Sleeping Bag Races

It is rainy here and it’s the end of June, so people are getting cranky. Like every single year. Get over it and have some indoor fun. I’m just happy to be home with my kids. Today we had sleeping bag races!

It started like this…

When I saw that things were going smoothly and they landed safely in the pillows at the bottom of the stairs, I went to vacuum. When I came back, it looked like this:

I called it before anyone had any injuries and we ended on a high note!

We also had fun painting the staircase walls and hallway upstairs. It needed it so badly! JT and Haley were great little helpers.

Now that I’m officially off for the summer, we’re getting done special projects left and right. I sealed the tile in the bathrooms too! I like getting it done early so I can relax and enjoy the rest of summer without a to do list. Hooray for time at home!

Movie Night

When we heard our friends Gracie and Tyson hadn’t seen Tangled, we just had to invite them over for a movie night!

Getting our pillows ready
So excited for our friends to arrive.
Everybody say “Tangled!”

Gracie and Tyson got a new car. It kind of matches mine. Aren’t we cute parked in the driveway together? 🙂

Heritage Park

If you have kids you know that a good park is a wonderful thing. Heritage Park has a huge play structure, a covered eating area, clean bathrooms, climbing rocks, and a large field surrounded by a walking/biking path that you can see from the field. We met some friends there this morning for play and had a great time!

Father’s Day Champions

You can say it: Kickball Champions of the World. Last week we had a double header during nap time at a different location. The kids played and I got Haley to take a nap on the field. Then we had some people from the team (who are also in our small group) over for a barbecue. It was fun!

Haley and Gracie have matching dresses. 🙂

Then, this week was Father’s Day and we had the kickball championship. We won!

Father’s Day lunch
JT smiling dutifully, Haley just woke up from nap.

That’s better!
In between games

My favorite player is the handsome guy at short stop. 🙂
Champions!

We stuck around at the park after the games and barbecued with friends for Father’s Day. The weather held out and we had a great day!

Kids at Work

JT is a great helper (so is Haley, but JT is more capable just based on age). The other day we did a bunch of work together. We are pretty much done with indoor playdates for the summer and our small group is over, so it was a good time to get organized. Both kids cleaned out their toys and made piles for garbage, give away, and gift away (that’s the difference between donating and gifting to a younger friend). Then during Haley’s nap I put JT to work. He did a great job!

“Mowing” the lawn
Scrubbing out the fridge
Mopping the kitchen
Organizing the play kitchen
His reward: play time with a new tape track in his room!

…and one random picture of Haley playing tea set.

Warming up to Summer

We have had some decent weather and are enjoying being outside again. Tonight we went and played tennis with three other couples while the kids rode bikes around on the extra courts. It was so much fun! We haven’t played in a long time so there wasn’t anything amazing going on, but it was a good use of two hours of a lovely evening.

We didn’t plan to be this coordinated!

JT has been pretty diligent in the watering. Our garden is doing well. We hope to harvest something eventually. 🙂 We have had one strawberry and can see tomatoes on their way. The flowers look beautiful!

We had to raise the seat on JT’s bike. Rather, he had to raise the seat. We broke out his tool box and he picked out the right size wrench and screwdriver for the big job.

Kicking Off Summer

We got back from North Carolina and had a one-day turn around for Jim’s birthday party, also known as “Kicking Off Summer” with our friends. With most of our family out of town for Jim’s birthday, he decided to just spend the day skiing on our favorite lake. We invited some friends for a barbecue for dinner and some of them came to play on the lake with us as well. We owe the Robertsons a thank you for letting us use their house for the fun on the lake, and my parents and thank you for letting us use their house for the dinner. My parents were out of town, so we crashed their house without their knowledge and sent them a text photo of all of us in their yard. 🙂

We got there early and skiied as a family of four. 

Then the Bonnells showed up with their new jet skis, which was super fun!

Love this one!
The kids went tubing. JT continues to love the water! We were also successful getting Elisa up on a slalom ski. It was a great afternoon.

Back to the house for dinner…

…and s’mores, of course!

Then the kids got a little crazy.

Which was followed by very tired. We let the kids stay up and watch a movie while the adults enjoyed the campfire. Soon it was 11:30 PM and the adults realized the kids were still awake. Needless to say, most people slept late in the next morning!

North Carolina

We’re home from an amazing week with my family in North Carolina. We spent 13 hours of travel getting there, and the kids were amazing. I was all prepared with two movies on my Kindle Fire, kid sized headphones and a splitter, new activity books, and car games. They watched one movie, didn’t touch their new activity books, and played one game. Better over prepared than under!

