This is a long, fun recap so be ready! Week 3 of our summer was a blast! This post covers from Saturday May 30th – Friday June 5th!
Early Saturday morning I met Casey and Jordan to take Carter’s 1 year pics. It was so fun and I love how they came out! {You can see them here}
It was nice to have a down weekend as we only had a couple the entire summer 🙂 We soaked it up by just hanging out at home. Summers mean time by the pool and slushies!
I loooooove watching Kye and Britt from afar when they are together. They are becoming such buddies and their friendship is a blessing to them both, as well as to us as their parents. I love to hear them laughing and to see them sharing moments together that Zach and I aren’t part of. I hope we can always nurture that bond they share!
Picnic lunches are another summer fav!
As is swimming in our underwear (or in Tess’s case…just a diaper!)
During naps Zach and I had some quality pool time together. Reading and laying out and just US time which is rare and wonderful 🙂
During that weekend we divided up to have some special one on one time with the big kids! I went on my date with Kye Friday night (you can see that in the recap from week 2 here) so Zach took Britt out Saturday night. Zach always picks out her clothes and gets her ready for their dates and she loves it. She always has THE biggest smile and truly enjoys that special time with her Daddy!
While they were gone the biggest and littlest kid helped Mommy bake some cookies 🙂
Great minds…Zach and Britt surprised us with donuts for dessert and we surprised them with cookies for dessert. Hello spoiled children 🙂
On Sunday Zach wore one of his new suits from our Hilton Head trip to church and I had to get a pic! We got this suit from Banana Republic outlet for under $100. I think it was like $80? And we got the tie on clearance too! I LOVE the combo!
This girl adores her two favorite guys (well and Uncle Jordan haha)
I also snagged this dress in two colors from Banana Republic Outlet for only $6 each!
While we were in Hilton Head we missed Jolee’s high school graduation. While I LOVE that our anniversary is over Memorial Day weekend because it makes planning trips very easy…I also hate that we tend to miss out on stuff. We missed Colt’s birth, have missed his birthday parties many times, missed Trey’s graduation and now we missed Jolee’s too! We actually had a LOT of drama here in town surrounding graduation and there was a ton of security and even helicopters flying over the stadium to protect the students and families there that day due to some threats. So I probably wouldn’t have gone to the graduation ceremony anyway (I mean one of us may have gone and the other one stayed with the kids?!? I just wouldn’t have felt safe going with all the threats going on!) but I do hate that I missed it and that I missed the party celebrating Jolee’s accomplishments. Jolee has been through SO MUCH and I see so much of myself in her. She’s a person who doesn’t let circumstances dictate her path. She rises above and I know she’ll only continue to do so in the future. I’m so proud of her!!!
In celebration of her graduation Courtney, Casey and I planned a quick girls trip to the beach together. Jordan’s grandmother sadly passed away in the days prior to the trip so Casey couldn’t come along with us but Courtney, Jolee and I decided to still go ahead and go. With all of our schedules it was hard to find a date that worked and we worried we wouldn’t get the chance to go if we didn’t go ahead and do it. We missed Casey and hate she missed out but had a great time!
We hit the road on Monday morning and went to Fernandina. It took us like 4 hours to go on a 2 hour trip because Courtney had to stop to pee literally 8 times haha! Luckily we didn’t have any agenda and just enjoyed the ride 😉 We only had one plan: hit the beach!
First up though: lunch!
Beach time!
We got matching shell rings to remember the trip (and got one for Casey too, of course!)
We stayed on the beach for several hours then headed to check in the hotel and get ready for a night out!
Had to try out the pool first though 🙂
When I booked the hotel I wanted to book the same place that Mrs Charlotte, Casey and I stayed over Labor Day a couple of years ago. The reason it was the “must stay” place in my eyes? FREE FOOD!!!
Nachhhoooooosss for freeeeeee
The thing about not having Casey with us was that the three of us aren’t very decisive. Casey is the decisive one for sure! We drove around for awhile before finally picking a place for dinner!
I don’t remember the name of the place but the burger was good!
It DOWN POURED rained! Courtney was so nice to go get the car (foot injury comes in handy sometimes haha) so Jolee and I waited to make a run for it!
