Well. It’s been slightly busy around here and I say, “UNCLE! I can’t keep up!”
My apologies for being absent, but this cruise director of the FUN SHIP is about to put the STOP to all of this crazy busyness. It’s only June 22nd and I’m already needing a summer vacation.
Let me back up and catch you all up on what I’ve we’ve been up to lately.
The first week of summer vacation (a.k.a. SCHOOL’S OUT), we had two days of being around home getting some things done and enjoying summer. The evenings were filled with Vacation Bible School and ball games. Then, Nate had Kirkwood Basketball Camp June 10-12th. This meant Maxim and I running him to and from camp each day. Nate loved the camp and Maxim loved hanging out with the other younger brothers when we’d go to pick him up.
Oh. And on the evening of June 11th, we had about 4.58 inches of rain in about an hour time-frame. This lead to our sump pump not keeping up. And this lead to our emergency sump pump alarm going off. Which lead to water coming in our basement. Which lead to Hubby, the boys, and I squeegee-ing water for about two hours until our basement no longer had water in it. Doesn’t this sound like the children’s book “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie” with the never-ending sequence of events? Anyway, a mess to clean up, but with our basement not finished (Can I get a PRAISE GOD?), it wasn’t as upsetting and it actually felt good to pitch things and reduce the stuff we have in our basement. #goodtimes
On Saturday the 13th, Maxim had his last t-ball game. He has LOVED playing baseball and not to brag but…he can hit that ball! Since it was his last game, he decided to slide at each base (except for first base…big brother told him ‘you can’t do that’). Play BIG or go home. Hahaha
“Safe at 3rd!” I just LOVE his smile! #heishavingfun
Our big slugger 🙂
They give each kid a trophy and this is a BIG HIT.
Maxim and his awesome trophy
After a busy day of baseball, we rented a movie Saturday night. Then, after church and a bike ride on Sunday, we took the boys to see “Jurassic World”. Completely AWESOME and we loved the movie.
Well, as you can see, we.were.busy. Things were going well, but busy with all of the camps I had signed Nate up for back in the spring and the ball games that the boys were playing. Then, over that weekend, my friend Jen (JD) texted me to say that the kitties were ready to be picked up if the boys wanted to see them while they were still kitten-age. Well, I looked at our calendar and realized that my wishful thinking of having a few days to go and stay at my parents and bring the boys’ kittens there and just hang out and have fun playing with kittens and seeing my parents was not going to happen in the month of June. The next two weeks, we had more camps and State Track on the weekend.
And that is how we came up with the idea to have the kittens come to our house for a few days before driving them down to my parents’ house where they would live permanently, but still be “the boys’ pets”.
After watching the great dinosaur movie that afternoon, we drove to meet JD and the two kittens. Well. It would have been nice to know that we were getting the most ADORABLE kittens that were going to steal our hearts! Seriously. These kittens are just too cute!
Sunday evening, the boys and I brought them back to our house and within minutes, we had the neighborhood gang over to meet our newest pets.
Maxim with his kitten Ginger
Nate and his kitten Pumpkin
Then, Monday morning rolled around and I was thrown into the world of having a newborn or a kitten or whatever. It FELT like a newborn with the responsibilities that were involved. Feeding them, taking them out to go potty and poop, giving them time to play, putting them back in the kennel while we took Nate to Prairie Basketball Camp, getting them back out to play, poop, and eat. It was exhausting.
Pumpkin was as tired as I was from all of this fun and playtime with her new owner. Clearly, she got to nap…not me 😉 #wishfulthinking #momscannotnap
Ginger posing for the camera
Maxim showing off Ginger
We knew on Tuesday, we’d drive them down to my parents’ house and that would be the kittens new home. BUT. We got a little attached to them. And in an insane moment on Monday night, I was asking three of my neighbor moms if they liked their hardwood floors because maybe I’d replace our carpet with hardwood. #crazy #kittenswillstealyourheart It was a delirious moment. I was almost ready to keep these adorable kittens because they were just that cute. Nate and Maxim loved them and even Daddy was smitten as he watched the boys become giddy and so filled with joy over these two little fur balls.
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By Tuesday morning, I was about spent with kitten duty. I was consumed by these little cutiepies and I was hardly getting anything done around the house. Between running Nate to and from basketball camp, Maxim and I running errands, potty training the cats, and blah blah blah, I knew that it was time to take them to my parents’ . I knew they’d love the farm and the freedom and the outdoors.
After camp on Tuesday morning, we took Pumpkin and Ginger down to Grandma Melanie’s and Papa Joe’s. We were able to play with them and make sure that they felt happy with this move. And they were. They loved the garden, the bushes, and roaming around.
The boys with Grandma Melanie and the kittens
Papa, Grandma, the boys, and Pumpkin & Ginger
After three hours, we said tearful good-byes and hopped back in the car because Nate had track practice that night. It was a sad evening, but the boys know that their kittens will be safe and they can go and see them anytime they want to.
Last week continued to be busy with basketball camp and baseball games and track practice. But not having to worry about potty training kittens made life a little easier.
And in the middle of it all, Maxim pulled out a loose tooth! The tooth fairy made a visit, despite her busy schedule!
Another tooth OUT!
Also, with Nate at basketball camp all week, Maxim and I made sure to have fun. So, we went to the library and checked out A LOT of books! He LOVES books. My kinda guy 🙂
Ready to go check out library books!
Prairie Hawks Basketball Camp for 5th-8th graders
Camp was a big hit for Nate. On Thursday, he even got the Gatorade Award for hustling and being a great team member. On Friday, they all wore their camp t-shirts and took a team picture. #futureballers #goPrairie
By the time the weekend rolled around, we had our bags packed and headed for Ames. Nate was running in the USA Track & Field State Meet on Saturday and Sunday. It was a wonderful weekend and we couldn’t be prouder of Nate. He ran a PR in both races (personal record) and qualified for the Regional Meet.
So proud of Nate!!! I love him so much!
Maxim enjoying a cold drink on the HOT day that it was 🙂
Nate and his bronze medal
Little brother and Nate with his silver medal
And now, we have one more busy week. Maxim has Prairie Hawk Basketball Camp in the mornings and Nate has Prairie Football Camp in the evenings. We have a few more weeks of baseball games and then, we will be ready to enjoy summer.
In all of this busyness, I’ve realized that I need to guard our family time. It’s great to be involved in things, but I am just ready for us to enjoy summer. Pool days, working on reading our books, getting projects done around the house, and just letting the kids be kids.
As for my blog, I plan to get into a routine and be more consistent on here, as well. I’ve missed you all and I’m ready to have more time to write and share recipes, Fun Friday Favorites, and more!
So…Happy Monday and see you back here soon. No more sabbaticals here…I’ve got important things to share and fashion and food and fun do not need to be left out of the summertime blogging life. 🙂
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