The summer of swimming

We've been up to a lot for sure this summer, but the one thing is for sure-- we've been making sure to get the most out of our pool pass! It's been a lot of fun and it's actually been the easiest summer to manage the kids at the pool. Jackson is can swim and is tall enough to go out on his own, Isabelle knows her limits and will play around, and Caroline is so timid she will barely leave my side. We typically spend a "two adult swims" at the pool when we go and it's the perfect amount of time to get outside in this dreadful heat!

The first day-- they're ready to dive in!

The kids often find friends to play with or we'll plan times for our friends to come play with us!

 There's still fun to be had when it's just us though!

Like sending silly face texts to Aunt Laura saying "Wish you were here!" 

Aunt Laura and Uncle Sebastian did take the kiddos to the pool one day. The kids thought it was the coolest day at the pool ever.

Each kiddo has made a big achievement in water confidence and skills over the summer-- including trying new water slides!

Jackson tried this slide on our 2nd or 3rd visit. He spent two hours that day climbing up the stairs, sliding down, swimming to get out, and then back up the stairs to start the cycle over again.

Isabelle tried out the tube slide. She's so funny-- she won't sit on the tube to go down! She would rather just go on her bottom with the tube to just catch her when she reaches the bottom.

Most days Caroline won't leave my side, but there have been a handful of times that she has decided to play on the little kid playground. Whenever she does play, she'll do it over and over for an hour. But if she's not interested, she won't even glance that way. 

Her favorite is when either big brother or big sister are there to play with her!

The cousins joined us at the pool this weekend and we still have two more weeks to cram in swimming time before school starts!

It's been a pretty great way to spend the summer! 

Family Date Night

This past weekend was a much anticipated pretty chill weekend. Our weekends have been full lately and so it was nice to be home without much to do. Well, Derek made quite an ambitious list of things to complete around the house so it's not like there was NOTHING to do. We put in some good yard and house work and decided it'd be perfect to take the kids out to dinner and a movie!

Some big news from back in February-- I won a year's supply of pizza from Pie 5 from a radio station. It's a cool pizza place around town that makes individual pizzas in 5 minutes. I can get 4 pizzas a month and it works out perfectly to take the family once a month or to stop by a few times on a lunch break. I haven't used my July pizzas so we headed out! The kids love crafting their own pizzas. Jackson's favorite is pan crust, BBQ sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. Belle likes a thin crust and lots of cheese.

Caroline just loves the freedom to sprinkle parmesan cheese on any pizza.

Jackson ate his WHOLE pizza.

We headed to the movie theater after dinner. I'm not a fan of paying for movie tickets for kids movies because we often just go to the summer daytime kid movies for $2 and opt for the new movies from Redbox or something. But as it so happens, when we came to daytime kid movie two weeks ago there was some sort of glitch in the system that delayed ticketing and so they delayed the start of the movie. The delay of the movie start time somehow caused some sort of problem with the system that they couldn't get it to start AT ALL. The theater was so gracious and we ended up with free popcorn and they comped us tickets to come back to see any movie-- so we planned to see The Secret Life of Pets! 

Belle asked to bring her pet Malcolm to the movie and was so excited that we agreed. She was going on and on about how excited Malcolm was because "he's never been to the movies before! He's going to love it!" He did accompany her in the girls restroom and informed the other patrons that he was a boy, but it was okay because he was just a dog. 

Family pic!

We had super comfy, reclining seats! 

See those little tables-- that's for ordering food and servers will bring it to you during the movie. We didn't order any food, but the gal next to me did get some french fries. Caroline reached over and snagged one before I even knew she was reaching! The lady was so sweet-- I was mortified! 

The kids loved the movie, lots of laughing. Caroline pointed out the "doggie" 9 trillion times and was pleased with herself each time she did.  It was a fun evening to spend together doing something we haven't really done much before.  only we could do it for $13 every time!

My sister's getting married!

I can't believe I left this out of my blogging recap just a few weeks ago! My sister, Laura, got engaged in March to a great guy who is willing to join our crazy family! The wedding is THIS WEEKEND! Woo hooo!!!! I can't believe my little sister is old enough to get married-- but let's be honest, I can't believe I'm old enough to have three kiddos and a mortgage!

Sebastian proposed on a date up here in KC so we were able to celebrate with Laura the very evening he proposed!

Laura made special invitations for the Isabelle and Caroline to be her "flower princesses." And I get to be one of her matrons of honors! 

Caroline loved trying on flower girl dresses-- but we're still working on proper dress etiquette. 

Laura had a lovely shower down in Springfield.

We got to shower her with love!

And Isabelle and Aunt Laura had fun making silly faces. 

Derek and I managed a fun double date at the yummiest pizza place downtown!

And Laura had another lovely shower up here in KC!

Mom gifted Laura the "You are special today" plate like she did for me! It's a tradition to use the plate for birthdays and miscellaneous celebrations.

I put together a collection of recipes for her of all our family favorite recipes. I kinda wanted to keep it for myself, but instead I just took photos of the recipes that I didn't have for myself!

Tonight we are going out for her bachelorette party and then tomorrow is the rehearsal and then the wedding is Sunday. It's going to be so much fun celebrating her and Sebastian!