Endings and Beginnings

Today is the last full day of summer break before the kids start school tomorrow.

I will have a freshman and a sophomore.  And everyone who told me the school years fly by was right.

For you parents of young children.  It's the truth.  When you hear others tell you, believe them.

It's both a curse and a blessing.

So today, we're packing it in, dentist appointments, practices, running around.  We'll all be exhausted when we hit the pillow tonight.

I did want to show you, however, a photo shoot I did about a month ago with Grace and Evan and Grace's best friend since kindergarten, Rebekah.  (I would claim her as my third child  :-)  )

Of course, in true Grace style, this photo shoot is already obsolete.  She's cut her hair about 2 1/2-3" and wants to redo her alone shots cause the first ones weren't her favorite.  We will add in some on the football field in her cheerleading uniform, and go from there I guess.

But these are my favorites from the session. 

The very last one cracks me up, cause that is true Grace and Rebekah style, and they'd love nothing more than to be "Famous!"

Happy end of summer all!

Summer Antics

The last post I wrote was May.

The beginning of May to be exact.  That sucks in bloggerville.

But this is the first time in seven years that I've worked in the summer. 

Up until last September, I worked for the school system so I had summers off with the kids.  It was great. 

Since I changed jobs I work throughout the summer.  The kids are old enough to handle things on their own, but my garden and house cleaning, and other projects have suffered greatly.

Hence the fact that I haven't written a post since the beginning of May.  My days off during the week are spent running kids to practice, having doctors appointments, getting groceries, or just handing those things that come up.

Ugh.  Such is life.

So, to recap in pictures, this is what has happened to us since the beginning of May 2015.


Evan graduated from 8th grade and is now a high schooler!

Our 4-H pigs require our time everyday, and have grown considerably since this picture, and fair is right around the corner...(THIS Friday to be exact.)

Jake has taken NUMEROUS naps on this chair on the porch, and at the beginning of June I picked LOTS of strawberries from the garden and made jam and froze the rest.  The rest of my garden has been slow going this year.

Grace's social life has taken on a life of it's own, and we had a visit from my sister and her family in June (all the way from South Carolina.)

I celebrated a birthday, Grace decorated my cake, started a new love of cupcake decorating, and got her drivers permit!

We've had a lot of rain this summer and have been blessed with several of these beauties.  Sometimes two at once!

And just a couple weeks ago, Grace and her bestie since kindergarten, Rebekah, and Evan and I headed uptown for a photo shoot.  They turned out great, but Grace has since cut her hair, and needs some new ones of her alone.

Whew.

Our summer is FLYING by.  After next week when fair is over, the kids have two weeks and then school starts again. 

Bear with us.  We might be recapping every season in pictures!