- Grant's Farm: Round 2 -

There was not one baaaaa-d thing about our day out at Grant's Farm! Cheers to summer adventures...here we GOAT again!

 

It had been about 6.5 years since our last visit to Grant's Farm [you know, the one where Harper ingested goat food pellets and also chugged milk from the goat milk bottles...........and lived to tell the story].  The kids were pros with feeding and brushing the goats this time around!

The highlight of the day [for the big girls] was a ride on the camel! Leave it to Grandma to buy them all the "extras" that Mom always tries to pass off with, "Not today, maybe next time...!" ;) :)

Stay cool, Grant's Farm! We'll be baaaaa-ck some day! 

 

- HI, SUMMER! -

The first week of "summer" was a litttttle bit of a drag...

...but after Scarlett fully recovered from her tonsil and adenoidectomy, we hit up Texas Roadhouse to celebrate the conclusion of a very strict 2-week soft diet. YAY!

Then! We ventured off to the Little Mermaid at AMC in town to celebrate good report cards!  It was both girls' first time ever at a movie theater [I know, we're basically raising uncultured swine under this roof], and of course, they loved it!

 

 

^^ Scarlett fell asleep on Brian's lap right before all the scary/violent Ursula business at the end of the show. Phew! 

Then! The Bubble Bus and lots of other fun booths came to Library Park to start summer off in style!

Then! It was time for a Memorial Day weekend BBQ at Brian's parents'...

 

Then! MEMORIAL DAY was here, and we considered that the "official OFFICIAL" kick-off to summer!!!  I read this somewhere online and shared it with the kids that Monday morning as we sewed and baked and played and got ready for a pool party:

"Memorial Day is the most expensive holiday on the calendar.  Every hot dog, every burger, every spin around the lake, or drink with friends and family...is a debt...purchased by others.  This is not about all who have served...that day comes in the fall.  This one is in honor of those who paid in life and blood; whose moms never saw them again, whose dads wept in private, whose wives raised kids alone, and whose kids only remembered them from pictures.  This isn't simply a day off.  This is a day to remember that others paid for every free breath you ever get to take.  Freedom."

 

 

^^ Harper got RULL FAR on her to-do list for the holiday... :P

We don't know them all, but we owe them all. Forever indebted to the men and women who fought for our freedom. Happy Memorial Day!  

And in conclusion:  HI, SUMMER. We can't wait to play in your sweet sunshine.


 

- End of the Year: J -

And lastly [but absolutely not least-ly]: Juli!!!  No "summer break" is on the horizon for the baby sister this summer, as she'll continue going to her normal Monday in-home babysitter throughout the summer months! But! She certainly didn't complain about partaking in everyone else's end of the year festivities and wasn't shy about sampling the celebration cookies at Scarlett's preschool graduation or ordering herself a Bobby's chocolate milkshake on the big school's last day of school! 

And the "kick-off to summer" neighborhood party complete with ice cream bars and cones of every shape and size? DON'T MIND IF SHE DOES.

 

Every day is a great day when you're the baby of the fam! We love this Future Bluejay more than words can say and can't wait [some day far away!] to watch her hit all the big days and milestones her sisters are living right now!

- So lonnnnng, sweet summer... -

I just scrolled back through the bloggity-blog to see where I "left off" with summer updates and events; looks like my last post was in May, which means I never even started summarizing summer... 

L to the O to the L, whooooopie daisies.

HERE IS A RECAP:

And edited to add*: AUGUST MOM

And that'ssssss the recap of summer 2022! ;) :)  

I joke! ...Sort of. 

Fo' rizzle though, I am always SO STOKED for the beginning of summer.  The thought of having my babies home and having ample time for this, that, and everything in between sounds so wonderful! There are so many great places to visit in our town and so much fun stuff to do for kids; I love taking the girls to the library, children's museum, pools, and everything in between! 

The end of May was our first sniff of summer!  We had lots of quality family time and saw lots of cousins; Juliette wore her first pigtails and Scarlett had her first real sleepover [aside from the many she's had over the years at Grammy and Papa's] and Harper lost her third tooth!

Memorial Day wrapped up May, and we hit the ground running into June with more cousin play dates! More evening adventures! More library visits and reading and crafting and swimming and playing!  Juliette learned to pull up/stand with support, Scarlett had her first ever dine-in experience at McDonald's [not because we are raising uncultured swine, but because COVID has had lobby dining shut down for years!], and Harper bought her first sports bra [which was an immediate MUST-DO action item after she saw her babysitter's 10-year-old daughter wearing one]. Scarlett attended the Princess and Knight YMCA Camp while Harper returned for another week of Totus Tuus at the parish.  Harper also took a sewing class with our neighbor and has been sewing things from scratch left and right!

^^ There was even one night after work this month that Mommy got a few hours to herself. Helloooo, happy hour with co-workers!  Life is so much better with these beautiful friends!

The first few days of July were jam.packed with gymnastics and 4th of July festivities, and then we scooted out of town for a family vacation to Florida! Princess autographs and Mickey pancakes were in full force for days and weeks after we returned from Disney!  We also picked up A TON of new cabinets for the house after returning from vacation [more to come on this in another post!]; Brian has been working on installing everything between his available evenings and weekends, and our house is officially a v. v. messy construction zone again! #fakeitilyoumakeit ...my new life motto.

When July came and went in a flash and the door opened to August, I realized we had to squeeze in all our last minute summer hopes and dreams...  We baked and made crafts, had a lunch/playplace date with cousins and friends at McDonald's, and visited the State Fair.

On one of the last days of summer break, the kids got to go to Best Buy and pick out their iPads......a VERY long awaited reward for completing a cleaning sticker chart allll summer long! :)

THEN!

Just.like.that...

...it was time for Back to School Night and the first week[s] of school arrived! 

ON TO FALL, which is the best season of all!!! :D