Summer Photo Dump: July Edition

Let's do this, July!  

I think I mentioned in the June photo dump, but any time we had a chance to go swim, we did.  We did swim lessons once again with Miss Donna at the very end of June and into the beginning of July.  She's so amazing with the kids, and gets them to accomplish so much in just a few days. 

I love exploring our local trails with the kiddos.

And, of course, a great way to cool off afterwards is stopping by the splash pad!

This girl cracks me up - one minute, she LOVES Phoebe, and the next, she's so over having a dog and yelling at her for scratching her or nipping at her.  But, she loved that Phoebe was all covered up with her, and asked me to take a picture of them together.  <3 font="">

After going to the gym one day, Gavin begged me to let him run around the track.  I wasn't able to join him in the run because my back was bothering me, but he took off around on his own, with Little Sister following behind.  He doesn't always love running, but I have this strange feeling he's going to be running track as he gets older.  

July is when Riley's obsession with a sleep mask began.  She got it while visiting Ohio (it was Aunt Briana's) and she seriously wears it every night now.  

We finished up our 7 month stint of gymnastics in July.  She really loved it, and had great coaches.  We're taking a break as we adjust to kindergarten, but I'm curious to see if she asks to go back.  Thank you, Coach Monica and Coach Valerie, for teaching our girl to be confident and persistent.

I'm not sure what this picture was from, but I love these goofballs.

We headed out late one evening for some impromptu ice cream, and Riley was already in her pajamas (an old ETE shirt that was Gavin's), so I threw mine on, too, so we could be twinsies.  I thought it was cute...Riley didn't.

One of the summer bucket list items the kids came up with was a breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  In all honesty, we put it on there because we anticipated stopping for breakfast on our way to Ohio, like we alway have done.  BUT....we had Phoebe, and I'm not ready to trust her in the van alone.  ;)  So, we went to our Cracker Barrel for the first time since it opened. 

Oh man!  One of the low points of our July -- we'd been cleaning out the toy room for a while, sorting what will go to the new house and what wouldn't.  Well, I thought Riley said I could sell the grocery cart, and she apparently did not.  So, one morning in late July, we were out running errands and then stopped to meet a lady that wanted to buy the cart...and she lost it!  It was then that Riley realized what was happening, and she was heartbroken.  I've seen meltdowns from this girl before, but I hadn't seen a meltdown like this in a long time.  She kept telling me that she 'didn't get to say goodbye' and I was breaking her heart on purpose.  She was so upset.  I knew it wouldn't last, but I will admit...she made me feel like I was a horrible mom that morning.  Over an hour of crying before I could get her to say she forgave me.  :(

She still loves to 'cook' and 'bake', and I love listening to her pretend like she's making YouTube videos like she watches all the time.

I pulled a tooth out! :)

 July was also when I went to my orientation for becoming a substitute.  I was strangely nervous, and actually still am!  That first job is going to be a really weird day, I'm sure.  But, I'm excited to get back in the classroom from time to time, and being able to contribute to the finances once again.

Near the end of July, we decided to bring Gavin's bike into the house to see if he could sit on it while watching TV to just learn to balance.  {Spoiler alert:  It worked.  More on that later...}

And a HUGE event in July 2016 - we paid our first babysitter for a date night!  Early in the month, our friend (who happens to be our pest control lady, which is how we met) called and offered me two lawn tickets to see Chris Stapleton.  I was actually able to convince Jarrod to go, even though it was on a weeknight (which meant he'd be up way past his bedtime!) and that we'd have to hire our first babysitter.  Amy to rescue - she recommended her sitter, and it worked out that she could come, and we headed out for our first concert together since I was pregnant with Gavin.  {Funny story - that concert was Brad Paisley, and his opening act was....TAYLOR SWIFT!}

Thanks for the tickets, Susanne!

And lastly...Riley and I had a little girls' day and went to see Trike Theater's performance of Little Mermaid.  It was super cute and we ended up seeing tons of friends there!  It was a nice afternoon with my little lady.

