Summer Bucket List!

 It's one of my favorite posts of every summer.....our SUMMER BUCKET LIST!!! 

This year's list is much smaller than normal as I knew that May and June would be extremely busy, so I wanted to be sure we would have an abundance of down time also! With this list, I feel like we had a really great balance of adventure/fun and relaxation!

Strawberry Picking

Pretty much as soon as Mellany and I got back from South Carolina, it was time to pick strawberries. It was a whirlwind, but we got it done! Charlie decided he didn't want to pick this year....for him it was "boring", so he stayed at home while John worked. (Just another perk of John working from home!) I'm not gonna lie...cutting the berries and making jam wasn't as enjoyable of a process this year. I was under quite a time crunch with VBS and baseball and it just wasn't my favorite activity. Nevertheless, we have about 21 quarts of jam in our freezer for the year!

VBS

Another year of VBS is in the books! The theme this year was "Twists and Turns" (aka games). Charlie got to be in my classroom as did Mellany because she ended up being our classroom helper! Johnny was in a classroom with our neighbor and all his buddies but that class also rotated with my group; so I basically got to be with my own kiddos all morning long! It was wonderful!

We changed up the decorating guidelines this year and everyone only decorated doors....it was SO MUCH BETTER!!

The 3 of us have been able to have 7 out of our 9 kids in our classroom. 

Year 7 of teaching together in the books! 

Texas

See Post: "Texas Vacation"

McCords

Always a favorite for lunch with our friends!

4H County Fair

We spent a lot more time at the fair this year, studying up for next year's fair and what projects the kids would like to take part in, as well as supporting as many friends as we could. 

We even took Grandpa to the fair!

And we ended up with some pretty great swag from the Rural King table!!

Aviators Game

Johnny's team got tickets for the game and got to stand with the players during the national anthem and even got to walk out on the field with them! 

Library

We always love a library visit in the summer! I didn't get any pictures, but it was fun!

Swimming

We've swam a ton this summer, but I haven't gotten a single picture

Movies

We saw the movie "Elemental" and it was fantastic....the boys were just as excited about the new transformer movie! 

Camp Tecumseh

The kids had another amazing week at camp this year! Johnny and Charlie went to day camp while Mellany went to overnight equestrian camp! 

Children's Museum & Fair Oaks & Tea Party

Due to our last minute trip to Kansas City at the end of July, we didn't get to check these things off this summer. We are hoping to "complete" them this fall!

July!

It's been a hard week here at the Barrett house, so I'm gonna keep this a bit short and sweet! I will say it a thousand times over, summer is my favorite time of year and knowing that school is just around the corner makes me incredibly sad! But for now, we will enjoy every bit of the freedom while we can! 

Nothing better than Casey's pizza on a friday night! 

Out checking chickens one night and this sunset was stunning!

Another day, another kiddo selfie on my phone :)

And another picture of Winston

A bunch of us friends got to celebrate a 40th birthday!

While Mellany was rafting with our church youth group, the boys and I ventured to Sam's club and they had so much fun.....ice cream and an icee before lunch time was a HIT! Summer time = FUN mom! 

I found these Circus Roses at Sam's club and they were a steal of a deal and absolutely beautiful! Our anniversary was the day I bought them and these flowers are special to us and used in our wedding....so purchasing them was a no-brainer!

Charlie was in bed one night with me while John was out of town and when I got up it was so cute to see Winston so close to him and snuggling with his tiger stuffed animal.

Checking chickens while John was gone....the rooster keeping guard of the hens and another stunning sunset

The kids spotted deer in the pasture one morning

After swimming snack....Gibson's shaved ice!

Going on my morning walk and a couple of cute boys joined me

Taking the 4-wheeler for a spin...the kids thought it was so funny to see us on it together so Mellany took a picture....and I think it actually turned out pretty good. 

We've got a new baby in the family!!!!! My brother and sister-in-law added their 4th kiddo to the crew and we cannot wait to get our hands on him soon!!

Johnny and a buddy got to go mini-golfing and to eat ice cream with our children's pastors and had a great time! 

