Back to School 2015

  

Summer Time

Ah, summer time.  We enjoyed a full summer this year.  Grady dropped his nap in June and we really appreciated being able to stretch out our daily activities.  For seven years, I have been racing home to fit that afternoon nap into the day.  It felt great to be off of a nap schedule!  We are also lucky ducks and we have Ryan home for a month during the summer. 

Below is a small snippet of how we filled our days.

 

Fishing.  Ryan and the kids started fishing this summer.  They did not catch very many fish, but they were sure excited when they did!

 

 

 

Water.  We swam and swam and swam this summer.  We used our pool passes, hit splash parks, swam in the backyard and visited lots of other community pools.  

 

 

Ryan's birthday.   We had a great time at Miller Park for a baseball game on his birthday.  The park is great for kids and our seats were amazing thanks to my Aunt Joan's friend!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another big birthday!  We celebrated Liam turning F-I-V-E!!

 

 

 

 

Go, go, go.  Many adventures with family and friends!

 

 

 

 

 

Animals.  Layla enjoyed another read with a dog at the library and socializing the many kittens at the shelter.  Grady has been helping me walk Howie more often during the days. 

 

 

Movies.  Our first drive-in movie!  We cannot wait to try it again next summer.

 

 

  This little stand was our summer favorite. 

We discovered we could bike to this sno cone shop and it easily became our favorite!

Here are Ryan and the kids on closing night.  

 

 

 And now onto apple orchards, leaves and pumpkins!!

Houses

This July was all about the houses! 

 

Ryan built the kids an awesome playhouse with their birthday money from Grandma Barb and Papa Pete.  Layla petitioned hard to have Grady spend his money on the playhouse too.  After a lot of convincing, Grady was in on the playhouse idea. 

I think both kids are happy with their choice!  

 

 

 

Here are the kids painting with our $1 Sherwin Williams paint. 

Thanks to Jamie for the tip to grab a can of paint from the mistint pile for $1 at Sherwin Williams! 

The kids were PUMPED to paint the house.  As a bonus, Layla can actually paint really well now.  Sweet!!

 

Finished product!  Isn't it adorable?  The kids went "shopping" in our basement and decorated the house.  Yes, the rocker and star were in our basement!!  We just need to grab some plants and the project is complete!

 

Another house!  Layla receieved a dollhouse from Joan and Ann for her birthday.  She also received a giftcard and money to flip the house!!  Layla made all the color, floor, wall and furniture choices.  It was a fun project!

 

 

So many choices!

Before

Before

 

 

During

 

After

 

After

 

And last, but not least, we turned over our first house to a new tenant recently.  Our former renters had been there for three years and took care of the place as if it were their own.  We are so thankful it still looks great.  And as a bonus to hanging onto our first home, the kids were able to explore their first house.  Grady was barely walking last time he was in the house.  Three years sure brings big changes.  I loved checking it out too.  It still feels like home.  We do love that house.