Our weekend.

On Thursday evening we hosted a get together with friends. It was a really fun evening! Everyone brought a finger food and we ate, talked, played corn-hole, and played at the park near our house. No other little kids ended up coming, but my kids had fun playing with the teenagers. I'm so thankful for these "older" kids who don't think it's childish to play with the younger ones. I'm also thankful for the good examples they are to my kids - my kids look up to them so much!

Beautiful sunset. 

On Friday we met Jacob at the park for a picnic lunch. A few minutes after we started eating, he remembered he had a meeting 30 minutes later...in a city 30 minutes away. We had waited to go to that specific park until Jacob could go with us, because it's so easy for {3} little ones to get lost in all the cubby holes. Lily was such a good help though - she stayed with the boys and if one of them got "lost" she would "find" them and make sure they were altogether. 

All the kids had a great time swinging! I pushed them for about 20 minutes - quite a workout! :) Lily almost has "pumping" figured out, but her legs still get tired. 

My great uncle passed away last week. He was the last remaining brother of my Granddaddy. The viewing was Friday evening - I went with some of my family and Jacob stayed home with the kids. Later in the evening, Luke and Hannah played with the kids so Jacob and I could go to a sacred concert that some of his students were playing in. It was so fun to sit together at a concert - it's been literally years since we've done that since Jacob is normally playing or conducting! :)

I love these marigolds in our garden. They are so vibrant. 

On Saturday, Jacob's mom kept the three youngest kiddos while Jacob, Lily, and I went to my uncle's funeral. It was good to visit with family that we don't normally get to see.

Saturday evening we played in the backyard and just had the best time. Our summer is nearly gone and soon Jacob will be back to teaching full time again. I'm doing my best to treasure up the fun times spent as a family before things get super busy again. 

After we got the kids to bed, Jacob and I sat outside in the dark and had a coffee date - this has been my "dream date" all summer long and it finally happened {actually, I had hoped that this date would happen while the sun was setting, but it always seems to take longer to get the kids settled than we think and it ended up being pitch black before we made it outside. HA}! :) 

While Daddy was gone...

Jacob and his dad had the amazing opportunity to go to Northern Ireland for 11 days - they got back a couple Tuesday's ago (haha, this post has been in the works for awhile as usual). Although we missed them tons, we had lots of fun here too. :)

Friday: Grammie drove them to the airport in Nashville. About 30 minutes after they left, Lily got a small tack stuck in the bottom of her foot. Thankfully I was able to get it out and "doctor" her foot with essential oils so we avoided an ER visit. Within 10 minutes she was running around and didn't mention it anymore. So thankful! Yaya and Papaw met us in the evening and went with us to Aldi and Walmart.

Saturday: We played and painted. Lily got stung on her chin by a red wasp. :( We got some oils on it quickly and there was no pain (or swelling) after a couple minutes and then she was back outside playing. I was almost scared to get out of bed the next day after Lily getting hurt the first two days Jacob was gone. Thankfully we didn't have anymore crazy accidents!

Sunday: The day actually went very smoothly. I had lots of help at church - Grammie kept Ava during the service, Uncle Judah carried Ava (and her carseat) to the van, Hannah helped buckling the kids, etc. Lily commented, "Everyone sure is helpful today!" lol

Monday: We met some extended family at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It was a super hot day so we spent lots of time doing puzzles.

Tuesday: Papaw came over and played with the kids, cleaned up junk in our back yard, killed a wasp nest in our garbage can, read books, and ate lunch with us. So fun! We ran some errands in the afternoon.

Wednesday: My mom and my youngest brother watched three kiddos while I took Levi to get new lenses in his glasses. It was a pretty afternoon, so we spent lots of time outside playing.

Thursday: Everyone napped (typically Lily and Levi just rest/read) then we had supper with friends and family. It was so fun!

Friday: Levi and Asher were having some issues being kind to one another, so we had some "holding hands time outs" which seemed to help. Then we went to play at the park and took a nature walk. Friday night we had a sleepover at Grammie's. 

Saturday: My view when I woke up. Asher had some trouble sleeping so he ended up in bed with me and Ava. :) Mom came in the afternoon while the kids were napping so I could run get a few groceries. In the evening, we went for a long walk. 

Sunday: Church, dinner at church, home for naps, back to church, supper with my family...a fun, full day!

Monday: We spent time cleaning, ran some errands, made welcome home signs to hold at the airport,  Aunt Elizabeth came to play, and we went to the park with my sister and her family in the evening. 

Tuesday: DADDY'S HOME!!!!!!!! We went to the library in the morning and ran a couple other errands, then we followed Grammie to Nashville to pick up Jacob and Grandpa. Unfortunately, there was a wreck and we got stuck in tons of traffic. We finally made it to the airport after the plane landed and just picked them up outside the baggage claim area. It was disappointing not to not get there in time to welcome them off the plane, but we were just thrilled to have them home! 

We ate supper in Franklin, TN at Chipotle {yum!} and took the kids to the mall play area to burn off a little energy before the drive home.