first day of school 2016

August 10, 2016

Today, our babies our off for their first days of second grade and kindergarten. 

 My house is empty now for the first time in almost eight years. 

So while I try to not let the silence I have been dreaming about all summer deafen me today, I will be looking at their smiling faces from this morning and saying prayers that they have a great day in their new classrooms. They are both so excited for their new year, their new teachers, and the friends that will be in class with them. I know they will have an awesome year and can't wait until this afternoon when I can hear all about their day!

sunday snapshots

August 7, 2016

harper's pony party

Last Friday, we celebrated our favorite animal-loving girl with a party at Pony Tales Farm.

She had gone to a week long camp there this summer and it was all she could talk about...she couldn't wait to come back with her friends to party!

Ready to go!

Happy Birthday Harper!

We had the party at 10:00 in the morning so snacks were light and simple.

 Andy made her a sign out of an old palette and rope that turned out so cute...

 The kids had hay bale rice krispie treats, apple slices, carrots, popcorn, pretzels, and goldfish. 

Each girl got to leave with a set of pony tail elastics as their favor.

 For sweet treats, we had powdered donuts and my sister made her yummy cookies.

 Outside of the food and ponies, I think the John Deere Gator won the prize for best attraction ;)

Andy was in charge of driving gator loads of kids on paths throughout the property and he had a line of kids waiting for the entire morning. 

{he also told me later this was the most fun he's ever had at one of our kids' birthday parties ;) }

 I loved these pictures and the BIG smiles on their faces!

 When they weren't riding the gator, they were riding the ponies ;)

 They could also do a zipline and pet/groom the other horses and animals in the barns (Harper's favorite was Peppa the pig who kept trying to raid our snack table).

Harper and Avery exploring the hay loft.

 This picture makes me laugh every time and sums up Harper's mood about her party being over ;) 

One of these years I will remember to take a group photo at the beginning of the party and not the end ;)

Harper, we hope you had the best time at your pony party!

And THANK YOU to our friends and family for making our girl feel so special!

happy birthday harper

Today this sweet, sassy, and spunky girl of ours turned five!

Her requests for today were very simple.

Pancakes for breakfast...

A morning playing with her presents...

(it was all about the dolls this year)

 This afternoon we went to see Secret Life of Pets, which has been on the kids' list all summer. She picked out a few treats to eat there and was as happy as could be. 

Tonight we had all our family over for dinner and cake to celebrate. 

We were also able to celebrate my dad's birthday, which was on the 2nd. 

Harper Jane, we love you and love to celebrate the girl you are becoming. 

You brighten our days with your smile and your laugh and we are so proud of how sweet and brave you are. 

Happy 5th, big girl!

uk basketball camp

On July 30th, Jackson had his last camp for the summer at the Devon Booker shooting camp at UK.

He was so excited to go play with the Wildcats!

 Although his three chaperones may have been a little more excited ;)

 The camp was held at the Craft Center which is the practice facility for the team. 

Registration started a few hours before camp so they had the chance to look around before getting started. They were able to see the main offices, the locker room, the weight room, and some of the lounge areas the players use to hang out and watch tapes before games. 

 The camp itself was about three hours long and Jackson got to run through the drills with all the current UK players and get tips from them. He was a little nervous before he left but Andy said he did great and the camp was one of the coolest things he has ever experienced. They do this every summer and we hope Jackson can go back again! 

After the sessions, each of the campers could get autographs from all the players and coaches they worked with. I think Jackson will have a new perspective watching basketball this season and seeing his "buddies" play! 

july phone dump

This and that from July...

Our Fourth of July was a soggy one. 

Although you can see that it didn't slow us down one bit ;)

 The Fourth is always one of my favorite days of summer since we spend it in our court with all of neighbors who have become so much more in the past three years. We all had a fun night of food, play, and fireworks. 

Before the rain..

Clarabelle, Milly, Kathryn, Harper, Belle, and Madelyn

 We've had some beautiful park days...

 And fun with friends when the rain sent us inside. 

On this particular day, the girls were at Madalyn's art camp at her house so I took the boys out for open gym and ice cream.

 Jackson, Drew, and Hayden

 Mid-month, Jackson tried golf for the first time at a camp with some buddies from school.

 I think they all had a good time and learned a lot!

Drew, Will, Drew, and Jackson

 On the 17th, Andy and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary.

We went out to dinner on a Friday night and then he drove me to Indy on that Saturday to take me shopping at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale #reallove

 I finally wised up and made this upstairs desk space our Lego zone. We spent one afternoon organizing all our Legos by color and sorting them into drawers and then these two have been building non-stop with them.

 We got to celebrate our sweet friend Lucy turn four at her pool party...

 Andy and I snuck away for an adults only weekend at Nolin Lake.

The lake is fun with kids but is also fun with NO kids ;)

Thank you to Nikki's parents for hosting us!

 More pool shenanigans with this bunch...

Back to school shopping with this diva.

I think cheer camp gave her even more sass than she already had ;)