A Summer Week's Summary

It's still hot out.  I mean, DANG HOT.  The {only} reason to step outside is to beeline to a pool.  Which we did three times this week. Monday we hung with homeschool buddies, my friend Amy and her kiddos, Brody, Mallory, and Sam. 

Anna was excited to be reunited with her friend Mallory.  They were in pre-K together, but then Anna went to public school this year.  This coming year they will be back together in the same class at Anchored Enrichment.

Noah enjoyed showing off some more jumping stunts.  He had to reshoot this one a couple times to catch it just right.

Tuesday we visited with Anna's bestie, Luci, from Union, but I failed to take any pics that day and am so mad at myself for that!  That tells you how much gabbing I did with her mom, Katie.  As a recovering introvert, I am really thankful for the easy friendships I get to enjoy these days.  Getting older and getting over yourself has its benefits.  Ha!  I made sure to grab some pics again on Thursday, however, when we met up with Karla and a bunch of other MOPS moms for a little poolside reunion or sorts.  Such sweet fellowship.  You'd never know it's been several years since we last met.  Except for how half the kids didn't remember each other.  HA! 

Synchronized jumps ... kinda.

Love Noah's tight little cannonball jump!

Within this particular MOPS group there are a handful of our current homeschool buddies.  Win, win!

  Noah, Cohen, Jonah, and Cole all enjoy each other's company every time they get back together. 

More "synchronized" jumping.

How fun are drippy wet, goggled kids' shots?  Way fun!

 
Don't ask me how my people can stand to get into the hot tub each night when it is stilllllll in the 90s at 7, but they do.  Check out Noah's goggle tan from the week's many swim sessions.

The days we weren't swimming, we were still hanging with more buds!  We had such a fine day with Cathy, Emma, and Everett, we hit the library with them after this.

By Friday, we were all worn the heck out.  That's Josh zonked out at 7:15 after a particularly long day in a particularly rough week at work. 

We were all crashed on the couch taking in an animated version of Lord of the Rings.

In other fun news this week, we harvested our first sunflower seeds.  And soaked them in saltwater overnight and roasted them!  They made the house smell AMAZING while roasting.  And then they burned to ash pretty much by the time I got them out.  Methinks I should have followed the directions and used a real oven instead of the toaster oven.  Will try again this week!

We have many more heads of seeds with which to do so, though.  Please excuse the flower pic overload this summer.  But, I mean, how is one not supposed to stare at such bold color and beauty?  How have I not fallen in love with sunflowers before this year in my life?!

I hate these ants, however, that are eating through the stalks and making all our sunflowers topple over halfway. 

And yet, still they grow, toppled over and all.  Look, triplets!!

We have been bringing in our sweet tomatoes, too ...

and I slice those bad boys up and enjoy them with homemade hummus on crackers.  It is a divine combo!

We harvested some more broccoli, but we can't seem to enjoy them because they have little worms with legs all up in them and it's too hard to get them out.  Nasty!  Ruins the appetite.  After this batch, I had Josh just yank up the rest of the plants, broccoli blooms and all. 

But it's alright.  I have so many pretty sunflowers to distract me from that gardening fail.

My favorite flower photo yet!  Bud AND bloom. :D

Noah also has some gardening success to brag about.  His second fly trap has formed and will likely open tomorrow, he has a third one just starting to take shape too, and his first one caught its first bug on its own last night.  Exciting!  Noah has done a good job keeping its moss/soil moist with watering every few days, and he and I have done a team effort as far as putting the plant out in the yard at night and bringing it onto the porch during the day to protect it from the direct light.  Noah has named it Burt.

This weekend, Josh took the kids to the science museum so I could get started on some school stuff without interruption. Morning well spent! Still so much left to do though; I am a little surprised at how much havoc adding a little Anna to my schooling groove has created for me. Gonna take this week to get everything situated and scheduled, gonna start the kids half days next week, and gonna go full time with our 2015/16 school year the first week of August.  Thanks to outings like this one and other academic summer stuff, the kids have already amassed 12 days worth of school as it is.  Love that!

And finally, tomorrow is Josh's birthday.  We went out for lunch with friends after church today and will likely go out for some birthday dessert today or tomorrow.  Josh opened his presents back at home, which - yes, included a stethoscope.  Don't ask.

It is just all the rage at our house right now - listening to lungs, hearts, tummies, blood vessels, you name it. It is just a matter of time before the kids try it on burps and toots. #reallife

Josh also got some glue from the kids for his workshop, a carving from Anna, some expensive coffee beans, and a screen cover for his phone ... which is already cracked.  Don't ask.

Only two more weeks of summer left to take in!  The kids are driving each other crazy lately, which is so not like them, so it really is ok to have summer draw to a close at last.  Plus, it means we are that much closer to football season, fall, and cool air again.  Please, Lord, let the cool air come.