One of our most favorite college kiddos came back into town and told John and I to go on a date so she could spend time with our boys (Mellany was at camp) and then we could all visit after. The boys took her out to see the chickens and even got her to put one on her head....Johnny gave her his hat for "protection"

It's been a sad, hard week here because my Uncle Brian passed away Monday morning after a long, hard fought battle with cancer. He was pretty influential in my life and I'm so sad to say "until next time", but knowing that he's no longer in pain definitely gives me peace. 

I'm so thankful that the weekend is near, as is a trip to KC to be with our family! 

 

Johnny: #9!

Johnny is 9!!! Sometimes it is really hard to believe he is 9 and other times I feel like he should be so much older than that. I'm really not sure how I ever lived a life without my little "old" man! 

Here's a little bit about Johnny:

• Second grade had a few more challenges than first grade for Johnny but he eventually got the hang of it and really excelled. 
• Johnny is a typical boy when it comes to academic things....he can read very well, he can write well, and he does a great job at math, but most of the time, he just doesn't want to do any of it. And he will rush through his work quickly just to be done. He struggles a bit with spelling but found out that actually studying the words and working on them helps so much. 
• Johnny really didn't complain too much last year about homework, but this year was a different story. He wanted to be doing anything other than homework. 
• He is still a "protector"...if anybody messes with his brother, they better watch out.....if someone is messing with his sister, he's gonna let them know.....if someone is giving his best buddy Simon a hard time, Johnny is all over it! 
• He has a long "fuse"....but when his fuse reaches the end, you are definitely going to know it. He can get pretty angry. 
• He still says he's not getting married when he's grown up. His plan is to have a dog and be a police officer. 
• He has an "old man soul" ....his elaborate, monotone stories are the best and he just fits right in with the retired crowd. He can tell a story like the best of them.....giving you all of the tiniest details.  
• His belly laugh will make anyone laugh and is one of the very best sounds EVER
• He can take just about anything apart and will! He loves figuring out how things work...which usually results in taking things apart.
• He is the absolute happiest when he is riding a tractor, 4 wheeler or lawn mower and loves them even more if he can drive by himself. He is really wanting a mini-bike, but we have said "no" on that at least for now. 
• He can hear a sound from any vehicle and 9 times out of 10 can identify what it is (motorcycle, truck, train, firetruck, bus, etc.)
• He does not like to disappoint adults and it crushes him if he thinks someone is upset with him. 
• Johnny and Winston have a special bond. If Johnny is happy, Winston is there. When Johnny is sad or sick, Winston is there and Johnny immediately feels better when Winston comes around. They also get each other super excited and rowdy! Johnny has been a huge help with Winston....helping feed him, take him outside, gather toys, etc. etc. 
• If he's not really good at something, he easily gets discouraged. If he gets mad about something, he shuts down and needs some time to regroup. 
• He will play with pretty much anyone, but playing with his best buddy Simon is his favorite.
• We have realized over the last year that Johnny is pretty introverted. He would rather be home by himself instead of with a crowd of people out and about somewhere. If he does go out and is around a bunch of people/in a group doing something fun, he is fine during the event but then wants to come home and retreats to his room to play with legos or transformers. 
• His favorite shows are: Bluey, The Floor is Lava and Star Wars
• His favorite movies: Transformers and Star Wars (He has REALLY gotten into star wars over the past year)
• Clothing sizes range from 8-10 and his feet are still at a 2
• Johnny loves to help out....it doesn't matter what it is, he will happily help you with it! He has continued helping me in the kitchen as often as possible (dishes are his favorite but he loves to help cook too) and really has enjoyed helping John in the barn with the garden, lawn mower, etc. 
• Johnny absolutely LOVES breakfast! He will eat a large breakfast then not eat much for lunch or dinner. We've kind of started forcing him to eat through the day though because he's not real good at recognizing that he is hungry until he is "hangry". 
