Resting up for next visit

Summer so far can be summed up in two words, exhausting and fast. 

So exhausting in fact that my 10 year old fell asleep in my lap one night. THAT doesn't happen anymore, but I guess the summer schedule got him like....

I haven't been much on blogging lately, I guess I got the lazy summer attitude. But I certainly don't want to forget some of the fun we've had while we were in Indiana with our family.

We first went up for Father's Day, then turned around and went right back within four days. I treated the kids to fresh donuts on the way up, because donuts are a love language.

After we left on Father's Day, we knew we had lots more to accomplish.

For example, baby cousins that needed spoiling. Uh, they don't spoil themselves! And we said, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

But the spoiling isn't just for baby cousins, it's also for anyone that is under 4'11.

Heck, who am I kidding? I'm 5'5 and I still get spoiled too.

Like my mom doing all my laundry for me while I was there. Rude awakening to come home and Paul expect ME to do his laundry. Hmpf.

My dad is always like, "so where you going today?" And he's right, we are always doing something. One day we even got to meet up with Brittany and Emie and swim.

Brittany was in Louisville for an appointment, and of course she couldn't be that close to us and not see us! 

I'm always grateful for the time I get with these girlies.

But the kids are really most grateful for the extra time with their cousins.

They ADORE those boys, and even "the grown man" of the group gets out there and plays ball with them.

We had a great week.

Sweet memories made with their grandparents.

You know, grandparents who always sit and pay attention to their grandchildren. Right dad? (HI DAD, KIDDING)

We plan on getting back up there towards the end of the month.

But for now the memories will have to do.

And if you need us, we'll be resting up for the next time.

Making the best of summer.

It was four years ago that I took a very unsure Hope Elizabeth downtown to play in the fountains, you know for FUN! Even though she wasn't so sure about how FUN it was. 

It was hotter than hot and she just stood back and watched. Those things freaked her out!

But given time she finally jumped in and had a blast.

Fast forward four years. 

Brittany and I decided to take the kids to the fountains for an afternoon of fun. And just like my baby, Brittany's baby was thinking I DO NOT THINK SO. 

The other four jumped right in.

Free fun, it doesn't get much better than that.

But it didn't take Emie long at all to warm up, especially with her buddy by her side.

Boys.

You take them to play in water on a hot day, and they find a ball and decide a game of catch is a better idea.  SUCH BOYS.

But these two were in it to win it.

And it really was quite adorable.

Emie loved it!

And Hope loved that Emie loved it.

These two are just too much.

Finally the boys gave in a played IN the water.

Much better idea, IN MY OPINION.

Summer is already going by so fast!

And I'm bumming hard.

My summers as a child always felt long

Summer for kids these days are much shorter, and I hate that.

But hopefully we are making the best of it.

Baseball and Braces

Moving messes with your time reference. Oh and your brain and body. But for now I am just going to stick with the time reference thing. For example, I think one day last week we had our end of the baseball celebration? Maybe two weeks ago? 

BUT REALLY WHO CARES, RIGHT? 

Baseball is over, and there was a fun picnic to end it all. 

So many talented moms out there, but I AM NOT ONE. Hello, I brought the balloons.  Amy made these sweet buckets with the names of the players on them, WAY CUTE! 

And another mom went to all the effort to take pictures of each of the boys and then print these awesome collages for each of us. 

Love. 

Once we were there, Pierce was off with 678 other boys and I lost him in a sea of baseball outfits. So Hope and I just hung out and did fun stuff.

Even though she was a little horrified at this face painting. We were thinking small butterfly.... but you know, GIANT WORKS TOO.

The highlight of the evening for the A's was receiving trophies for finishing the season in second place. This was really a great season, with great kids, and fantastic coaches. Honestly, we couldn't have asked for a better one.

Sad to see the season end, but the end of that meant new beginnings elsewhere....

Pierce's mouth.

I purposely waited to schedule braces for Pierce until after the season because I remember the pain that braces can cause. I was in the sixth grade when I got my brace face. My mom had left for a trip with grandma, and I thought I was gonna die. I have a distinct memory of being in the lunchroom at school and taking of bite of something, when my teeth hit each other? Not sure how I managed that one, but it hurt SO BADLY. I wanted my mom, but she was on a bus with a bunch of old people. So dad had to do, I think he gave me Tylenol and took me out to eat.

I digress.

Pierce's time had finally come, and he was so ready!

Braces sure have changed since my day! Now it's in phases, and the process of getting them is pretty simple. Other than the keeping his mouth open for thirty minutes, he did really well.

And now my sweet boy has a different smile.

Pierce hates his teeth, so he's very excited to see the change. I think no matter what he's a cutie pie, but I'm with him, excited to watch the change.