Kenni reading her book in the library area

Kids listening to Jackie's story at circle time

Working on a shapes color sheet

Gluing all kinds of shapes

Working on the huge floor puzzles, the kids are really into these right now.

Dustin's first pick of tomatoes...

randoms

Gaby and Kadyn are almost done with camps for the week- every morning I pack their lunch. It seems like so much food but because they are outside so much everyone said they need it. I will be glad to have them home for a couple of weeks during the day before school starts up. I will miss the lazy days of summer for sure.

Today we, I mean the concrete people, start on our driveway! I am sure I will be excited once it is done and finally over with.

This is where I found Mia this morning. This summer she has become a rotten sleeper at night. She is getting out of her bed 8-15x a night and will not stay in her bed-I'm praying it is a phase.

My not a morning person child, Gaby!

It's a hard life...

but someones gotta do it. Sunday afternoon we went swimming. There was one other couple there. It was just me and the older peanuts since the younger two needed a nap.

I love going with just the older kids, I can relax a little while they are swimming. I am always watching them but it is nice to have a moment to sit and enjoy.

Sunday it was nice and hot- the pool and sunscreen was our friend. It felt great and we all had a fun time. My in-laws met up with us as well.

We are enjoying the pool as much as we can... I know we will miss it once school starts up and the weather changes. But for now, it's a hard life.

circles

Today we made our own paint brushes from clothing pins and pom poms. These were a hit with the kids.

Making all types of designs

Circles were our topic of conversation today. We colored circles on our caterpillar and went on a circle hunt around daycare.

puzzles

Last week I started getting out our huge floor puzzles for daycare. Mia fell in love with them. She is a little, I mean, a lot obsessed with the floor puzzles. This one is by far her favorite- she has already put it together at least 5x today.

I got free stuff...

I normally don't sign up for too many free drawings. But Zebra had a pen pal supply give away. I thought the girls would love it. I sent in my info via Facebook, and look what came in my mail today! Awesome!
I can't wait to show the older peanuts and maybe research into getting them a pen pal. I might be more excited then they will be. Anyone that knows me, knows I love office supplies.
So cool- can't wait to get some fun use out of our freebies!

shoes, shoes, and more shoes....

After posting I was giving away my gymbucks on Facebook (you buy 50.00 at Gymboree and you pay 25.00), I went into Kendal's room to get on her shoes. I realized her size 3 sandles were too small. Her toes were hanging over the edges. How did I not notice that before? So, I went back onto Gymboree's website and bought 3 pairs of shoes... size 4 for my little peanut! I am so excited.... they came in the mail today! Now my peanut doesn't have to curl her little toes anymore- poor thing!

Shapes and colors

We are moving on to another theme this week... as we get closer to school starting we are taking some time to review our numbers and shapes. Today we drew shapes on our windsocks.

working hard on our project

Enjoying some outside time before it gets too hot...

Over the weekend I some neat fashion tablets- you can add your own dresses and tattoos. I picked some up for the older kids.

Little K playing with the blocks...

this makes me happy...

Bought all new markers, colored pencils, and crayons for the year- I love back to school shopping.

Stocked up on glue sticks and bottles of glue.

After watching TCL's Hoarders last night, I leaned out and reorganized my daycare closet.
And now I am happy!

I will not be stressed!

I will not stress over the fact our AC broke this morning and we are in the middle of one of the hottest weeks ever. Instead, I will be grateful that our house is shady, we have 2 window units going and the house is staying comfortable. I am happy that we are on the am list for the repair people to come tomorrow. We will get by until then- we even get to have a cheap dinner at Sam's Club tonight so I don't have to heat up the kitchen by cooking. Score!

I will not stress eat... okay, I might have already done that last night. However I didn't have time for dinner so I am sure the extra large blizzard counted for my dinner calories, I am sure of it. There are some things that are a little stressful right now but are so exciting too. Our driveway is supposed to get started on next week. I have a new commitment on my plate but am so looking forward to the challenge it brings. I can't wait, more details to come soon, I'm sure.

