8/3/17

Ordinary Days

"How did you get down here?  Are there like, TWO of you or something?"

I have been saving cute quotes from the kids on my Iphone but this is the perfect one to sum up summer over here.  I was up in the boy's room with Patrick, asked him to do something, and than before he knew it I ran down to the basement to change the laundry, where we met up a few minutes later.  I answered him back, "Wouldn't that be great buddy?"  He probably thought, "No that would be two of you asking me to do things."  He knew better to say that though.

Summer is winding down (although it shouldn't be-we all know how I feel about that) and we are entering my two favorite months of all, August and September (September is the front runner) as August can be a little hectic with three birthdays, 500 back to school meetings, and sports schedules starting.

On a side note, I have to get back to using my nice camera, because half of these pics are dark and/or blurry.

Teaching this little girl to swim-she's been my latest swimmer so far but it's because she's so cautious and sensitive and sweet, so we are working on it slowly, and surely, and she's so so proud when she succeeds.  

BF's.

We won the championship, and the kids were so excited and I have to say the coaches were amazing-college and high school kids and just so positive and nice every day-and hard working.

One night I said I wasn't up for cooking dinner, and Abbey asked if she could-and then Isaac chimed in and I said, go ahead, don't go crazy and don't make too much of a mess.  Jeff went with them to the store, with a loose plan and we had delicious steak, with blue cheese butter, and hush puppies, and roasted vegetables and I'm forgetting something else, but it was very very good (doesn't everything taste the best when us moms don't have to make it?).  Isaac set the table complete with candle light and table mats.  I wonder why I don't make this a weekly tradition or bi-weekly, or tri-weekly :) and it's probably because just the coordination of them all being home to help would be impossible.

I have my little routine where I walk in the morning.  The morning sun is so pretty and our little town is so peaceful then.

A letter!  I teased Abbey about this enough that she is probably going to roll her eyes when she reads this (I can see you Abbey!) but someone sent her a letter-you know on paper with pen in the MAILBOX, I was so shocked when I got it and then OMG she wrote back.  Heavens to Betsy, they can still write!  I asked her if I could now buy her special cute stationary like I had in the 80's with rainbows on it and she said no.  

I had the same reaction (but contained myself somewhat) when I saw a pre-teen reading a book in a waiting room. Not watching TV, not on an IPad or a phone, but a book!  My heart leapt with joy.


My mom bought Janey these sweet little fairies and I had promised her we would make a garden-one morning we went out to do so, and she was so excited, she was practically talking in gibberish.  Which I think is the cutest thing ever-just so so excited.  And it's not anything special (I don't think it would make Pinterest?:) but she adores it and our sweet neighbor has helped me add to it.

My frozen banana ice cream helper.

We had a wonderful opportunity to travel up to Traverse City with Jeff's work, for a short trip and it was so beautiful-very peaceful.  The kid's all had a blast-wish I had more pictures of the canoeing and swimming and boating we did but I didn't want to be tethered to my phone.

We visited my aunt on Walloon Lake (incredibly beautiful) and the kids had a blast tubing and playing with my cousin's kids who couldn't be cuter if they tried-an absolute joy to be around.


Cool pic at the sand dunes.  We met up here with my sister and her son who ran up and down the sand dunes like it was nothing special. 

I'm burning out a little.  It is starting to feel hopeless. :)  I'm gearing up for the last few days before school where I go through the house with a black garbage bag and a my new vacuum and a few dust cloths and lots of energy.

9 comments:

  1. What a wonderful post!

    It's sad that summer ends so abruptly these days, isn't it? The world was a better place when school didn't start until after Labor Day.

    We have friends with a place on Walloon--isn't it just beautiful? We visited them last year and as we were out boating around the lake, they pointed out your aunt and uncle's house. Made me think about what an incredible family you come from! :)

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    1. Thanks Richella! It is beautiful and such a nice quiet private get away-it feels like time stops there!

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  2. Hi Sarah,
    So much to agree with you here!
    I was actually just thinking about stationary this week.
    When I went to college, I had gum ball machine writing paper!
    And to see a young person reading a book? With pages? That makes my heart happy.
    Maybe things will come back around, and all those "vintage" things like books and stationary will become "cool" again.
    Have a cozy week, and like you, I am looking forward to September. : )

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    1. Let's hope so-I hope those things won't be slowly lost forever!

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  3. Hi Sarah,

    This is my first time commenting, but I've been a longtime reader of your wonderful blog. I came across your blog and became a loyal reader years before I even had kids... Now, my husband and I have 18 month old twin boys and, as a stay-at-home-mom and house-maker, I look up to you even more than I ever imagined. I check your blog each week (or two, because there just isn't time for blog reading with toddlers!) for the motivational posts, wisdom and advice.

    Once I saw your cute update about your daughter writing letters, I had to post a comment. My own mom reminds me so much of you and one of my most treasured lessons I learned from her was the art of a hand-written note and thank you card. My mom made my siblings and I write thank you cards for every single gift we ever received and it is a practice I have carried into my early-30s. My cousins, who all live in Texas, and I used to be "pen pals" and would write to each other decades before the internet and cell phones and all of that technology and I still have every single note packed away in a tub. Such special memories. So, my point of this comment is about stationary, as my cousins and I always had personalized stationary to use for writing letters. I laughed are your joke about buying your daughter rainbow stationary, but it's such a great idea! Maybe not the rainbows, but the stationary in general. My mom has kept my siblings, myself and her sons-in-law all stocked up on stationary for as long as I can remember. I have 4-5 different designs (my full name, my husband's name, my full initials/monogram, our family's name, my sons' names, etc) at any time and am gifted a set nearly every Christmas. I love it! I use it for thank you cards for birthday and Christmas gifts, as well as nice gestures such as dinners or parties or even weddings we've attended, and even used it to send notes to companies I've interviewed with after graduating from college. Nothing beats a hand-written, personalized note thanking someone for an interview and the companies I used to work for always made mention of it after I was hired for the position. :)

    Anyway, I wanted to send along the website we always use. It's called giftsin24.com and they are incredible. So many options and styles and they provide a preview of your stationary so you can see how the font/color/style looks before placing your order. They always ship within 24 hours and offer great deals around the holidays. Before we had our twins, we ordered our "The Walker Family" stationary and got buy one get one free, so we have been stocked up for every single baby shower, birth, and birthday gift since the twins arrived. Just wanted to pass along that little gift idea for your children this upcoming holiday season.

    All my best to you and your family!

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    1. Thanks so much Kathleen-funny enough I just bought personalized stationary for the family earlier this week-and had a hard time choosing because i wanted it ALL! :) I love that your family still writes so much-it is encouraging and inspiring-after I wrote that post, I thought "well how much do I even write anymore?". I'll send a random thank you note here and there but that's it and I used to mail letters every week before I had an email address.

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  4. I love that you visited Traverse City. I grew up there but,now live in Calgary, Canada. It made my heart happy to see photos of one of my most favorite places in the world.

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  5. I love that your kids made dinner, and yes, it always tastes better when you don't have to make it OR come up with the idea! And I love your living room--looks like kids live there! :)

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  6. I would love to know how you organize your kids rooms!

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