Last Week of Summer

Well friends, it is official! The last week of summer vacation is OVER! As much as I have loved the lazy mornings and fun outings, I am so ready to get back to a more structured day and to have a little less fighting and whining in my house.

On Tuesday we went to Elizabeth's home for a pot luck brunch with some ladies in the ward. I had fun helping Laci fill up a bazillion water balloons for the kids (actually we only managed to fill up like 40 out of the 400) and then watching all the kids use them all up in less than 5 minutes. Elizabeth tried to get them to play a game with the balloons but was completely unsuccessful because all they wanted to do was throw them. no surprise. There were also a few new ladies there that I finally got to meet. Being in Primary I rarely get to meet any of the new people.

That afternoon we went over to Jen's house for a shaving cream party. The shaving cream fight only went over well with Benny. The rest of my kids were pretty lame about it. Steven got angry when I tried to get him and then wanted to wash it off immediately (he refused to get in the pictures because he needed to wash off). Lucy wanted nothing to do with it and went and played in the sandbox on the other side of their yard. And Penny, well there were some tears when I put some on her:

At least Benny and the other kids had a blast:

Us grown ups got pretty well covered too:

On Wednesday the boys got to go meet their new teachers. I always find meet the teacher night kind of awkward (even when I was the teacher). It seems like the teachers are always waiting for me to make conversation and since I don't really expect that, my mind always blanks out. It was even more awkward because Steven has the teacher he had for Kindergarten. When she looped up to first grade last year, I chose not to keep him in that class but now she's looped up to second grade and he was put in her class. I'm not super happy about that and I'm sure she can sense that. It's not that she's a horrible teacher, I'm just not sure she's the best fit for him. He needs someone who will keep him in line and keep him from being lazy and I'm not sure she does that. Fingers crossed that I am wrong and that it ends up being a wonderful year. On a brighter note, Ben's teacher seems really great!

Also on Wednesday, we started dog sitting for someone in the Ward. I am not a fan of dogs and would not have agreed to this but my dear sweet husband agreed to it for us. She is a Yorkie and her name is Mellie. Tyler keeps saying he would totally love to have a dog like this. The boys like having her around, although the novelty has worn off at this point. Lucy has really warmed up to her, she was a little nervous at first. Penny can finally be licked by the dog without melting down. And me, despite the fact that this dog is fairly low maintenance, I still have no desire for a dog at this point in my life. She's just another thing to worry about. Now for an overload of dog pictures: 

On Thursday we had our final summer play date at Mercer Beach. The weather was perfect and the kids behaved themselves. I should have documented the niceness but I didn't. Shortly after we left the beach it down poured and hailed, crazy Michigan weather. 

On Friday we went swimming at Bethany's pool but we only lasted an hour and a half before Lucy threw a ginormous tantrum because I refused to go into the FREEZING cold water with her. She hadn't napped all week (and is still refusing too) and I think she is super over tired because we have had lots of these melt downs lately. I hope when the boys go back to school, that I can get her to take naps again.

On Saturday, our table was officially finished and ready to grace our dining room. Tyler did a great job and it is so nice to be able to fit us all- and then some- at the table! Now we just need some more chairs or a bench or something else fantastic. 

Saturday afternoon Tyler and I headed to the Eastern Market in Detroit for a date. This is a huge Farmer's Market and it was a good time. We enjoyed getting lunch from a food truck- a spicy but yummy taco. We loved seeing all the different veggies and fruits that are out there- one seller had jumbo onions that were truly jumbo sized- and I bought some yummy strawberries. There were pretty flowers for sale too- I really wanted these gorgeous purple ones in a hanging pot but we had ran out of cash by the time we got there. We also walked down this sidewalk tunnel that was full of Jamaican wear and incenses- it was pretty sketchy. And at the end we came across this antique shop that seemed to go on forever. It had lots of super fun things. Here's a pic of us just outside the market:

Then that night I had a Girl's Night Out at Blaze Pizza. It was arranged by Angie but she ended up not being able to come and she wasn't the only one. There were a couple others that flaked out and Bethany was 40 minutes late and Ranell didn't meet up with us until the very end. I was so grateful my bestie, Laci, came or I would have been on my own eating pizza. After eating the delicious pizza we went to JoAnn's and 5&Below to do a little kid free shopping. We decided a selfie with super fun sun glasses was a definite must:

And to end this post, here's a picture of Penny doing what she does now- getting into trouble!