Our summer

Our summer has been a little different from summers in the past. 

1. I have older kids. It's just different with kids that are older. Can I get an amen?

2. I planned to keep it very low key. I wanted my kids to experience boredom.

3. We planned to help the kids become more independent. 

I think we accomplished our goals!

We had so much fun and made a lot of memories!

In early July, Tim's nephew and wife welcomed their first baby!

The kids took part in the summer reading program through the library. They read a ton of books this summer!

We also did a lot of swimming. The kids learned to swim really well last summer, so we did not have swimming lessons this year! We had fun just swimming! Yay!

C Girl still does not like to be in water where she can't touch the bottom, but honestly, neither do I!

B Boy is a certified fish! He has even been working on the backstroke!

We redid C Girl's room as her big birthday gift this year. This is a before picture.

More swimming!

Almost every Sunday in July, we have went together to the city pool.

Tim and the kids did a LOT of bike riding this summer. B Boy loves to go on really long rides with him. They even have code names for their routes!

C Girl LOVES to be in the kitchen. B Boy, not quite as much but we are still making him learn stuff!

We also had the kids begin really cleaning up the kitchen after meals.

The kinds of faces that I get from this girl. Sigh.

She is something else.

B Boy finally got to attend the Pokemon club at the library. He was in heaven!!!

This night, we had C Girl make dinner for us! She cooked spaghetti!

We missed doing a lot of hikes in the spring since I wasn't well. We had this hike on our summer bucket list (I love having these. We haven't checked everything off and probably won't, but it's fun to look at this list and plan fun things!) and this view was worth the trip!

And on the subject of my health, I am doing pretty well at the moment. The Humira seems to be keeping my Crohn's symptoms at bay. I am on a couple of other meds to help with some other issues I had been having that are not connected with my Crohn's. I'm thankful to be in a good place right now. I have been off of dairy for over a year now, but lately, I have limited my breads, sugars, and almost cut out soda. That seems to be helping a lot too. I had gained weight since my surgery in November and flare up in the spring. I had not exercised in a really long time. I've now began exercising again and with the diet changes, I am losing weight, but most importantly feeling better.

These two had a great dental exam!

Keith, Jessica and little P came for a visit! We have missed having them here with us so much!!!!

We went to the Amazeum one evening while they were here.

We all had a great time.

These three cousins had such a fun time together!

We can't not go to Target!

And we made a trip to Cabela's!

B Boy ended up going home for two nights with Keith, Jessica and P!

This was his first solo trip away from home!

They were like brothers!

Tim and I were able to have a date night on Friday night while both kids were gone!

These next pics are a little out of order. Sorry! Didn't want to go back and fix them!

B Boy and I met friends at High Rise one day while C Girl was at church camp!

I also finished her bedroom!

This is the day she returned from church camp!

The Friday while B Boy was away, C Girl left for church camp! She was thrilled that one of her best friends was going this year!

Some of the soon to be 5th grade girls!!!

She had so much fun at camp and I'm so thankful that two of my friends (who are the momma's of girls the same age as C Girl) went as counselors for this group!

She was thrilled with the changes in her room!

 Grandma and Pop Pop came to visit one day. They love to look at our photo books.

 Tim took B Boy to his first concert at the AMP. They went to see Chris Stapleton!

 Another Sunday at the pool!

I posted this on Facebook: I don't know how I got so lucky with this man. He's my best friend, an amazing husband and an incredible dad. I've never once doubted that we are the most important thing in his life. He encourages me, he's a great teacher & leader, he's funny, he loves Jesus and I'm better for knowing him! He works so hard for our family and I felt like sharing his goodness today! 

💗

It's now August and the slowness of summer is over. Things are ramping up with back to school, PTO, church and birthdays! More on all of this soon!