out so it was rescheduled for June 1st. We had a great time with food trucks, face painting, games and a water slide! 



I'm on the social/pool something committee so we stayed until the end to help clean up. J and C enjoy helping out. They go around closing umbrellas, putting away pool toys, cleaning up, reclining chairs, etc.



I'm cleaning the pool house once a week for extra money again this summer. I hate it because there's no AC and it's always hot, sweaty work but the extra money comes in handy! On the plus side I can wear a bathing suit under my clothes, rinse off any time in the outdoor showers and take short breaks to cool off in the pool! And the kids can swim while I'm cleaning! My husband helped clean last week. (Thank you Lord!) and cleaned the boy's bathroom for me. I hope he'll continue to help out all season. :) 



It's bittersweet (mostly sweet) that the kids can all jump in the pool and swim around without me being right there with them. The little girls are still in Puddle Jumpers but are totally independent with them on. S is 5 1/2 now and ready to learn to swim without a floatie. J and I have been working with her a little bit. She's kind of terrified but making a little bit of progress.. I think. I'd really like to put her in swim lessons and may look into it pretty soon. 



Anyway, enough rambling. This post is long enough ha! I'm going to try and post a few times a week this month and keep the posts a bit a shorter. 



Thanks for stopping by!!

our busy week

We've had a busy, busy week around here! Last Friday night we

 had one of our Sip N' Dips at the pool. I served ice cream while 

the kids swam and J kept an eye on them. 

Last Sunday I volunteered in Mar's fourth grade class during service. This was

my first time to volunteer in her class at this church. It was fun to help out and

hang out with her class for a couple hours! 

We had a lazy Labor Day. We stayed home all morning and early afternoon and 

got a few things done around here then went to the pool for a while that afternoon.

 Tuesday was the monthly Lego event at the library.

The three little ones had a lot of fun playing with Legos for an hour while Mar read and finished

up some school work in the quiet room nearby. It's only our second week of 

homeschool but she's loving it so far! 

 Wednesday morning I worked in childcare at church for a few hours during women's

Bible study. Mar went with the older kids to the homeschool room while the little girls 

were in the toddler room and I worked in the nursery. I got to hold a tiny, little baby! So 

sweet.. I miss that age!

Thursday morning was the MOPS kick-off meeting for the season. I almost

didn't sign up this time with everything else we have coming up for the fall but I'm 

glad I decided to go ahead. It's always encouraging and a lot of fun! 

Thursday afternoon we went to our first sensory story time at the library. 

The library will be hosting sensory story time every Thursday this fall! I'm so excited! 

I think this will be really good for Indie with her sensory issues. Siblings

are welcome to attend too and even Sol enjoyed it! The kids heard two stories, 

a song, got to hold stuffed animals, play with sensory toys and play with a

 parachute. Indie was afraid of the parachute..

[to be expected] but it's a good environment for her to be introduced 

to new things at her own pace. 

This morning Indie had a her first occupational therapy session

here at home. She did great but I could tell she was getting tired

of it all and a little overwhelmed by the time the hour was up. She 

worked with puzzles, a lighted peg board, a cupcake/puzzle toy and 

one of those bouncy balls you sit and bounce around on. I was 

really impressed that she actually got on the ball and let the therapist

bounce her around a bit. She certainly didn't love it but it's a good

start. Next week we may try a tunnel and another parachute. 

 Thursday evening the kids and I packed a dinner to eat by the pool. We were there for about

three hours. I've been cleaning to pool house the last few weeks. I usually clean on Friday mornings before my husband leaves for work at 11 but decided to clean Thursday evening this week since Indie's appointment was this morning. I was able to clean  

while that kids swam and we were there until dark. Our pool closes for the season next

weekend so we're trying to enjoy a few more swims while we can!

On a completely different subject I put the older kids in a family study through a college program when they were little. I took them up there a couple times while they were "studied" by students. Since then I'll answer an occasional questionnaire to keep them updated on the kids. It's pretty basic but I always get an Amazon gift card after completing the questionnaire. I've been wanting a journal Bible for awhile and just ordered this one tonight with my gift card. I'm really excited to get it! I think journal Bibles are such a great idea! 

Tomorrow I'll be working in childcare at church again. This time I'll be up there all day while

several parents are in a class. So J will be here at home with our four while

I'm gone. I'm hoping he'll work on my honey-do list a bit while I'm out ha! 

I was really excited to do a review on Mabel's Labels this week! 

You can check out my review and get a coupon code here!

And I have another fun review coming up soon! 

I'm linking up with Friday Favorites and High Five For Friday today! 

Hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Weekend Fun!

I'm linking up to Hello Monday and Mommy Monday Blog Hop today! 

I would love for you to follow my blog (link in sidebar). Comment here, 

let me know you're a new follower and I will follow back! 

We had a great last weekend of the summer! Lots of shopping and swimming! 

Friday afternoon I got a few more samples in the mail! A pure sugar scrub mask and a pure clay mask from L'Oreal. And a Garnier coconut hair mask from PinchMe. I love freebies and can't wait to try these!

Friday evening the kids and I went up to the neighborhood icecream social at our community pool!

 Mar put earphones on Indie for the first time Friday night. Indie did great with them and had fun
watching Cat In The Hat before bed. She looks way too grown up here!

Mar and I had a girls day out on Saturday. Our first stop was Ikea! She hasn't been to Ikea since she was a baby so this was all new to her! She loved looking at all the little model rooms and all the fun décor! 

I ended up only getting a small plant, a pot and a candle but I loved this light. I think it would be really cute and fun in our school room!

