Life Lately

Well friends, Summer is officially over. My girls go back to school later this week, and I find myself wondering how in the world Summer went by so fast! We've done our best to soak up every last minute; here's a little life lately for you! 

It's HOT here in Texas! Like, over 100 degrees, so we've been spending lots of time at the pool! 

Did y'all watch Descendants 3? The night it came out we had a pizza night and cuddled up in the living room to watch the premiere. And of course, the girls have watched it at least once a day every day since!

Bean bags, blankets, pizza, and Descendants.

Last weekend, we made a day trip to San Antonio. I had a distant cousin in town for the weekend, so the girls and I drove down to have dinner with him and his family. We drove down early and went to the Alamo. 

I've been wanting to take the girls since we moved here and we just hadn't made time, so this was the perfect excuse!

But, man, it was hot! 

There was a little re-enactment going on, but I think Adalyn just made the guy mad. She was touching everything and dumped out his little packet of sewing needles. We apologized and quickly moved on!

You can't take photos inside the Alamo, so we took a lot on the grounds outside.

I handed off my phone so we could get a picture, and it was horrible quality. I tried editing it to brighten it up, but next time, I'll remember to clean my lense before passing it off. #whoops

Also, the Alamo is tiny, but I'm so glad we went and the girls were able to learn about this landmark. 

After the Alamo, we met family for dinner at Mi Tierra. 

The food was yummy, and the girls had fun! 

Sigh.... we really are trying to break this little habit. 

But, it's times like this that I remember, she's my baby and the last I'll ever have. 

Gretchen had 6th grade camp last week, so I pinned her down on the sofa and forced her to tell me all about! She's so looking forward to starting middle school! 

The girls have had the best babysitter this Summer! We so appreciate all that she's done and we're going to miss her when she goes off to college :( She fixed the girls hair before gymnastics. #twinning

And after gymnastics (her hair fell down; sigh) we went off to Target and she talked the entire time! She was really soaking up that 1:1 time! 

Last Wednesday, I took these girls for a trim. They got little hair bows, braids, and glitter int heir hair! And, we only had 1/4 of an inch cut off, so you can't even tell they had it cut! 

And you know, we haven't practiced sight words all Summer, so we decided that we needed to! #betterlatethannever 

We love using Bob books for sight word practice! 

Did y'all know that you can trade in kids meals toys at CFA for free ice cream? Please tell me you know this trick! We love the books they give out, but we don't really need three, so the girls usually just trade them in for ice cream! 

She made Friday a pajama day and did a little coloring. 

And she helped me make tortillas for taco night! 

I'm going to brag on Gretchen real quick, but this is the 2nd time she's helped me cook dinner and she hasn't complained at all! She loves to bake, so I totally need to utilize her skills more. She also has helped me so much with her little sisters and chores around the house. She's just growing up so fast and has been an exceptional help lately! 

Also, pool time with friends is the best! We took one of her friends to the pool with us on Saturday afternoon and tried to survive another heat wave! 

Whew! We've had a busy few days but we're ready for school to start. The girls can't wait to see their friends and find out who their teachers are! 

Here's to the end of Summer! 

Life Lately

Well friends, we are on our final days of Summer. I have no idea how it happened, but this Summer flew by! We have been trying to soak up all that we can while we have a chance! 

We've spent lots of days at the pool! It's been hot here, so we've either been inside or in the water! These girls decided to bring their Barbies along with them. 

And when did she start looking like a teenager?

Gretchen has opted for some pool side reading. She's working her way back through one of her required reading list books. 

I didn't feel like making dinner one night, so I walked Gretchen through how to make spaghetti. We're totally going to have to do this more often! 

Last weekend, we watched a co-worker's daughter for a few hours. The girls had a blast with her and playing dress up! 

And on Sunday, we finally made it back to church! We've been out of town so much that we hadn't been to church since May. And yes, we still haven't found our church home here in Texas, but we're looking. 

Megan's gymnastics team had a performance at a back to school event, and her team did a fabulous job! She's loving gymnastics and being on show team! 

The girls totally rocked their performance! 

Her sisters were so proud of her! 

I came home from work, and these girls had had the best day with their sitter! We've been so blessed this Summer to find her. She's going off to college and we are so going to miss her! 

This girl has been needing lots of love and cuddles lately. She may be starting 1st grade, but she's still my baby! 

Last Wednesday night, we kicked off football season with a tailgate party. We invited DJ's student's over for dinner and tailgate games, and they officially started pre-season on August 1st. 

And on Thursday, we were back at the pool! This time, playing with our Barbies in the splash pad. 

I decided to take 4 days off and be home with the girls, and friends, it was so needed. We traveled a lot in July, and then I was gone for a week, and I was really missing spending time with and being with my girls. We definitely needed some time together apart from the business we've had. Slowing down and squeezing in girl time has been exactly what we needed. 

