Long Live Summer 2017

Once we returned from our week in Jackson it was time to prepare for our family vacation.  We were excited about taking our annual family cruise and it turned out to be a wonderful trip!  You can read it about it HERE.

The rest of the summer was spent doing as many fun things as we could before school started up again.  Here's a brief recap of all we packed in.

We ended up buying season passes to Six Flags and made several trips there.....

Matthew loves the roller coasters but can't stand being up high on the lookout tower!  Makes me laugh!

We bought passes to the Six Flags water park as well but the day we attempted a trip there we got rained out after just a couple hours.

We met up with our friends Joy, Bree and Brynn for a day at the childrens' museum in a nearby town.  Kyndall and I had been here on her kindergarten field trip and were excited to go back.

Kyndall continued with her love of painting over the summer, spending much of her time on the back porch creating beautiful masterpieces...

This rock that she found while rock hunting in Tallahassee was her inspiration for the painting above

Some days her artwork found its way to the front sidewalk for everyone in the neighborhood to see

Mama might have participated with this one...

We spent LOTS of time at the neighborhood pool.....

It was pretty hot during the day but Kyndall enjoyed playing outside each night when the sun went down.  She loved introducing Ashlyn to Hungry Hungry Hippos.....aka the loudest game ever created.

We made a few trips to Sweet Frogs for frozen yogurt treats

Small town living is the best!  Kyndall loved waking up the the sounds of the North Forney High School marching band as they came through our neighborhood one morning.

We attended birthday parties for friends....

Even though she attended Vacation Bible School in Tallahassee at my parents' church, she was still very excited to repeat the exact same theme at our own church here in Forney.  Each day we picked up her BFF Ashlyn who lives across the street and took her with us and that made it even more special.

One very HOT day this summer Kyndall and I spotted this sweet dog roaming through our neighborhood. She was clearly struggling in the heat and we were afraid for her safety so we coaxed her into our garage so she could lay on the cool floor and enjoy some water.  Kyndall and Ashlyn immediately got attached to her but thankfully she was only "ours" for a few hours before her owners were found.

We had the opportunity to babysit our sweet friend Maley for the day and we loved it!  It was so fun having a baby in the house again.

We spent more than enough time here....

Kyndall and Ashlyn found a new love for rock hunting around the neighborhood.  Our neighborhood lifestyle director hosted a rock painting party at the clubhouse and Kyndall and Ashlyn enjoyed it very much.

Each week at the clubhouse there was an activity day.  This week it was a craft day and the girls made these adorable popsicles!

Lunch on the patio with Mrs. RobinJo, our lifestyle director whom we all adore so much!  She makes living in the neighborhood so FUN!

Kyndall found this rock and saved it for her cousin Wyatt who is crazy about Spider Man

Of course we had to participate in Seven-Eleven's national slurpee day!

We made (and enjoyed) our share of sweet treats over the summer.  You don't always need a reason to bake cupcakes, right??

We saw the Emoji Movie with our friend Bailee

We did lots of sleeping in and lots of being lazy....

Kyndall slept on this pallet on the playroom floor for the entire summer.  I have no idea why she'd prefer the floor to her soft cozy bed, but anything goes in the summer so we let her do things her way!

Huckabee sums up how we were all feeling towards the end of a busy summer!

I had the opportunity to do something fun on a Sunday afternoon.  I've always wanted to try my hand at painting but just never took the initiative to try it out.  My sweet friend April saw that "Painting With a Twist" was offering a very special theme and invited me to join.  Once I saw the theme I knew right away that I wanted to do it!

The sunsets in Texas are gorgeous and I love the fact that we can see them so beautifully from our very own front yard.

Somehow Kyndall got her hands on her Daddy's old cut up high school football t-shirt and insisted on wearing it as pajamas nearly every night.  Secretly, it made Matthew very proud!

Play dates with friends were a frequent occurrence...

Snapchat made her life complete when they came out with this crazy filter over the summer

Adventures with sweet friends....

One of the very last weeks of the summer Kyndall participated in a gymnastics camp.  She's been wanting me to sign her up for gymnastics for a long time but I was afraid she wouldn't like it so I figured a week long camp would be a good way to test the waters. To my surprise she ended up loving it so we've given up dance classes for gymnastics.  I have to say, that hurt my heart a little.  I was a dancer all my life and she's been dancing since she was three years old.  I just love everything about it but I suppose I have to let her find her own passions in life.  

Accidental matchy-matchy at church one Sunday

She received a good report at her six month dental check up.  That made this dental hygienist Mama very happy!  

When your Grandparents live 15 hours away but you want to play a card game with them, you improvise with the help of Skype....

Before we knew it the summer of 2017 was over and it was time to get back in gear for another great year of school.  We were both excited and sad at the thought of getting back into a routine.  Kyndall really missed her friends but neither of us were looking forward to the alarm clocks or the weekly schedules. 

When it was time to shop for school supplies we went a little crazy with our love for all things monogrammed....

The last night of the summer I treated her to a little pampering, complete with a candle-lit bubble bath and a pedicure. 

Up next, adventures in FIRST GRADE!