Goodbye Summer

I can't believe the school year is already upon us again! It snuck up on me this year- probably because it's still 106 most days with the humidity. The heat is relentless! Emery is very excited to go to kindergarten. She had a kindercamp last week and got to tour the school and do some activities and she made a new friend right away. 

We find out who her and Levi's teachers will be later today. Eric and I are trying to figure out schedules and how to logistically make the next few months work. The kids have piano on Mondays, Emery has dance on Tuesday evenings, Levi's got soccer on Wednesday evenings and then on Saturdays Emery has dance again and Levi will have his soccer games. It's what we have talked about in the past and decided we wanted (one musical and one athletic thing per child at a time) but once it's on the calendar it just seems like more... and Isla hasn't even started anything yet! It makes me realize a bit more why the families with kids older than ours in our ward spend so much time driving around dropping kids off and picking them up places! But Emery is loving dance and Levi is excited to get going with soccer again and they are both progressing with piano soooo here we are. 

Anyway, this has been a wonderful summer. We checked off almost everything on our summer bucket list and the kids really grew close together this summer and made a lot of great memories. I am really grateful because I got to take Isla to CA to meet Oma and spend some time with my family and it was so nice to be able to see Ava and meet Leila for the first time. I am really looking forward to them all coming out to see us for Thanksgiving! 

My favorite picture from the whole trip! It was so fun swimming with all these babies! 

I absolutely LOVED getting to snuggle Ava so much! I wish we lived closer so I could see her all the time! 

Isla was actually surprisingly good and gentle around Ava and didn't try to pick her up or mother her too much haha. 

Isla gave lots of gentle hugs to Ava. 

They mostly had fun playing near each other. 

And Isla did a pretty good job trying to share toys. 

On the Monday I was there, Isla and I took Oma out to breakfast and then got to go back to her place afterwards for a little bit. It was nice getting to spend time one-on-one with her and see where she lives. She and Isla had fun taking turns with one of them sitting on the walker and the other pushing the walker around. It was very cute. Isla was also very interested in Oma's cat Gibbs who was terrified of Isla and hid under the bed the whole visit. Haha. 

Oma showed me some of her paintings and the next project she is going to work on (a portrait of Gibbs). I was very impressed by how well Oma is getting around, how healthy she looks and how much she is still painting (she said usually 2 hours/day) when she can barely see! 

We stayed with Lynn and Jon while we were there and their pool is just absolutely delightful. It was so relaxing to hang out in the water and Isla LOVED it and just wanted to jump in off the side over and over and didn't want to get out even when she started shivering and her lips started turning blue. Girl is a water baby for sure! 

The Saturday Isla and I were in CA, Eric took the big kids to the arcade with friends of ours. Eric said they had a blast. 

So yeah, the CA trip was really great. And then since then we've just been trying to squeeze in some last-minute summer fun and also get ready for the school year. Isla is talking a ton now and can speak in longer sentences that make her sound so old! She will say things like "Grandma here at our house!" She also has a great sense of humor. The other night we got to go to the ranch and go swimming with cousins and Weston was playing with Isla and she was cracking up at him the whole time. Then on the drive home, she just kept saying "Wessin funny! Wessin funny!" She is also incredibly mischievous and loves water. We had to get child locks for the fridge, freezer, all the doors of rooms we don't want her in, and all the kitchen cabinets and drawers. We also have to flip over all the stools and put the chairs on the table when not in use otherwise it's nearly impossible to keep her off the counter and out of the kitchen sink. That's her favorite mischief right now- climbing all the way into the kitchen sink and turning the water on. So the other day, I let her practice pouring water from one cup to another and stirring or ladling water with a measuring spoon and she LOVED it. I am really looking forward to the big kids going to school and Isla and getting to have some one-on-one time and go do fun toddler-oriented things again like storytime. I am a little nervous about not having anyone else to keep an eye on her or help entertain her without Levi and Emery around but I am just hoping it all works out! 

 

Isla is also a big fan right now of putting on other people's clothes, especially Emery's underwear and anyones' socks and hats! 

She is still a huge fan of putting things on her head like a hat- in this case, the delicates bag. 

I took the kids and got them back-to-school haircuts. Levi really needed it and he looks so dapper now! 

 

Before his haircut his hair was long enough to put in a little pony-tail on top of his head! And it was completely covering his eyes which didn't seem to bother him but was driving me crazy. 

 

 

When we had our BBQ and swimming at the ranch with cousins, Isla loved petting Scout! I am really glad she's not terrified of dogs like Emery is. 

Because Friday was the last Friday of summer we had friends over and ate Braums for lunch! 

