Slowed Down and Sped Up

It's been awhile. Life lately seems to have slowed down yet sped up at the same time. Have you ever felt that way? It has been a mix of playing pretend all day, up early and out the door, pjs and peanut butter sandwiches, head to Hidalgo, pack the diaper bag for this, pack the diaper bag for that kind of days. I have tried to cherish the days at home. I have watched Bennett explore, I have silently checked on the big kids with the neighbor girl because I didn't want to interrupt their fun. And I have felt thankful for opportunities and for family on the rest of the crazy days. 

This is a big recap because I would hate to forget the last of our summer days. 

Way back a million Friday nights ago (or was it Saturday?) some of our best friends came over for a laid back supper. I love the kind of friends that you can offer to cook them supper and they agree to be over in a few hours, and they bring dessert of the yummiest kind. I also love friends that I don't have to get dressed up for or sweep my floors. Those are keepers. We had the perfect summer meal, grilled burgers and corn on the cob, the kids pretty much watched themselves and we set off the last of the fireworks (pretty sure the men tried to kill us with one of the finales). I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to cool fall nights around a fire with these people!

Much of my time these last couple of weeks has been spent in Hidalgo. So that I could be free to visit with my Grandpa and help take care of my Grandma, so many people in my life have stepped in to help me. Suppers and desserts have been made and my babies have always been taken care of. God has perfect timing and I have been reminded of that so many times recently. 

The kids have spent a lot of time with family lately. Aunt "Kafy" as Auggie likes to call her just happened to be home so that means Grandma and Grandpa's house was never short on cousins and Aunts and Uncles. I was glad they got to see everyone as much as they did and I hope everyone knows how thankful I am for the love they show mine. Even though they were there multiple days, do you think they ever wanted to leave? 

Our time at home has looked a lot like this. I call them Top Knot Girl and Farmer Boy! In this heat the masks leave their faces red and itchy but that must be the price a hero has to pay. When I think back to this summer I will picture Emery with her hair always falling out of her pony tail and sticking to the sides of her cheeks with sweat and Auggie in his rubber boots. He changes his shoes 100 times a day, depending on who he is pretending to be at the time, but he always goes back to his rubber black boots.

They have played things this summer that I remember playing as a kid. Avery and I would pick flowers and weeds and whatever else we could find growing along the ditches and we would pretend to make soup or some kind of meal for our pretend friends. That is exactly what Em and Aug were doing when I snapped this picture. Wild flowers, grass, rocks and water make for a free and easy afternoon (until I noticed huge holes cut into the sides of the pack-n-play and when asked, Emery just shrugged her shoulders and nonchalantly told me she cut the holes and didn't know why. Perhaps I shouldn't have let her take her scissors outside....) Normally you will find them with our little neighbor girl. I really don't know what I would have done this summer without her. From the moment they wake up they want to be outside together, a few days out of the week Emery even invites her over for lunch or supper and at night they hate to say goodbye. She has made my life so much easier because lets be real, I am not that entertaining or fun and I hope they stay life long friends.

The past few weeks have had a few highlights too. First being school supplies! As a teacher I have a weird obsession/love/need for school supplies. While they should make me sad when I see them go up on the shelves instead I get this little excited fluttery feeling. Sharpies and unmarked notebooks make me smile. New supplies equal a new year and I guess I like new. This year was made even more special because it was Emery's first time with a school supplies list. The most exciting item on the list was maybe picking out a pink binder (my baby girl is old enough for a binder!?!) and while I had hoped to use her backpack from pre-k it was sadly not big enough for said binder. I have a strong hatred for most things that have characters on them so I was a bit hesitant to let Em look through Target.com at new backpacks. I also want her to be able to use this new backpack for a few years. I just knew she would pick some gaudy Disney princess one but to my pleasant surprise she went with Mermaids. I can get down with Mermaids! We need to go pick it up after having her name put on it and then things are going to seem real! My baby is going to Kindergarten! 

