Sweet Sweet Summertime

My kids always look forward to summer time! They love to swim, play outside, got to the park, and play sports. This summer was a little different than the summer before. Well, this year we have a trampoline – thanks to my Mammaw and the kids’ Nana and Papa (my parents). I tell you what this trampoline is a life saver. If they are bored they go outside and jump, If it’s hot we put the sprinkler under and have a cheap mini splash pad that bounces. The baby even loves it! She will get in there and close the net and just have a hay day jump around and falling A LOT!!

Summer Activities

When school is over and summer has began most of the time there is some sort of activities that are planned. Guess what they were this year…Softball, Tee-ball, Family Reunions and VACATION!!!!! Our summer started out super busy.

We had games every single night except Friday. Both of us work full time and have to make sure to get the kids to their activities on time. I know that there are plenty of other mom’s who do this and make it look like a walk in the park. Let me tell you I am absolutely NOT that mom. I am the hot mess mom that shows up right as the pre-game practice or the game itself is beginning. Even with James’s help, I just cant get it together. I try so hard to be organized, but I am a type B person. My planner is filled out along with my calendar, but for me it does not matter. I’m still a hot mess.

So this will be two of my kids last year in tee-ball, I am so excited for it to be done with. Tee-ball is painful to watch. Everyone knows the little kids are cute and funny, but good gravy, do we really need to let them try to hit the ball 10 times before we move onto the next kid? Maybe that makes me that a**hole parent. If it does, oh well, I still say its painful to watch.

We Are Family!

Each year my family in Iowa has two family reunions. The one for my Grandmas side which usually lands in June. Then we have the one for my Grandpa in August. We have been going to these reunions for as long as I can remember. Most likely since we moved to Iowa, which was 22 years ago. Both reunions have completely different vibe. The one in June is full of outgoing relatives who speak their mind and sure make it a fun time, but the downside of this reunion is I do not have a lot of relatives that are close to my age. I kind of stand out like a sore thumb.

The reunion in August was an absolute blast when I was a kid. All of us cousins that were close in age would play and join in on the cooking competition. Then at night we would play ghost in the graveyard around the campground. Some of the best summer memories I have. Now that I am older things have changed a lot. We no longer do the cooking competition. We mainly stick with the bag toss competition and just gathering around to eat some kind of food. We actually do a bag competition at both reunions. Sometimes it is super fun and others not so much, especially if you are paired with a relative that you don’t really know. We will see how the reunion in August goes later this summer.

VACATION!!

Oh boy am I in need and ready for this. We have been trying to go on a family vacation for a couple of years now. I do not have a super big family but it is big enough to where it is not easy to get everyone together. Unfortunately, we still weren’t able to get everyone to go. Life happens, what do you do. This will be out first time taking all 4 kids on vacation. We are going to GULF SHORES! I love the beach. I haven’t been in many years though. We are driving so traveling with the kids will be interesting. I will dig a little deeper into the prepping and traveling in my next post.

Here’s to a great 2024 Summer!