july...

...is almost over!  Unbelievable!  I've been busy trying to work on a bunch of projects in the house - painting type stuff and little decorating things.  In addition to all the normal stuff...  I'm almost 26 weeks preggo now, and mostly have been feeling great but I'm starting to notice that my energy is petering out a little sooner and I pay for it when I try to do too much.  Still hoping to get lots done before I'm completely huge and practically immobile!  Paint the living room, move playroom to basement, paint nursery, and just get some other things in order that were upended with the house project.  And, oh yeah, I suppose I should make sure Caleb and Logan have what they need for school, and get a few things for baby before he/she comes.  :)  Mostly it's good that I've been busy, helps pass the time while Mike is working so much!  There are just some things that I need is help for, though, and there's the rub.

Last Wednesday the boys and I had a play date with our friends who have been in Italy for the last two years and are now back in MI.  It was great to have time together!  They have a boy 1 year older than Caleb and Logan, and they all hit it off like no time has passed.  They also have a sweet newborn boy whom the boys enjoyed checking out.  :)

Friday night we were able to go as a family to a balloon festival at the local fairgrounds.  It was a beautiful night for it, and it was so neat to see all the hot air balloons!  It was pretty busy and crowded, and the boys REALLY wanted to go on the inflatables they had there for kids, so we let them choose just one (since the lines were so long) and then we got out of there for ice cream.  Perfect night for a trip to the ice cream shop.

Saturday I was able to catch up with some college friends at a splash pad with the kids.  Worked out well since Mike wanted to get a lot of work done leveling dirt around the house, and that would have been hard to do with us at home.  I had such a great time catching up with friends, love it that it felt like no time has passed.  And, the kids (there were a lot of them between all of us!) all played great together!

Yesterday Logan had the special treat of going for his Kindergarten shopping day with Grandma VB (she does that for each grandchild entering Kindergarten).  She picked him up mid-morning (he was so excited to ride in her car), and I believe they went to the mall (got some new clothes, walked around, rode the carousel), had lunch (at DJ's), went to Meijer for school supplies, got donuts, and then went to the park.  The boys rarely get to do anything on their own like that, so that was pretty neat.  I was a little nervous about what backpack he would choose, and a couple days before we were in Meijer and happened to walk past the backpacks, so I pointed out what I thought looked nice/was appropriate/etc.  So, when shopping with Grandma yesterday he chose the John Deere backpack and I was a little surprised that he would choose that one - I guess he said something about how he knew I would like that one.  I tried to talk about it with him later to make sure he really likes the backpack himself and that he didn't get it just because he knew I liked it...I can't get a good read on where he's at on that one.  I'm not sure whether to feel special that he chose something he knows I like, or worried that he's trying too hard to please his mother...

Caleb just returned a little while ago from his shopping day.  He was so excited!  He had things pretty well planned out after hearing about Logan's day.  :)  (And, of course, little brother Levi has his plans, too.)  They followed mostly the same route: to the mall for some shopping and the carousel, lunch and playtime at McDonald's, Meijer for school supplies, and out for ice cream.  Caleb chose a Darth Vader backpack, which he is very happy about.  (The boys are very exited about Star Wars, even though they haven't even seen the movies yet...)  Now that they got a bunch of what they need with Grandma, I suppose I should figure out what else we need to get!  Feeling a little out of my element here with two kids starting school for the very first time - I'm clueless!