More pool reading time for this girl. 

We took lunch to the pool so we wouldn't have to leave! 

After pool time on Thursday, we came home, showered, went to gymnastics, and went to Zilker Park to their hillside theater and watched The Little Mermaid. 

We had to arrive early, and didn't really arrive early enough, but we passed time by taking selfies, playing "would you rather" and Family Feud on my iphone. 

Then we sat back and enjoyed The Little Mermaid. 

It was the most wonderful production! I wasn't sure what to expect being outside in August and hot as heck, but once the sun went down, it wasn't bad and the show was legit. It was just like being at a Broadway show. There were lights, an orchestra, and even bubbles. Megan leaned over and told me that she loved the costumes and Gretchen was glued in the entire time. I am so glad that I decided to take the girls even though it was a late night for us! 

That's a little life lately for ya! If you wan to follow along every day, you can find me over on Instagram. 

What I Missed....

Since I took a little blogging break for most of June, I thought I'd do a random little dump of what we were up to and what I missed sharing on the blog. 

Here's a little look at some of June, and a bit of what we've been up to in July. 

On Father's day, we decided to go hiking at an overlook here in Austin. It's right off Capital of Texas Highway, and the views are gorgeous. 

We often bring people over here (when they're visiting from out of town) because you can see the lake and downtown Austin in the distance. We always see people hiking, but we hadn't had the opportunity to hike ourselves. 

You park on the side of the road, climb up a few big rocks, and get this amazing view at the top. 

A lot of people just stop there, but we decided to hike about a half mile in, and we had some great little views of the lake below and then we found ourselves where the trail was getting more narrow, so we headed back. 

There's also a creek nearby, and you can always see people swimming in it, so we were hoping that there would be some hiking trails. There were a ton of people out swimming that day and the water was pretty, but we weren't prepared to get in. So, we walked along for a while near the water and still found some neat little treasures.

I've been working this summer, which is my first summer to ever work, so our days look different than they have previously. We have an incredible babysitter who is home with the girls, and I managed to squeeze my 4 day week in to 3, and I'm still home early enough that we get to enjoy the afternoon together. 

On this day, they were all dressed and ready for a movie together. 

This girl was so proud of herself for putting together the puzzle (do you see her little thumbs up?) She said, "take my picture and put it on facebook!"

Megan has been practicing her gymnastics hard, even though she's missed several weeks because of us traveling. But, she's nailed her front walkover! 

Before we left on our road trip, I took all of the girls to the doctor so we could establish with a new pediatrician here in Texas. The little girls stayed home and I took just Gretchen that morning- I was glad to have some 1:1 time with her! 

Then we met friends for lunch and had a sleepover that night! 

Two weeks later, and I was at the grocery store loading up because we had no food at home! 

Going back to work after two weeks off was hard! We needed some after work cuddles for sure! 

And, I finished a hot 3 miles last week. When I first started running in February/March, my miles were at 18 minutes, and last week, they were each less than 16! 

I was so excited to see these times! 

And, more after work and after gymnastic cuddles. 

Wednesday morning, we were all up bright and early. DJ had a huge computer update to do at work (he's technically off this week, but had to do it before the coaches come back next week) and I was playing catch up from missing the last two weeks of work. But, this girl had other plans. She woke up with a 100 degree fever, and of course, it's the one day that we didn't have a babysitter. We had planned on Gretchen going to work with DJ, and the little girls going to work with me. (It's super easy for the girls to hang out and play while I get my speech therapy sessions done.) Instead, DJ went to work and the rest of us stayed home. She just had this weird low grade temp and layed around all day. She also wanted me to stay beside her, and I didn't mind the extra cuddles :) 

This girl is always doing tricks around the house; she's balancing on a foam roller! 

On Thursday, the girls went to work with me and Gretchen went to the football office with DJ. They were so good while I finished seeing kiddos for the week that they were treated with.... 

ice cream! 

Adalyn has been in a 5 point harness because she still weighs less than 40 lbs. She's right at 39! We told her that when she turned 6, she could have a booster seat, so we bought her one and she's so happy! One evening, she grabbed her toys and told us she was going to just go sit in the car in her new seat! Ha! 

While Megan was at gymnastics, we got in some cuddles. 

And then Friday, we had a picnic lunch at the pool. 

Gretchen is finding all sorts of ways to earn money this year, so I told her we would pay her for each weed she pulled in the yard! She ended up earning $5.00! 

We went on a family bike ride to the lake. 

and then Sunday morning, we took the girls half way to Arkansas to drop them off with Gee and Papaw. Since I was leaving for convention, and DJ would be at work, we thought they needed one last week away. 

And while they were away, we had Date Night!!!!!

Whew! That's a lot of catching up I had to do! Thanks for sticking with it!