Enjoying Summer Break

It has been very strange with only three kids at home during the day this summer!  Caleb and Ella are really enjoying their time at the neighborhood summer camp, and I am thrilled that they are getting their little brains exercised by someone other than me!  Jackson and Lillian have been so cute playing together and with Noah.  We have been home more than usual lately...  the heat is ridiculous and I have been catching up on some things around the house that seemed to get ignored while we were in the throes of homeschooling.  I can say for sure I will never school year-round - it is nice to have some breathing room for a couple of months and feel sort of caught up, even if it is just for a little while!  I am enjoying our lazy mornings and getting to just play and hang out together.

I finally weaned Noah a couple of weeks ago - all the others were weaned by their 1st birthday but I don't think either of us were ready this time!  I am still sad that we are done, but he is finally sleeping solidly through the night every night.  Yes, I know this should have been happening months ago, but I didn't discourage him from waking up anytime he wanted to because it gave me an excuse to hold and snuggle him with no interruptions, even if it was in the wee hours of the morning!  The only benefit to stopping is that I may finally drop a few pounds now - I am not one of those women who get really skinny when they nurse.  It has the opposite effect on me!

Probably one of the most exciting things going on for us right now is a cruise we have booked for our 10th anniversary next year!  I am beyond elated!  We have never gone anywhere to celebrate our anniversary (unless you count the trip with Noah this year) so I think it is time!  We are doing a 7-day Western Caribbean Carnival cruise (with no kids) and are actually going with 3 other couples who are friends or neighbors.  We have 2 sets of adjoining rooms right across the hall from each other.  I am mildly anxious about leaving the kids for so long - hopefully we will be so busy that it won't get to me.  I guess when you aren't growing or nursing a babe you get to do fun stuff like a cruise...  not sure if it is an even trade-off (at least not for me), but I will definitely enjoy a week away with my husband nonetheless!

Summer Fun

Today we went swimming with some friends from church.  Caleb and Ella were at camp, so I only had three kids to worry about near the water and I had lots of help (I am super paranoid with my kids around swimming pools)!  

Later in the evening was a Family Bowling Night hosted by our church.  We got two hours of bowling and shoe rental for only $5.50, which is a great deal, and perfect for us because the kids have been begging for months to go bowling.  Luckily we have known about it for a while and could save up since there were six of us bowling.  I guess nothing is really cheap with a family of seven! :)  

Ella and her favorite Mrs. Christy

Noah is starting young!

Ella and some girls from her class at church

Sadly I won with a score this low!  We need to practice more!

I bet everyone will sleep well tonight!

Summer Fun

Yesterday was our first playgroup swim party of the year.  A small turnout, but some of our favorite people were there!  I encouraged my sweet little darlings to clean their rooms before we left because I knew swimming would be just the motivation they needed to get it done, and I worked on some things at the same time.  I knew I would be worn out after spending the day swimming with five kids, most of whom can't swim on their own yet, and wouldn't have much energy to do anything later in the day.

I second-guessed my decision to even go to playgroup when, within ten minutes of us getting there, I had to dive in with my clothes on to rescue Lillian who decided to jump in without her floaties (which I had told her not to do), and a friend of mine had to dive in to rescue Jackson, who had floaties on but got terrified after sliding down the kiddie slide.  He was totally above the water so I am still not sure why he was so upset.  Luckily I brought my swimsuit, just in case.  

We ate pizza and watermelon, and I took some super cute "hamburger" cookies that Caleb and Grandma made while he was in Daytona.  I even got to bring home a whole pizza which was perfect for dinner last night because I was out for the evening.  I'm so glad my kids don't mind eating the same thing twice in one day!  It won't be long until a whole Hot 'n Ready won't be enough to fill all of their hungry bellies!

Free Ice Cream!

