Summer in a Nutshell

Summer was a mere three months ago (!!!), so let's peruse some random pictures and get caught up on what Team Peeler was up to. Mkay?

Annalyse is all about cooking and baking. I'm working on teaching her the thrill of washing dishes, but that hasn't caught on with as much gusto.

This turtle. This poor, poor turtle. He has been "loved" time upon time, has been offered a buffet of strawberries, worms, and lettuce, and has even been introduced to air conditioning for hours of respite from the sun and given free reign of my kitchen floor. My kids aren't sure where his home is exactly, they just seem to rediscover him weekly, man-handle him for a while, and then set him loose.

Bless.

These two girls are besties. BFFs. Wannabe sisters. They sure are cute, but their squeals of laughter are ear-splitting.

Nothing communicates our love for one another and our heart for the Gospel to our neighbors like my boys running up and down the street with their laser guns, racking up points for who killed who. It's even more spectacular when the neighbor boy brings his exact same set of guns over and we have a total of eight guns, each making sounds of pistols, rifles, and rocket launchers. Aahhh, the sights and sounds of summer.

When it's too hot to play outside, Annalyse asks to paint. Or she asks me to play orphanage with her babies. Obviously, for sanity purposes I opt for painting.

My boys love spending time at the White Water Center - they do it all and enjoy it all. Sometimes, when I'm lucky, I bid adieu to the littles, take the boys to play for an hour, and I sit in the shade and read. Win.

Most Tuesdays and Thursdays this summer I acquired two to four more kids. Friends were in a pinch and I was happy to help!

Kids Bowl Free - the awesomest summer program around. Almost weekly we'd meet friends, our gaggle of kids would bowl, and us moms would sit back, chat, and enforce rules like "No pitching bowling balls" and "Please keep your ball in your own lane." The obvious picture would have been to line kids up, have them hold a ball, and smile in front of the lanes. But because I was so busy laughing with friends snapping the backside of my kids bowling was a lot easier (and quicker).

Kids Summer Movies - another win for fun that involves air conditioning, yummy snacks, and costs only a few bucks.

Annalyse and Jaxton participated in two different VBS's and I'm still hearing random outbreaks of "Pharoah, Pharoah, ooooooh baby let me people go. HUH!"

  My lil man - proud to be matching me!

 Grocery shopping is always an adventure. And guaranteed entertainment for other shoppers.

All summer we rotated pools with various friends - backyard pools, neighborhood pools, and YMCA water parks. Living in the South, pools are a lifesaver... until they reach the tepid temperature of pee and you dream of faraway places like your back patio in the month of October when being outside is a delight.

 The aforementioned turtle - that I'm too lazy to drag up to the top where he was first introduced.

These two are bestest friends. They really are. Their relationship is so special and it's fun to watch them grow together.

He might be a tough four-year old, but he'll still occasionally tucker out in my arms. These are moments I hit pause and relish.

Annalyse learned to braid and is always asking to do my hair. Having learned the hard way, I've discovered there is less pain having her do my hair than do my makeup.

We spent a morning wandering the botanical gardens and then playing mini golf - until an out-of-nowhere thunderstorm popped up. No worries, we traded in our free passes for Wendy's Frosty's, courtesy of our library reading program, and made the most of our day out.

This handsome dude was my right-hand helper during a week of VBS at our church. I can't even explain the swell in my heart watching him love little first graders. He was a rock star! And this, from the kid who I used to pick up from classes and camps with great trepidation because inevitably he'd forgotten to use self-control and someone wasn't happy about it. Baby steps in maturity = leaps of opportunity when the lesson begins to click.

A friend hosted a day camp for three hours every Thursday morning. Painting, baking, building, beading, water guns, Lego competitions - you name it. Annayse loved the time with friends, Jaxton loved the backyard trampoline and snacks, and Grady and Micah loved the time alone at home playing video games. (Because I'm an awesome parent like that.)

One afternoon when going to the pool (yet again) sounded miserable, we splurged and spent a couple hours at an indoor trampoline park. My boys jumped with us for about three minutes before hopping off to the other side of the building where they played trampoline dodge ball. For the entire time. And they were a sweaty mess to prove it. And they had red welts on their faces and arms from being pelted with a ball. And they had trampoline burns on their knees from biffing it. 

Annalyse, Jax, and I jumped and cartwheeled and swung into the foam pit. I don't have pics of any of this because my phone was in a locker (trampoline + foam pit = lost phone), but I snapped a couple of Annalyse enjoying the high ropes because she was finally tall enough to do them!

 Homeschool buddies. Church buddies. Community Group buddies. Mostly, cute buddies!

Nana visited for a long weekend! She traipsed with us to a couple different pools, played countless board games, and didn't blink at the challenge of joining us for a couple rounds at Top Golf. (She's a champ!)

 Yeah, about all the swimming and movie watching we did all summer...!

We discovered a new Latin restaurant and Micah was amazed with his plate of nachos. Seven bucks for this plate of deliciousness that was twice the size of his head.

 My bookends! A handsome young man, and a darling lil buddy.

Living five minutes from a lake has its perks. And, having generous friends who share their home and toys is icing on the cake.

Oh hey! Lookee here. The cute trio of girls shows up again. I told you, they really are an inseparable bunch.

Jaxton was invited to a friend's birthday party in August, and chose the Black Panther claw for a gift. Once his little friend opened the gift, Jaxton was beside himself with envy. "I really really, REALLY want that, Mom! Why is my birthday so far away still?" To which I reminded him he had a bank full of money at home and was welcome to use that money and buy his own. The next morning he couldn't empty his baseball bank fast enough and was anxious to get to Target first thing! And, when we came home the first thing Grady said was, "Son! I'm proud of you. That was money well spent!"

Because why wouldn't you sprawl on the kitchen counter to do some reading and writing? Obviously.

We spent a full day at the Catawba Science Center and I sure did chalk it up as a school day even though we weren't in school yet. I did this periodically during the summer so that now, when it's amazing outside, the kids can play outside and I can borrow a "school day" from the summer. Homeschool = Felxibility.

Every Tuesday Grady and I host and lead a Community Group. When everyone is present, there are 20 adults, 17 kids, and three babysitters. Newsflash: we do not live in a palace. So, yes, it's cramped, loud, messy, and things break. But, friends keep on coming back and the fire department hasn't fined us for breaking code so we're pressing on.

August came to a close, kids were back in school, and we made the most of the last days of summer swimming. The pool bag, the towel bag, and I ended the summer with a love-hate relationship. I was grateful for the hours of fun the pool offered, but I was DONE with sunscreen, snacks, towels, and inflatable toys.

This seemingly endless post has been full of the random things of summer - no mention of vacations, birthdays, or special trips and events. Those are for specific posts to capture specific memories. Or, I might just keep backing up our YouTube channel and all our Google photos and call it good. That newfangled internet cloud sure makes saving and sharing pretty simple.