Weekend Wrap Up: Pool & Ice Cream Cupcakes

This weekend was just what the girls and I needed. We were able to soak up some more of summer, before we officially say good-bye to it in just a few days. 

Addy's teacher is still posting lots of pictures of her and her classmates throughout the day! I'm loving these little sneaks in to her day! I decided that I would save the pictures to my phone, and upload them on to my Shutterfly app, so I can easily make her a picture of her preschool 3 year old year. I'm also going to take pictures of her art work and upload them to shutterfly as well. This way, I don't have to keep everything, but she'll still be able to look back and see what she made when she was 3. 

Thursday night called for DIY pizzas. Megan and Addy both helped me while Gretchen did her homework! The girls were starving and ended up eating all of the mini pizza's. 

Later that evening, I hosted an essential oils class on facebook. I diffused some oils, poured myself a glass of wine, and got to work in the office, while DJ tucked the girls in to bed. 

Friday afternoon, the girls and I had to go to the grocery store. We went to a local neighborhood Wal-Mart, because I knew it would be a quick in and out, and they had fruit available for kids. Each of the girls picked a banana, but Addy saved hers until we got in the car and headed home. 

We drove past the local high school, and I rolled down the windows so we could hear the band play. Our local high school band performs on a national level, and I think they're marching in the Rose Parade this year. They are super good. 

The girls played outside Friday night while I cooked dinner. 

And then we called it an early night, got in our pj's, and settled in to watch a movie before DJ came home. 

Snuggles with wiggly girl! 

Saturday, I did some lunch prep for the school week! All of our fruits and veggies get washed with this fruit & veggie soak from Young Living! 

And Addy insisted on doing some gymnastics over my leg. 

Around 11, the girls and I headed to the pool. I was afraid that it would be too cool- the high was in the 80s, so we tried to wait until later in the morning to go- but it was so hot once we got there! However, the water was freezing! Being from the south, I enjoy "bath temperature" pool water, and it has not been that warm this summer. Gretchen decided she'd skip out on swimming, and opted to read and get some sun instead. 

But not this girl- she was ready to swim! 

Eventually, Gretchen did get in the water, and we had a picnic lunch, and then I had two girls laying out with me. 

And one enjoying some pool time. 

And then Gretchen did this, and I died at how teenager-ish she's becoming. 

DJ only worked a few hours on Saturday, so he cut the grass once he made it home and the girls played outside. He grilled dinner, and after baths, I went on a run. 

After my run, I was being held hostage outside of the house. You guys, I cannot stomach frogs or toads. I am literally terrified of them. I mean, they jump. AT YOU. 

We were all able to make it to church Sunday morning, and we listened to Bob Goff. He is hilarious, and I cannot wait to order his book. DJ left straight for football, and the girls asked to play outside after church. 

The girls are loving being able to play outside after church. 

And, these pictures may replace our typical Sunday morning pictures....... 

Once we made it home, it was lunch time and nap time. And you guys, this girl isn't sucking her thumb anymore!!!!! And she's not needing her ballet baby either! 

While Addy was sleeping, Megan was circling things she wants for Christmas out of the American Girl catalog. She is already making her Christmas list, and is insisting on a Baby Alive, and anything American Girl. 

Gretchen asked if we could bake something, so we pulled out our last Foodstirs box, and made ice cream cupcakes. Foodstirs is a subscription box program (but I think you can just order 1 or 2 boxes) and everything is organic and non-GMO. It's geared toward kids, and Gretchen loves it! 

PS: our cupcakes didn't turn out as pretty as the ones from Foodstirs, but my guess is that an 8 year old isn't making theirs! 

Sunday evening, we had dinner at football, and the girls were excited to see their dad and to watch the cheerleaders practice on the field! 

And then bam, Monday hit us all over again!

This week is a three day week for the girls, and I'm praying that Thursday and Friday will go by fast since we won't have students! And I'm already looking forward to another weekend! 

Our Summer Bucket List- Completed

Well, summer is officially coming to an end, so it's time to check off our Summer Bucket List!

Back in May, I wrote out our list, and we've been busy trying to check off as much as we could. 

~Head to the pool. A lot.

We've squeezed in as many pool days as we could! This summer has been busy and we haven't made it as much as we did last year, but we've managed to go at least once a week. 

~ Buy ice cream from the ice cream truck.

We've managed to catch the ice cream truck one time in our neighborhood this summer, and our girls got ice cream! 

~ Go to the Oklahoma City Zoo.

We didn't make it to Oklahoma City at all this summer. But, it's also been so hot that I don't think I could have managed a zoo day! I'm planning on taking the girls to the local zoo this fall and maybe we can squeeze in a day trip to Oklahoma City. 

