Summer time

It seems hard to believe we are already halfway into summer. I was slightly dreading the chaos of everyone home and the fighting that comes with it. Luckily I've been pleasantly surprised and the fighting has been somewhat manageable (maybe we all needed a little more togetherness).

The boys and KC each have a camp week (although N gets two!). Right now they are just day camps or half day camps. Since we have such free days with our only true schedule definer being Katherine's nap, I tried to bring a little order to the chaos by holding a "family meeting" every morning at 8:30. It's worked like a charm and we've done it every week day we've been home. It consists of a devotion (I'd purchased a Jesus Calling one but reverted back to my favorite, d365 app), some assignment (writing, answering reading questions, math, something to keep them thinking), a list of their chores for the day (praise hands here, love having the help this summer), and then they list their prayer requests for that day. Each Friday or Monday they also set two kindness goals for the week. This has been a challenge. They like to write, "Make a new friend" or "I'll help someone when they fall." These are great goals, but I've asked them to make easy goals they can achieve in a week. This week N has written to bring the newspaper to our elderly neighbor's door, and make Texas hash for our church when they serve the homeless. T is still on "I'll be kind to my brother" and still hasn't met it. On Friday's we spice up our family meeting by taking it to a local breakfast place. We're currently in a split vote over where this Friday's will occur.

Some pictures of our summer happenings so far -

KC turned 4! The only thing she wanted was Anna and Elsa balloons. So I delivered. My parents gave her a Rapunzel dress, her second wish list item. And since we were having a few family friends over we rented a bounce house for the kids. We stuck with our ice cream theme for KC's party (and it works with Frozen too), but also ended up ordering pizza when we were all still partying past 6pm (and a major kick ball tournament had broken out with no signs of stopping).

KC was sick on her actual birthday but rallied towards the afternoon. She really wanted a Frozen themed cake so I picked out some Frozen figures from the Disney Store to put on her cake. KC picked out all the candles and asked to decorate the cake herself. She carried the candles around for days before her actual birthday because she was so excited.

Pools, playgrounds and splash pads have filled our summer. The boys have also had fun running through the hood finding friends. This relaxed and lazy summer has also led to N's first sleepover (and followed quickly by a few more, luckily always just two houses down).

We celebrated Father's Day with my parents and spent the weekend visiting family.

The boys stayed with my parents a few days and we took the girls home. We didn't get a picture with all the kids and Chris on Father's Day but there were ones with him, the boys, and KC, and then this one. Not picture perfect and still picture perfect all at the same time.

Katherine and Chris matched so perfectly one morning. It was definitely not planned.

During summer, our church doesn't have Sunday School for the boys, and provides childcare for preschoolers. KC loves going into her class. They have these blocks she loves and they have fifteen minutes of music. Katherine has really adjusted well but will still cry for the first minute after drop off. The first time they took her to music, she screamed. They calmed her down by walking her back to the room. Once she was calm they took her back to music, where she screamed. Turns out, she was screaming for KC because all the preschoolers do music together. She's okay with seeing her now and returning to her own class until we pick her up, but how sweet that this baby wanted to be with her big sister.

Our house is a complete disaster on a daily basis.

And no summer is complete without lots and lots of ice cream.