Blogging has been about the last thing on my mind this past week – it’s been crazy busy. It looks like life is finally setting down again, so it’s time to do a little catch up on what’s been going on!
4th of July
Happy belated Independence Day! It was kind of a weird holiday for us, mostly because I decided to spend it NOT with my family. I had really been stressing out about things and I was sick to death of the 100+ degree temperatures for two straight weeks. The last thing I wanted to do was spend another day melting in the sun. So Greg took the boys to the lake and they had a blast swimming, boating, and tubing all day long. I felt incredibly guilty staying behind, but I needed that day alone. I wish I could have a day alone every week! It was so great to catch up on projects, clean up the house, and then actually relax because nobody was around to immediately undo all my hard work! I still feel a tinge guilty about it, but I’m glad I had that day to regroup and prepare for the crazy days ahead.
We did still spend the night of the 4th together as a family. We let the boys stay up late and went out in our parking lot to do sparklers and watch the fireworks.
I’ve never really cared about fireworks one way or another, but I’m glad I got to do a little celebrating with my guys. I was surprised at how much Shepard oohed and aahed over the fireworks! It was really cute.
Timmy and Brittany’s Wedding
On Friday, my brother got married! I’m sorry to say I didn’t take any pictures. I do regret it, but the day of the rehearsal and wedding were the hottest days of my entire life. Not an exaggeration. The church did not have any air conditioning and that’s probably going to be everybody’s biggest memory of the day. But it was a beautiful (and short!) ceremony for an amazing couple. I’m so glad that my brother found such a wonderful woman to spend his life with. I’m also very excited to have a new sister! It was definitely a day of joy and celebration!
Baking Frenzy
We spent Saturday recuperating from all the excitement. I chose to spend the entire day baking! We were planning a family party on Sunday so I wanted to make a bunch of things to bring over. This is my first ever cherry pie! I used fresh cherries instead of gross pie filling, which I loathe.
This is a crunch top apple pie. Apple pie is my favorite. I also made homemade cheese its and brownie batter dip. Yummy!
I made this bread yesterday. Ever since I saw how easy it was to make an amazing loaf of bread in a dutch oven on pinterest, I’ve been wishing I had a dutch oven so I could try it out. It just so happens I found this one on clearance at Boston Store on Sunday for only $16! The bread turned out great! Though there’s a reason I can’t make homemade bread – I eat it all myself. In a day. It’s just too good.
Swan Park Craft Fair
Sunday was the day of the Swan Park Craft Fair – my second favorite craft fair of the year! I always go with my mom and we usually find a bunch of great things. This year was a bit of a disappointment, though my in-laws still managed to find bags and bags of things to buy! I only bought a simple pair of earrings and this Raggedy Ann doll. There was a booth completely filled with homemade Annies. I thought it was kind of bizarre at first, but I was intrigued enough to look through it and decided I couldn’t walk away from this one. They were all so cute! I wish I had gotten two. I hope they’re back next year! Or better yet – at Cranberry Fest in September! (Best craft fair EVER in case you love craft fairs and haven’t been to that one…)
Extended Family Time
On Sunday afternoon we had a get together with my aunt and uncle who were in town for the wedding, as well as the rest of the Wisconsin relatives. It was a lot of fun for Caden playing with all his little boy second (or third?) cousins. I wish we could all get together more often since my kids probably aren’t going to have any first cousins for a loooong time.
Poor Shepard missed most of the party because he was totally passed out from exhaustion. The last week has been pretty rough on him. He also seems to be getting in some more teeth. He’s been pretty cranky and tired lately.
Summer School
On Monday, Caden started his first day of summer school speech therapy. He’s in a class with twelve other three and four year olds and they meet every day for an hour for three weeks. It was a big change from his weekly half hour one on one session with the teacher during the school year and I wasn’t sure how he was going to handle it. But three days in he seems to be doing just fine! Of course I can’t see how he’s actually doing in class, but the teacher told me yesterday that he’s talking a lot more, so that’s great. I often feel guilty for how isolated my kids are and that they don’t seem to have many social skills with their peers. Hopefully things like this will help him. Hopefully it’ll give him a big boost on his speech skills too.
I’ve really been dreading this month because Caden’s class is at about the worst possible time of the day – noon. Seriously, why schedule a class for young kids at noon? It frustrates me because we have to stick to a pretty strict schedule now. I’m used to running errands in other cities a few days a week, but that’s pretty hard to do knowing we need to be home early enough to make and eat lunch before we leave for class. It’s also frustrating because noon is Shepard’s nap time. So far the two of us have been walking around in the stroller during class and Shepard has his nap on the go. It’s not the best for him, but at least I’m getting some exercise out of it!
On a side note, Caden has been really into coloring and “writing” lately. It’s so weird because artsy things have never really interested him before. Coloring used to mean scribbling for five seconds and then asking for another sheet of paper. He’d never actually take his time on anything. But the picture above is something he’s been working on for days. Both sides are filled with his writing that he works very hard at! I’m curious to see if this continues.
Little Amerricka
Today we FINALLY made it to Little Amerricka. Little Amerricka is an amusement park geared toward younger kids, only twenty minutes from our house. Last year we went once and Caden seemed to really like it. On Black Friday I bought season passes for the three of us, thinking that we’d be going once a week. Well, here it is, July 11th, and we finally went for the first time. Granted, they have really stupid hours and are only open a few days a week during June. It was also crazy hot those weeks. And we were on vacation. And having weddings and stuff. But still, I’ve been feeling really guilty about buying the passes and never going. So even though Caden was being super naughty today and taking the trip was the last thing I felt like doing, we still went.
The coolest thing about Little Amerricka is that they have a train ride that lasts a good twenty-five minutes. Perfect for little boys who love trains! Shepard had a blast, though he refused to stay sitting.
And yes, there are zebras roaming around the train’s route. Weird, indeed.
I love this park because the littlest kid rides are almost always empty. Granted we’ve only been there twice, but we’ve never had to wait through a ride cycle before they could get on. The boys both had an awesome time today and I’m glad we decided to go. Hopefully it’ll be a weekly event from now on!
And that’s been my week! It’s been crazy and totally exhausting. Lots of happy memories, but I’m ready to settle down for awhile!