~ Visit the aquarium.

Thanks to our summer reading program, the girls earned passes to visit our local aquarium and we went last week! Addy hasn't been since she was a baby, but all of the girls loved it! 

~ Go on a hike.

Again, it's been so hot! We haven't managed to get in a hike this summer. 

~Visit a waterfall.

This is as close to a waterfall that we got this summer. I wanted to hike and see a big waterfall, but again, we weren't able to. When we visited DJ's dad this summer, we headed to downtown Cherokee Village to this waterfall and took some pictures of the girls. The waterfall obviously isn't huge, but it's a big tourist spot in Cherokee Village. 

~ Take Gretchen to the Presidential Library in Little Rock.

Thanks to my mom, Gretchen was able to check this one off our bucket list!

~ Buy snow cones.

We had snow cones twice this summer. We have a truck not too far from our neighborhood and we were able to visit there, and then the truck came to our 4th of July bike parade in our neighborhood and we had snow cones again. Looking back, I could go for a few more snow cones!

~ Shoot fire works.

Done and done. The girls loved shooting fireworks on the 4th of July!

~ Head to the lake.

We were able to visit the lake twice this summer. I could totally live at the lake! We have the best time!

~ Try to get Gretchen up on skis. (Her daddy would be so proud.)

This girl will tube all day long, but she will NOT ski. She absolutely refuses to even try. 

~ Catch fireflies.

We stayed up late one night while we were visiting my mom, and the fireflies were not coming out at all. I think we saw maybe 5 that night, and they were too far away to catch. Thankfully, when we were at Silver Dollar City a few weeks ago, we were there late enough to see fireflies come out!

~ Go to a drive in movie. 

I think this one will have to be postponed until next year.  Our local drive in doesn't start until late, because it gets dark and after having a full day, it just didn't sound fun to me to lock our kids in a car to see a movie. 

~ Have a Girls Night Out to see Me Before You, and a GNO to Pinot's Palette. 

My friend, Lauren and I went to see Me Before You, and I cried all the tears. And some girlfriends and I headed to Pinot's Palette back in June! I love being able to squeeze in some girl time! 

~ Take Gretchen to St. Louis.

We nixed this plan, and instead we made it a family trip to Dallas. 

~Visit the City Museum in St. Louis.

See above ;)

~ Spend a weekend in Branson.

We had a fabulous girls weekend in Branson and the whole family went with my brother & his family back in June!

~ Silver Dollar City

We definitely checked this one off our list! The girls have had so much fun at SDC this summer!

~ Climb a mountain.

Nope. It was way too hot! But, I definitely want to take Gretchen to climb Pinnacle Mountain in central Arkansas at some point!

~ Spend a day at the water park. 

A few weeks ago, DJ and I took the girls to a little waterpark in Muskogee. They had so much fun! 

~ Have a pajama day.

Oh yes, we've had lots of pajama days too! 

~ Have an arts & crafts day.

We haven't had an official arts and crafts day, but the girls have done lots of coloring, writing, and work book time this summer! 

~ Help Megan to learn her Kindergarten sight words.

Megan is up to 15-20 sight words and knows her cafeteria number!

~ Brush up on Gretchen's spelling skills. 

We've practiced spelling a little, but not as much as I had planned!

~ Host a Flamingo party for Addy's birthday

Addy's flamingle party was a blast!

~ Join the library reading program

We signed up for the summer reading program in June and finished it a few weeks ago!

~ Visit the library. 

We've visited several times this summer and the girls loved getting to check out and bring home books!

~ Eat from the food trucks

DJ and I took the little girls to the food trucks in Tulsa once. It was so hot and we didn't stay long. 

While DJ and I were in Waco, we had the best ice cream sandwich from a food truck!

~ Head to a baseball game. 

We made it to a baseball game while we visited DJ's uncle in Frisco, Tx. 

~ Play at a splash pad. 

Does the splash pad at Silver Dollar City count? I had planned on taking the girls out to a larger splash pad in town, but we never made it out there. They did play in the fountains at the university though! 

~ Sidewalk Chalk Paint

No paint, but lots of side walk chalk!

~ Make an American Girl doll craft

So the girls love watching American Girl videos on You Tube and at the end of the school year, they were begging to make an American Girl doll craft, and then they haven't mentioned it again. So, we never did this one, and I'm not too sad about it! Ha! 

~ Lots of baking.

We made sugar cookies using a recipe from Gretchen's American Girl Cookbook. We've also made chocolate chip cookies and brownies, and we have some muffins that will be made before we head back to school!

