Back to School 2023!

 

Well, the saddest day of the year for me has come! The kids are back to school!! They were so excited and ready, so that's what truly matters!! 

They are going to have a great year! They are at incredible schools with the most amazing teachers and for that, we are so thankful!! Everyone rode the bus this morning, but Mellany's bus comes about an hour after the boys' due to staggered school start times. 

    

    

Kansas City, Malibu Jacks, School Prep!

The kids are back to school today and I'm trying to keep myself super busy so that I don't think about them being gone......Back to School always makes me so sad! I love having the kids home all day every day....But, I know this is not reality so, here we are! 

We had a wonderful trip to Kansas City last week. While it was for a super sad reason (my Uncle Brian's funeral), it was nice to see everyone 

My great uncle Ronald got to meet Finntin! He's 90 years old and just as sharp as ever! 

Brad and I also got to see Linda! Our sitter from years and years ago....we love her so much!

I got some niece snuggles...

And we all got some baby Finntin snuggles!

Uncle John tried to win over Quinn...

And the kids all talked us into ice cream at the Candyman...

Like I said, we got lots of Baby Finntin snuggles!

The kids took an adventure into the pasture with Nana and John

My aunt found this picture of Uncle Brian and I and the tears flow every time I look at it...

After we got home, we took one last summer adventure to Malibu Jacks! We met up with the Okos and Vincent crews and had the best time! 

Mellany is in middle school this year, so we went to the school to set up her locker and walk through her schedule. She was super nervous for the first day, but so excited too! 

Night before the first day of school....Mellany got some hair tinsel with our neighbor friends and we had our annual Brinner!!! Something the kids have been asking about for weeks now! 

Well, I'm off to cross of the next thing on my to-do list until it's time to grab the kids! (Not that I'm watching the clock or anything!) :) 

 

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!