I needed to go to Publix on Friday to pick up a few of their sale items this week (including the Emerald Cinnamon Roast almonds - my new favorite snack) and had planned on taking all the kids with me so they could have a cookie. I happened to be reading the paper online that morning and saw that Blue Bell would be there handing out free samples from 1 to 5 PM so that's exactly when we planned our shopping trip! I fed the kids lunch and we did some coloring for a little bit, then loaded up in the van a few minutes before 1:00.

Even though it was miserably hot outside, the people in the ice cream truck were extremely jovial and we all got to sample some yummy Blue Bell vanilla ice cream... so delicious! They also gave the kids hats and momma got some $1.00 off coupons! What a fun treat for a Friday afternoon!
I didn't have my camera, so I snapped this with my phone. I love how all the kids are smiling except Jackson who is focused only on his ice cream. He gets it from me.

Trip Pics

These are long overdue, I know! It has been crazy around here this week with me attempting to get us all prepared for school. I am trying really hard to be more prepared this year and not fly by the seat of my pants like I did last year. That really isn't my nature and I'm not very good at it! Don't get me wrong, we had a great year and Caleb learned a TON, but with a newborn in the mix and a new kindergartner, I will definitely need to be as organized as possible. I also hope to be more intentional with my activities for Lillian and Jackson. Lillian is telling me now that she doesn't want to homeschool for Kindergarten so I have 2 years to make her enjoy learning at home and hopefully change her mind! :)

Here are some pictures my mom e-mailed me from their escapades in Daytona. I think it is safe to say Caleb had a blast, hopefully they did, too! :) One thing I didn't have a picture of yet is their trek to the top of the lighthouse, but he does have a souvenir t-shirt from it. Every time I looked at a picture she had sent, I felt like Caleb looked so much older!

We met halfway on Sunday to fetch him and worked in a trip to IKEA while we were in Orlando. I had asked the kids what they wanted to do our last couple of weeks before we started school and both girls wanted to go play in the playplace there. So we all visited over lunch in the cafe, which happened to have free kids meals that day... no minimum purchase, no limit on how many you could get! After the kids played and we shopped for a bit, Scott and I joked about taking them back there for a free dinner! But then Caleb asked if we could have a family dinner out somewhere to celebrate him coming home (that's my boy - any excuse to eat out!) and he wanted to eat at Bob Evans. Uncle Austin and Grandaddy met us at the Bob Evans in north Lakeland as we were getting back to town and we enjoyed a yummy dinner together. Their kids meals are super cheap and all my kids wanted breakfast, so we got to bring their leftovers home and finish them up the next morning.

Summer Days

The heat has been really intense here the past few months. We just got our second utility bill this summer that was almost $450 (UGH) because the air basically never stops, even with the thermostat on 80 all the time. So with the older two at summer camp all day, we have been doing lots of hanging out indoors. Painting, coloring, play-doh and lots of reading, and of course taking in every possible moment we can with Noah who is stealing all of our hearts. Here are some pics I snapped one morning last week.

Zoo Time!

Talk about a scorcher. Friday was the annual zoo field trip with the kids from summer camp and it was BLAZING. We had a blast but everyone certainly slept well that night! It was strange having both Caleb and Ella with their classes instead of me - but kind of fun to have that time with the youngest three. For the first time, I remembered my zoo cups so we could get 99 cent refills on drinks. Every year I have forgotten them and had to buy a new cup, so we have quite the collection going.

We met up with all the camp kids when they were leaving to fetch Caleb and Ella so we could stick around for a few more hours. I got to ride a kiddie roller coaster with Caleb and the log flume ride with Caleb and Ella, and then the kiddie train with Jackson and Lillian. We all rode the carousel. After we saw a few more animals and played in the splash pad for a bit, we decided we had met our heat quota for the day. When I say "we", I mean my Dad and me.

We had to bribe the kids with a stop at McDonald's on the way home to get them to want to leave! By the time I nursed the baby, changed his diaper and took all the others potty, it took at least 45 minutes until we were all loaded in the car. Jackson fell asleep in about 37 seconds once we started the engine, followed by everyone else in the car except for me and CB.

I heard the heat index that day was 106, but it sure felt hotter to me!