July Odds & Ends

Well, obviously not technically from July, but we had a good time celebrating Matt on Father's day. I made his favorite roast for lunch, and the kids gave him cards and gifts and he had a nap. All he wanted. :)

We turned Charlotte's bar into a tent one night. The kids ended up just watching a movie in it before deciding to go to their own beds to sleep which was fine by me.

I walked in to check on Harrison one morning and found him like this. I guess he was pretty tired. Ha!

Fridays are typically our cleaning days. This summer the kids have to clean their rooms, and cooperatively clean their bathroom. They love doing it -- seriously. They think it's so fun! I hope they still think that as teenagers...

One afternoon, I found them playing real-life Clue. Charlotte was "dead" and Madeleine & Harrison were trying to solve the mystery.

Sugar & Cormac & Mimi came up for a short visit. The kids loved having them here!

I loved seeing these 3 coloring at my kitchen table.

We have had some crazy rain lately. The creek in our neighborhood was filled and overflowing.

Cookies after Madeleine's tumbling lesson one afternoon.

Harrison had his annual allergist appt and blood work. He is such a trooper!

My sweet girls. I love the way that Charlotte is looking at Madeleine in this picture.

I took the girls to open gym one Friday, and Harrison and I had a date night. He picked the place -- Rib Crib and we had the best time, just the 2 of us!

Then we went school supply shopping (divide and conquer is my motto for back to school shoppping this year). Then we ended our date with ice cream at Braums. I'm so thankful that I got to have this time with my boy!

I took the girls school supply shopping after gym one day, and while we were shopping we were asked to be filmed by walmart. The kids were so excited and I learned that Charlotte is anything BUT camera shy. She was a hoot on film. We basically walked down an aisle and picked out school supplies while they filmed/took pictures of us. It was kinda funny. I'm not sure if they will ever do anything with the film, but it could possibly be on the news at some point. The kids are sure we are going to be famous. :)

Madeleine's Birthday Party

We finally got to have some friends to celebrate Madeleine's birthday with us this last week. We took 3 of her best friends to the waterpark in Rogers for the afternoon, then to get pizza for dinner. The girls had the BEST time. We stayed almost 4 hours -- until it finally started to rain on us. I am so so thankful for these goofy girls that are her friends. 

While the girls went off and did their thing, I hung out with these two cuties. About an hour after we got there, one of Harrison's favorite friends showed up and he was thrilled to get to play with Drew.

They sat there and waited for the big water bucket to dump on them. I also love that they love Madeleine enough to include her little sister sometimes too. :)

We ordered a cookie cake and it was super yummy! After all that time at the waterpark, those girls downed some pizza and that cake!

And, we did these cute little soda candy bouquets for party favors. I love it when a pinterest idea actually turns out like the picture!

Madeleine's 11th Birthday

We had a big day celebrating Madeleine on her birthday this year! She knew exactly what she wanted to do that day. In the past we've always gone out to eat on birthdays, but this year she wanted to eat at home and she chose the menu herself. :) I had such a fun time setting the table to look cute! 

She wanted teal and pink colors this year and we went with that. Teal is her favorite color right now.

I made the banner and the tablecloth and found the fans at Hobby Lobby.

Matt took Charlotte to gymnastics that morning, along with Harrison so I could spend the morning with Madeleine. We had breakfast at Briar Rose just the 2 of us. I loved that.

Some of her best friends posted on IG that day which I thought was so sweet.

After breakfast we went and got pedicures then headed to pick up her cake. Mimi, Grandad, Sugar, Stewart, & Cormac came up to celebrate with us. I made some snacks for the afternoon -- Madeleine's favorite cinnamon pita chips and fruit salsa.  Yummy!

For dinner, she wanted chicken pot pie, hubba hubba, green bean bundles and rolls. And, of course, cake for dessert!

This was the first year I didn't buy toys. Kinda made me sad. She wanted a Vera Bradley backpack for school and I had it monogrammed. It turned out so cute! This was definitely the monogram birthday -- lots of monogrammed things.

Her cake turned out so cute!

We had a great day celebrating this girl. She is growing into such a beautiful girl, both inside & outside.

Loving Level 2

I guess it's about time for a gymnastics update as they wrap up the summer schedule. 

First of all, she did her mill circle today for the first time which is HUGE! She has been working on it since May and today she did it by herself! It's part of her bars routine for the fall and she has been so determined to get it by herself. I love that she is learning to work hard on something -- sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months -- and keep trying until she succeeds. She is learning that to achieve something important to her, she will have to work hard and that's a HUGE life skill in my book. 

Charlotte is still loving gymnastics which has made the summer schedule much easier. They practice 3 days a week for 2 hours, in the morning. Tuesdays are easy since it's from 10-12, but Wednesdays & Thursdays are from 8-10, which means we are leaving our house by 7:15 on those days. I'm thinking it's good practice for school this fall, because Charlotte is my late sleeper. :) If she is up before 8am, that's early! But, on gym mornings she pops right up and get dressed -- she is so excited to get there! We haven't been late yet. :) I often walk back to her room to wake her up, only to find her already in her leo which tells me she must love it!!

She also pretty much adores her coach too. She talks about Coach Katie at home a lot. :) I think that's one of the reasons she works so hard -- she has such desire to please her coach. She has learned so much! It's amazing to me what they have accomplished in just 3 months. She is starting to look like a tiny version of a gymnast out there. :) 

After every class, they line up and Coach Katie talks to them. I'm not exactly sure what she says, since all my info is secondhand from what Charlotte tells me. :) 

Then they get together and break with "WE ROCK" which is awesome!

I've taken a few random pics. Here she is on beam (back beam, on the right). They are on the high beams and she isn't scared a bit. I love my fearless girl!

These girls are coming together to be a team and it has been so neat to watch. Here they are working to move a mat to set up on floor one day. 

 And, they are still little, so there are some silly moments, like this. I love that their coach seems to be able to fine a great balance between work and fun and encouragement and discipline. I know that's a hard balance to find some days and her coach seems to have an endless supply of patience with these girls!

 I hoped that Charlotte would get to know the girls on her team, but I have been surprised, and very thrilled, that she's made a couple of really great friends already! This is her cutie friend Sophia. They had to match one day and had us moms texting the day before so they could be Twinsies. :) Charlotte just loves Sophia and usually gets in line/shares a beam/rotations with her if she can. They work really well together.

I have been surprised by several things with gymnastics -- one of the best being that I have made several friends from the moms on the team. We spend a LOT of hours (and this is probably just the start of it all) together watching our girls. I am thankful that all the moms seems to cheer on all the girls and there isn't any competition between us. And, with all those hours we talk about a lot more than just gymnastics too! :) I enjoy being up there and getting in some "girl talk" which she practices.

I'm hoping the transition to school schedule goes ok. She will still practice the same amount, but just after school. Her school (and Harrison's & Madeleine's) has been so great to work with us so we can get her to gym on time. With us living so far away, and her not getting out of school until after 3 every day, there was no way I could pick up all 3 kids, from 2 different school, with dismissals after 3pm, and get all the way to springdale and have her changed and ready to go by 3:30 -- best case it was going to be almost 4. So, they are letting me check all 3 kids out early to get here there on time. One of the perks of a small district, I guess. :) I know it will be a challenge and she will be tired those first few weeks, but after sitting still so much of the day, I think the exercise will be so good for her. She has so much energy and it needs a good channel. Ha!