Summer Memories

The girls started back to school earlier this week, and Brady starts his first year of preschool next week. Before I inundated the blog with back to school pictures, I wanted to reminisce for a bit about our summer. The big highlights of our summer were obviously our trip to Georgia & Ormond Beach and our first adventure with camping, but so much magic happened in our simple days at home, too. One of the most magical things that happened at home this summer was that our kids learned how to sleep in! There were lots of mornings where the house was completely silent until about 8am, which used to be unheard of around here!

One of the hallmarks of our days at home was quiet time. Brady wouldn't want to take a nap if he thought everyone else was still having fun downstairs without him, so when Brady went upstairs for his nap the girls went up for quiet time in their rooms. Shelby would invariably spend the entirely of her quiet time on her bed reading, and Hadley spent about half of her time reading & the other half in front of her bathroom mirror perfecting her hair.

After the girls' quiet time, we spent most of our afternoons playing board games until Brady woke up.

I had the crazy idea one day to try running with Brady in the jogging stroller while the girls rode their bikes. We did this about 2 times a week, and it made not sound like that big of a deal but the girls had to set their alarms for 7 so we could be out the door around 8 before it got unbearably hot. We would do around 2 miles each day, and the girls amazed me with their endurance! They didn't always love it, but it was so good for all of us!

We have a little trail near our neighborhood that is flat, so the girls were eager to take their bikes there one morning as a change of pace from riding through our neighborhood. Even Brady joined in at the trail, and I've never seen him sweat so much!

Another big accomplishment was Shelby learning how to do the laundry from start to finish! For the past two years maybe, the girls have been responsible for sorting their clean laundry, folding it, and putting it away. This summer, Shelby learned how to do the washing part of the process, which was a fun milestone!

We also spent lots of time in our pool this summer! One of our favorite things to do was to eat an early dinner, then head outside for dessert & swimtime in the evening when it wasn't unbearably hot & no sunscreen was necessary! :)

{Derek randomly built the kids a bike rack one afternoon, and this was something I never thought we needed..but I love it so much! And the best part was he built it using scrap wood from previous projects! Sidenote--he also built those shelves (after he ripped out the old ones) in the background when the kids & I were in GA earlier this summer. So our garage has improved quite a bit this summer!}

{Brady was riding his bike to the mailbox with me one afternoon when we spotted Dada's red truck coming down the road! Of course Brady had to jump in with Dada!} 

We spent our last weekday of summer having chocolate chocolate chip muffins al fresco, Pump It Up, and a lunch date at CFA!

 

These last few pictures below were taken the Sunday before school started. We had one last night in the pool, then Hadley got braids in her hair after bath b/c she requested wavy/crimpy hair for the first day of first grade!

It was a super fun summer, but we were all eager to begin the new school year! The girls have had a paper chain countdown in their room for the past few weeks, so to say they have been counting down to the start of school would be putting it mildly. ;)  I think it's going to be such a great year for both of them! I'll be back soon with our obligatory first day pics! :)