I'm not ready

It was 64 degrees this morning.  That is jacket wearing weather to me.  And I am so not ready for it.  I have always been a summer time girl.  I relished the long hot days that lasted forever when I lived in Atlanta, GA.  Flip flops stayed on my feet until the first snow (which came way too early in Ohio!).  The last few years though, I've come to enjoy the hibernation period of the cold months.  After spending months outside at the pool for swim season, hunkering down in the house by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate has been something that I actually look forward to.  But not yet.  I'm so not ready.  I am definitely not ready for what I saw at Sam's club last week.  The day after school started I walked by this:



Are you kidding me?!

It seemed that on July 5th this was in the grocery store:

And while I love me some harvest beer and pumpkin lattes, I'm just not ready for it yet.  I do get a little more excited to think about wearing my favorite jeans with these soon:

I said a little.  What I really want is a couple more months to bring in fresh picked flowers and admire them on my kitchen table.   I want to feel refreshed as I jump into the pool on a day that otherwise makes me feel that I might melt.  I want to hear the girls scream and play while they swim.  I'd even take one or two more six hour swim meets (I haven't even gotten those pictures up yet, for crying out loud!) just to extend my summer a little longer.  I want to concoct another frozen summer beverage to enjoy after playing with the kids outside.  I'm not ready to put my flip flops away yet.  Do you think if I throw a Cadence worthy tantrum that mother nature might listen?!

Catching up...

I often want to blog something but think "It happened too long ago, it's silly to write about it now" or "I've posted too many pictures".  And then I remember, hey, it's my blog!  I can do whatever I want with it!  One of the things I've enjoyed most about blogging is looking back at my own personal online journal and photo album.  This summer was busy and crazy fast and there were a lot of fun memories that I didn't get to blog about but want to have them right here in this space... so I'm catching up.  While I keep warm by the fire I can look longingly at the pictures of my kiddos in bathing suits by the pool.  I'm sure this winter will fly by as fast as the summer and we'll be back there before we know it!

We enjoyed many cookouts and firepits with our good friends.  We tried to squeeze in a few extras before one of the moved away.  This particular day in early summer we celebrated out favorite triplets' birthdays.

Can you feel the enthusiasm?!

Maddie loves her some Cadence

Group hug!

Such a cute girl

And a handsome boy!

Crazy kids

The water balloons eventually came out... and give Macie an idea

How much do those diapers really hold?

Ooohhh... THAT much!

Enthusiasm, right?!

Compiling their stock of water balloons

Finally cake time!

Happy birthday Sophie, Maddie, and Will

Hiding from the sun again

It's another comfortable, crisp day at 96 degrees here in Virginia.  Ugh!  I am so over this heat!  I used to love hot summers.  I lived in Atlanta for a year and that was my favorite time.  Now, not so much.  Maybe it's changes in my body as I get older or lugging all of the things that are required when you have three kids with you or worrying if Cadence's carseat will be too hot and she'll scream bloody murder getting into the car.  Whatever it is, I'm over the heat... or at least 90+ degrees of it.  I'm a happy girl in the mid-80's!

This morning started early with taking the car to the dealership for a small repair (the second in the two months we've had it... not great!) and a celebratory breakfast followed by the gym and grocery store.  At the dealership they had tried to run the car through the carwash but it wasn't working, making me realize how dirty the our swagger wagon really was.  It seemed like the perfect time for a hands on carwash!  Everyone joined in and made the most of the running water by getting soaked.  The car got clean too, so it was a win-win! 

We headed inside to get our clothes changed and Cadence wanted to put on a nightgown prompting Laurel to declare a pajama day.  And why not?  We stay huddled inside in our pj's when it's cold and snowy outside, why not when it's melting hot and we aren't headed anywhere?  (Although I did cross my fingers that no one pulled up while I was feeding the chickens.)  After lunch we had our own little dance party with Cadence rockin' out on her piano.  That girls loves to make noise!  Then on to making Ghoul Juice.  It was a fun experiment, although the final product to drink was not nearly as exciting, or tasty, as the girls had hoped. We had a good time trying though!

Next up, naptime for Cadence, movie time for Sierra and Laurel, and blog time for me.  We had a "final cob" for Sierra for dinner.  She loves corn on the cob but is having her chipped front tooth fixed tomorrow (4th time's the charm, right?!) so this will be the last time she can eat it.  Cadence loves it too!  We decided to paint some pictures to send to friends and then Sierra and I started our training for the Women's 4-miler that we are doing together this year.  Yes, we probably should have started our training sooner than 1 month before the race, but have I mentioned that I've been hating the heat?  Based on our first "run" today we may do a run-walk!  All in all though, it has been a good day hiding from the heat!



The new family stickers that Brad got for the car... it seemed a necessary buy when you get a van!

They are all good little washers

Does anything taste better than cold water from the hose on a hot day?  Probably, but it's refreshing and nostalgic.

I'm not sure how it progressed to filling their boots with water!

Laurel's warning to outsiders

Ingredients for Ghoul Juice

Fresh lemon juice (insert sour face here!)

Ghoulishly cool!

With "worms" and "eyeballs" to complete it

"Drinking" from the worm

They love corn on the cob!

A messy end to the day