Random August

We sadly said goodbye to our good friends, the Bassetts, who moved on to a new job in Colorado. It happened really fast and while we were really excited for them and their new adventure, we couldn't help but feel a little sad that we wouldn't be living close to each other anymore. We had a BBQ one night to get everyone together before they left. We were sure grateful to have made such wonderful friends and will miss them.

 Emily and Chase were cute little friends

 Before we left their home that night, we caught Emily and Ava in the backseat of our car jumping up and down and laughing hysterically. It was so funny watching them, and it was hard to convince them to stop.

One night in August, Jeff's secretary's son got married, so we went to the reception that night. It was fun to see everyone and the kids had a blast dancing out on the dance floor-especially Emily who convinced all of her brothers to be her dance partners. They had a really yummy dinner and dessert bar, and the kids' favorite- a photo booth where you could dress up with different funny costume items and get your picture taken in a photo booth. I have the photo strip somewhere and will have to add it as soon as I can scan it. It was funny to see the boys, especially Matthew. He found a pair of red devil horns, but called them 'bull horns' and thought they were the coolest things ever! Inf act, he's still asking me to find some bull horns for him.

 We spent a lot of time playing at the park. Luckily for us, there are lots of different parks around so we have lots of different options. The kids love going and running around and playing and it's one of the best ways to put all their energy to good use!

 We also started our 'back to school' shopping trips. It's so fun to take each child out to find their school things and then choose somewhere fun to eat. We don't take the kids out to eat very often, maybe a couple times a year, so it makes the school shopping trip extra special. Caleb chose Texas Roadhouse this year and was especially excited that they had a saddle to try out at the end. Jeff ended up taking Jacob school shopping this year since restaurant food didn't sound too appetizing to me that night, but it was really fun for the two of them and I'm glad Jeff got to share in the experience too.

 We also had our back to school orientation nights. Lacey and Travis are getting married on August 24th this year, the day after the first day of school. So the kids' will miss their first couple days of school again this year, but at least we got to meet our teachers, see classrooms, etc. We're thrilled with all of their teachers, they all got wonderful teachers this year. It's a big change for Jacob this year who will be attending a new school. He was selected out of the district to be in the advanced program- there are only 5 boys and 5 girls in each grade out of the whole district. We were really excited for him and the opportunity, but it will be kind of sad to have him at a new school. He will be catching a bus early in the morning. I went back and forth, but we figured we'd try it out for a year and see how it goes.

We had our share of birthday parties, and get-togethers with friends. 

And having signed all three boys up for soccer, we spent many many nights at the soccer fields for practice. Luckily, Jacob had a friend on the same team that we were able to carpool with, but Matthew, Caleb, and Jacob all had practices on different nights at different fields. It was nice when the practices were at fields that also had playgrounds. Emily always wanted to go to the practices no matter what, but she especially loved it when there was a fun place to play.
Emily usually insists on wearing a dress or at least a skirt. This little dress Emily's wearing was one of her favorite outfits this summer- especially when she paired it with her little silver sandals- probably not the greatest choice for running around at the park-especially with the slight heel, but it's what she frequently insisted on. We definitely have a tough little girly-girl and we love her!