Every week I like to take a moment to showcase the moments that brought me the most joy. Sometimes they are awesome activities and other times it’s a sweet moment between the kids. There are always moments that can fill us with joy if we choose to see them with a thankful heart.
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We packed a lot in during our final few days of summer! Plus there was that whole country-wide excitement surrounding a tiny little event last Monday 😉 Check out my favorite moments from the craziness in our week.
1. Watching the Solar Eclipse
I whipped up enough viewers for all of us and after a few rounds of instructions the kids finally figured out the best way to hold them to see the eclipse. The best viewer was the long box propped on the climber. We all took turns looking through it and were able to see the effect of the moon passing in front of the sun. It was somewhat cloudy here but we still saw the “bite out of the cookie” and noticed things like it getting slightly darker and the crickets getting much louder as the eclipse reached its maximum coverage here.
2. Special snack
We have a great indoor playground in town but they doubled the price of admission and paying that much to climb around for an hour or two isn’t worth it anymore. But you know what I can do instead? Head to the new Burger King down the street from us, get the kids an ice cream treat, and let them play in the small playplace. The cups of ice cream are less than $1 each and at 3pm the place is deserted! I’m keeping this in mind for super rainy days when they start climbing the walls.
3. Family game night
Micah came home early for back to school night on Tuesday so we let the bigger kids stay up and play cards with us for their last night of summer break. Mercedes “helped” Micah and she got some number practice. I’m pretty sure I won the game 😀
4. End of summer celebration
To celebrate summer coming to an end I got really brave and decided to make Wednesday full of fun. After getting all three kids’ rooms cleaned we set off. First up was a trip to Toys R Us to wander around and check out all the cool stuff. Next up was lunch at Sam’s Club followed by picking up cupcakes for snack at a specialty shop. They’ve already decided this needs to be a new tradition.
5. First day of school
And they’re off! Another year has begun and while it was only two days that first week it is still weird to not have them around. They are thrilled to be back at school and the little three aren’t sure what they think about their big brothers being gone. Mercedes will tell anyone who will listen that she only has one year left and the little boys just holler and jump around. I’ll be starting a preschool program with Mercedes after Labor Day. We’ll see how it goes with Miss I Can Do It Myself.
6. Writing practice
Even though I don’t plan on starting any type of preschool with Mercedes until after Labor Day she is finally eager to learn how to write her letters. I printed names all over the driveway and she went around writing them on her own. A few months ago she had no desire to write and would get really mad when I would try to help her form letters. She still doesn’t want to know the names of letters but we will get there. Slowly, we will get there.
Bonus Moment!
I didn’t get a picture because we’ve been having too much fun but Grammy (Micah’s mom) surprised the kids and came for a visit from Thursday night – Monday morning. She had a friend driving through our area that offered her a ride and she jumped on the chance. We’ve gone shopping, out to eat, played card games, watched movies, and so much more. Micah and I got in a date night too and finally got to see the new Spiderman movie. Thanks, Grammy!
Where did you find joy in your chaos this week? What were your favorite moments?