Sidenote: Crazy first time Kindergarten Mom here. I have a running list of questions going to ask her school. Where and when is drop off? Where does she sit? What about lunch? Does she know what her teacher looks like? What paper work do they still need? The list goes on. Today I finally just broke down and called. The secretary was so nice in easing my worries and it turns out allllll of these questions and more will be answered on the Back to School night that I knew nothing about. So I can calm down. I can literally see Em's school from mine....so I can calm down. 

Em says she is excited and nervous for school to start. Doug and I both get to take her on her first day and I will be the one to pick her up after school this year. In the afternoons we will have cheer practice or an hour or so of time together before we see all of our boys and I am secretly very much looking forward to some just Em time. 

While I some days feel like I barely see or parent Emery and Auggie, Bennett and I are always together. Oh my goodness is he ornery all of a sudden. He is either demanding to eat, squealing as loud as he can, pulling the coffee table over or racing out the front door that the big kids have left open (as of this week the front door is officially off limits for the big kids and I don't know why I didn't make this rule up sooner.) With a million toys, shoes and the bread drawer are way more entertaining. He does have new tricks like "How big is Bennett!?!" and spitting (if that counts as a trick) and he does keep getting cuter. So I'll take the good with the bad. 

Along with all the fun at home, Doug and I got to have a little fun away. Doug had a work trip to Atlanta planned this past week and guess who got to tag along.....me! He just happened to be traveling alone and I just happened to be on summer break and free so we decided why not. We counted it as our anniversary present to each other because lets face it, with Em's birthday being the same day, we do not celebrate our anniversary. While Douglas worked I got to entertain myself. I had texted some friends that I wasn't sure what I was most excited about, an uninterrupted nights sleep, sleeping in or actually speaking to my husband because it felt like it had been awhile. For about one second I thought about bringing school stuff to work on but I quickly decided against that. Good thing too because I was very busy. My first day there included shopping, lunch by myself, a one mile run, a little reading, a nap and a long relaxing shower. And Doug was worried about me.....

While I enjoyed the time by myself I enjoyed the time I got to spend with this guy even more. 

We mostly ate and drank yummy things. I learned that Margaritas make waiting in a long line for tacos not seem so bad. I learned that I do not like Indian food. I learned that there is always room for ice cream and that naps can make you feel like a new woman. And I learned (okay I totally already knew) that I am pretty lucky girl to get to do things with this guy. 

I did miss a few firsts while I was gone. First loose tooth for Emery (although we still don't know which little tooth is the loose one) and first dentist appointment for Auggie! Nana got the pleasure of taking them to the dentist at the same time (God bless Nana!) and she swears they did great. Emery actually loves the dentist and is an old pro but Auggie....Auggie and the first time for anything usually do not mix. Mom said he watched Emery and slowly sank into his chair....she knew it might not go well. At first it didn't until he was able to sit on Nana's lap. So here she is with B in the stroller (I think Emery and crackers came to the rescue) and her sitting in the patient chair with Aug clinging to her. I do wish I could have seen this. She said after that he did fine and for being so good they got to eat at Cracker Barrel and go to the "Farm Store" aka Rural King. I feel like right now in the season of life I am in, I ask a lot of my mother and of Doug's parents but they have never turned me down and do it all with a smile. I don't know what I would do without them.

 I didn't really miss my babies until I saw a little boy in rubber boots at the airport coming home and then I couldn't get home soon enough.  All three missed us (even Em!) and they all grew and changed in a matter of three nights. 

Besides dentist appointments with Nana they had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's and the big kids even got to have a sleep over at Katie's. These two girls are going to go through withdrawals they have been together so much lately. They sure do love their cousins. It did feel good to have all of us under the same roof the night we got back. Everyone where they belonged. 

This week is officially the last week of summer for us and we are starting it off under the weather. Boo. Maybe that is a sign to slow down even more this week. Next week will be busy enough.

So that is what we have been up to. Slowed down yet sped up. Kind of the perfect way to explain the end of summer.