Summer 2016!

Well, today is the first day of fall, so I wanted to wrap up our summer season of 2016 with what we have been up to.  There is a lot to mention!

Here is Violet in her "Owl Stay Up Late" pajamas.  The was the first time she wore them and they have been a staple all summer- her getting better at saying "owl stay up late" as each week goes by.

Then we celebrated Libby's 12th birthday with a big party.  Libby wanted to invite lots of families to celebrate this year, and we made a "redneck water park" in the back yard and then headed next door to our beloved neighbors to swim.

Libby made flip flops to give to everyone as party favors (Nutter Butters with frosting) and Aunt Susan, Uncle Willie, Adam, Lincoln, Nana and Pop-Pop were in town to help!

Please Aunt Susan come visit all the time!  The girls and Jovie love you!!

 Of course we participated in Flip Flop Day at Tropical Smoothie and all got a free smoothie!  This is Violet's "brain freeze" face.  Also a star this summer, Violet's tu-tu, which she regularly requested as part of her wardrobe.

 We went back in the studio a few times, recording some new material and refining some old.  Michael has his space and studio up and running and it is nothing short of awesome.

Of course swimming was a regular event with all kinds of friends and fun!

We headed to my parent's house in Waldo for Fourth of July weekend- a summer must.  My sisters and their families were there, as every year, and it was full of fun and good food.

 This is Violet napping in my mom's crib.  So tiring having a ton of fun in the lake!

 Here are Jimmy and I and Violet, setting off in the kayak to get a photo of everyone jumping off the dock.  We rowed out and I hollered at everyone to jump!

And here they all are!  I love my family!  (I already blogged about this, I realize.  I'm not totally losing my mind.)

 Had Dad teach me how to drive the boat, only as you can see I've ended up in the passenger seat taking photos instead of actually driving.  No one can make those smooth curves like Slim.

The kids had fun catching small fish and putting them in a tank on the side of the dock.

This happens so frequently I was happy to get a photo of it.  Riding in the boat is fun and all, but can get boring!

 

And here are all my lovelies.  I agreed to buy them Old Navy shirts if they promised me a photo.  Yay!

 This is summer!

We celebrated Sam's 4th birthday.  Sam is a Harlacher, our friends who moved just three doors down last fall.  It has been amazing and a forever change to our kids childhood and our life in general to have friends who are neighbors.  We love it!

Libby took this precious photo of Violet while giving her a bath one night.

And then there was cow day!  Jimmy took the kids to breakfast while I was working on our bookshelf project (see previous post) and Violet had a major meltdown when she saw the cow costume.  So when we went back for dinner we made sure she had no run-ins with the cow and all was well.

My friend Darcy and her girls stayed with us for two days and the kids had tons of fun.  Here are some of the girls playing "Just Dance."

Jackson got serious about baking bread.  He is still at it, and this mom is NOT complaining!!

Violet has always LOVED bananas, but she discovered that banana and peanut butter is the best.  I took this photo of her at breakfast one day because she has started requesting that she sit like a big girl at the table and not in her high chair, and because she was saying "banana and peetah buttah" and it was SO cute.

Here is my living room after moving all the books to the entry way and painting and rearranging the room.  Though I was nervous as it was going on, I love the color!

This is what my house looked like most of the summer.  A revolving door of friends.

This summer Libby and Cash started to refer to themselves as "Clash."  And they call each other that.  It's pretty great.  They're pretty great!

On August 4th we took off to Ohio, to stay in Uncle Chad's epic house and attend a family reunion on the Alley side of the family.  Gary and Sharon and boys came from Israel which was of course a major excitement!

 

THE house.

Pip and Sa'ar were two cousins in a pod.

It was the first time we met Tsemah.

Gary worked on a family tree during the reunion.  Yes, my kids great-great grandmother's name was Sallie Alley.  The kids love that.

The Jerusalem Alley's and the Tallahassee Alley's.

Hanging out in cousin Chad's driveway.

After Ohio Gary and Sharon and family and Granny and Grandad came to Tallahassee!

Cousins!

I helped my best good friend Carey celebrate her 40th birthday!  It was a great evening.

Violet learned how to make different faces.  Happy, surprised, angry, sad.  Here is her pouty lip sad face.  I love how she is smiling through it.

And this was taken the night before we started school.  A last hurrah at the Hay's pool with our neighborhood buddies.  And all of a sudden, summer was past!  It was a good one!