~ Explore Oklahoma more!

Besides our day trip to Muskogee, we weren't able to explore Oklahoma anymore. We did a lot of exploring this spring, so maybe we can plan some day trips this fall. 

~ Blow bubbles

Just a few!

~ Have a pillow fight.

Nope!

~Make a fort. 

The girls have made lots of forts upstairs! 

~ Have a campout

We never had a campout this summer. Gretchen reminded me about it right when football started, and I told her that it was too hot now and she needed to ask her dad!

~ Make smores. 

Since we didn't have an outdoor campout day, we did have an indoor campout day and made microwave s'mores!

~ Ride bikes. 

The girls have ridden their bicycles a lot this summer and were even in our neighborhood bike parade!

~ Try a new restaurant. 

DJ and I had a date night and tried a new Mexican restaurant in downtown Tulsa.... it probably wasn't horrible, but it wasn't a new favorite. 

~ Family movie night. 

We watched Zootopia as a family together. 

~ Stay up late. 

So many late nights!!! I'm so ready to get the girls back to an earlier bedtime routine so I can have some downtime in the evening!

What items were on your summer bucket list??? Were you able to get them all checked off?

Weekend Wrap Up: Summer is Over

A big womp, womp...... summer is officially over and we are heading back to school! I go back to day, and so does Adalyn, and the big girls start back on Thursday! 

This weekend was filled with trying to get everything checked off of our list and done so we can start today off with a clean slate. 

Friday, I took the girls to the pool. Hopefully, it won't be the last time this summer- we still have some weekends and labor day. 

Unfortunately, Friday was cloudy, but we packed a picnic lunch and when it started to sprinkle, we headed home. Which, was perfect timing because Adalyn was fussy. 

Friday afternoon, we did some baking so we'll have lots of muffins and easy breakfasts' for back to school mornings. Gretchen was a big help! 

I found a recipe on pinterest for blueberry pancake doughnut-holes, and the girls love pancakes, so I knew that we needed to make them! But, I didn't have a doughnut hole pan. Thankfully, my mother in law had bought me a cake ball maker several years ago for Christmas, and I have never used it! To be honest, it totally intimidated me. So, I pulled it out of it's box, and it was SO easy! After the batter was made, I scooped some in each hole, closed the lid, and within 3 minutes, we had the cutest little pancake holes. 

We also made chocolate chip banana muffins. Which, definitely aren't the healthiest- but I could throw these in their lunch for a treat, or they could grab one for breakfast and pair it with some sausage or yogurt! 

Saturday morning, the girls and I headed to Krispy Kreme for doughnuts! They had each earned a free doughnut from the summer reading program at the library. 

There's not much better than a doughnut with strawberry icing and sprinkles! 

After breakfast, we headed to the stadium for Fan fest! The girls were so excited to see Captain Cane. 

And, then they all received tattoos from the cheer squad. 

And Meggie insisted on having her picture made with a cheerleader! She is obsessed with all things gymnastics and cheerleading right now! 

The girls bounced in the bounce houses, and then tried on football jerseys and shoulder pads. 

And then they played and we didn't catch a glimpse of the scrimmage. 

Do you guys notice the gap in Addy's teeth? While we were at the aquarium last week, she ran and fell, and chipped her top tooth! Her poor little smile will have that gap for some time now! 

Sisters, hanging out on the windowsill of the football office. 

After the scrimmage, we had lunch with the football staff and a little shower for one of the wives, and then we came home. Addy and I both had a nap, and Megan rode her bike outside and pushed her babies around in a stroller. Once Addy and I woke up, we rode bikes, and I pushed her around in her little car. DJ cut the grass, and we ended the night with the girls playing in the sprinkler and Raising Cane's for dinner. 

Sunday morning, we headed to church. The girls are loving their new classrooms, and I loved snuggling on some sweet babies this morning! 

And, of course, the girls wanted pictures by John Wesley again. 

Except, I almost called him John the Baptist.... it must be the southern baptist in me! 

DJ headed to the football office after church, and the girls and I headed home for lunch. Addy took a nap, I did laundry, and then we did some more baking. 

I had some leftover sausage, so I made little breakfast cups. I just scrambled some eggs, added some milk, pepper, sausage, and spinach, and baked these in the oven for about 15 minutes. 

Everything that I made went in the freezer! We'll just pop them out and in the microwave for busy school mornings. 

And, a little teaser for you! We made lemon-blueberry muffins, and I'll be sharing the recipe later this week!

So, that's it, that's how we spent our last weekend of summer! 

As always, it went by way too fast. But, now we can bring on fall, pumpkin, and football!