Date days

A little tradition I started a few years back was a date day with each of my school kiddos.
To do pretty much whatever they want with just me for the day or at least half of a day.
I tried not to do much guiding with Shadd and it didn't work out super great so i planned a little bit more for ells and sage.
Big thanks to Jess for making this possible! Best part of our summer is having Jess around!


Shadd & I hit up the disc golf course in waukee. Its not marked stellar and we only have three discs but it was still fun to do.

Then we headed to cheesecake factory because he has always wanted to try it. Well he was a little disappointed. Our food took forever. Like over an hour and he ate like two bites. Not exactly kid friendly. But the free cheesecake in their apology won him over!

Then we hit up sky zone. And we played a lot of dodgeball. I was one of the only adults in the ring but it was a ton of fun and we laughed a lot! We even took some photos in the Photo Booth!

Sage and I went to glow golf: we took photos at all his hole in ones. we hit up a blizzard on the way home!

Ells wanted to shop, eat and play at the pool (just us)
I think she soon discovered I'm really not that fun. I can't do multiple flips underwater and I don't like to do repeat slide attempts. But we had a blast just hanging out the two of us!

Shadd's turns 9

We got to celebrate this amazing dude - NINE years old.

a little hard for me to swallow this year. almost double digits.
people always said it get better. and they were right. i love this age. they are fun. i mean really fun to hang out with. and its hard because we still have babies but when i get to ignore the babies (meaning they are with jess or sleeping) i get to hang out with some cool cats.

this guy loves sports. he's actually becoming his dad. he knows more than me in just about anything. latest golf scores, who won the super bowl last year, when the olympics start! i mean what and where do you hear all this stuff. well he's a reader. loves a great book and magazine. currently thanks to a podcast i have gotten them all hooked on dude perfect. its a youtube trick shot show. i mean they are currently filming some of their own videos. we are entering the tech world this christmas i believe. no phones but maybe iPods. crazy.

he loves everything he plays. and he is good. i was worried when we first started. but he is good. i kinda hoped he would be just because genetically it should be in his cards to be somewhat good but you just never know.

he loves games - blokus trigon is a new favorite. and hearts currently. but puzzles, mazes, trivia. love love loves.

he had a friend over to spend the night on his birthday so they had a blast playing and enjoying our water slide!

he is one smart, caring, sweet, selfless boy! shady, i honestly couldn't be any prouder of you! you are an amazing brother! you definitely carry the burden of the first born well. keep your joy for life and play. continue to love jesus and love others and He will do great things with you! we love you!
mom

Minute to Win It Birthday Party

small disclaimer - it was hot. like heat index over 100. we had lots of VERY COMPETITIVE boys at our house. its summer. they aren't used to playing together. these are tough little competitions to complete in a minute.

we had lots of crying. they hated to lose. they hated they couldn't beat the task. they had to be patient.

it was fun but i probably won't ever do a party like it again or at least not make it competitive.
still sweet boys and sweet friends. i just thank the Lord Derrick was home to diffuse some of the tears and competition.

Adventureland

We hit up Adventureland - our annual thing! It was quite the crew but gets more and more fun each year. This year we hit up the pool first, which is awesome in my opinion. And we closed down the park with a small break at my brothers house! I just hope we keep it alive and as teenagers we will be having the time of our lives and maybe the parents will be sipping margaritas in the bay! Haha

dads in bummer cars - time of the kids life!