This is the last week of summer up in this neck of the woods. On a normal year it might feel like a late start but this year I am so thankful for the extra time to settle into a new normal before starting another big thing.

Most summers I have a list of must do’s. Fun stuff like hike here or have dinner there. This summer was more survival mode with summer fun thrown into the mix.  I can say now that we have made it to the last week and we have survived the move, unpacking and most of our settling in and have had lots of fun throughout.

Owen…after fighting his crocs every day of summer just yesterday mastered them the first time with no help. He typically engages in a little croc routine that includes: “I do by myself”, wrestle with croc, get upset and cry,  get upset when help is offered, try again, yell for help. But yesterday he managed to get it all coordinated with the back strap and getting his foot in and his pride was  evident. This is summer learning folks!  Owen has also taken on singing and has learned to sing along with the alphabet, “Where is thumbkin?”, Monkey’s on the bed and Jingle Bells. yes, jingle bells. The boy brings Christmas in the summer. He had 4 straight days last week of normal sleeping the mornings but he is back to his cooky 5 AM mornings.

Jackson…Has spent lots of time cultivating an enjoyment for writing and coloring. These are things in the past that he has less interest in but over the past few months he has been enjoying his “work” as he calls it. Jackson has loved going to the pool most days and has been making up for lost time from the past 2 summers. He had a crash course in swimming again last week for 4 days and has taken off in the past weeks.   We recently discovered the show Wild Kratts on PBS and he is learning so fast I am a bit scared of what kindergarten will bring. I might have to study up!

Seth….learned to be a professional painter, semiprofessional electrician and an amateur lawnmower this summer (kidding on the amateur…3 times of mowing and he’s a pro).  He has broken his back to spruce this place up. And it is MUCH improved. Seth is currently being trained for his new job and is looking forward to the pace picking up a bit.

As for me, I have hopefully finished this packing and unpacking business for a while. We have gotten good at it I guess but I don’t love it. The house still needs lots of little projects and decorating done so I am trying to not rush anything and hope to enjoy some of the process in the Fall. I am looking forward to starting Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPs) and Community Bible Study with Owen and can’t wait to meet some more local moms. I have been dragging myself to the Y for the last few weeks. Tonight I am attempting Zumba. All I can think about as I type this is when I got into show choir in high school my teacher said I made it only based on my singing and sight reading…not the dancing!   I will either leave laughing or crying!!

I am working on some posts for next week on back to school! I get about a paragraph in and my excitement turns to terror of sending Jackson to school…so I step away and come back when I am excited again! More coming on back to school!  In the meantime I am dragging my feet and eeeetching out every last inch of summer.

Here are a couple of cute summer shots with friends!

and a bath with black water wasn’t on our summer to do list but here you have it! Fun on the farm and ice cream cones equals very dirty kids!

Weekend before last we headed to VA beach/Norfolk area for a friends wedding. We managed to squeeze in a little beach time which I am sure you can imagine the boys just hated. Actually they loved it and wanted to stay all day! When we started the morning the rain clouds were building but they soon passed and gave way to a sunny morning. We spent the morning at the beach, headed to downtown Norfolk for a super yummy brunch and then headed back to rest up before the wedding.

We had brunch at a super fun local place called No Frill Grill. The locals were swarming in which is always a good sign. I ordered shrimp and grits which I have always wanted to order but wasn’t brave enough to do. They were amazing and we will for sure be attempting them at home.  If you are ever in the area and decide to try it be aware that the kids portions are HUGE!! Delicious but huge.

The wedding was held at The Hermitage Museum and Gardens. It was such a pretty location along the water with huge magnolia trees. It was the first wedding the boys attended and all in all they did great. My friend Kelly is an interior designer and did the decorating herself. She had lots of personal touches. The bridemaids wore gold glitter dresses which was so Kelly! On arrival we were given iced tea and pink lemonade to beat the heat. I am pretty sure based on the 10 cups Owen drank that the highlight of the night was for sure the pink lemonade. I loved the bikes at the entrance of the ceremony. We missed when they left the wedding because we had to get the boys to bed but I hear that they rode off on their bikes!

Fun times! Congratulations Kelly and Jonathan!

Yes, yes I know summer is almost over. But in this house we are just now finally having our FIRST normal week of summer routine. We joined the Y last week so this week our schedule has included me working out while the boys have gym time and then when the weather permits we have been making it to the pool. The winds are starting to get a bit chilly but nothing compared to that alpine air that we never grew accustom to at the pool in Switzerland. In between catching up with friends we haven’t seen in a while and our pool and gym times we are enjoying having some time at home where I am not working on the house and we are just doing “normal” day to day stuff. It is refreshing for me to be on this side of transition. I realize we will have a new wave of it when our fall routine ramps up but for now I am just enjoying the new groove and thankful for…

…the summer tomatoes from my friend Rebecca’s garden (the menu for last night was tomato pie and tonight we will have fresh salsa with our tacos, thanks, Rebecca!)

…my husband that planned well financially for this insane time of house-gutting and having to buy two cars at once! Ouch

…and beach boys

post coming soon on our trip to VA Beach over the weekend for a friends wedding!

Since we will be stateside for a bit this was a treat to do one last homeleave before the next phase.  Seth spent most of his leave painting and working on the house but he snuck in a few fun days before that all began. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger. I haven’t learned how to do a collage and the thumbnails cut off some of the pictures but this was WAY too many pictures to put in full size and in a zillion posts. Sorry for the photo dump!

We started in Friendswood with Seth’s family! We made it to an Astros game which made Seth’s heart content. Oh yes, and he had some Whataburger too. What more could a guy ask for.

on our way to Ft Worth we popped in and saw our friends Bo and Leigh and their little girls! Their new home is so beautiful and was such a welcoming space!

Seth stayed in Ft Worth for a couple of days with us and then packed up and drove a penske up with his dad to get going on painting and getting the house liveable!  While he was away we went to the Ft Worth zoo, got spoiled with my moms good cooking, went to Glenrose, Texas to look for dinosaur tracks in the river at the State park, spent time with my brother and my sister-in-law Tina and weathered the heat of the Texas summer!   We also got to catch up with good friends from our old Dallas days!

part way through our time in Ft Worth we went away to my sister-in-law Tina’s family lake house in Possum Kingdon! On the wall of their kitchen they have a quote that summed up the weekend: “Home is where you treat friends like family and your family like friends”.

After our time in Ft Worth the boys and I headed back to Friendswood where we spent a few more days with Seth’s mom and had some great cousin time. It happened to be Jackson’s birthday so we celebrated there. I had planned to keep it REALLY simple and it was but Jackson started asking about invitations and friends and DADDY so by the end of the day our fun frozen yogurt outings with cousin morphed into a pizza/swimming party to lessen the blow of a birthday during a move.

These weeks were packed and exhausting but so fun too. I learned pretty fast that I don’t enjoy being a single mom and that it was very hard to be away while Seth was working on the house. I am so happy to be here now working together and making progress towards being settled!!