In the airport
Watching planes
Movie time!

We arrived at 3:00 AM eastern time, so we went straight to bed and slept in the next day. We had brunch poolside at my brother’s house and then enjoyed the warm weather and the pool!

 
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Haley had such a great time with her girl cousins. Ali and Madi played with her and even let her have a sleepover with them in their room one night. Our first night there, Haley prayed at bedtime “Thank you for coming to Aunt Gena and Madi and Ali’s house.”

JT really looks up to Preston, his 18-year-old cousin. They had so many adventures throughout the week. Preston graduated high school (our first purpose for the trip), was recognized at his Eagle Scout Court of Honor (our second purpose for the trip) and leaves in a few days for Army Basic… yet he spent tons of time with JT playing guitar, golfing, mowing, fishing, swimming, and more.

  

 
Sunday was church and Preston’s graduation. It was packed, but we had sent ahead a group to reserve seats for eleven. Preston graduated third in his class, so he gave a welcome message to open the ceremony.

We came back to an amazing dinner and gift opening.

Monday we spent a lot of time by the pool. My sister in law did a great job planning a vacation that included a perfect mix of activities and relaxation! In the afternoon, we had family photos taken by the barn. 
 

After our photo shoot, Grandpa Cole treated us all to dinner out. Because it was Memorial Day, lots of the restaurants were closed. But we found a great dinner at The Burger Basket, a local burger joint near one of my brother’s offices.

Haley and Uncle Jeff
Ali checking out the menu

Haley loved the sweet tea!
We think JT may have a hay allergy… his eye was so puffy!
Tuesday we went on a motorcycle ride. Jim’s parents rented him a motorcycle as a birthday gift so we could ride with my parents (each on their own Harley) and my brother. We rode the Tail of the Dragon on Hwy 129 (318 curves in 11 miles) and then home on the Cherohala Skyway. It was absolutely beautiful!

While we were off riding, the girls were making rice krispie treats and playing, and the boys went fishing. 

When we got home, everyone did a quick change and headed to a local church for Preston’s Eagle Court of Honor. Jim was asked to do the invocation. It was our first time at such a ceremony. It was really impressive!

Tuesday morning, I went with Ali to clean out her locker at school. It was perfect timing because when we arrived, they were having an awards ceremony (school was still in session but she wasn’t going to go because we were in town!). We walked in and, a few names later, Ali was called! She ended up earning three awards for having the highest average grades in her classes. I was so excited to be there for her awards and get to cheer her on!
Then we all headed out to a pontoon boat ride on Lake Santeetlah for the afternoon. It was over eighty degrees and lunch on the lake was a perfect last day. 

We swam and Preston took us over to a huge eagles’ nest on the lake. We got to watch the eagles and eaglets in their nest! Last, we headed over to a bridge to jump off. I’ve always wanted to bridge jump, so I was super excited.

Madi and me jumping off!
Tuesday night ended with s’mores by the pool, lots of laughter, and promises to see each other soon. The Coles will be here for their annual summer pilgrimage in a mere two months. Hooray! We miss them already.

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Wednesday we made the trip home in just over 12 hours. The kids were so great we decided to treat them to brownie sundaes for dessert before an early bedtime. They were excellent travelers and we got several compliments about how well they did on every flight. All that hard work parenting pays off sometimes. 🙂

Wrapping Up the Year

This week has been pretty full of wrap-up activities. First, JT had his last day of school. It was complete with diplomas, a gift of a new Bible from Mrs. Tina, and play time.

Haley loves to join the fun. She even played Duck, Duck, Goose with the class!
Red light, green light caller with his friend Dylan
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Then, last night, we had the AWANA awards ceremony. JT was super nervous to be up on the stage, and I don’t blame him. It was a big room filled with people!

Cubbies Buddies

Then, tonight, we had JT’s preschool end of the year celebration. Grandpa and Grandma Keene came up and took us out to dinner and watched JT’s class perform a song with us.

Haley watching from the back
On the stage: said his name into the microphone!
He was a little nervous in front of all these people.
Our celebration crew!
Grandpa and Grandma Cole are across the country celebrating with their oldest grandchild for a graduation too. More on that to come!

Singing in the…

Haley sings in the bathroom loudly while she’s… well… you know. I can’t wait to remind her of these adorable videos when she’s older. JT and I just smile at each other and continue on. This is two separate days!

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