{week 37}

Despite the temperatures reaching the 90s this week, the air is beginning to feel a little like fall. Mornings at the bus stop require a sweater & we've been able to open the windows at night. And all the stores have begun advertising pumpkin flavored yumminess. So.hard.to.resist. 

This week was pretty low key. We've been outside a lot with the nice weather - and discovering a lot of really cool spider webs & different kinds of spiders. Cade is quickly closing in on 2 years old & has begun to assert his independence & share his opinions. Lovely, right? Especially when I phrase it that way. Cassidy earned an "Outstanding" certificate for her classroom behavior chart mid-week, a really big deal. She started back up with Kilometer Kids on Tuesdays & Thursdays where Michael volunteered to be a coach this session. Kalea started Little Stars, the U4 soccer team, on Saturday morning. Both girls are doing really well and seem to be a little more comfortable with their respective programs/practices this year. 

We snuck a {maybe last} swim in on Friday night & had the pool to ourselves for a hour or so. All three kids have come so far swimming this summer. Cassidy is swimming on her own in both the shallow & the deep end. She is still really tentative in the deep end but will at least jump off the side or the board & swim to the ladder. Kalea has no interest in swimming without her puddle jumper, but in the last couple weeks finally started jumping, assisted, off the side of the pool. Other than that she'll just putter around the whole pool playing & swimming. Cade is pretty fearless - with the puddle jumper on all.the.time. He'll jump off the side or the board, go underwater briefly, climb in the pool on his own (sliding on his belly) & loves being spun around or laying on his back to kick. We're really lucky to have access to such a great pool in our neighborhood.

Saturday Michael & I went out for a birthday lunch w/o kids, thanks to a friend who stayed with the kids for a couple hours. Then Saturday night we loaded up the strollers & cooler to head to a showing of Brave at the outdoor movie night at Swift Cantrell Park. We ate a picnic dinner, heard a story teller, got to see some neat camping supplies & meet Princess Merida before the movie started. And of course there were glow sticks to end the family night out. 

{I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees!}

Michael & I were could not stop laughing. A few weekends ago we spent a Saturday morning at Red Top Mountain, about a half hour from our house. The weather was perfect for a picnic, play & "hiking" - and by hiking, I mean walking from the car to the picnic area to the playground & back. It's a start, right? Anyhow, as we hung out at the picnic table, Cassidy started pontificating on nature & taking care of it & the Lorax. To which Kalea climbs up on the nearest tree stump...

...to do her best Lorax impersonation. It was a good one too, complete with finger wagging and that Lorax look. This girl cracks me up. Cassidy had to get in on the act too. Then Cade climbed up because, well, everyone else was doing it, but they don't hold a candle to her expressions. Hilarious.

After the Lorax lecture, we had a great rest of the day checking out the views...

and playing on the playground.

Next time maybe we'll venture more than a few yards from the parking lot! 

{week 33}

Boy this week was well documented!! I did notice that four of twenty-eight are of the girls sleeping. I think maybe I just wanted to document them when they were peaceful. And quiet. And sweet looking. And also quiet. Did I mention quiet? LOL! We definitely have a household of talkers. Cade has joined the ranks lately and just babbles constantly with a splattering of real words and a bunch of unintelligible stuff. Michael commented the other day that Kalea may have a future in news reporting or as a town crier with the constant stream of things happening (and imaginary things she adds to the mix). He may be on to something.

We made it through the first full week of elementary school this week. Everyone was tired by the end of the week (hence all the napping pictures) but Cassidy's doing really well. She even came home with her clip on PURPLE yesterday!  The little ones & I filled up the week with playdates - a friend or two over at our house and a super fun messy MOPS playdate at a friend's house. That one inspired us to have some shaving cream fun at home later in the week and then - GASP - let them paint on the garage wall on Saturday!!! You should have seen the joy and surprise in their eyes when I gave the green light to move from the big piece of butcher paper to the wall while they finger/feet/body/hair/belly painted. 

I've had a hard time lately finding the balance between parenting and letting go to let Thing 1, 2 and 3 experience things on their own. And making sure to enjoy it with them. I'd like to blame the electronics (I admit that the iPhone is a semi-permanent attachment) or "things to do" but truthfully I may just need to LET GO. (Sometimes, let's be real.) Let them make a mess. (Let them clean it up.) Let them play together and disagree, then work together to find some resolution. (Is this real? Does that really happen? Or are your kids like mine & things just escalate until there's an all out battle. Complete with battle scars?) Let them decide what the schedule is sometimes and don't force my agenda. I know all of that sounds well and good and I'll try. Remember my word of the year, SPACE? Well, as the school year begins, I'm revisiting. 

