July Recap!

July was no exception on the busyness scale.  Mostly in part because of all the travel - San Diego, Colorado, MN but we still fit in fun at home!  Dance parties with friends!

Naps on the couch with Toby in Toby's bed on the couch!

Dance intensives with her bestie

Cool new shades!

Reading!!!

Playing 5 Crowns with the 8 year old who consistently wins!!

Dry ice fun with neighbor friends!

More dance intensives!

Pool party with other dance competition members!  Let's just forget that Trevor ended up with Swimmer's Ear after this.  Argh.

Chuck E Cheese with our bestie to wrap up a whole week of dance and Sophia fun!

Hockey!!  Trevor has decided that he is going to take a break from soccer and focus on hockey!  We are excited for him!  He LOVES hockey and is learning and growing in the sport really quickly with all the ice time he's accumulated this summer!

Daddy traveled for 9 days straight (including over a weekend) so we stayed busy with errands - like getting the oil changed in Mommy's car.  While waiting, Ashley discretely moved a chair over to the window, climbed up and did a bootie dance on the window.  Hysterical laughter ensued from everyone.  Where does she learn this stuff??

Movie time!  Poor Ashley tripped in the theater and went head first into a wall.  Nothing some ice won't heal!

Trevor is getting to be quite the chef, always wanting to help Mommy!  He's a great pancake flipper too!

We crossed off one of our bucket list items for the summer - Waffle House!

When the kids were in MN, Mommy and Daddy had some fun of their own checking out new places like JBGB, playing golf, getting massages at a new place, dinner at our favorite place, bowling, grilling out at home and pizza at Old Chicago.  

Mommy *almost* won in bowling but fell apart (she blames her tennis elbow).

And let's not forget Toby who spent a lot of time in his chair in Ashley's room when she was away.  Toby might get annoyed with all of the affection she gives him but he definitely missed her!!

MN Special Time for Kiddos!

In what is becoming a yearly tradition that the kiddos and grandparents alike love, they spent almost 6 full days together jam-packed with fun!  It's about an 8.5 hour drive from Bentonville to Owatonna and the kids were tired on the second leg of the trip!

When they got to Nana and Papa's they settled right into their favorite things!

Then Uncle Jim, Sam and Elena showed up and the cousins picked right back up from where they left off about two weeks ago in Colorado!  Trevor can't wait to pass Sam in height!

Uncle Jim left after dinner so that the cousins could have a sleepover at Nana and Papa's!  The next day was Crazy Days downtown so they checked it out!

After that they headed back to do some bike riding, eat lunch and have popsicles with the new neighbors!

After that they headed up to Jim and Annie's because Sam had hockey practice.  They got to play up there before heading back to Owatonna for special time with Nana and Papa.

Special time = Keeping very active...building things, playing cards, going to the Blast for ice cream, having soup for breakfast (!!), having Samantha babysit, playing in Mommy's old tent and lounging while watching shows with Nana.

On the day Mommy was set to arrive the kids and Deb (Sara's 6th grade teacher) checked out the RAD Zoo.  

The day after Mommy got there (boy did she miss the kiddos even though she and Daddy had a fun, long, kid-free weekend!), we all headed up to the Cities to celebrate Sam's birthday a little bit early.  Of course we check out Sam's Club quick and found this license plate LOL 

At Elena and Sam's the kiddos soaked up their last bit of cousin time!

Can't forget Cody!

Sam just got his first set of gear for tackle football!  He is stoked to move up to that level.  He and Uncle Jim helped Trevor with catching and throwing spirals!

And of course we had a water balloon fight!

Girls!!!!!

Happiest of birthdays Sam!  We thought we were pretty clever with his candles...7 + 2 = 9

The next day we stayed around home because Mommy didn't want to drive any more since they would be headed back 9 or so hours the next day.  So we made cinnamon rolls, checked on Nana's caterpillars, played outside lots, got Sara's car detailed by Papa, had magic shows, ate at Yellow Mushroom pizza, got school supplies, had Blast one last time, card playing (while in a stroller LOL), and lots and lots of football throwing/catching practice.  

We are so thankful for the kids to have this special time with their grandparents.  Trevor specifically already wants next summer's dates on the calendar. Mommy remembers going to her Grandma's houses every summer so it makes her heart sing to have the tradition continue.  Thank you Mom and Dad!!  Love you!