With the Summer over and school starting next week, I can't believe how quickly the past few months went by! And truly, I wish that it wasn't already over - as our family definitely prefers the less rigorous routines that accompany having no school. We managed to stay plenty busy - the girls took swimming lessons each morning and gymnastic once a week.

We had play dates, took day trips and even managed to squeeze in a trip to Fernandina Beach for a few days!

We enjoyed an occasional McDonald's lunch break, watched a little Barney and kept up with the household and farm chores.

But perhaps best of all, the kids woke up when they wanted to, went to bed when they felt like it and had night after night of "sleep overs" (sleeping in the porch room instead of in their bedroom). They played outside in their new "giant kiddie pool" for hours on end and simply just enjoyed being kids.

Along with all the usual Summer festivities, each of the kids turned a year older! Emily turned 5 in June!! We remembered baby Connor on his 3rd birthday in July. We just celebrated Anabelle's 7th birthday this week. And Brandon turns 2 next month! So in order to celebrate all these special days, we had a big birthday party bash for all the kiddos! There were 3 themes - Anabelle chose fairies, Emily chose meerkats and Brandon "chose" tractors, of course. There were kids everywhere, an inflatable water slide, a bubble station, a giant kiddie pool, and lots of BBQ; including "momma and daddy juice", of course.

So as this Summer comes to and end, we'll do a bit more school shopping this weekend. We'll attend open houses and "meet the teacher" events ... and we'll try to get back into the groove - so to speak. Hold on tight! I think it's gonna be a busy school year!