Michael spoiled me on Friday, while the Cassidy was at school & Cade/Kalea were at Mom's Morning Out by taking me to the Le Creuset shop at the new outlets near our house. We picked three items to start a set of nice cookware. I'm so excited. SO excited. I also snuck in a birthday pedicure - opting for fall color because our weather here has been unseasonably cool recently. I don't mind so much, but I would like to get a little use out of the pool this month before it closes for the season! 

We spent Saturday morning exploring the Dekalb Farmers Market getting yummy veggies and fruit, then splurging on some delicious cheese, bread, hummus and tabbouleh for an at home date night.  Then we headed to my old stomping grounds, Apres Diem, for lunch. Quite a different experience from a decade ago when I worked there, but fun none the less. What a yummy birthday weekend! 

{week 31}

The theme of this week seemed to be "lots of family time"! We started the week with the end of our staycation. On Sunday we went to the movies for the first time as a family. None of the kids had ever been to see a movie at the theater so it was super exciting. We saw Monsters University and they all loved it - even Cade stayed through {nearly} the whole thing. Then, on Monday, Michael took the day off & we went to Six Flags Whitewater. It's a huge - nearly 70 acre - water park that is just down the road about 20 minutes from our house. Although Michael had visited a long time ago, I'd never been there & neither had the kids. It.was.a.hit!!! There are tons of things to do for all ages. Cade & Kalea were most content in the sprinklers & toddler splash pads while Cassidy braved some of the bigger kid slides with Daddy. I'm sure it's something we'll do again {many, many, many, gouge-my-eyes-out-because-I'll-get-tired-of-it times} as the kids get older & they can be more safely independent. We picnicked for lunch & spent the majority of the day there. We ended the day with a trip out to dinner for seafood, since this was, after all, a replacement for our beach vacation. Delicious. Cade found a phone (I think it's honestly the first non-cell phone that he's ever encountered. How's that for a generational difference) & called Ming in Taiwan. Well, we pretended that at least! A fun and tiring day for all of us!

The rest of the week was pretty low key. Cassidy had her last Kilometer Kids practices, we went on a field trip to Publix {& got lots of samples} with MOPS friends (just like last year!!!), went back to school shopping for new shoes {of course both of the girls ended up with the crazy light up ones before I even knew what was happening. it's some sort of conspiracy.}. Cade was beside himself with the sheer number of SHOES in the store. It is, you know, one of his favorite words. "Shoes, mama!! Shoes!!!! Mama!!! Shoooooooooooooes!!!!!" Oh my gosh. He kills me with cuteness.

The three year old food battles are in full effect. Although only documented occasionally, it's thrice daily battle with Miss Kalea Lynn. She is just so SLOW. I was lamenting her slowness the other night when it took more than an hour for her to eat: 1/2 a veggie burger & a baked potato the size of a golf ball. I kid you not.  She kills me. (And also with cuteness. Just not in the moments I'm repeating, "Put your food in your mouth, chew and swallow. Sixty-ninety-forty-gazillion times.) My only consolation is that it's got to be a phase, right? One that every three year old goes through. Cassidy did. And we're destined to repeat in exactly two years with Cade. Oh man.

The week ended with an early start for The Run for Wounded Heroes here in Kennesaw. It was the culmination of Cassidy's summer training with Kilometer Kids and she did a fantastic job on her one mile race, not coming to a complete stop at all and only once or twice slowing to a quick walk. We are so very proud of her!!! Michael did the 5K portion of the race after the mile with Cassidy...and we're so proud of him too! We ended the day with fireworks that had been rescheduled from the 4th of July. What a week! 

{week 30}

Heading into week 30 we were glad to have everyone finally healthy. The kids attended Cooking Camp at the preschool which gave me a couple days to get things done at home & enjoy a little silence.

Cassidy continued practicing with Kilometer Kids for her upcoming 1 mile race. They had a practice 1 mile race this week & she did really well. And loved all the prizes after the race too! She also had her Kindergarten placement evaluation this week & did really well. She's a little nervous about a new school but we're all looking forward to school starting soon. I braved the "Back to School" crowds at Target one day with Cade while the girls were at camp. It's insane. Only 18 or so more years to go!!! 

The weather was really nice & the kids got to play in the backyard pool and water table a couple days. On Friday we went to the zoo with a bug group of MOPS moms & friends. I think there were something like 19 kids between all of us but group parenting worked out & we didn't lose anyone! It was our first visit since their splash pad opened. All three kids had a blast. It's much smaller than the one at Centennial Olympic Park where we went a few weeks ago which seemed better for Kalea & Cade, especially. 

The end of the week was really nice since Michael got off work early on Friday to start a little "staycation" going out to eat a new burger place in Kennesaw (Yes, burger place. The kids & I got quinoa burgers. They were super yummy. We're still vegetarian!) and going to a special event at The Southern Museum of of Civil War & Locomotive History. Cade was in heaven seeing all the choo-choos!!! A photog from the Marietta Journal captured a cute picture. We're couldn't find it published in any print papers, but you can see it online here.

