The last weeked of June/first weekend of July, we went on our annual trip to WI Dells with our extended family. Personally, it is one of my favorite times of the year, because it brings back so many memories from my childhood. We used to go there with my aunt, uncle and cousins and now my kids go with their papa, aunts, uncles and cousins. Gotta love tradition! This year, Pander was tall and brave enough to try a ride called Howlin' Tornado, so my bro-in-law, future bro-in-law and I went with him. Here is a picture after we finished the ride.
Pander told me "I liked it, I wasn't too scared, only my tummy was sick for awhile!" Later he rode it again, so it must not have been too bad. I was terrified to let him ride it, especially since I wasn't in the group that went with him the second time. I mean, 6 is a bit young, he's really tall for his age! And here is a pic of the ride, so you can see why I was sort of freaked out.
I have a feeling this whole "letting go" so he can grow up isn't going to be all that fun for me!
Later in July, my sister J and I started prepping for the upcoming birth of her second son by cooking and freezing a bunch of meals. The day started off well, J, JJ-Monster, Noodle and I went grocery shopping and started cooking at J's house. Later, Jeff dropped Pander, Fia and Moo off by us on his way to work. Shortly after that, it started to thunderstorm. Now, we needed the rain, since it has been such a dry summer, but that storm didn't just rain, it put us into a power outage in the middle of cooking day! We had to pack up all 5 kids, 2 full, hot crockpots, several bowls of food, tons of bags of groceries and move it all IN THE RAIN to my house, where we still had power. I have to say it was one of the most memorable cooking days I've ever been a part of!
July ended with the Jeff and my dad taking Pander and Fia on a road trip to Green Bay to see the awesome Packers stadium and Superbowl trophies. Actually, only my dad and Pander were Packer fans (I am too, but I stayed home with the little ones). Jeff and Fia are both avid Vikings fans, but they like football enough to want to tag along. Here is a pic of my dad, Pander and Fia with the trophies.
August was a busy month for us. We took several outings to the park, children's museum, and bowling and did a bit of homeschooling every week. One weekend, my in-laws came to visit from out of state. We had a great time swimming, playing cards, and hanging out together. My father-in-law helped Jeff put up a brand new front door and storm door, it looks awesome and we are so thankful for his help!
Another weekend, Jeff and I travelled out of state so he could stand up in his best friend's wedding.
It was our first full weekend away from the crazies in about 5 years! We had a great time at the wedding and got to catch up with some of our old college friends and the time away was much appreciated. My sister B and her hubby UBJ stayed at our house with the 4 crazies while we were gone, and surprised us by doing a bunch of extra projects around the house, too. I have to say it was very nice to come home to, thanks guys!
The last full week of August was the busiest one for us. Jeff and I celebrated 9 years of marriage on Aug. 23 and as a great present, my sister J had her new baby boy, EJo. He is the absolute, most adorable combination of a little old man and baby bird that you could imagine! Here we are together, just hours after he was born.
Two days later, we celebrated Pander's 7th birthday and after that we had a joint birthday party for Pander and Fia, who turns 6 in two weeks. First is a picture from Pander's bowling event on his birthday, then a picture from their joint party, and then one from Pander's family birthday party at Papa's house.
I made the Dinosaur Train cake for the crazies' joint party, and UBJ made an awesome Mario Kart cake for Pander's family party (after I am able to edit Pander's name off of it, I will post a pic!) As soon as he saw the Mario cake, Pander was sure to run over and reassure me that he was thankful for the cake I had made him, and that he would have been happy with just that. I said, "But you like the Mario cake better, right?" and he nodded. I love that boy's heart, even when he was thrilled with his special Mario cake, he was focused on making sure my feelings weren't hurt. He's such a sensitive sweetie.
Now that the summer is over, we are starting to focus back on homeschool. We are starting a zoo unit and switching to a new math program that I think will be less teacher-intensive and faster moving. Tomorrow Jeff goes back to college, so we are headed back into "business as usual." I'll let you know how the semester goes, pray for our busy upcoming school year if you think of it, please!
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