End of Summer Highlights

Happy Friday!  Hope you've had a great week.  We had a nice week.  I tried to fill our days with fun.  We slept in, played outside, rode bikes and at lots of popsicles.  We have a jam packed calendar for the next several days.  I'm planning to soak in all of the end of Summer fun and take a little break.  I'll be back to blogging before you know it.  There are lots of fun things in the works for August :)

The best parts of our week were:

Back to School Bracelets.
This is the second year in a row that we've made back to school bracelets.  It's something Olive can wear and take with her when school starts.  We can look at our bracelets and smile.  I made some for myself and intend to pray for her any time my bracelet catches my eye.  We had a great time picking out all of the supplies at Hobby Lobby and making them when Fletch was napping.

School Supplies.
It rained for several days in a row this week.  We needed the rain and enjoyed some quiet time at home.  We got out and about to get her school supplies.  It was so much fun!!  She was THRILLED to hand select every item and the store was basically empty during the day.

Little brother was not about to be left out of the fun :)

Meet Ralphy.
We got a fish!!  Olive as been asking for a fish for MONTHS.  We kept putting it off.  Then our babysitter mentioned she was moving.  She offered to gift us her fish.  We said yes and the kids are thrilled.

Reading.
I caught these two reading together so nicely in Fletcher's room.  This was a nice change of pace from the wrestling and fighting they had been doing all morning.  Olive said, "I can't read the words yet, but don't worry, I know all the stories!"

Date Nights.
Confession: We have never had regular date nights until this Summer.  Over 5 years of parenting with no family nearby and a tight budget meant that date nights were reserved for special events.  This summer we decided to be intentional about our evenings and enjoy the fact that we have a great babysitter right now.  We went on at least eight dates and had the best time.  Our favorite sitter is moving so it's top priority for us to find a new grad student to be our go to gal.  I'm so thankful for all of these fun dates!

Love to Learn.
It's our back to school family theme.  We all love to learn!  I love decorating for back to school to help build up enthusiasm this time of year.

Gnocchi.
It might be my new favorite food.  I got this pasta dish with grilled chicken when we were out to dinner this week.  I can't stop thinking about it and have to learn to cook with gnocchi.  Do you ever fix it at home??  Give me all the tips.

Decluttering.
My 100 day decluttering project has continued on for months.  We are really loving getting rid of things and freeing up room in our house.  I was SO PROUD to see this two bags filled with Kevin's clothes.  I never asked him to declutter his closet.  He just did it on his own after seeing all of the stuff I was getting rid of.  Hooray for getting the whole family on board!!

Firetrucks.
Fletcher's love of firetrucks continues.  He's also added in construction equipment, police cars, emergency vehicles and "heli-cop-pers".  He get so excited to drive down the road and keep an eye out for his favorite "bee-hicles".

Mural.
We don't have many murals in our city, but I'm hoping that'll change.  This gorgeous new Coca-Cola mural is up and it just makes me smile!!

Bikers.
These two are nuts.  Olive rides fast and does lots of "stunts".  Fletcher was barely peddling on his own and then overnight started flying down the driveway on his own.  Big sister must have been super motivating!!  We need to get him a helmet ASAP and make sure she's wearing hers.  Fletcher yells JET SPEED and EAT MY DUST SLOW POKE.  Pray for them :)

Hope you have some fun plans for your weekend!!  Olive is going to a kindergarten party today with friends and we're headed on a road trip to see our family.  One last hurrah for Summer!!

Linking up with My Glittery Heart

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