Woohoo!  July almost caught up....just need to blog about little Miss Riley's 5th birthday.  Coming soon! 

Hello, Ohio!

We were so excited to hit the road in July and visit Ohio for a week.  With the house situation, we knew we couldn't afford a vacation, so we thought we'd try to surprise the family with a visit to Cincinnati.  Of course, a 'surprise' like this doesn't work very well, so they did know we were coming, but it was still great.  We had pretty crappy weather for July.  It was chilly and rainy for the first half of the week, and when it did warm back up, the pool water had taken a hit and it wasn't exactly fun to swim.  But, we still made the best of it!  And, the best part....a week of Connor time!

 

 The boy is kind of a high maintenance napper, but that just meant I got to rock him and hold him while he slept, so I soaked it all in.

We had a lot of game time throughout the week!  Gavin found a new love, Whoonu, and rekindled his obsession with Uno.

Notice Gavin 'helping' his sister... 

We made a trip to Ikea and got some goodies for our new house.  I can't wait to see how the LED lights work in the kitchen!

We spent an afternoon at Aunt Sandy's pool and clubhouse area to celebrate a belated 18th birthday for Briana.  Unfortunately, we had to stay in the clubhouse since it poured the whole time.  But, we still got to watch Zootopia in their movie theater room, and played some pool.

 Just some quality family time!  We celebrated the 4th of July by watching Finding Dory.  Can I just say that I was slightly disappointed??  That movie has been so hyped up and we've been waiting for years...and it didn't quite live up to my expectations.  I was bummed.

Of course, we celebrated Riley's 5th birthday a bit early since we were there, and she was thrilled!  And spoiled!

Jarrod and Dad worked hard on an entry way table for the new house and corn hole boards.  I loved watching them work together.  And I love that we'll have that special piece in our hallway.  Thanks, Dad, for working on it with Jarrod.  xoxo

See, told you the pool water was COLD!

Vacationing is exhausting though, and Mommy won the nap war one day at least. :)

I had told the kids well in advance that we wouldn't be visiting the zoo this trip.  I told them it was going to be too hot in July to hit the zoo....well, Mother Nature thought that was hilarious apparently and we headed to the zoo on one of the dry days.  It did heat up while we were there, surprisingly, but still had fun!

And despite the water still being cold, we did swim after the zoo!

Enjoying some crafty time with Uncle Dave

And more Connor time!

I thought the kids would LOVE staying up later one night and catching lightning bugs like I used to do.  It brought back so many memories.  I loved watching my dad out there with them, trying to find them together.  I wasn't expecting them to be over it all after just ONE lightning bug. And I really wasn't expecting them to be scared of the silly lightning bug as it flew off Beepa's hand.  Come on, kids!!

I really LOVED spending an afternoon with Lauren and Angie and their kids.  I missed Heidi, and wish I could've seen my Beavercreek girls, too.  There's just too many people to see when you're in Ohio!  Thanks for making the drive from Columbus, girlies.  I love ya!

We had a family dinner at Montgomery Inn so Gavin could have some of Cincinnati's famous ribs.  The kid is obsessed with meat!  Afterwards, we hit up the new park in downtown for some family time.

And one last night of night swimming....before it was actually 'dark'.  The kids didn't think it counted, but it was like 8:00...so I counted it.  And surprisingly, that goofy Phoebe McFlufferpants never once tried to get in the pool.

Makeup lover, Riley, gave future cosmetologist, Aunt Bri, a makeover while we were there, too.  They both enjoyed that. :)

Finally on Friday, we thought we were going to get some good weather for a pool day.  Well, after we arrived at Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dave's, a huge storm rolled in so we had to kill time on the deck, but eventually got to swim and do some fishing.  More family fun...Loved it!  Gavin loves him some fishing!

We had a great week together!  Love you, Ohio fam!  Can't wait to see you again in November for our Merry Thanksmas tradition.