The next week we had an eye appointment for AJ. Update: she's improved a lot and the doc adjusted her prescrip a little based on her improved ability to verbalize what looks better. We'll follow up in September and as long as she's made at least as much improvement, we won't need to patch her weak eye. We also had dentist appointments for her and me. Later in the week she had her final gymnastics class and we got to go in and see her doing all of her fancy moves. She did really well, especially going backwards on the balance beam! It was a great summer activity and she enjoyed it, but we decided not to continue it for now.
That week I also completed a mini-makeover in the kids' playroom. It was one of those rooms that I just wanted up and running when we moved in and didn't give a lot of thought to. I basically just recreated what was at our other house. So, I spent some time hunting down a few different additions (two overstuffed chairs for reading, a solar system mobile, a wall decal map I put on a canvas, and a new pennant banner I made for a window treatment) and rearranged the furniture. It's something than can grow with them a bit better and is a little more functional now. Other than that, the week was spent frantically packing while also attempting to price items for an upcoming consignment sale.
After we returned from the beach, I went into major "school-is-almost-here-and-I'm-also-going-to-start-a new job/volunteering at AJ's school/leading small group-and-OH-my-goodness-soak-up-every-second-slash-get-it-all-done-NOW" mode. Yeah, if you think reading that sentence was stressful, just imagine how it felt being in my head.
We started by jumping into an office makeover. We listed the furniture on Craig's List and LESS THAN 24 HOURS LATER someone was picking half of it up. (They had to wait three days to come back for the other half because the husband was going out of town.) I was not at all expecting it to go that quickly, so I was literally emptying drawers as they were hauling stuff out to the truck. I just made massive piles of stuff that spilled out into the foyer and dining room. This was ONE day after getting back from vacation, so my house pretty much looked like a bomb exploded downstairs for the latter part of the month.
I immediately set out to do some furniture shopping the next day and, thankfully, by Wednesday, had two new pieces of furniture ordered and most decorations bought. My budget was mostly limited to what we got for the furniture we sold plus what I figured I would make on this year's consignment sale, so it took some creativity, but I think I'm going to love the finished room. Pictures and more updates to come, of course.
That same week Audrey spent one night at her Grandmom and Granddad's by herself and we had Luke alone. Later that week, she had her 5 year check-up (everything looked great. The only notable fact is that she's in the 12th percentile for height. Tiny!) and Luke tagged along so we could get his lungs and ears checked out for his lingering virus. He was put on oral steroids and an inhaler to use until the nasty cough cleared up. After our appointment, we met up with David's mom who took Luke so Audrey and I could have our planned Mommy-Daughter date. We went back-to-school shopping, ate lunch at her choice of a restaurant, shopped at the mall for a first day outfit, threw pennies in the fountain, rode the merry-go-round, and bought a cookie. It was fantastic.
On that Friday we went over David's great aunt's (who we call "Granny Joy") house for a swim play date. Her granddaughter, Gracie (David's second or third cousin?) was also there for the day. She is ten and Audrey thinks she's the coolest, so AJ had a good time swimming and crafting with her before we all ate lunch. She (or, rather, Granny Joy) had bought a sketchbook and butterfly craft kit for Audrey and matchbox cars for Luke PLUS there were cookies and ice cream for dessert. They had a blast and did not want to leave!
The weekend came and both kids spent the night at their grandparents' house while David and I worked on getting a few things done. I painted the office and he put together his new workbench and organized his section of the garage, which was grossly overdue. Even he admitted he really likes the new neat look. I'm just happy to be able to find a tape measure or screwdriver when I need it. That evening we got cleaned up and went out to a very nice dinner at a local restaurant to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Obviously our trip in May was the big shebang, but we wanted to do a little commemorating close to the actual date.
The next week my mom came out for a visit on Monday. It was good to see her, but it was one more reminder of how life will shift once school starts: No more weekday daytime visits with grandparents for AJ. :( On Tuesday, I put on a "Wacky Water Day" with the kids and set out sprinklers, the kiddie pool, the water table, and a dozen water balloons for each of them. I let them chase me with water guns and we had such a good time screeching and running around the yard having classic summertime fun. I was desperate to squeeze as much of that in as possible!
That same afternoon and evening, I got some much-desired one-on-one time with Audrey when Luke spent the night at David's parents'. It was the longest it had been just the three of us since it had been just the three of us. I let her dictate the itinerary so we started off the afternoon with a trip to the toy store, then over to the park to ride her bike and meet David for dinner, then home to surprise her with a campout in the family room. We watched Snow White and ate s'mores before attempting to sleep. As you can imagine, it was rather uncomfortable and I woke up quite a lot. (A certain someone who shall remain nameless crept upstairs after Audrey drifted off and got himself a comfy night's rest.) Still, it was a blast and hopefully something she'll remember for years to come. The next morning David had to go to work, so she and I hung out. She chose Waffle House for breakfast and then, after a quick stop at Target for more school supplies, we went to a different park to ride her bike and play on the playground. We came home and had lunch just before Luke returned.
The next night we had dinner at a friends' house and did some small group planning with them since they'll be co-leading with us this upcoming semester (Praise God from whom all blessings flow...) We're excited about starting group back up again, but I'm admittedly nervous about having it on my plate with everything else. It'll no doubt be easier and more fun to do it alongside another couple, though.
On the final day of the month, we officially hit our ten year anniversary and I cooked one of David's favorite dinners to celebrate. The kids made us signs and sang "Happy Anniversary". Luke asked several times where the cake was and didn't hide his disappointment all that well when he discovered there wasn't any. We dug out our wedding DVD and all watched it together then looked through our photo album. It was a great way to culminate all of the celebrating we had done for it and to send out the month.
So, another fun but busy month. No major kid updates other than the medical stuff I already wrote about AJ. I'll try to do a better list of quotes and stories for August's recap. I'm sure there will be plenty since we're going to have a big kindergartener by then!
Pray for rest - we're all still not fully well from the cold/cough Luke came down with right before vacation. That plus consignment sale tagging plus the new school schedule is catching up with me. I would love a few consecutive nights of decent, uninterrupted sleep!
Have a great weekend!
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