I can't believe it is July 19th already. The kids start school in less than a month and we are headed to Des Moines this week for our summer vacation(finally). It has been a great summer, such a distinctly different one than last year and for that I am eternally grateful. As I was walking from the mail box to the front door the other day it hit me that this place is starting to really feel like home(it certainly took all of one year), and it made me reflect on just how upsetting it was for a long time to make that short walk. My heart will always be in Iowa, the move will probably always be a defining moment in this family, but we are content and happy in Knoxville. Thank you God.
So, here is a little of what we've been up to this past month...
Roasting marsh mellows is a crowd favorite. It's possible Holden had a few too many!?
We headed to Chattanooga over the 4th of July. A really great family friendly town. We visited the aquarium, but could have spent several days doing all the kiddie stuff they had to offer.
Play dates with the kids up the street are always full of fun(and some serious noise). Here they are testing their five senses in some sort of crazy game. You know I'm worn out when I let them tie practically a whole role of paper towels around their heads. Does Trucker think he's human or what!? I think he's wondering why he doesn't have a blind fold as well.
Major progress has been made in the pool. We were fortunate to find a great swim teacher this year.
Sorry this picture is blurry, but I couldn't leave out a pic of Asher. He is doing so well, after spending lots of time with him getting absolutely nowhere with swimming, he jumped in the pool the first day and was swimming like a fish by the end of the lesson. amazing.
School supplies have been bought, and backpacks ordered. I am here to tell you that my inner southern girl is coming out in full force. I'm not sure why, but southern mothers love monograms. It's like nothing I've ever seen before and I'm jumping on the monogram train. Holden didn't want a new bag this year, but I took the opportunity with the other two to letter up anything I could :)
Not a lot of cooking has taken place this month(the below pictures might explain), but I have tried a few new recipes out of my favorite cooking magazine. Fine Cooking and Martha Stewart are my go to mags. Marinated Goat Cheese is yummers.
We started the kitchen cabinets. I was really crabby about it-like really crabby, then Todd got crabby about it-like really crabby. One coat of primer and four or five coats of white later...
Here is what my kitchen looks like today. While I really love the cabinets that ARE white, it sucked. It sucked so bad that midway through my crabby husband(you know, the one that suggested we do this ourselves), decided we were done and hired our handy man Pat to finish it! I am incredibly excited to get it done, because even though it's hard to imagine(especially at this point), I think the end result will be better than what I first envisioned.
So we are ready to get the heck out of town-can you blame us :) We'll be back in August. Enjoy the rest of your summer!