Grandma is here visiting us right now and we had a blast the other night playing Just Dance together. It is such a work-out doing like 5-6 songs in a row and meanwhile Levi is not even breaking a sweat and he's like "why are you tired?" Haha oh the energy of a young and active child! 

Martino Family Reunion

 4th of July week we got to go to Eric's family reunion down in Nacogdoches, TX. We all stayed on this beautiful property in these rustic, not-to-code and not terribly clean lodges. Our family shared with Matt and Greta's family which worked out perfectly. It was a great week! Very chill with lots of time for us to just be together and for our kids to play together with their cousins. We had all the meals except breakfast catered and thankfully it was all delicious and very plentiful so that was a huge win. Highlights for me were getting to play wingspan with Carma and Travis, lots of talks and games with Matt and Greta, being able to let the two older kids roam freely and play with their cousins, and having downtime to read my book and not have to do any work or chores! We went to the waterpark one of the days which was hot but fun and one of the days we did a service project where we took pictures at one of the oldest cemeteries in TX. There were graves there of people born in the 1700s! That was pretty cool. And Eric got to have some good talking time all together with his siblings about everything going on with his parents and their family right now so I think that was very healthy and good for everyone! 

Everyone was there except Ethan and McKenna! We've become quite the group!

Rachel refused to be in the cousin picture- she's got just about as much drama and sass as Emery! 

Evan, Hinckley, Austin, Cami, Declan, Emery and Hyrum

I put a lot of effort into our outfits for our family pictures but between Levi's black eye from a bee sting, all of us being sunburned from the waterpark the day before and just the general poor composition and coloring, we're just going to have to try again some other time! 

Emery and Rachel helping Auntie Carma make muddybuddies

One of the evenings several of us went to a local splash pad. The girls had a great time with their cousins!

Emery and Jonathan. Jonathan's haircut we learned is called the Kentucky Waterfall!

Emery and Declan

Our family and Blake and Shannon were in charge of breakfast on the 4th of July so we made pancakes with berries and whipped cream which were a hit thankfully! The only high chair they had in the mess hall was this old wooden one with no straps. It was a bit of a nightmare because my little monkey girl just loved to climb into it over the side and then jump off of the footrests! There was no containing her to eat. SMH. 

Emery and Cami

One of the evenings the whole family played kickball. It was fun being a spectator! 

People had also brought various lawn games including ladderball which was a big hit with the kiddos. 

These sweet girls (and Silva) had so much fun dressing up together and parading all around the camp putting on dances for people! I love how much Emery and Rachel look alike. 

There was lots of time for games thankfully so we did Unstabled Unicorns, Wingspan, King Domino Codenames and Cover Your Assets. I appreciated having space to play in the cabin we were staying in so that us adults could play during nap time or after the kids were in bed. 

There was a porch swing in front of our cabin that was so nice to sit and read in. 

Ben, Isla, Emery and Rachel

Declan loves babies and my girls love him! 

Carma and Travis had brought their arcade table and that was a huge hit with all the boys. Here Anson, Hyrum, Levi, and Hinckley are watching Evan play. 

Isla loved spending time with and playing with Auntie Shannon who took her a few times so I could get some alone time. 

Declan seriously carried Isla around all the time and she learned his name and just loves him now! 

It's crazy because even though we got home just a week ago, it feels like the family reunion was forever ago! And I just can't believe that July is already halfway over and we only have a few more weeks of summer left! 

This past week I expected to totally be drowning in work trying to catch up on everything after my days off, but it actually wasn't too bad. Also, Emery started up with dance classes again this week and on Friday I took the kids down to the Perot Museum which was a lot of fun! If it were closer I would definitely take them there more often. The kids had a great time and I thought the exhibits, especially the gemstones one, were really cool. 

Levi got to go swimming with his friend Robin this week. 

Isla LOVES to "help" in the kitchen. 

I came home from work one of the evenings this week and found that the kids and Miss Sally had formed a little band! 

Silly messy girl!

Giant geode at the Perot Museum

In the technology exhibit at the Perot the kids could design their own avatars and then make them move and dance. 

Isla's favorite part of the whole museum was this bridge in the children's area. She went up and down it at least 20 times in a row! 

Then last night, Eric and I went out which was nice to get some one-on-one time together. We were planning on seeing a movie but it ended up being sold out so we just went and got DELICIOUS Thai food instead. I'm really happy we found a Thai place that we like so much. 

I'm excited for this coming weekend because I get to go to CA to visit my family and Oma with Isla. Hopefully traveling with her by myself goes smoothly and she doesn't get up too early!