I LOVE SUMMER! I get super pumped when summer comes around. The kids and I like to have a list of things we want to accomplish over the summer and it’s fun for me to work it all in and make it all happen 🙂
I’m very hardcore about keeping a summer schedule and a big part of that is having a good balance of days at home vs days out and about. Balance = Happiness! Since we are so busy in summer and there is such a mix of days at home vs days on the go I thought it’d make more sense to do weekly recaps of our adventures. Rather than trying to come up with enough to say about everything we do to cover it in a blog post and rather than doing some big huge long monthly summary thing 🙂 Weekly summaries for the win!
The kids get out of school a good bit earlier than the public schools do. I feel like it’s summer bonus time 🙂
Our first week of summer kicked off on Saturday May 16th! I plan to consider a week from Sat-Sat so here’s what we were up to on Week 1:
Colt and Payton are 11 months apart in age (yes, Irish twins right?!?! Isn’t that what it’s called?). Courtney had their party together this year at Tiny Bubbles. Y’all. If you are local and need a place for a party then Tiny Bubbles is where it’s AT. They handle EVERYTHING. It’s efficient, well planned, organized, and SUPER fun. We’ve been to a couple of parties there and have always left very impressed! You can look into booking a party here!
After the party that morning Katie and I met up for pedicures. In honor of her 30th birthday Zach and I wanted to do something special for her so we had the pedicures together, got dinner, and then she came over to hang out after kids went to bed. We had a great time! It was also my first pedicure in 2 years (you can read my latest foot update here!)
Zach brought the kids to Steak and Shake and we met him there after our pedicures for dinner. We don’t eat out a lot, but when we do Steak and Shake is one of our favorites. Kids eat free on Sat and Sunday. We paid for Katie’s meal too and all got food (except Tess) and the total was still only $18. You can’t beat that!!! Plus free hats? Duh. Awesome.
Katie is one of the first people I met when I started coming to Valdosta to see Zach. I believe we actually met for the first time at Steak and Shake? Our friendship grew early on and we’ve been through so much together. We’ve been friends now for 11 years! I’m so thankful to have her as a constant in my life when so many other people haven’t been. I know she’ll be my family for life! I made a photo collage for her bday and had THE hardest time narrowing down what pics to include b/c we have so many awesome memories together 🙂
On Sunday we were invited to Preston’s birthday party (my friend Ashley’s son). It was at a local park I’d never even knew existed and it was SO NICE! It was a great place to throw a party and it was super fun! Ashley is one of the sweetest people and she put together a great party that everyone enjoyed. It was also pretty hilarious when all the kids “helped” Preston open his presents. Hello chaos haha.
Kye writes such sweet notes!
The kids made hero capes which Kye really enjoyed (so much so that I copied the idea later on in the summer!). Kye also created a new snack that is cupcakes with cheese-its on top. Yum? Britt had a good time at the party too, but didn’t want to eat anything. Which is not like her. Pizza? Cupcakes? How could she refuse that?!?!
That night we realized why Britt wasn’t wanting to eat. She wins the prize for first child in our family to ever keep us up all night with diarrhea. FUN. I’m thankful we’re just now experiencing it for the firs time and that our kids don’t vomit (knock on wood). I actually have only thrown up a couple times in my life that I can remember so I’m hoping they got my good non-puking genes haha. It was pitiful being up with her while she went to the bathroom. At first Zach and I got up together but then I ended up just getting up with her. I remember as a kid having my stomach be messed up through the night like that and my dad sitting with me rubbing my belly. It’s one of my favorite memories (random, I know, but it was a loving moment with my dad). As a parent though I don’t know how my mom slept through that stuff! Zach said he’d take turns with me to get up but there was just no way I could keep sleeping! I loaded her up on pedialite and planned to kick off our first official week day of summer with a relaxing movie day 🙂
No sleep…yet all smiles!
I was worried it’d pass around to all of us but we stuck to a bland diet and no one else really got sick. Zach did a little, but not too bad. And even Britt never had any more issues!
He never complains about a movie day 😉
On Tuesday we hung out at home and enjoyed some early morning outside time. We don’t go out front a whole lot because the back yard is just easier and has more options of things to do but the kids like to go in the driveway to play in their cars and use chalk (Daddy said no chalk allowed on the cool deck in the back!). We had a sad realization that morning that Kye can no longer fit in his Cozy Coupe at all. Oh I could cry! I’m probably going to go ahead and sell it at the next kids sale because if we do have another son I’m sure we’ll want to get him a new one!
That afternoon we loaded up and headed to Hobby Lobby to get supplies for some summer crafting. With Tess still needing two naps a day I knew we’d have to spend a good chunk of time at home and I was very worried about the kids bickering all summer. Crafts to the rescue! I didn’t get anything too creative. I looked for cheap deals on easy stuff. Mostly just simple things to color or paint. I kept it basic so the kids could hopefully do a lot of it on their own without much instruction 😉 (meaning: a good time for Mommy to get things done while they are occupied!)
On Wednesday we had some friends over to swim! Robyn and her crew and Casey and Carter came to enjoy the pool and play together! It was SO FUN and just a great way to kick off the summer season!
My favorite thing about that afternoon was Kye and Lorelai. Robyn and I met when they were little babies. They are 1 month apart in age and were forced to be friends haha. We have pictures of them literally just laying on the floor beside each other. And now? They are legit friends who have SO MUCH fun together! It was so great hearing them laughing and creating games together!
Right now Cooper and Britt aren’t quite yet to the legit friendship stage…they are 6 months apart so I bet by next year the gap won’t seem as large!
LL was ALL about holding Tess. It was precious!
Mom Squad 🙂
If you’re a regular blog reader then you know that Tess has always been my bottle struggle baby. For Memorial Day Zach and I were going away for our anniversary and the weeks prior to our trip Tess started refusing the bottle again. Ugh. I actually nursed her at the swim birthday party just in front of everyone b/c she didn’t take a bottle. I didn’t let myself get overly stressed about it. I bought a couple sippies and figured we’d just go ahead and transition her to that but it didn’t work either. She also wouldn’t drink the bottle from Zach. When I got the pedicure she only drank like 2 oz.
We decided to do the same method we did before our Hawaii trip. Mrs. Charlotte took Tess a day early to help her get adjusted with the bottle before we left. She still refused the sippy but she did end up taking the bottle FINE for Mrs. Charlotte! I swear G-Mama has a magic touch!!!
Since Tess was having such a great time with G-Mama, Zach and I enjoyed some solo big kid time. Thur nights kids eat free at Atlanta Bread Co so we decided to go there and then hit up The Mix. It was SUCH a fun time! Sometimes the random times are the best 🙂
Kye’s getting good at his picture taking skills!
Every night I’m nursing Tess when the kids play a game so I always have to miss out! It was nice to be able to enjoy the game time with them. I haven’t actually gotten to play with them since Britt started playing games! I dread weaning Tess but one nice thing about it will be being able to be a more active part in the bedtime routine each night. We played Kerplunk! The kids got it as a gift and I LOVED it as a kid!
Zach and I headed out first thing Friday morning for our long weekend away together! So week 1 ended a couple days early 🙂 It was a great first week and really set the tone for what would be an AWESOME summer!!!
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