Had to stop for ice cream! Zach mentioned that we must have gotten ice cream at the same place he and I did on an Aflac trip several years ago (gah…blast from the past looking at this post!) since we were having dinner in downtown Amelia Island. I’m pretty dumb with geography and I didn’t realize that Amelia Island and Fernandina are the same place until this trip!
On the way back to the room I went to call Zach and for some reason looked up his phone number under my contacts. I don’t know if iPhones automatically do this or what but my phone synced I guess with Facebook and puts peoples Facebook accounts under their contacts? Zach isn’t on Facebook but I about died when I saw that it said he has a Facebook profile under the name Dan Magladonion?!?! We legit still can’t figure this out! Obviously someone used his email to create the account as a joke…but who? The only person we could figure was Jordan but he swears it wasn’t him. I also thought maybe Zach did it to be funny as Dan is a common fake name he uses when joking around. I just told him he got lucky that whoever created it used a picture of an old woman! If it’d been his face he would have been in some trouble trying to explain that one haha!
We had a fun night staying up late and joking around (and they made Dubsmash videos which I avoided being in because I was already ready for bed and no one wants to see that look haha!). It was a GREAT trip and I hope Jolee had a fun time. She deserves it and I’m so thankful for the chance to get to spend quality time with her and Courtney!
I got back home and jumped right back into the summer of fun with the kids! It was nice to have the little break and to enjoy some me time with some awesome girls!
Back home I decided to finally make a recipe I’ve been wanting to try for the kids. It’s yogurt bark and is SO EASY. Britt isn’t a big fan of yogurt and it’s also a messy thing to let Tess eat. So I just took a jug of yogurt and poured it on a cookie sheet (covered with parchment paper or wax paper). Then I cut up pieces of strawberries and put them on top. Freeze it and then break it into large chunks! It is Tess’s FAVORITE food! If you are doing Baby Led Weaning then I highly recommend making this as a less messy way to feed yogurt. I just cut it into small pieces (I found letting her hold it makes her hand too cold) and she’s good to go!
At Preston’s birthday party Ashley had the cutest craft for the kids to make: superhero capes! I got the instructions from her on how to make them and it was a GREAT summer craft for the big kids!
Zach recently went through his t-shirts and put a ton of them in a Goodwill pile so I grabbed a handful of them and let the kids choose which ones they wanted for their capes. l
Then I cut each shirt around the neck
And bought some stickers and fabric markers for them to use to decorate! I also printed off some super hero masks but neither kid wanted to make them! The capes were enough 🙂
Making their capes!
Finished products!
My superheroes!
They LOVE the capes…buttttt playing superheroes can quickly lead to this:
(so we don’t get to play superheroes for very long ha!)
Growing up I was raised with using placemats. Every meal we ate our dinner with a placemat. I naturally continued to do so as an adult and my children use placemats. I noticed that Zach’s mom never uses them. People just set their plates on her table and it doesn’t cause any damage or anything. I figured it’d make clean up easier to actually not have the placemat so why not try it? Um. Mistake. Turns out her table has some super finish on it that prevents damage…and mine doesn’t. Zach used a paper plate for a hot omelet and BAM. I now have this lovely spot on my table. We can’t figure out how to get rid of it other than just refinishing the whole table top?!?! Zach’s mom has a thing where she says stuff is a “memory” and will say “oops so and so made a memory!” I, however, do not want a memory on my table forever of that time Zach used a paper plate for his omelet haha! Any suggestions for fixes?!?!
Also this week in the world of “memory” making…Zach was out of town for a night and while he was gone Sadie got out. She is SUPER old (14) and is really just losing it. She has become quite the Facebook celebrity for our neighborhood group because she will get out, people will find her, and then post pictures of her to let us know she’s missing. Hello embarrassing! Kye and I had to go on a “Sadie hunt” that particular evening and were thankful someone had her. It’s tough to know how long she’ll be with us, each time she gets out (she’s been digging) I worry that she’s gone off to find a place to die. It was so sweet when Kye got her back and we are thankful for more time with her!
