Life Lately Volume 7 August 2018

School has officially started and I am back at my computer during Lucy’s nap after a little pause to finish the summer well with my people.  We did finish well and I am glad to be back in a good routine.

A lot of life has happened since my last life lately update (read here) so I picked a few highlights to share!  In between all the fun and go-go-going, there were a lot of down days at home too.  Of course, there was some discipline and a new word has been solidified into our vocabulary – exasperate!  ;). All in all, it was so fun to be home and our hearts are more full of memories than before so I call that a winner of a summer!

So here’s what life lately has looked like around our parts –

The first weekend of August we took our dear friends to the lake with us for the weekend!  We swam, we fished, we ate, we tubed, and more. All our kids fell asleep on the way home so you know it was a good, fun weekend away.

 

Then, on August 7th, we celebrated Solon’s 9th Birthday.  We spent the day with our dear friends.  They came for lunch and then we all jumped our hearts out at Sky Zone.  We ended the evening with Mexican food, ice cream cones and presents.  You can read more about Solon at 9 here.

Then, the day after Solon’s birthday I shipped my two big kids off to “cousin camp” at Nana and Papa’s house. They went to a water park, jet-skiing, did string art, tie-dying and a whole slew of fun activities.  We picked them up Friday night, celebrated Solon’s birthday and then all went to the Iowa State Fair together on Saturday!

You can read what we do at the state fair in this article.  It’s a fun family tradition our kids look forward to every year.  My favorites include the giant slide, seeing the baby animals, warm mini chocolate chip cookies, and beef sundaes.  Clearly, I go for the food, family, and fun!

We also hosted Solon’s 9th birthday party!  Solon requested a flag football party so Scott warmed up his reffing skills and we headed to the school park for a game of flag-football before coming back for pizza, cupcakes & ice cream and presents!  It was a simple but fun party!

We also did our annual explore downtown Des Moines Day!  This year we toured the State Historial Museum (which is free to get into), visited the Asian gardens, had Molly’s Cupcakes, walked  the Iowa Women of Achievement Bridge, ate at Ted’s Coney Island for lunch and finished our day, with a fan-favorite, playing in the fountains & streams by the downtown library.

Scott and I got away for a short weekend trip to Galena, Illinois.  It’s full of cute shops, restaurants, wineries, and breweries located on a quaint street tucked into the bluffs just off the Mississippi River. We had the best time laughing and exploring.  We even had a bat visit the restaurant one evening so we got free drinks and it made for a funny memory!

Then, we finished summer with a few more trips to the pool, visiting our favorite ISU student, and a few more playdates with friends and neighbors before it was time to head back to school! We now officially have a first grader, third grader and a little lady who just started dance classes.  Everyone is excited!

Vera – 1st Grade

Solon – 3rd Grade

Lucy – 1st Dance Class (age 3)

So, there you have it a little life lately.  I love doing these recaps because as moms we can start to believe we don’t do enough, make enough memories, you fill in the blank but that’s simply not true!  These little recaps and our bucket list help me to remember all the fun we do have in between the lazy days at home :)!  Now, Scott is back to reffing high school football and we look forward to a quiet weekend to rest up before our first full week of school next week!

 

Until next time keep on keeping on with a simple purposeful life!

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Linking up with Andrea and Becky – check out their blogs for more fun!