Summer with The Chaos Crew

We returned to our ridiculously busy schedule this past week. I went back to leaving the house every single day - often multiple times - but we packed a lot of fun into the past seven days! Life in the Summer is always entertaining and full of chaos!

As we approach the end of July, Summer just seems to be speeding up. I can't believe it's going to be August next week. August is full of birthdays, reunions, parties, our family vacation, and the first day of school. It's going to be fun, but I know it's going to fly by as quickly as June and July did. What I wouldn't give to press the pause button!

Here's what life is like with the Chaos Crew (AKA 4 kids who keep me on my toes)...

The Motherhood Chronicles

Happy Monday and Happy July! It's hard to believe another week of Summer has flown by, and June is over. Motherhood is never dull, so it's no wonder that time seems to fly by!

Spring has Sprung?

When Spring hits in the middle of Winter, you spend hours at the park and try to pretend that winter isn't coming back!

We had a weekend of beautiful weather in Pittsburgh. It was nearly 70 degrees on Saturday, which is very unusual for February! It was such a nice break from the cold weather!

After Dylan's basketball game on Saturday, the kids (+1..because we always have an extra or two or three) piled into the SUV, and we headed to the park.  Everybody was there and everybody had Spring Fever!

Liam was on his feet, running and climbing, the entire time.  He got in some great PT work (and exhausted his mom). The only time he slowed down was when I put him in the swing!

I finally got to meet Dylan and Lexie's classmate, who is also rocking an extra chromosome.  I could immediately tell why they love him so much!  His dad kept commenting on how exceptional Liam's gross motor skills were.  I think that was his polite way of saying that Liam is VERY active!

It was so nice chatting with another parent who has more experience on this Down syndrome journey. A few other parents ended up joining in on the conversation.  As we watched our kids of all abilities and ages play a game together so nicely, we had a great discussion on how wonderful inclusion is for children.  It really was uplifting to watch and it gave me so much hope for Liam's future!

We stayed at the park until the sun started lowering in the sky. 

By that point, the kids were starting to fade. 3 hours of nonstop running will do that to you!

And when all else fails, just swing until you drop!

We had such a wonderful weekend.  This beautiful, warm weather was very much needed after a week of snow and cold! I'm not going to lie. I really am bummed about winter returning!

How is the weather where you live?

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What a Week!

July is passing by SO quickly! 

I'm sure our non-stop busyness isn't helping matters much, but it feels like this month flew by exceptionally fast!

Here's a glimpse at our past week:

On Monday, Liam had OT in the morning, then we met friends we haven't seen since January at the park, then stopped at Target on our way home.  That evening we had our weekly Family Movie Night after dinner!



On Tuesday, my niece, Aubrey, was with us for the day, Liam had PT in the morning, and Lily had her last summer storytime session at the library.  Then, of course, SPAGHETTI NIGHT!




On Wednesday, I watched Aubrey, and we spent our afternoon swimming! Me + 6 kids alone wasn't too bad, and my friend eventually showed up to keep me company! On our way home, we had to stop at the grocery store (AGAIN!).  That evening, our family worked together doing yardwork, and the kids found some toads!  My husband ran the big one over twice with the lawnmower, and it miraculously survived.  The kids were so excited, so we let them keep them overnight!







On Thursday, I watched Aubrey again.  We ended up having a somewhat quiet day at home!



On Friday, it was Grant's birthday!  Unfortunately, he had to work, but I woke up early to make him a special birthday breakfast! Shortly after he went to work, Aubrey was dropped off, and we got ready to go to the park.  It was Lily's best buddy Lily's birthday (yes, you read that right!), so we had to celebrate!  From there, we went to visit my parents for the day.  After having dinner with them, we dropped Aubrey off, and stopped at home so the kids could give Grant his birthday presents.  After that, I dropped Dylan off at his friend's house to go camping, and the rest of us went for a night swim to celebrate Grant's birthday!







On Saturday, I picked Dylan up from his sleepover and we stopped at Target on our way home. Grant's mom came to our house to visit for a while, then we headed to the park for my great nephew, Bentley's 1st Birthday Party.  My parents kept our kids while Grant and I went out to dinner alone to celebrate his birthday.  We went to Red Lobster and had a great time!  We picked up Liam and went home to watch movies.  Lily decided late that night that she needed to come home from her sleepover at my parent's house, so my dad dropped her off. Of course, she fell asleep in the car!  Since the two little ones slept so well, Grant and I were able to stay up late watching movies and TV shows! We had a great night together!

 




 
On Sunday, we were able to sleep in.  My dad brought Dylan and Lexie home early that afternoon.  Lily and I left for a few hours to do the grocery shopping and run to Target (we went there a LOT this week). It was nice spending time with just her!  When we came home, we had dinner, then Grant and Dylan ran out for a few hours while I cleaned, did laundry, and bathed everyone.When Grant got home, we let the kids play for a while, then put them to bed.We ended our night watching a few episodes of Gilmore Girls and Frasier on Netflix!  

It was a really busy week, and there isn't an end in sight until after Labor Day.  At least our schedule is filled with a lot of fun stuff! August is going to be GREAT!

How was your weekend? 

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In Summer~June and July

June and July were filled with birthdays, parties, picnics, and playdates!  I recapped many of the events, but there were plenty more events to document.  We had so much fun!

BK Playdate~June 12th

We were supposed to go strawberry picking, but it rained.  We met at Burger King for lunch and let the kids play in the indoor playground.









Park Playdate~June 17th

We met family at the park for a fun afternoon.




 






 Ice Cream Social/Audrey's 15th Birthday~June 28th

This was supposed to be held outdoors, but an unexpected storm chased us inside.  We still had fun!









Swimming with friends~July 12th







 






George's 40th Birthday Party~July 22nd

We gathered at our friend's pool to celebrate George's 40th Birthday.  We had a cookout and spent the evening swimming!















Park Playdate~July 31st

We met our group of friends at a local park for another fun playdate!





 




June and July were full of fun!!!