More Summer Happenings

We have spent a lot of time in the pool this summer. Usually by July I am burned out but I feel like we are still loving every minute of it. I can't believe we are already in July!

More swim team! On the night of the swim team party they had a money dive. They threw money all over the bottom of the pool and the kids got to collect as much as they could. It was a little stressful because it was hard to keep up with where my kids were with so many kids in the pool. They did great though and thought it was the best thing ever. 

This summer the women in our small group decided to get together each Tuesday and make lunches for MUST Ministries. We thought it would be a great learning experience for the kids. The first several weeks it was super chaotic but I think we finally have it figured out now and we are all enjoying it.

One morning after church we decided to take the kids to the mountain for a hike. Five miles later we were all nice and tired. During our hike we crossed over a creek and let the kids play in it. Hayes fell in and was soaked head to toe! He wasn't too happy about this but the kids loved getting that little break in our hike.

July 3rd we did our annual fireworks fun! There were tons of bounce houses, bouncy slides, a zip line, and a mechanical bull. Reese rode the mechanical bull and did the zip line. She had a blast! Both boys did the tall slide. They had a blast playing with their friends and watching the fireworks. That night they went home with Gigi and Gran for the rest of the weekend. They went to play at their pool and then went to a G'Braves game with them the night of the 4th where they got to see fireworks once again. 

We did a lot of cheering for the women's USA soccer team! What a fun championship game it was!! Reese particularly enjoyed watching these games. She said it was her lucky earrings that helped them win!

I have one more post coming of our Atlanta FUN DAY! 

Summer update

Wow! Our summer is flying by! Our June was consumed by swim team. Sam and Reese both swam this summer and it was so fun to watch them. Reese was in a new age group this year and she did great stepping it up. She had to swim fly in one meet and it was awesome to see her do this. Just like Reese's first summer swimming, Sam started the first meet holding on to the lane ropes several times on his trip down the pool. By the next meet, he swam the entire length of the pool with out stopping. We were all so proud of him. I think the kids favorite parts of the meet are the concession stand and hanging out with friends. Reese is so sweet cheering Sam on and congratulating him after a swim.

Sam decided to shave his hair this summer and I think he looks so cute! My only problem is it makes him look so much older.

I don't know if Lance and I went crazy or are now the best parents ever to our kids but we got two kittens. The kids had been talking about getting a cat for a bit. One day Lance and I were helping Becca and Tommy move and Tommy's sister said their cat had just had kittens. We went over to look at them and decided on one that we wanted. A few days later I was talking to a friend of mine who is a vet and she said we really needed to get two! Lance was not sure what to think about that. All he said was "TWO?". Ha! We agreed that she was probably right and went for two. We told the kids we were going to get them a few days before so they had time to get excited. Reese chose to name the black kitten Scarlett and Sam chose the name Chase for the orange cat. The kids were super excited and Hayes loves them! He is always carrying them around, hugging and kissing them, and talking about them. I say he is going to be their biggest enemy and their best friend.

We had a great day celebrating Lance on Father's Day. On our way to church Reese asked if we could go to the Braves game that day. We checked the schedule and realized the game was at 5:00 and that fit in perfectly to our day. After church we went to lunch at our local airport which has sort of become a tradition. We had a great time at lunch and got to see a Blackhawk helicopter land as soon as we sat down, saw a big jet unload and take off again, and tons of small planes take off and land. Hayes especially loved it! After lunch we headed home to have everyone take a quick nap so they were nice and rested for the Braves game. The game was really quick and after the game the kids and fathers were able to run the bases. We didn't realize how long we would wait in line to do this! We told the kids we would not have waited in that long of a line at Disney World! It was almost ridiculous! But they loved every single minute of being on the field with Lance running the bases.

Reese did camp at our church again this summer and loved it even more than last summer! It is a camp that travels around the southeast, going to different churches each week. This summer we hosted three boy staffers at our house and our kids loved it! The kids said they liked having boys at our house more than the girls we had last summer.

Sam played on an in-park Allstar baseball team. Sam's head coach was not able to be at one of the games so Lance stepped in to pitch to the boys. They get three pitches from the coach and then hit off the tee after that. I know Sam loved having Lance out there and I am pretty sure Lance enjoyed getting to pitch for that game. The picture of Hayes and Denver is of how dirty they would get at the games. One day we brought squirt bottles for them to play with and it started out as a good idea. That is until they started throwing dirt at each other and ended up a muddy mess. Sam had fun on this team for the summer and is looking forward to fall ball.

So this is longer than I thought it would be...I will do another update with more fun summer happenings soon.

Last Day of School

Sam has been out of school for two and a half weeks and Reese has been out of school for a week and a half now. We jumped in to summer with both feet! It is always so sweet to me to see the comparison pictures from the first day of school to the last day of school.

Hayes, of course, wanted to be in some pictures too!

The last day they were actually at the school they got to take a field trip to Reese's school for a tour. Sam was super excited about doing that. They took a tour and went through the lunch line.

And then the next day they had a class party at a local cheer gym. They had a blast running around and just being kids.

Sam with his lead teacher...

And assistant teacher...half way through the year she became the assistant after the first one had to leave. I was so worried about this transition because Sam LOVED the first assistant but this one worked out just perfectly!

For what ever reason, Sam's school did not have a preschool graduation. I was so sad about this because I loved when Reese had hers. Luckily his teacher was sweet enough to take pictures of the kids with caps and gowns! 

Finally it was Reese's turn! Again this year we sprayed the kids with water guns as they got off the bus and the boys were so excited! I also made some sponge bombs instead of water balloons. The kids had fun throwing those at each other and I didn't see my hard work disappear in two seconds.

Reese and her teacher...I was a little nervous at the beginning of this year because this was her teacher's very first year! But Reese loved her and I can't believe we are headed towards third grade! Third grade is the first year that I really remember! I remember bits and pieces of years before that but third grade is a big year!

We are so excited about summer being here and trying to enjoy our days! The big kids both started swim team a week or so before school got out. The water is super cold but they are loving it! Their first swim meet was cancelled due to the weather but they are ready to try again. 

*I got a new computer and now I am having to use blogger again...I hate using it to edit my blog. Sorry for all the layout issues. I am still trying to figure this thing out.