Summer So Far!

Summer is in FULL swing over here! We have been kinda busy, kinda not.  It ebbs and flows which is exactly how I like Summer to be! This last week WAS kinda crazy busy, but it was the busiest week we've had so I can't complain. 

So let's see... since I left off last, we had just ended our school year abruptly with no goodbye! About a week later we were able to get back inside the school and collect the girl's things.  Lucy's teacher wasn't there, but Piper's was (of course- she never misses an opportunity to see her kids!) so it gave Piper some MUCH needed closure to say good bye to her.  However, she still wasn't able to say goodbye to her friends so Mrs. Sumler planned a Kindergarten class party at Bounce U for the kiddos to all have one last hoorah together (although, they are all staying in the same class and will see each other next year, haha!).  It was a fun night and all the families were invited so we all got to play and eat pizza and cake:)

There was also Father's Day.  Shawn went and played some golf the day before because actual Father's Day was calling for Thunderstorms.  However, the storms never came so we spent the day at the pool and then had some nice tender steaks for dinner.  It was a very uneventful day!

The girls just finished a week of VBS (Vacation Bible School for you Northerner's) and it was a blast. Part of the VBS goal this year was raising money for a well. These sweet kids came together as a community and raised double what they needed (over $7,000 in just 4 days!!) so now they can build 2 wells in a 3rd world country. I can't actually remember the name of the country, but it was so touching to see all these little kids pouring their pennies and quarters into a bucket for such a good cause!  

They always love VBS and the program that us parent's got to watch at the end of the week made me cry!  I just felt this rush of emotion shooting through my heart as they sang about their love for Jesus (almost 500 kids!) and tears welled in my eyes as I watched them all together. This feeling in my heart of pure love for where we live washed over me.  I just kept thinking "this is my home.  This is my community that I love SOO so SOoooooOO much.  I was MEANT to move here and raise my children here."  I'm sure it probably gets soooo annoying to anyone who reads my blog, but I just can't express my love for Oklahoma enough- for Jenks/Bixby specifically.  I've been here going on for 4 Summers now and I STILL get emotional when I think about how blessed I am to live here and how much I just LOVE it here.  I was talking to a lady at the pool who just moved here from Michigan a few weeks ago, and she said they had to get out of the Detroit area because it's just so awful. They could move anywhere they wanted to move in the country and so she just started googling "best places to raise kids in America" and Jenks came up as the NUMBER 1 place! In ALL of America!  The article said we are THE most wholesome city in the entire nation.  I'm not sure if that's true, but I wouldn't doubt it.  She said she learned that Oklahoma is considered the BUCKLE on the Southern "Bible Belt".  We have more churches per capita in my state than in any other state.  And these churches bring GOOD people out, doing GOOD things.  This place is perfect for me. The love you feel from people, the hearts of those in my community, the do-gooders around every corner, the hundreds of churches here that don't bash each other! (No one looks down on any other religions here and I've just never been in a place where everyone's SO respectful of others beliefs!), the kids' programs, the baskets that sit in front of grocery stores so you can give what you can and take what you need, the politeness, the "yes Ma'am's," and "no sir's," the countless willing volunteers for just about anything, the community get-togethers, the parades, the sports, etc. etc. etc.  This is my hometown and my heart is FULFILLED here!  The lady said that after she did her research, her and her husband flew down to check it out.  They stayed for a week and were completely sold on moving here- BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE.  When they flew back home to Michigan after their week here, she said she felt depressed just going back up there because she came from "the best place ever" and had to go back to "the worst place ever" and she said "we couldn't pack up our house fast enough!  I tell all my friends that if they ever come and visit me, they're NEVER going to want to leave."  It's just a really GOOD place.  

Back to VBS.... after the program there was an after-party where there were LIVE animals for us to hold!  Sully held a baby crocodile, and we all held a baby kangaroo and little lemurs and saw turtles, snakes, tarantulas (gross) and more. The furry animals were SO SO cute!

ANYWAY- the girls took a week of tennis (we do this annually in June because they love this specific tennis camp) and they moved up a level and did great!  It was smaller balls than the pee-wee balls they are used to so it was more of a challenge, but they still did awesome!

Lucy had cheer camp last week where she started stunting! In 3rd grade they get to start stunting but they won't actually throw them in the air quite yet.  That starts in 6th grade I believe.  She is a "flyer" so she gets to take the top of pyramids, stand on girls hands, fall backwards to be caught, etc.  She said it was a little scary at first but by the end of the 1st night she was having fun!  She's such a tiny little thing I have a feeling she will be a flyer her entire "cheerleading career."  IF she keeps doing it.

 These are JUST the 3rd and 4th graders!

We fished at our Neighborhood's Annual Fishing Fest!  The turtles were biting more than the fish, but it was still fun! We get to grill, hang with the neighbors, eat yummy foods, compete for prizes, and all the bait is provided!  It's always a fun event!

Last week the kids got the opportunity to attend the Jenks Fire Department’s “Push-In” event! They literally got to push the brand new fire trucks into the station! It’s a tradition that dates back to when horses pulled and pushed carts of water waaaay back in the day before fire trucks were invented. It was so fun to witness this event and the kids LOVED it! I wish I could upload videos onto this blog because I got a great video of all 3 of them pushing the truck into the station!  And we were on the news! AND they got to meet the mayor and shake his hand :) Then they got to eat cake in the fire departments living room, which was pretty special too 💛🚒💛 The fire station only does this about every 10-15 years, so it's pretty cool that we got to be a part of it!

All the days in between all of these things we have spent at the pool.  We go to the pool about 5 days a week because it's so convenient for me!  The kids love it and it's just down the street so it's what we do!  Maybe when Sully's older and can do more we will venture out a bit and start going to lakes and rivers (the good ones are about an hour away so it's not just a quick trip, unfortunately) but for now the pool is perfect for us! With 3 pools to swim in, they never seem to get bored of it!  And I've already finished 2 chapter books and in the middle of a 3rd!!  I haven't finished a book in less than 3 months in YEARS because I never have time to read! Now that all 3 of the kids swim non-stop, I have reading time! I LOVE it. 

Oh.  One last thing worth mentioning.  The flood waters brought a TON of nasty allergens up and Sully got so, SO sick.  It was one of his worst bouts of asthma EVER (besides the time he was in the hospital as a baby for it).  He was on oral steroids for 7 days (usually they will only do 5 days) and he was on breathing treatments for 10 whole days.  Every 4 hours, 'round the clock.  We were waking up in the middle of the night every night to keep on it because he just couldn't stop coughing. When he coughed so hard that he couldn't breathe- my heart stopped every. single. time.  And he threw up for 6 days straight at least once a day because of how hard he would cough at times.  It was just awful.  He still has a little bit of a lingering cough and his voice is still really hoarse from it all, but it was just scary.  It was sad to watch him struggle, even though he wasn't super bothered by it.  He would throw up and say "Mommy, I barfed again" and just walk away like it didn't even happen!  We kept telling him "SLOW DOWN baby! You need to rest your lungs!" But he wouldn't listen!  That boy will stop for nothing.  And, on top of that, he had another ear infection so that sucked too.  We really need to get tubes in his ears :(

Anyway, I think I'm caught up now.... I guess a lot did happen within a month that I forgot about.  Haha, it doesn't seem like we've been too busy but maybe that's just because when you compare this current schedule of ours to our school schedule, it seems like we've been able to relax a LOT!  I love Summer!