July has flown by. I thought it was going to be a slower month and less busy, which it was, but it was still very full.
First up was the annual water fight; much anticipated at our house.
I half expected Miri to be too shy to join in, but she was right in there with everybody. :)
She was ready to be done earlier than the rest, and retired to run a lemonade stand with Mia.
Some of the fireworks had parachutes that my girls were sure they were taking home with them. (They did not. I'm a mean mom for not letting them bring home a tangle of tissue paper, string, and cardboard that reeked of gunpowder.)
We did not do much for the Fourth. The girls really wanted to go to Ron and Kary's for fireworks, and I'm easily persuadable.
Mr. Perrin got to wear a patriotic bib. :)
Sadly, we were all out of glow sticks, but I did have some party poppers!
We even got Pearline to try one. 😁
Saying hello to Great-grandma Lydiann.
And then Aunt Kary came through with some glow sticks and it was a wonderful "For the July!"
So... funny story. Or more of an Jenny-gets-herself-into-yet-another-awkward-social-situation story. :P Cadence's new American Girl doll has a typewriter, and in her books she uses it to write stories and newspapers. The girls thought that was really cool, and they think the dolls typewriter is amazing. They were begging for a real typewriter and I checked online just to see what a new typewriter costs these days.... almost $200. Um. Sorry girls. You don't need a typewriter that badly.
But then, I quick checked varagesale and facebook marketplace. Lo and behold, there was a vintage manual typewriter for sale just up the road from Ron and Kary's- and it was only $35! So I messaged the guy that I'd be in town on the 4th, could I pick it up then? And he said, sure, we'll be home we live right by the lake. Ha. By "we'll be home" he meant "we'll be having a 4th of July party in the front yard" so I pull in and walk up to a group of strangers and awkwardly ask if anyone was selling a typewriter. 😝 As one does. (Bob: why didn't you just have Kary pick it up for you before the 4th? Me: um... that would've made too much sense?) Anyway, we are now the proud owners of a cute vintage typewriter. It needs a fresh ribbon and we need typewriter lessons from my mom, but isn't it adorable?!
Perrin does not lack for love and attention.
Bob's Sunday school class did a service project one night at the clothing center.
Some of our kids were more helpful than others. :)
And then, the next day we left for our much anticipated, long awaited, trip to see Gideon and Aurelia! (And Michelle and Nathan and Elodie.) They were so excited. We made it to their house a little later than planned, but they still got to play for a while.
Then we went back to Rita's house to sleep. Because she's got room. ha. And also this car that Miriel did not want to get out of all weekend.
Alyssa and Shane were there too, so Perrin got to meet Sully. :)
Saturday morning we went to the zoo!
Checking out the 'big CAT exhibit.' Ha. I'm so punny. :P
Touching stingrays.
Feeding the giraffes
So cool.
Good times. And great weather- it was starting to feel a little bit hot by the time we left, and our feet were tired, but the kids had a blast.
Then we all went back to Rita's for popsicles and swimming.
So much fun.
We ate supper at Nathan and Michelle's and the kids played. And made a reading nook.
Sunday morning Rita and Loren made us all breakfast. And smoothies. It has been far too long since I've had a proper Uncle Loren Sunday Morning Smoothie. :D And of course, church starts at 10:30 and we were still at the table at 10:25 because we were on Klopfenstein time. I don't think I've ever been on time to Leo church.... ha. The kids all willingly went to Sunday School and Perrin spent the day spitting up all over himself and me. :P
We let the kids swim again after church.
Miriel is getting much more comfortable in her puddle jumper in the water, which is both nice and scary.
Perrin was very interested in my Dr. Pepper. And I was wearing my Dr. Pepper shirt.
We probably let them swim longer than we should have, and left for home later than we should have, but it was a thankfully uneventful trip. There were at least two kids crying in the back because they were so sad to leave. Ha.
It got hot again and one of our air conditioners was running constantly and still not cooling down the house. woot. So I tried ye old hang a damp towel in front of a fan trick to try and keep that half of the house cool. Not sure it worked very well. We did have one working unit, so fans kept it bearable until Tim could come fix it.
We invited our street over for Root Beer floats one Tuesday evening and washed off all of the chairs in preparation.
He's usually a pretty happy little boy.
The girls were really excited. I was trying to be realistic since we hadn't gotten many RSVP's.
It was a small turnout, and only one kid they could play with came.
But we did get people from 4 different houses, one couple we'd never met before, and it's always good to chat with Marci and Mrs. F. :)
The library had a cupcake walk one afternoon. Miri was not so sure about it, but she did eventually let Cecily walk with her around the circle to get a cupcake. :P
Did any of them offer to share with me? No. Did I sneak a few bites anyway? Yes.
They might be outgrowing this pool.
We had potluck at our house Friday night. The girls got to go to Grandpa and Grandma's early, so they didn't get to help set the table (sad day) so I took some pictures for them. I love that they love my fancy dishes. And then the barista laughed at me when I took my carafe in to Eli's and asked for 60 oz of coffee.... I mean, I don't drink it and I don't want to inadvertently serve bad coffee since I don't know how to make it. :D
My Jolly Sailor Bold.
And his crazy crew. 😂
Bob is not a fan of his sailor suit, but I think it's adorable. It's also one of the most classic of all classic outfits for children. I mean, we're talking 1890's early 1900's classic not just 1980's.
Anyway.
Matthew and Julia got married Sunday (it makes me feel so old when my former students get married) and we went at noon. Cadence and Miriel discovered the baby room toys.... they are so much better than our toys... haha. The reception sounded a little bit daunting so we skipped that. We went to family Hymn sing Sunday evening; it was at someone's house because the fellowship hall is still under construction and the girls loved that there was a trampoline and toys. :P
I took the kids to lake day and Meg brought corn to shuck. Miri was tired of swimming and wanted to help too.
The girls have been begging to get together with some of their school friends so I texted a few of their moms to see about meeting for lunch at the park on Wednesday. Two of them could come, so Cecily was super excited to see Hope and Emmy was excited to see Elise and they were all excited to climb trees. It was a pretty warm day and the playground was hot, but still. They spent almost all of their time up in this tree.
And then when we got home they decided that we neeeeeeded to make lemonade. (It's a good thing I had lemons.)
The library has the best crafts.
We went swimming with Grandma on Thursday at Summer's pool. Summer wasn't there, but they had fun anyway.
Friday morning I made them help snip beans before they were even dressed and they were not all that happy with me.
hehe.
Of course, my most willing helper is the least capable and also the most snot nosed.
After lunch we headed to the big city to get Miriel's 3 year pictures taken.
And then we went to B&N where they each got to pick 1 book as a prize for getting stickers on their behavior/chore chart. It was a difficult decision for some. Also, I hadn't been to B&N in a few years and almost half of it is toys now- but they're nice toys! I need to remember that for birthdays/Christmas.
Then we picked up my Sam's order and went to Culvers for ice cream! I have a bad habbit of getting them kids meals in the drive thru and the 'free scoop of ice cream' coupons are piling up.
As we were loading up to go home, a big white truck pulled up next to us and out hopped our favorite Clayton! Haha. He was at the Home Depot across the parking lot and 'thought that looked like Jenny.' Was it all of the little girls, or what?!? 😆
Saturday we cleaned top to bottom and Bob spent some time in the woods talking to a timber buyer/sawmill guy and Troy.
Today was actually a nice quite Sunday at home, which I love.
Isn't she angelic? Emmy has decided that she is going to help potty train her, so here's hoping it actually works. :D
Blessings.
