This was a very busy week for us. Denver finished school on Thursday. I can't tell you all how pleased I was with her first year. Her teacher, Mrs. Antonienko(the one with the Spider man shirt, which says how cool she is!) , and assistant, Mrs. Jones, were so fantastic that I'm afraid I'll be disappointed with the next 12 years!
It is refreshing to me to have such a positive experience considering that our school district is frequently in our local news for disappointing reasons that have nothing to do with the children themselves. But I am quite fond of our little neighborhood school(Longridge Elementary for you locals). But I am also happy to have a less structured summer for more family fun!
This week was also the Barnard Fireman's Parade and Carnival. This has been a family tradition for us since I was a baby. And when I think about my first impressions of Patriotism, I would have to say it started at this yearly event.
Along with the happy memories of my Dad popping popcorn at home and bringing it to the parade in bread bags(something he still does), carting the lawn chairs from the parking lot as a kid and now from our own home which is within walking distance. I remember my brothers and I peeking down the street to see who would be the first to see the start of the parade. I remember scrambling to try to pick up candy from the people throwing it.
I remember covering my ears when the trucks
went by and the lovely sounds of the bagpipes.
And MMMMmm...Carnival Food!
Along with those happy memories I remember my Mom making us stand when the Vietnam Vets marched by and not really understanding why until much later. I now make my kids stand when they march by and when they ask why, it's hard to answer in words they will understand. Their Papa is a Vietnam Vet and they have a hard time grasping the idea of my Father, the most peaceful man you could meet, as a fighter. But it is from these seeds planted back when I was a kid that my Patriotism sprouted from. The fanfare that accompanies a parade is such a wonderful reminder to celebrate the people in uniform around you.
We were lucky to have some cousins, Lacy and Lily, from Florida up over the week and the girls loved playing with them and later enjoyed the carnival rides with them too! I love the Barnard Parade and look forward to it every year as if I was still that little kid peering down the street to see if the parade had started yet.
It is refreshing to me to have such a positive experience considering that our school district is frequently in our local news for disappointing reasons that have nothing to do with the children themselves. But I am quite fond of our little neighborhood school(Longridge Elementary for you locals). But I am also happy to have a less structured summer for more family fun!
Along with the happy memories of my Dad popping popcorn at home and bringing it to the parade in bread bags(something he still does), carting the lawn chairs from the parking lot as a kid and now from our own home which is within walking distance. I remember my brothers and I peeking down the street to see who would be the first to see the start of the parade. I remember scrambling to try to pick up candy from the people throwing it.
And MMMMmm...Carnival Food!
Possum came and was reasonably well behaved.
Here we have the many smiles of Miss Adalyn. 
She is slowly moving out of the stinker phase. She's been giving my Dad and Wayne her crabby side but I think we're just about done with the Mommy only phase.
And here the girls had a little giggle fest on the floor with Ady.
We are finally adjusting to life with three. And I know it will start to fly by even faster now that I'm feeling a bit more sane.
This was a great first camping night for Denver and Willa and also provided Ady and Me an actual bed inside to sleep in(thank you Mikayla). We have been getting together with 2 other families once a month for over a year now. One is my brothers' fam and the other, some good friends of theirs who are now good friends of ours as well. 
This is the same crew that traveled together to Maine last Summer. We love our dinner nights and with 8 kids altogether it is always a fun and rampunctous time. This time the big draw were the many nerf guns my brothers' kids have. I'm thinkin maybe Santa may have to bring the girls some for Christmas.
It was her first time at a salon and she really did remarkably well. The only time I've seen her that still was in her sleep. I will say that having two children with me for a hair appt. is not nearly as relaxing as going by myself. I ended up holding Ady the entire time, even nursing her under the apron.
It has not been touched since the 80's sometime and, bless his heart, but Grandpa's failing eyesight ended up creating brown cabinets with little splashes of dark green and red when Grandpa thought he was touching up some chips. The floor is gross, even when clean it looks dirty. So we are redoing the floors, the walls, the backsplashes, and countertops. We'll be adding a dishwasher(pause while the trumpets of Heaven sound from above) and replacing the kitchen table somehow, and repainting the cabinets. Mostly when I say we I mean Wayne. But I am at a dilema as to which of our ideas to choose. Any feedback is welcome, though in the end, I can't promise I'll listen to any of it:) 
Here in the black and grey, the glass tiles would be the backsplash, the solid shiny black is the floor tile, the cabinets would be bright white and the countertops would be that small black sample on the glass tiles you see. The wall color would be one of those samples next to the glass tiles.
