Last week of summer

I wanted the last week of summer to be filled with fun! Our summer ended up being a busy one this year -- Harrison did baseball and basketball camp, Madeleine did Camp JAM, both Madeleine & Harrison did Camp Invention, and Madeleine & Charlotte did cheer camp. Add to that Matt working most of the summer and finishing his dissertation and we have been busy! 

We spent much of our last days of summer swimming and playing outside. The weather was so nice that week! We didn't do a garden this summer but the kids have had a blast playing in the dirt! 

 We had a fun morning playing at a new park with friends! Harrison was in heaven -- surrounded by some of his best friends.

After all that park time we were all hungry. AJ & her kids went with us to have lunch. We let the kids pick and ended up at -- where else? Waffle House. :) We had a boys table & girls table and I'm pretty sure Waffle House will never be the same after the combined Wilson families visit. Ha! But, it was such a fun way to kick off our last week of summer! And so fun to catch up and see the boys pick up as if they'd seen each other just the day before. 

 After that I took the kids to a movie. We saw Rio 2 which was really cute!

 Tuesday morning was absolutely gorgeous! We grabbed some donuts for breakfast and met some friends at out local park. We ended up staying almost 3 hours -- the kids were so good and the weather was too perfect to go home! Tuesday night was open house at Harrison's school. We were so excited to go and see his new school & find his spot! He's in class with one of his best friends from church and I have a feeling that he's going to have his best year yet!

 Wednesday was a lazy-stay-in-our-pjs-day. And, it was wonderful! We watched movies, played games & wii, and didn't even leave the house until time for church.

Thursday we ran some errands in the morning and the kids played at a friends house for a couple of hours. Madeleine had cheer that afternoon and then open house at her school that night. Middle school is going to be a big change for her. But, after the summer she's had I really feel that she is ready. She has had several big new experiences this summer and handled them with so much grown up confidence. She is growing up too fast for me, but I know that she is ready to handle whatever the year brings. Thursday night, Matt's parents were in town for business and we got to meet them for dinner -- such a fun treat for us! We are loving that they are traveling our way for business these days which means we get to see more of them!!

Friday we met up with AJ & the kids for some end of summer swimming. We swam at their pool and ordered pizza there for lunch. The kids thought pizza at the pool was one of the coolest things ever and I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it earlier this summer.....making a note of that for next summer for sure!

 Friday night I had a girls night out and with some friends and Matt stayed home with the kids. :) Then Saturday was filled with last minute getting ready for school to start! We labeled their stuff, filled out papers, and made sure clothes were ready to go. We spent Saturday evening with some friends from church cooking out and letting the kids run and play.  A perfect ending to our summertime.

Sunday Madeleine brought this awesome cookie cake (from Ricks!) home from church. Everyone in their class that could say the 66 books of the Bible got one. Madeleine has been working on learning them and has had it down for awhile, and she was pretty proud of her accomplishment! I loved watching her and her friends walk through church with their cookie boxes and seeing so many members, both old and young, telling her how proud they were of her accomplishment and what a great thing it was that she'd learned them. Hearing others encourage her just made my heart swell. I love how much our church family is invested in our kids. And, I am so proud of what she is learning every day!

Cheer Camp 2014

Madeleine is doing cheer this year for the first time. One of the great things about our new school district is that the kids have a LOT more opportunities to try new things! They offer cheer (and football) beginning in 4th grade through the booster club and Madeleine was so excited to get to give cheer a try. They started practicing in early August and we did cheer camp at PGHS as a good way to learn some of the cheers and meet some new friends before the first day of school. Madeleine even went to a sleepover that week with the girls from her cheer group....thankfully she was with one of her best friends from church, or I probably would not have let her go. :) 

When we went to sign up that first day of camp, they said that PreK could participate as well, so Charlotte ended up doing camp as well. It was every morning for a whole week and they learned a cheer and a dance. Each group gets to perform at the Black & Gold game at the end of the first week of school. 

 Madeleine did great and learned a lot! She is already loving doing cheer and while it's going to be a busy fall with practices and going to games, she's made friends from it and it having such fun! They cheer for the 5th grade football games and they even have their own little "homecoming." So cute!

And, Charlotte loved every moment of cheer camp! She does her little routine daily and I'm confident that she will still know it by the time the game rolls around! She was certainly in her element that week at camp -- she showed off all her skills and loved it!

