Finishing Up Summer

Enjoying those final days of summer freedom. I actually got the boys outside to do a little Mom/Son football practice.

While shopping one afternoon I asked one of them to hold up this bathing suit so I could take a picture for Savannah to see if she would be interested...and this is what I got. They're too much!

Another year of completing the library's summer reading program!

We always enjoy the coupons we get through that summer reading program, especially the cupcake one!

We completed another reading of The Book of Mormon!

David is out of town for work A LOT but he did have a chance to take the boys to a Ravens preseason game with other boys and parents from Xander's football team. It was such a fun night for all of them.

Xander and his football buds!

The Bucs organization had extra tickets so my friend asked if Noah wanted to go as well. It was a night when he had practice so I was torn. I didn't want him to miss practice and not get playing time for games but in the scrimmage he had barely played so did it really matter if he missed one practice? My wise friend reminded me that there were going to be a ton of practices but only a few opportunities to do something like this with his dad and brother. What was more important? Well, I took her advice and sent him to the game. She sent me this picture during the game and commented that time with his dad was priceless. I'm so grateful for good friends who remind me of the most important things in life!

They clearly had fun together!

We celebrated 23 years together!

And we celebrated birthday #46 for David!

It was another fabulous summer and I was so sad to see it come to an end!

Hangin' With Those YW

Well, the Mia Maids couldn't come up with anything to do for our class activity in August so we crashed the Laurels activity. I mean, they were getting frozen yogurt...who doesn't want to join up with that group?

We also spent an evening down at the river by our house. The rope swing is out of commission but there's still the rock!

Emma was content to hang out on the sand...

and Sommer and I sat on a log, chatting the night away, unaware that we were being eaten alive.

But it's all worth it because our young women are the best!

Such a fun way to spend a summer evening!

And Finally - Noah's August

This is what happens when I take Noah shopping with me.

Of course it wasn't until a few days later when I saw a meme about kids doing this and the caption said "And then everyone ended up with lice" that I didn't find this as funny. Thank goodness we avoided that!

Swimming and having fun with his best buds, Marty and Parker.

Yeah, Rocket is still around.

Lego Club every Monday afternoon at the library continued.

Definitely too much time spent on the XBox.

His second season of football started with nightly practices...

as well as his first scrimmage.

They put Noah on the line. Poor guy...he had to go up against some pretty big guys!

A rare moment captured on film...an afternoon nap!!!

Xander's August

The big news for Xander in August was he started on his "fixin' the teeth" path! Step 1 - an expander.

Poor Xander...the expander was extremely difficult for him to get used to. Good thing he had a few fun things to look forward to, like going with David to watch his Denver Broncos play against the Washington Redskins in a preseason game. We even got him a new jersey for the game!

August also ushered in Xander's football season. It's crazy to think that this is his last season with his wonderful team, the Emmorton Bucs. First injury of the season - a jammed thumb.

Another big thing for Xander is he became a member of a mentoring program at his middle school called Boys2Men. This program has given him a great opportunity to help and serve his peers and those at his school and one of those first service projects was helping teachers set up their classrooms a few days before school started. He also got to get all dressed up to work as a greeter/helper at his school's Open House.

Savannah's August Activities

For Savannah, August was her last month of work, which she never grew to like in even the slightest bit. What bums me out is I never got a picture of her in her bright neon yellow work shirt and paint splattered jeans. But that was the only ugh of her summer. She had a fun pool party with her Celtic teammates,

and she crashed a Philadelphia church dance with other kids from our stake.

It absolutely POURED on the drive up but we got to see where the rainbow ended! Never seen that before! Unfortunately there was no pot of gold at the end of it.

The Philadelphia temple is so beautiful!

A lunch date or two...

and an accidental "twinning" for church one Sunday. She wasn't too thrilled to see me wearing my black dress as she came down the stairs to head to church but, by the time we got there, she was the one who suggested taking the picture. I'm so glad we did...it's one of my favorites of the two of us.

Mid-August brought the start of high school soccer. Going into tryouts, Savannah was extremely nervous; last year hung heavy in her mind.

But this girl is one good soccer player and she landed a spot on Varsity this year! So proud of my #32!!!