Playing Catch-up…

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. . . and it’s not over yet. A quick recap while I’m sitting down.

I took the kids to Utah and dropped off Maddy and her cousin in Provo for a week of this:

While the boys and I spent the week at my Mom’s:

Hanging out with my sister and her kids.

Passing the time doing this:

And this:

And making huge messes in Grandma’s house:

And transforming into a Jedi with whatever we can find laying around the house:

Who said Grandma doesn’t have any boy dress-ups?

Or royalty:

WHY the fascination with that thing?

My sister, being the fashionista that she is, organized an awesome Enrichment Night while we were there. The cutest girl came to talk to us about fashion and about how the way you dress says something about you.

She’s a personal shopper at Anthropologie. We learned about body types, styles, colors, “underpinnings”, mixing and matching, dressing your age, and dressing appropriate to the occassion.

We made personalized fashion books with all of our information to take with us on shopping trips.

We even had cute “mocktails”.

At the end of the week we all went to BYU to see what the kids learned about ballroom dancing. We figured the finale show would be short and sweet. The kids would dance a quick foxtrot and we could collect their belongings from the dorms, and head home. Oh no, after waiting an hour in line:

The gates were opened and the torrent of parents, siblings, and relatives invaded the main ballroom where we scurried around battling one another for the 10 chairs that were set up. Finally, after the mayhem settled, the show began. It was really sweet watching the hundreds of tweens and teens thoroughly enjoying and demonstrating what they learned. What an amazing experience for them to spend a week with kids their own age, with similar values, learning a lifelong skill from some of the best ballroom dancers in the world.

My daughter informed me that she IS going again next year. “Just so ya know”. Oh, I just LOVE this age…

The show lasted a LONG time. So the kids made their way out to the hall to practice:

Our week was also filled with visiting friends, visiting the Children’s Discover Museum, and of course, the Parade of Homes. None of which made the photo cut.

We left to come home on Saturday and brought my sister, the cousins, and my mom with us. They were in need of a little country life.

The kids had a great time playing and swimming in the neighbor’s pool:

This morning they gathered their things, packed the car, and we said good-bye for the summer. We’ll be excited to see them again for Thanksgiving.

As I sit here, we are looking forward to our next house guests. A good friend I grew up with and her five kids  should be pulling in any minute now.

Hope you’re enjoying your last little bit of summer too.