Preteen Camp

Last week Aidan went to preteen camp with our church for his second year in a row. He's always been a little nervous to go but always ends up having a great time (and this year, he didn't get homesick enough to have to call home!). He invited his friend Connor from school to go with him, and he also had a few fun friends from church there. I didn't get a lot of pictures from our children's minister (including any in his Nerd Prom outfit that he tried on at home) and he only appeared on the camp website a couple of times, but I know he had a blast!

While Big Brother was away, Little Sister got to party! The day Aidan left, we had 4 of her friends from school over to swim. We also tried dying the tips of her hair, which is a fun summer trend for little girls around here!

She also had a big chunk of allowance she wanted to spend on a bed for her American Girl doll, so I took her and Sage to the American Girl store where we had lunch and did a little bit of shopping!

She also did a sports camp at a friend's church and chose cheer as her elective! It met in the evenings which meant that with Aidan gone, Daniel and I had our evenings free!!

We were all so happy to see Aidan on Thursday, even Griffin! We took him out to eat sushi that night as his Welcome Home meal. Next year Avery will be old enough to go to preteen camp too! Hooray!!!

4th of July

We celebrated July 4th with the Brookses who came up to stay with us for a few days! The kids swam practically the whole time, we took them to eat at Babe's, and watched a few fireworks from our driveway with some lime sherbet floats. On the 4th we cooked out and I made a festive America cake! We also let Katy (who's almost 13) be in charge of all the kids while the grown-ups went to have lunch one day. Happy Birthday America!

Summer Fun

Avery did her second year of Girl Scout Twilight Camp and loved it! She was in the same unit with her friends and fellow troop members Haylee, Margot, and Becca. They went every night from 6-10pm and the last night they went from 6 to midnight! It was a long week but she had a blast.

Even though it's summer, she has been working super hard on building up her math skills this summer! I've been helping her with flash cards and iPad games and videos, and she's been meeting with her wonderful teacher from last year once a week. Bring it on, 3rd grade math!

Our church had VBS and the theme was "Submerged." I helped with snacks, and the kids had a great time with their friends:

We celebrated Cousin Sage's birthday (and Ellie's too):

Aidan did a basketball camp at PSA:

He and I also had a few fun nights together while Avery had Twilight Camp and Daniel was out of town. We played Lunar (glow-in-the-dark) Golf, had dinner at Pei Wei, ice cream at Baskin Robbins, watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and went to the Wylie First Baptist Carnival with our neighbors Laurin and Avery (we think they have great names!):

Daniel and I have had our share of fun too. We went out to dinner with Tracey and David one night, and I met up with my friends Whitney and Mollie. Mollie was in town for a wedding and brought her precious baby girl Sarah Rose for us to meet!!

Staying Cool in the Pool

Did I mention we got a pool? We are LOVING it this summer! We've already had a bunch of friends and family over to swim and it's so nice to have a way to beat the heat right in our backyard! So far the maintenance is worth it, but ask me again in a few months when we're not swimming in it!

My mom friends plus a couple of neighbors!

My friend Whitney and her three kids!

Father's Day party with the Halls and the Dixons (Happy Father's Day Daniel!!!):