I will not stress that school seems to be just around the corner. Instead, I will enjoy the next few weeks and make the most of it before my older peanuts go off to school. We have had hands down a fabulous summer. Daycare has been awesome and flexible, evenings and weekends at the pool, no crammed filled weeks... just awesome. I really do not want it to end.

I will not stress over my diet. I am tired of being a yo-yo this summer. Instead I am going to enjoy knowing I can relax a little and still be happy at where I am at. I know I am so close to my maintenance goal but my heart and mind is just not in the weight loss game right now. I want have a blizzard every once and a while and not feel bad for having it. So, that is what I am doing. I have a new goal and exercise plan laid out for me and when the kids start back to school, I will begin "operation goal weight". Until then... I am just enjoying where I am at right now.

There you go... no time to stress. Hope you are staying cool and check back soon- we are always up to something around here!

Second week of camp

The girls have had a blast at camp this summer. It has been a great balance of home time (even though I miss them) and staying busy time. Every day they get to do something different. Ride the train, paddle boats, carousal, swimming, skating, ect. It has truly been a great experience for them.
This picture was taken yesterday... the day of the prom! Sigh. The night before the dance, Gaby and I talked about getting a date. She was very worried that she wouldn't have anyone to dance with. They both took dresses to change into after swimming. Gaby does not wear dresses so for her to do this, was huge. The day of the dance, Gaby talked to a few of her guy friends and she found a date to her prom. I was so happy for her- she needed that boost. I know she is a strong girl. She would have gotten over this if she hadn't gotten asked, but I was happy for her that this dance ended on a positive note for her! Yikes... this is only the beginning!
Kadyn lucked out this time- she is attending camp with her best friend, Josh. He asked her to the prom and she was excited that her friend was her date!

randoms from our day

The kids have really been getting into these huge floor puzzles. They have a blast working together and are getting really good at putting the puzzle together on their own.

Today Ms S was my only older kiddo so she was the daycare teacher today. She lead the kids in circle time, duck duck goose, and art.

Our smiling suns

randoms from our day

Today we made camera necklaces and car puppets. We love our travel theme...

I was a mean mom today- I made Kenni wear a dress even though it makes her mad because she can't crawl in it. On a plus side, she has been walking more today! Love my little pixie!

Our camera necklaces. They have this cool picture paper you can pull through to see different images.

Before it got too hot, we also went on a sight seeing adventure in the backyard. We went back by the woods, picked out some cool rocks, and looked at different trees. We also went in the front yard and found some yummy veggies that are growing. After we chatted about the garden, we read, "Max goes to the farmer's market".
To end our morning- we discussed driving to a camp out. We made car puppets and pretended to make a camp fire!
It was a fun time listening to all of our traveling stories.

family vacation- sorta

Here are some pictures from Dustin's trip with the girls. Sadly, I don't know many details of where they were- I just know they had a blast. They were gone 5 days- which was long for me. I missed my family.

Here are some of the highlights... Kadyn was so excited about the hot tub.

Out on the lake...

Such big girls... trying new things.

My father in law and Kadyn

View from the house

Kadyn slept in here

The place they stayed at was a huge house- they bought food to cook and each took turns cooking each night.

Kadyn called home and told me they found a place that make funnel cakes. She wanted to go back and buy one the next day. Sadly, it tasted like fried chicken.

Playing games at night... Apples to Apples, a family favorite.

The Fluke Family...

Today we got out the tumbling mat- we're trying to get our gross motor time in even though it is so stinkin' hot outside. We love to turn the music on and have fun rolling, jumping, acting like frogs, and tumbling. If you ever want to work up a sweat- mimic the moves of a toddler for a while.

Little A jumping

K showing us some moves

L was getting into the rolling

Little cheesy girl

A showing her gymnastic moves too

Free art time.

Even the little ones like to color