• His favorite food for breakfast is frozen blueberry waffles (or the twice a year donut-blueberry or apple fritter), for lunch he likes peanut butter and jelly, pizza rolls, a ham sandwich or chic fil a nuggets and for dinner he will usually eat a variety of things wether its pasta, hot dogs, spaghetti, rice, tacos, or pancakes...For snacks he really likes cheez-it and one of his favorite meals at any time is Scrambled Egg Sandwich. He's also really starting to enjoy a few drinks of Pepsi here and there. He will almost always choose a fruity dessert/sugar cookie over chocolate. He will try ANYTHING!
• He sleeps really well...he is usually in bed around 8:00 and will sleep all night. If he doesn't sleep through the night, he comes into our room and snuggles--he is the best snuggler! His stuffed lovie "Douglas" is still a favorite and he loves to line up his legos on his nightstand just before getting into bed.  
• He is our early riser....he is usually the first one up. He likes to have two ZBars while he sits in the recliner and watches a show until it's time to eat his actual breakfast and get ready for the day. If for some reason he doesn't get this alone time, he can be pretty grumpy. 
• His favorite books are: Dog Man, Elephant & Piggie and Pigeon Books, Bad Guys and Investi-gator. Graphic novels are his favorite!
• When he wants to (as with all kids)....Johnny follows a set of instructions very well and is usually very compliant with what he's been asked to do
• One of his favorite times is when mama comes home from the grocery store with bags of food....he is really good at helping me get the bags out of the car and carry them inside 
• He still loves to wear a hat and he pretty much lives in Under Armour clothes. Sundays going to church is the only time I am able to get him into jeans or khaki pants/shorts and even then he really doesn't want to.
• He truly loves Mellany and Charlie and plays with them very well. He wants to do anything Mellany is doing and loves showing Charlie the "ropes". He has really enjoyed playing with Charlie recently (mostly nerf guns)
• He has really great manners and is very helpful to others-holding doors open, letting others go first, bringing things to people, etc.
• When Johnny does mess up and it requires punishment we typically only have to take away iPad time or send him to bed 10 minutes early and the behavior is corrected. He really dislikes being in trouble and disappointing adults. 
• His favorite song right now is just about anything by Imagine Dragons
• After several years of asking and crying when leaving rural king, we gave in and built a chicken coop for Johnny to have some chickens. We got 8 chicks and one has ended up being a rooster we are pretty sure. Johnny has done such an excellent job taking care of the chickens....he checks them each morning and then several times through the day. He has cleaned out their coop and house with John without complaint and will go out to the coop to just sit with them. When we traveled to TX on vacation, he traveled with a chicken feather in his backpack hahaha! 
• Playing the Nintendo switch, iPad and playstation are things he really loves!! And he is honestly pretty good at them (he almost always beats John and I). But, we do have to limit the amount of time he plays on them because when he plays, he is "all in" and it is hard to come back to "reality".
• When Johnny is zoned in on something, he literally hears nothing else....it can definitely be a good thing, but also can be very "trying"
• Legos are one of Johnny's favorite things to do (besides video games). He could sit and put together a lego set all day long if he wanted to 
• Johnny really enjoyed playing flag football and baseball this year and did really well! He also loves taking Ninja classes and is extremely good at it...his muscles are super strong....he can climb, etc with the best of them! 

9 Year Wellness Exam

 Weight: 58 pounds

Height: 4' 5"

Johnny's exam went really great! He answered every question Dr. Fahler had for him from eating to friends to school to sports and general interests. We were in and out of the office in no time at all! So thankful for Johnny's health and that he is happy and active. 

We had some extra time before his appointment so we stopped in Starbucks for a little breakfast date. I'm so glad we did, because getting to spend some one on one time with Johnny just makes me so happy. 

The fish was super intrigued with Johnny's hat and Johnny was laughing hysterically

He really disliked being in the gown they made him put on this year

Birthday Celebration

Johnny had two requests for his birthday this year....Golden Corral for lunch and Malibu Jacks all with his buddy Simon. So, those are the two things we did after church on his actual birthday. It was so much fun to see him so happy at these two places! The boy loves a buffet and some video games. 

After being out and about, we came back to the house for cake and presents. 

Happy 9th Birthday Johnny boy!!!