Back to School!

I knew the day was coming and that summer couldn't last forever...school is back in session! My house is way too quiet and orderly for my liking with just two kids home during the day..I told Jason its a good thing I'm "barren" because I would definitely be itching for a bunch more. Lily wanted to make treat baskets for her teacher so we made muffins and cookies our last day of summer, went to the park for a picnic with friends, picked out first day of school outfits and sadly had to go to bed before dark! And then the mad dash to get everybody out the door @ 8am with hair done, bellies full, cute outfits on without me raising my voice or losing my patience...I did get kisses before they got out of the car. I cried like I'll probably do every first day of school from now until graduate school..

 Little ones eating popsicles, waiting for the big girls bus

Back to school backyard slumber party campout!

 On our summer list was to campout in the backyard AND the girls have been asking to have their friends sleepover so...the idea of the back to school backyard slumber party campout was born. And because I can't just invite people over and hope things come together, I planned and created a theme and baked and organized to make it a super fun memory for the girls & their friends. They each invited a friend to sleepover, Harper & Haley had their little friends come for the evening and we:

Made our own trail mix
Made a picture frame for each girl to take home including a camp picture
Neighborhood scavenger hunt
Made smores (even though they were made in the microwave!)
Grilled Hot Dogs
Squealed and screamed at everything because that it was 8 little girls do

Lily & her friend were the loudest...Lacy & her friend were the calmest. No surprises there. Had to tell Lily & her friend to calm down a bazillion time...Lacy & her friend none. A super proud moment for me was when I heard Lacy say to her friend, "Now, we need to pray and thank God for our food before we eat. That's what we do at our house"

They were shockingly asleep by 11p, slept all night until 7a, ate a sugar filled breakfast and Moms picked them up around 9. It was exhausting but so much fun..makes me think I could handle more than 4...hmmm....anyway, I know we'll be having a lot more sleepovers & I'm totally Ok with that. I want to be the house that's fun, I would rather host chaos than have my kids at someone else's house.

 Make your own trail mix station

 Lacy & her buddy Claire

 Harper & Makayla

 Haley & Bella

 Peyton & Lily

 Making picture frames for camp pictures

End of Summer

Blahs today...end of summer is coming fast and I feel like a kid again because I know school starts for me too. No more unlimited time to have fascinating conversations about bugs or how they make glitter or building tiny rock towers at the beach.  I've seen each of our girls grow this summer, whether it be in their confidence in the water, Harper singing her heart out at VBS, Lacy's reading skills and her bravery in being the first one down the big water slide. This has been the best summer of my life and all because I get to share it with these 4 amazing little girls who teach me just as much as I hope to teach them. I also know I've put worrying about what our future holds on hold for the summer while I continue to pray that God will start revealing His plan but His timing is not ours and I pray to have a stronger faith in that.

Harper's bravery

Harper's new name is supergirl, like if you call her Harper and tell her, "Harper, get your clothes on" she corrects you and tells you, "No, Mommy, say supergirl get your clothes on" She's informed me that this her name until Jason gets home on Sunday. She said Supergirl is super brave.
Me, "Are you super brave Harper?"
Harper, "Yes, I am super brave"
Me, "How brave are you?"
Harper, "I'm so brave that the only thing I'm not brave about is if a giant put me in a bird cage and told me I was a birdie" Ummm.ok.

Lilys Olympic Commentary

Watching the cyclists this morning...Lily saw the motorcycles alongside the bicycles and says, "No fair, they're cheating"

Watching the swimmers, "Are they swimming like that without floaties?" with much awe.

"Do they like to get wet?"

And we're only an hour into watching it!

Summer in Pictures

Harper hanging out with Roman. Notice Roman is trying to still play Angry Birds while smiling for the camera 

Strawberry picking with our summer fun partners Lauren & Erin

Harper & Haley on their first movie day, can't beat .50 movies when you have 4 kids

A really fuzzy picture of all of the Clark & Newton kids, waiting for the train

Lily waiting for the train..Newton girls had purple backpacks, Clarks had yellow to make it easier to count kids..which we did ALL day long

Lacy & her soul mate Ava

Lily's picture of me. Jason made fun of my scarf all day, I kept telling him how trendy I was but now that I've seen pictures of myself with the scarf on, I agree with him!

Harper & Ella

Millenium Park Fountains...super fun but super stressful to keep track of all the kids in a huge mob of people

Surprise, surprise, Harper's booty is hanging out of her swimsuit!

Taxi ride...which is so exciting since no carseats!

Rainforest cafe for lunch

Giant mirrored bean in Millenium Park

Not sure where the Clark boys are, what Lacy is looking at, why Lily looks like she's going to marry that lego Woody but Jennifer's kids look good

Lacy's blessings

We embarked on a service project that our church does every summer to help fill backpacks with school supplies for families that can't afford them. Lily & Lacy helped me organize and fill our 5 backpacks today, while we worked, I thought it was a great opportunity to talk about why God blesses us and what He expects us to do with those blessings.
Me, "God has given us so many blessings and when you've been given so much, He expects you to bless others by sharing what you have. We have enough food, enough clothes, enough school supplies so we're able to give what we have to someone else who needs it"
15 minutes or so later.....
Me, "So, why does God bless us?"
Lacy, "Our blessing is that God didn't want us to sleep outside when it's winter time and it's cold and so we didn't have to build an igloo and sleep on the ice cubes"
Maybe we'll keep working on that one...