June 2018 - The Whirlwind Summer Begins

So I'm going to be perfectly honest. I'm sitting here in mid-September and attempting to catch-up on blog posts and I realize that I haven't done a monthly post since May. MAY!!!

This summer has been an absolute whirlwind characterized mostly by sickness with the kids, putting our house on the market and trying to survive. I don't mean to paint a picture of such doom and gloom, there were plenty of fun memories, lots of smiles, hugs and sweet moments but if I truly am being honest, it was stressful and hard. More stressful than Matt and I really want life to be, and we are working on ways to change that...

As I probably said in the May post, we started getting hit with sickness around Memorial day. Becca had an ear infection, then Brinley got strep, we all got the stomach flu, Becca got Hand, Foot and Mouth, we all go colds (which turned out were most likely us getting HFM), Becca got HFM again and then finally we got a bit of a break.

Plus we decided to try and buy and sell our home during this time. Insane!

Anyway, I still want to capture the stressful times as well so that we can look back on these memories with fondness. And of course we have a lot of pics to share!

Becca is still loving Four Square. She especially love it when they put out these tunnels! 

Brinley really enjoys school too!

Lots and lots of sickness to be had this summer. Here's little Becca feeling under the weather.

Sister love in the tub!

The highlight of June was our sweet Brinley turning 5! She had such a great time going to the store with me to pick out her decorations. She also requested a small party with just Grandma and one friend (Greta). She was so funny, when we asked her if she wanted a friend party she was like "do you want a bunch of crazy kids running around mom or do you want the adults to be able to talk? Just one friend is fine." That nut!

BFFs!

It was so cute, Great got Brinley a dress to match her and they snuck upstairs and she put it on right away without me seeing. We were so surprised when they came down looking like twins! Such cuties!

Daddy giving a horsey ride to both girls!

It's rare that I get pics of Matt from his fire calls but I love it when I do. So so proud of this man that gets up at all hours of the night to go and help others. Especially when he has a wife that isn't always gracious about the inconvenience. I'm blessed to be married to such an amazing man!

Look at that hottie in action! Love him!!!

Brinley just chillin at school

First night of gymnastic 1. Big girl class!

Becca was starting to stand-up around this time :)

Happy birthday to Brinley! She was so excited to celebrate her bday at school. We brought in Rita's italian ice and she got to pick a book from Ms. Amy's stash.

Our birthday girl!

Enjoying Rita's!

The day before her bday we went to visit the farm that my great grandma McComish lived in growing up. The next day, on Brinley's actual birthday we got to go out to a horse farm and Brinley got to ride two horses. It was super special for her! She had been wishing that she could ride a horse for her birthday and we surprised her by making that wish come true!

Brinley with the pony, little prince

The lady who owns the farm was wonderful. She taught Brinley how to brush and care for the horse and how to be safe around it. Brinley was very serious and did such a great job listening.

Ready to ride!

Grandpa Tom did a lot of work arranging all of this. He sure loves his #1 granddaughter!

Love this picture of these two :)

 

A little nervous but she did great! The horse shook off a fly a couple of times which made her a bit more scared. She really liked it though and is now saving all of her money for a horse of her own! Oh boy!

Grandma and Grandpa :)

Happy to be off the horse and in Daddy's arms!

Our birthday girl! What an amazing birthday!

The Gough farm

For the rest of the day on Saturday we just hung around the farm. It was so great as we all got to run and play outside (we played lots of kick the can which is the best!) and just enjoy a relaxed day. We had gotten in late the night before and we were all pretty exhausted but we made the most out of our time there.

 

What a happy girl!

 

 

Loved the simplicity of the weekend...

Becca even took a nice nap outside!

Inside the shark's mouth! 

 

Happy birthday cake for Brinley! I loved it, we just kept forgetting to do presents the whole weekend. The "things" were not the focus here at all. It was all about just making memories! Things and presents can be wonderful, but I love how it was more "take it or leave it" this weekend.

Becca has been known to sleep like this. Reclined in her crib, love it!

I had to sneak this picture when I caught her sitting on the potty ready a book first thing in the morning. LOL!

Spring photos!

Look at that beautiful girl!

Silly Becca!

So I snuck out of work early one Wednesday afternoon and took Brinley to the local water park. We had a blast but the poor girl was starting to get sick so by the end of the day she was pretty wiped out. Turns out she had strep, poor girl!

Love time with just my big girl!

 

Poor Brinley, fell asleep snuggling with me at the pool

Because it's always a good time to put a witch costume on!

Hate it when they are sick :(

Daddy got a VERY special Father's Day gift. A new drum set!!! I loved surprising him with this and am kicking myself for not taking a video. I actually had to go through some hoops for this surprise as I got one of our friends to ask him what kind of a drum set he would recommend "for a friend" to get and he sent him a link. I then ordered it and had it shipped to their house. It was super fun people able to give Matt something that is just for him. He's really a very talented drummer and I hope he keeps playing!

#momlife lol!

Soccer shots at school! Brinley loved it.

Photo courtesy of Brinley!

Snuggle moments, they are the absolute best! Making everything else worth it.

My heart :)

I can't believe she was brave enough to do this when the reptile guy came to school. Go Brinley!

The dreaded hand, foot and mouth disease. It is the worst! Becca was out of daycare for a week and absolutely miserable!

I gave her baking soda baths twice per day to try and dry up the sores. She was a trooper and didn't loose her smile, amazingly enough!

After the dreaded hand, foot and mouth was past us we decided to beat the heat and get out of town for a night. We drove up to Duluth on a whim and had a great time hanging out as a family up on the North Shore. We had been stuck in the house due to illness for so long that it was so nice to getaway and just be together. Our love for mini-escapes was reaffirmed and we realized that the simplicity of being in a small, sparse hotel room is really something we love as well. So grateful for these moments together!