I'm gonna take the easy way out and summarize the last three weeks in one short little post. Here's what's been going on....
I went to the orthodontist and he showed me the new patient guide that was just printed. I'm officially in a magazine :)
This particular week included dentist appts for the girls, an orthodontist consult for Jillian, dermatologist appt for Jillian, a birthday party, play dates, Tae Kwon Do, and our usual trips to the RAC. On Friday afternoon I headed to Des Moines all by myself to meet up with my sisters to spend a weekend at Mom and Dad's sans husbands or kids. We figured out it had been nearly 14 years since we'd all spent an entire weekend together as the original 5. We enjoyed good food and drink, some games, and lots and lots of conversation.
Meanwhile, Matt and the girls were hanging out at home and having fun. They spent Saturday in Lanesboro tubing down the Root River.
The following week the girls had Camp Invention. It's a week they look forward to all year. They learned lots of stuff about science and math and brought home lots of fun creations. Several friends joined the girls, so it was extra fun to experience camp (and lots of carpooling) with buddies. Another highlight of the week was going to visit our former babysitter, Eleyna, and getting to meet and snuggle her new baby. The girls LOVED Mariella!
Precious, perfect little Mari
We also had a little drama on the home front in the form of a well crisis. Our pump went out and we needed lots of renovations. Thankfully, we were only about 18 hours without water, and we get to share this ginormous expense with the 5 other families on the well!
When I drive the camp car pool, I am known for my impromptu ice cream stops. We hit both Flapdoodles and Dairy Queen with Charlie that week, and even managed a stop at the school park. Fun summer memories.
Matt took the girls to the Olmsted County fair last Friday night while I had dinner with a friend. They came home at 10:30 all sugared up. The last of many treats that night was a funnel cake, and Adrienne's glasses suffered some consequences from the powdered sugar. I don't know how she managed to see out of them!
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We had a fun play date on Wednesday afternoon with the Camp and Rivera families--both recently back in Rochester for good after fellowships away in NYC and Indianapolis. It was great to catch up, and Jillian really enjoyed mothering the little ones. She and Lily formed a special bond.
Irondad ordered a new fast-looking helmet for his upcoming race. We can't stop laughing as we think he looks a bit like Rick Moranis in Spaceballs.
Jillian had a big exciting experience this week, as she got to stay home alone for the first time. We've been talking about trying this gradually, and the opportunity presented itself for her to try it Wednesday evening when Matt had about 20 minutes left of a bike ride and I had to leave to take Adrienne to Tae Kwon Do. She and I sat down and talked about rules, and she was so adorable when she asked me to stop so she could get some paper and take notes. True first born for sure. She had a great 20 minutes alone and is so proud she got to do this.
Late Thursday night, Aunt Mal, Uncle John, and James came to visit! The girls woke up Friday morning and were so happy to see James. The weather was cool, but beautiful, so we hit Oxbow Park that morning, followed by lunch on the patio at Forager and Flapdoodles (of course).
Saturday morning, Daddy and Uncle John went to Waseca to do the triathlon, so us ladies and James went to Daube's for donuts, the farmer's market, Soldier's Field park, and stopped at Pi for lunch.
In the afternoon, we enjoyed some water play and time on the playset.
One last pic before they started the drive home this morning. James is one busy dude (much like Jillian at that age), and so much fun.
Adrienne noticed that all 4 of us had our glasses on this morning, so she said we needed a "family glasses selfie"
After the Leaches left, Grandma and Pop Pop facetimed us to tell the girls a very exciting surprise. They are moving to Minnesota!! Matt and I have known for a couple weeks, but wanted to let Grandma and Pop Pop share their news. In what can only be described as a series of God-orchestrated events, they will be moving to a darling little house about 15 miles from us in far southwest Rochester (technically Byron) situated on a large bison farm. This is very surreal to us, as we've never lived less than 2 hours from any family since we got married 15 years ago, and never less than 3 hours since we've had kids. This will be a new experience for us to navigate, and we are so excited to get to spend more time with Paula and Bryan. The girls were bursting with joy when they found out, and I honestly thought Jillian might cry. Matt hasn't lived near his mom since he was 12, so this is such a wonderful blessing. After our Facetime call, we loaded up to drive out to the farm to see the property. The farm owner just happened to be there, and she was so hospitable to offer to walk us through the house and show us around the property. It was fun to send Grandma and Pop Pop pics and videos of their soon to be (October) new space. Here are the girls standing in the kitchen
The view out their front living room bay window. The Marylanders are going to loooove this change of scenery and pace of life!
We've got 4 more weeks of summer....lots of fun to still be had!
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