First Days

First Day was even more of a blur then I thought it could be.

 
I'm helping out this year at Co-President for the Parent Club at school, and so we set up a first day coffee for the parents, and I missed getting some pics of the kids next to their desks.  But I did get this gem.
Nolan was over the top excited about his first day of Kindergarten.  (I was too!!!!!)

And Maeve mastered tying her shoes before school started, so another awesome step towards independance for that one!


Cannon ran off to join his buddies, and I didn't see him again until pickup.  Love that boy and his enthusiam for life.  And his teacher let me know about this classic Cannon quote.... "Only 169 days until summer.”

Brynn is excited to start her last year at school. Excited and sad all mixed in one.  Tough emotions for an 11 year old to sort out.

School is Starting

Less then 24 hrs until ALL my kids walk out the door wearing these little {and not so little} backpacks. Praying for a year of joyful attitudes. Thankful for another year at PHCS. Excited to watch them continue to grow in the Lord.

Last Minute Camping Trip

We somehow went all summer without camping, and that just felt wrong.
Rich got all the gear packed up, grabbed an easy (and super yummy) pizza from my favorite pizza place, and we hit up a one night camping trip.  Kids slept in one tent, and Rich, I and the dogs slept in the other.
 And to top off the weekend, we stopped for lunch at the coast, and enjoyed a yummy meal that I didn't have to cook......
Perfect time with my loves.

Date Night with my Love

Summer nights eating outdoors with just me and my love are one of my favorite things.

Summer Fun

This guy is by my side whether we are swimming...

 or sleeping....

Gravenstien Apple Season

My favorite time of summer. The smell of the dust, and the ripening apples brings amazing smell-memories back to me. 
Summers of being covered head to toe in the silty dust of my dad's apple orchard.  Tear streaked face from having to do our one dreaded summer task....pick a bin of grounder apples.  (1 bin = 1 ton = approx 2000 pounds of apples).
My sister and I would  spend and entire week working through the dreaded task.  We thought we beat the system when we would fill our buckets with dirt and dump it in the bin...not knowing that the dirt would just fall through the cracks of the wooden bin and get us nowhere.
When we were done, dad would pay us some crazy amount of money that usually covered any spending money we wanted during the summer.  (Looking back, he was a pretty good boss with that pay....)
Anways, back to the present.
Every summer, I try to get as many of those prescious gravenstien apples from the trees as I can. They make amazing pies, because they don't fall apart in the oven, and great applesauce because they are not too sweet, and great eating apples because they stay crisp and tart forever.
They're pretty much my favorite!

 

SoCo Fair Time

Having shirt eaten at petting zoo✅
Rides✅
Flower Show✅
Catching up with friends✅
Squeezing 6 into the photo booth✅
County Fair 2015 {survived}

Creepy Crawlies, Freezer Applesauce and Camp Coolia

Camp Coolia gave the kids the chance to get some hands on time with exotic animals.

 
 

 

It also gave me the chance to teach a freezer applesauce course for the girls.


 

 
 And it tired out this little guy so much that he actually slept in the hammock for a couple hours....
 
We love Camp Coolia!

Garage Sale

I skipped a couple of years of summer garage sales, so it was time to do it again.
Kids cleaned out their toys, I cleaned out my closets, the house...and the kids toys...again.
They made lemonade and I made cookies to sell, and the kids worked the food table.
I got rid of some of the furniture peices that I've been up-cycling, and that REALLY made Rich happy....