Family Fun Nite

 We took the kids for dinner out and putt-putt last week and had a fun night as a family! We did dinner at RibCrib which is one of our favs these days. I love that our kids have learned to enjoy lots of different types of food and we can have fun going different places.

Then we headed out for putt-putt after dinner. This was the first time that all of us have actually played all 18 holes. I feel like it's some kind of a milestone and I see more putt-putt in our future.

 We ended the night with sno cones to cool us off! Love making these memories with our family.

Camp Invention

 Madeleine and Harrison both went to Camp Invention this year for the first time. I'd heard it was really good and a lot of fun, but also a good learning experience for kids too. Matt was able to help a little here and there that week as well, which was an added bonus!

It runs like a school day 9-3:30 and the first morning, Harrison was quick to tell me "this feel a LOT like school." So I was really hoping he'd like it! They do all kids of fun things and rotate each day through different classes. They made a pinball machine, and a car that really goes. They also got to make something from "upcycled" materials that parents send in. We also had to send an old/broken piece of technology like a CD player or computer or something like that. They take this apart and use the pieces to make something else, but they also just get to explore how it works and have fun taking it apart and learning. Harrison came home that first day talking about circuit breakers and capacitors like a pro!

Madeleine had an ok time. She was in a group with her friend Lindsey and they had fun. But, Harrison was the one that loved every minute. He popped up every morning that week ready and excited to get there. Funny, but that was completely different from what I was expecting -- I thought Madeleine would love it and Harrison would tolerate it. But, I was wrong.

Harrison is already asking to go next year. I guess if you give a little boy a screwdriver and something to take apart, a little guidance and a lot of freedom, he's going to be a happy kid. :)

We got to show up the last day early and see all thing things they had made and experience that week. They engage all the senses and they learn a lot about science and technology. This is Harrison with his sweet Counselor for the week.

Love these girls.

 Harrison's with his groups Pinball machine which he won to take home. Lucky us.

 And, the car he made that will actually go. Very cool.

 Madeleine with her car. Love the feathers on it -- they are so Madeleine!

 Madeleine with her upcycled project -- a doll bed. We got to take that home as well. Lucky us again.

Fishing Derby

Cabelas has a kids fishing derby every year up here and it's become one of our favorite summertime traditions. They provide new poles -- which you can keep for free, yay -- and bait. And they stock the lake with hungry catfish and bass. We actually caught quite a bit and it was a beautiful morning on the lake for all of us!

Harrison has become quite the fisherman and can bait his hook and get the fish off of it, even if it mean using pliers to do so. He will fish for hours with Matt and is happy just baiting his hook and dealing with the worms. Hehe! And, he certainly can tell a "fisherman" story too!

I actually caught the biggest fish in our family that day! It was quite a doozie large mouth bass.

Harrison caught a pretty good size catfish and took it up to be weighed.

There is nothing more wonderful to me than a morning spent as a family outside. The lake wasn't crowded and we stayed there until well past lunch time before heading home hungry, tired, but happy.

Summer Misc

Our summer has been so busy this year! We've had such fun, but I think I'm having to adjust to the summers of having 10 weeks of nothing or pretty much nothing on our calendar being a thing of the past. The kids had some things that they really wanted to do this year and between wrapping up softball, Harrison going to baseball and basketball camp, Madeleine doing Camp Jam, both kids doing Camp Invention and making a couple of little trips out of town we have been busy! I think it's made summer go by faster and I'm not a fan of that! So here is a recap of a few things that we've done...

We finally finished up softball. All that rain we had in early summer extended our season and I think we were all ready for it to be over. :) But, she had a blast and did great! She even learned to play catcher this year and besides being really good at it, she really likes it. And, being on a team with her friend Lindsey was a big bonus -- these 2 girls are so sweet and so so fun to watch out on the field. They encourage each other out there and it makes me smile to see these 2 friends making these memories.

And, these 2 little sisters are quite a mess out there. 

Madeleine loves having her Daddy as her coach. I think it's one of the reasons she loves playing so much right now.

We hit the park on a nice morning and had donut and played until it got hot! Fun times!

We have taken good advantage of the kids bowl free at Fast Lanes! Such fun!

And, ice cream is always a part of our summer. :)