Photo Every Hour: August 21st

Probably shouldn't be snoozing my alarm on such a busy day... But some habits are hard to break

7:00 My little sous chefs helping me make the frosting for a special breakfast

8:00 Nothing beats Sunday morning cinnamon rolls to celebrate the week school starts 

9:00 Another special back-to-school event: Blessing the backpacks at church (plus a special blessing for our niece starting Kindergarten!)

10:00(ish) Post-church means time for a quick run out to Target for an order pickup to prepare for the rest of our crazy day  

11:00 Next stop on our busy day? Church picnic at the park

12:00 One of the many (many!) reasons we love our church--of the seven kids in this photo, only two are ours. One (the youngest) is being mother-henned by one of the sweet older girls at our church, and the other (the oldest) is perfectly content to sit back in the grass and watch the festivities while waiting for someone to be ready to play soccer with him

1:00 Desperately waiting for the pool at the park to open so we can SWIM!!

4:00 I think the only way to sum up how crazy busy (and fun!) our time at the swimming pool was is to admit that I have zero photos from the pool and that we immediately dropped the boys in front of the TV for some down time as soon as we got home

5:00 Somewhere in this picture are my middle two boys... And if you see one camped out on top of the fence don't tell my mother-in-law because she already thinks they are too much like her own son for their own good

6:00 Wrapping up dinner

7:00 Smoothies for snack!

8:00 Shockingly, I contributed treats for the church picnic (cookie bars and cupcakes). Also shockingly, Darrell and I had an extra treat after the boys went to bed

9:00 Adulting like a boss and paying our mortgage (also, are we the only ones who still mail in a check for our mortgage payment?!? Probably)

10:00 Look how efficient I am--taking a photo of my "photo every hour" reminder set for 10:00 as my picture for 10:00

Busy days call for bedtimes that are actually reasonable!

Photo Every Hour: July 21st

 I figured if I didn't turn around immediately and do my July post I'd promptly forget about it, so it's a two-for-one special tonight!

7:00--well, technically, 7:30, because at 7:00 I was out for a run to train for a sprint triathlon that my friend talked me in to doing with her in August, and I don't run with my phone. So a picture of my dirty shoes it is

8:00 Pancakes on a weekday?!? A special treat when Daddy has the day off to help prepare for our trip to the Black Hills tomorrow

9:00 Leave it up to kids to invent a tennis ball bowling game with a water bottle between the legs

10:00 Playtime at the library before storytime begins!

11:00 Playing some other made up game with William's newest obsession: a stopwatch

12:00 How I pack: outfits and pajamas for each boy laid out for each day so I don't forget anything (and--if I'm being honest--so I can try to coordinate outfits a little bit)

1:00 Trying to find one last audiobook for our trip, which was harder than it seems because in addition to the book being available I needed two paperback copies to be available as well because William and Garrett like being able to follow along

2:00 Hate our tree (it has crazy tiny leaves that are a pain to sweep) but love how well it shades our yard, Makes it at least a little tolerable to be out even when the temps are in the nineties

3:00 Garrett insisted that we needed to make cookies to take to the Black Hills with us. And when he does ninety percent of the work by himself, who am I to say no?

4:00 Midday baths are a little unconventional, but when you have VBS until after eight and are leaving the next morning at 5:30 for a six hour road trip, you make it work. Especially when temps have been in the nineties all week

5:00 Making a quick stop at the library to return some books and pick up even more books to occupy the boys on the road trip

6:00 Enjoying a pizza dinner at church before the last night of VBS

7:00 Taking advantage of three boys being a church to put a dent in the packing

8:00 Last night of VBS calls for an ice cream social on the front lawn

9:00 On the docket for tonight--a deep clean of the kitchen for Darrell while I mess it up making two batches of muffins

10:00 Darrell doing his best to clean around the mess I'm busy making--while helping make sure I have all the measuring tools and stuff I need clean

11:00 Piling the bags in the foyer to be ready for an early-morning load into the foyer. And heading to bed not too soon after!

Photo Every Hour: June 21st

You know it's been a summer when you go to do your July 21st blog post and realize you haven't even done your June one yet. Whoops!

Like those outfits? We bought them for our friend's formal wedding in Boston on June 18th. That we had to miss. Because we had COVID. Like I said, it's been a summer

7:00 Trying to do our due diligence to minimize COVID spread since Garrett is still testing positive, which means solo grocery shopping trips right when the store opens at 7:00

8:00 And unfortunately, Garrett still being positive means he misses the first few days of summer camp. Fortunately these two are far enough past their onset of symptoms for us to feel comfortable sending them to a fully-outdoor summer camp

9:00 Making the best out of being stuck at home instead of camp by helping Mommy make Daddy's birthday "cake"

10:00 Also decided this was the perfect opportunity to break out our water beads, which was a very well received decision

11:00 Sneaking in some cuddles (and a picture!) while Matthew is down for an uncharacteristic morning nap (but man oh man did he need it with the attitude he was throwing down) 

12:00 Pickup time for Connor since he only goes to camp for half days

1:00 Water beads. Allowing Moms to eat in peace since, well, whenever they were invented

2:00 I can't convince them to clean up their toys inside, but sure, they'll go outside and sweep the patio. Sounds about right

3:00 Unfortunately, the morning nap was not enough to sufficient make it through the rest of the day. A little bit of forced quiet time with Mommy was necessary this afternoon

4:00 Waiting on the playground for William to get dropped off after camp

5:00 Dinner prep... And more water beads

6:00 Seriously. These things are magic

7:00 Happy Birthday Daddy! Garrett was super proud of our homemade strawberry ice cream cake/pie (with strawberries from my mom's garden, no less)

8:00 Off to bed (and, as the pictures from today have shown, clearly past the point of being symptomatic, but unfortunately still testing positive) 

9:00 (and, let's be honest, 10:00 as well) Our grown up version of recovering from COVID (not that we needed that much recovery, but let's be honest, it was a week plus of super long days--right after vacation--and we did have some mild symptoms ourselves, so lazy evenings were just what the doctor ordered)

Of course, the doctor probably would have also ordered earlier bedtimes, but you can't win them all