This week saw a lot of chill time at home which meant bubbles in the yard…
…and swimming in the pool!
When we went to Hobby Lobby early in the summer I let the kids pick some craft things for us to work on over the summer. Kye was really excited a make-your-own-puzzle! I let him choose between that and some sand art and he was all about the puzzle. Britt didn’t want one so Kye decorated the puzzle then let Britt see if she could figure it out 🙂
Kye is also trying to teach Britt about his favorite game: checkers!
(So far…no such luck on her catching on haha)
This week was also Carter’s first birthday! I seriously can’t get over it. He’s a TODDLER!!! It was so fun being pregnant with Casey but it’s been even more fun being mommies together 🙂 I love that Tess has a built in BFF! I put together a little picture collage for him on his day of the two of them together!
We have three Chick-Fil-A’s in our town, one is in the mall and the other two are on different “sides” of town from each other. Recently they decided to switch up their kids nights so one is on Tuesdays and the other is on Thursdays. Pretty awesome because if we want to eat out we have two nights a week that kids eat free 🙂 Parents of multiple children feel me on the free kids meals!!!
One of the CFA’s had Pirate and Princess night…so duh. We had to make that happen! Britt was THRILLED to get to wear her Anna dress and Kye was pumped to get out his pirate gear from his birthday party. I even found a random princess shirt for Tess 🙂 My trick for a successful CFA Family Night is to get there at 4:30ish. Let the kids play on the playground and then get our food right at 5 when the Kid’s Night technically begins. We beat the rush and the wild children who always tend to take over the play place 😉
Tess enjoyed crawling around
and her friend Kate was there to play together 🙂
I know all CFA’s are privately owned and operated but man we have some great ones here in town! They go ALL OUT with fun crafts and activities! The kids never want to leave 🙂
(Yes, Kye made a crown for Tess…such a sweet Big Bro!)
Something I love about Britt is that she’s never lacking in confidence. She put the entire eye patch together wrong but she owned it 😉
Princess Tess!
Even G-Mama stopped by for the fun!
I ADORE Britt’s happy face watching her pirate brother 🙂
All the kids had THE BEST time!!!!
I had a blast too until we left…on the way out I thought my bag was pinching my arm but then I got home and realized I got stung by something. I’m assuming a wasp or bee? Not really sure but MAN. I haven’t been stung since I was a kid and I didn’t realize how long that junk takes to heal up! It was really annoying. It stayed red and raised for several days and was even painful. I’m kinda glad it happened because I know the day will come when the kids will get stung and I will better be able to relate to what they go through and know better what to expect!
This week we also did a fun food “craft!” We made Rainbow Bread! It was my first time doing this and omg sooooo easy. Zach was shocked when I told him I needed him to get some white bread. I can’t remember ever buying white bread before? It was the first time, to my knowledge, that my kids have ever had white bread! But you have to have white bread to make rainbow bread 🙂
All you need is: white bread, milk, food coloring. Yup. That’s it. I put some milk in some ramekins and then dropped in some food coloring. Mixed it together, stuck a paint brush in it and let the kids go to town painting to their hearts content!
This was one of THE easiest things I’ve had the kids do and it was SO FUN. They LOVED it because it was art they could eat 🙂 We had special toast with it and did brinner one night with it too. They’ve specifically asked to do it again and I can see this becoming a summer fun agenda item every year!
For Kye’s FIRST birthday we bought him a water table! I’ve held onto this thing since then and Zach has basically begged for me to get rid of it. It’s pretty bulky to store and we have a pool in the back yard so, ya know, it doesn’t get used much. One thing you may or may not know about me is that I’m a borderline hoarder when it comes to saving stuff. I just figure I may use it someday and if I get rid of it I’ll regret it 😉 See Zach…we put it to good use! Britt can use it to wash off her feet when she gets grass on them haha!!!
Seriously though…I busted it out for Tess now that she can stand and I figured it’d be useful for times when the big kids were swimming but I didn’t want to have to get in the pool with her 🙂 Of course any time I get out a “new” toy the big kids take it over!
She was a fan!
It was a BUSY and fun-filled week 3 of our summer!
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