I love these dining chairs too! 

 We had lunch in the café at Ikea. It was surprisingly good! I had a salad and Mar had chicken strips. 

 We went to few stores after Ikea. I loved this huge mug at Charming Charlie's...

 And this water bottle :)

 I got a couple pair of earrings and these fun gold rings at Charming Charlie's. {I think a certain 2 year old took off with my earrings. I couldn't find them this morning.}

We found a lot of fun clearance items at Marshall's. I love the blue water bottle I bought for $6! We got a huge watermelon pool float for $6 and several toys for like $0.30-$.50! 

 I painted the girls toenails bright pink to match mine. It's fun to match!

The kids had so much fun on the watermelon float yesterday evening!! 

We stopped by the new playground on the way home from the pool! 

I realized late Friday night that I messed up big time and it's way too late to register Alex for baseball! He loved playing this spring and has been looking forward to playing again this fall all summer. I feel terrible. After several phone calls and emails he is on the waiting list for the league he played for last spring. I'm praying he gets in! I had to tell him what was going on yesterday and he actually took the news better than I expected. I've been looking for other things he could do this fall and discovered a local Trail Life group.. similar to Boy Scouts but Christian based. He's really excited to join! And he plans to get back to baseball in the spring if he doesn't get in at some point this season. 

Today is the first day of school! Second grade for Alex at public (this is the first year he has gone to school alone... kind of bittersweet) and first day of fourth for Mar.. and our first day homeschooling! So far, so good! 

Friday Favorites

I'm linking up to Friday Favorite with Momfessionals today

We're enjoying the last week of summer before school starts next week! And I'm loving the fact that ALL four of my kids can play in the pool independently while I relax under an umbrella for a few minutes. This is the first time I've been able to step away from the pool alone for years! 

(Pic via O P I)

I'm loving bright pink polish on my toenails! I've been painting my nails light blue all summer but finally pulled out my O P I  bright pink. Bright pink is one of my all time favorites.. especially for summer!

(Pic via kristinhannah.com)

After seeing author Kristin Hannah mentioned on several blogs recently I decided to get Home Front from the library last night. Looks like a good read! I may start reading it at the pool this afternoon.

(Pic via Google)

I grew up drinking sweet tea but switched to unsweet several years ago. This summer I've been making like 2 gallons a week! As much as I love iced coffee I would give it up if I had to choose between iced tea or iced coffee ha! Iced tea is the most refreshing drink for me... especially in the summer! I drink it with almost every meal and several times throughout the day.

(Pic via Google, HGTV Tiny Houses)

I started watching HGTV's Tiny Houses on Hulu a couple days ago. I'm pretty sure I could never live in one.. especially with 4 kids... but it's fun to watch and I'm obsessed with everything they can fit into such a tiny space!

(Pic via Google) 

I've been thinking about putting Indie in equine therapy for SPD and to help stabilize her core. She seems excited about the idea but that could all change once she actually gets close to a horse ha! We're waiting for an okay from her doctor but thinking it should be fine. There's a few local stables that offer therapy and I'd love to get her in around her third birthday if we can!

Hope everyone has is having a great Friday! We are off to the pool for a couple hours and my oldest and I have a full day of shopping planned for tomorrow!

summer days

We've had a busy-ish week. It seems like summer is winding down fast which is always a bittersweet feeling.

 I've made an effort to get to the pool this week. Last week it rained so much we didn't get a chance to go but this week we've gone both Monday and Wednesday mornings. I'd like to go again tomorrow or Saturday. 

Our neighborhood is getting a brand new playground! It's going in right next to the pool so it's fun to be able to watch the progress! The kids are really excited about it and I'm looking forward to cooler weather when we can actually enjoy being outside without melting. Right now we're either inside with the AC going full blast or at the pool.

 Yesterday afternoon we went to the mall so Alex could participate in the free VIP Lego mini build event. This is the first one he's gone to and had a lot of fun! They had a few leftover sets from a previous month that they gave to the girls.

The kids have been loving the Lego stores lately! I love that they have a Duplo table for toddlers while the older kids browse or play with the smaller pieces. 

We browsed around a few other stores at the mall. I had to get Sol this camo scarf off the clearance rack at Claire's. She loves camo and is such a little tomboy but has a real girly side too. She's excited to wear it this fall! 

 The older girls wanted their pics made in this unicorn cut-out outside Claire's.

It was storming around the time we wanted to head home so we ended up staying and getting dinner at the food court. Mar and I had Chinese food while the others had pizza. Indie looks so grown up in this picture! I was really proud of her for climbing up on a bar stool by herself and calmly sitting there. She generally gets upset any time she's on a barstool and wants to get down because she feels like she's falling. She looks a little nervous here but she got up there by herself and sat there for a few minutes. :) 

I saw these adorable puppy legwarmers at Five Below! Perfect colors to support the Cowboys this winter!! We decided our dog would probably chew them up in thirty seconds so I didn't get them but I thought they were so cute. Five Below also had dog coats, shirts, dresses and some pretty cute toys including one that looked like a Starbucks coffee drink. 

 E loves to sit in this chair sometimes when he's outside. I guess he thinks he's human or something lol. He's so funny!

We have a lot of busy days coming up! Mar had an orthodontist appointment this morning. Next week Indie has her first in home therapy for SPD and then a check-up for her hip later in the week. All the kids have an upcoming dentist appointment. I've never made appointments for all four at once before so this could be interesting. I still need to register Alex for school and un-enroll Mar. Lots of end-of-the-summer stuff coming up and we want to try and cram in a few summer activities that we haven't done yet before school starts up again!