A Slightly Smaller Catch Up (June - July to date)

Well hello friends!  Look, look its only been a little while since my last post!  hahaha actually that last post was getting crazy long so I decided to stop and start new.

I forgot at the end of May, our air conditioning in our van went out.  $1500 minimum to fix it they tell me.  Forget it, I tell them.  Off to C.arM.ax we go.  So a few months earlier than we hoped, we have a new van.  Not as fancy of a model as our last one, but still nice, lower milage and it gets COLD!

June found us at the end of second grade for J.  His teachers had nothing but great things to say about him.   Nice to hear from others.  I never know how he is away from us.  You can only hope right?  He finally conquored reading around Christmas and is devouring books.  He is almost through the "Di.ary of a Wim.py K.id" Series and has finished several other chapter books in the meantime.  He adores school and I cant wait for this next year.  His school just got accepted to be a Charter school for Arts.  That means art of all forms will be a part of everyday learning!  This should only enhance his love of school as he is very artistic with drawing, painting and dancing!

In the summer, we have a crazy daily schedule.  I allow J to go to his Daycare about 2 times a week for big fun field trips (museums, ball games, tours, play zones, etc....) and the rest of the days are spent at his beloved Babysitters where Z goes.  Unfortunately, as she is self employed, she also takes many Fridays off in the summer. In past summers, I have struggled to fill these with a college age person at the house and then only when I needed to, fell back on the daycare for both boys.  This year, we just decided to bite the financial bullet and if she was off they both went to Daycare.  This does mean that to drop Z in for just one day a week is $94! (ouch!)  But it has resulted in a much easier life.  Sort of. I still have to check my calendar before bed every night to see who goes where in the am!  :)  Thank goodness for Google Calendar!  I can type it in on my computer and check it on my phone.  It also sinks to Husbands phone so he can see too.  Very helpful!

The Friday school ended, we started our summer adventures. We drove 3 hours to Door County, WI, and spent the night.  All day, Saturday we were with family at a reunion of sorts while seeing that beautiful part of the state, we left after dinner and drove 3 hours back home.  Sunday morning we woke up and I packed J for a week and we drove to 3 hours to St Charles, IL to my sister-in-laws home. She had agreed to take him for a weekn in addition to her 4!  And she babysits during the day!  Husband, Z and I turned around and drove 3 more hours home.  Thank goodness for the new individual DVD players my mom got for the boys in the van.  This was Z on the way to IL.

J did great, except for the 2 times he called home at night.  He was just so exhausted that he cried and wanted to come home.  But he didnt really.  But he did.  So we just decided not to talk and I texted my SIL for updates.  He was exhausted because they have a trampoline and a zipline in thier backyard, they went swimming at least twice, they went bowling, and to Se.venEl.even for slushies!  Whew!   Husband, Z and I went back Friday night, spent the night and stayed through lunch the next day and then headed home.   That was just the first week of summer vacay!

The second week, we were blessed to have my dad home and on vacation from work so every morning he came to our house as we were leaving for work with Z and stayed with J until it was time to go to Vacation Bible School at our church.  He then picked him up after and they had adventures.  They went to the library, to the Dinosaur Museum in Kenosha and got to ride the trolley.  On Thursday, as they were leaving my parents house to go to the barn to ride horses, J noticed a large fire at the neighbors backyard and told my dad.  They ran over to see if anyone was home, nope, and my dad put out the fire with the hose that was filling the pool.  J saved thier house!  They were so grateful they wrote a letter to him saying he was thier hero and gave him $25 to Cul.vers!  He was very proud.    I am very proud!  Here is a pic my dad took after the fire was out of J putting wather on the smoldering fence. Thats my parents house on the other side of the bigger fence so he may have saved thier house too!

July arrived and Husband and I took off on the Friday after the 4th for a 4 day weekend.  It was sooo nice. 

We bit the bullet and had our first rummage sale.  The baby stuff must go! We need to regain space and I dont think there are any babies in our future!  Apparently 4th of July weekends are not great but it helped us get prepared.  We learned some and I think will have another in Sept...when its cooler. 

We invested again in a splash pool for our backyard.  (They dont seem to winter well but the price is less than $100 and we use it A LOT) I also found a new Coast Guard approved life jacket for Z.  He loves it and is learning how to puppy paddle.  (I promise I was only out of the water for the pic).  

I think you are up to date on our home life and our cutie kids.  August is set with adventure already so I will do my best to keep you updated.  

Have a great day!