{week 24}

Pennsylvania!!!!! After a long overnight drive the prior Thursday, we were happy to be in PA with lots of family. Michael stayed through Sunday, then headed back home while the kids & I invaded the luckiest place on earth I (see also the dozens of four leaf clovers found while we visited) for the next two weeks. Cade had his first John Deere ride, then I hijacked the lawnmover and mowed in peace while other people watched my hooligans. We picnicked with cousins & kids of cousins, ran into Great-Grandpa & Uncle David at the grocery store, visited Hershey's Chocolate World to make our own chocolate bars and swam & swam & swam. 

{week 15}

Over spring break we scheduled just enough stuff to keep us from driving each other batty, but not too much stuff that that the girls didn't get a break. We hit the zoo (& somehow have no IG pictures???), hosted a pajama playdate (where the kids destroyed their room & subsequently lost upstairs toy privileges for a week!!!), the kids went to a drop off playdate (thank you to my sweet friend for that break!), we did a couple of Pioneer Woman Home-school inspired science experiments, did some yoga, took a bunch of walks & bike/scooter rides & headed to Chattanooga's Children's Discovery Museum thanks to our friend Beth on Friday when Michael took a special day off work to hang out. Overall, a fantastic week. 

{july in review}

Hold on tight. We're catching up with the month in review. This might take a while!

The month started out with a sleepover at Gran & Poppy's house for Cassidy & Kalea. Cade spent the week being spoiled & treated like an only child by me & Michael. It was amazingly quiet with only one little person in the house.

creative use of the baby bouncer at Gran & Poppy's house

watching the braves game at a sports bar with daddy

walk to the park...first wagon ride!

only 15 & a half years until I get my license!

The following week the littles spent some time at the park, had a dance party or two, went swimming & generally acted cuter than ever.

daily dose of dance

watch out daddy, I'm stealing your dance partner

sleepy boy at the park

milk & finger mustaches

pool! the girls have done great at swimming lessons this summer

the cuteness kills me!

The following week we ventured to CatchAir, a local bounce/play/nuthouse of moms & kids, had a few more dance parties, decorated cookies & hung out in our neighborhood. Later in the week we met a friend at the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History where they have a fun weekly storytime. We closed the week with a field trip to see Ryan's flower shop (otherwise know as Brenda's House of Flowers in Woodstock!)

bffs. aww.

tasty? 

they turn out the lights & have a disco party. it's hysterical  watching the kids dance!

loved the ball pit

pool time with miles & melinda

silly girls.

decorating cookies...good for 5 whole minutes of distraction!

time for a walk. they dressed themselves. in 90° weather.

cassidy's buddy nathan at the train museum

storytime activities. it was beach day.

somebody had spaghetti for the 1st time. clearly a success!

ryan & his buddies at BHOF

The following week we kept ourselves busy with after dinner swing races, a last minute trip to Chattanooga to see BFF Sara & some other Spring Grovians, visiting the aquarium, taking a tour of Publix with some MOPS mommies & kiddos and then ended the week with the Lumpkin July pool party at Gran & Poppy's house. Never a dull moment!

we love the swing park in our neighborhood!

road trip!

choochoooooo!

chug-a-chug-a-chug-a-chug-a....chooochooo!

cassidy & SPY before dinner

feet of BFF Sara & Jackie. the tradition continues.

the rest of BFF Sara & her buddy

the next day he fell asleep in the high chair by 8:30 am. trains are tiring.

georgia aquarium

cade loved the tunnel

watching the 3D movie

looks like nemo...but is named depot! 

more swings!

upside down swinging

We love our Publix! They showed the kids all over the store & gave us lots of yummy samples!

gran's silly girl

sweet saige

kalea is one of the big girls

cade is SOOOO big!

can you find michael in this picture?

The final full week of July the girls went to Cooking Camp at the church where they go to preschool. It gave Cade & I some time to clean, do laundry, organize & pack. We did manage to fit in some silly time as well as one "ice-cream for dinner" night at Menchie's. Then we hit the road & headed to OBX for a week of craziness fun family bonding with 8 adults & 7 children, ages 4 weeks to 4 years. More of that to come! 

frozen yogurt for dinner?!? why not!!??

i LOVE kalea in pigtails!

monkey see. monkey do.

mini-me

cassidy drew a picture of her blankie. what an artist!!

we take a lot of pictures like this.

doing a trial run setting up our new tent

sleepy in the car during errands.

all i need to pack for the beach, right? 

guess who chose their own outfit?

how I cleaned out the fridge.

everyone in PJs & on the road for the overnight drive.

10 hours later!

More beach & August photos to come!