Love our little family of runners. Gary's habits are definitely making an impression on the girls. Tonight the kids participated in a 1.5 mile run in honor of Tommy Finlan, our good friends cousin who passed away years ago. He was a phenomenal cross country runner so since his death they have continued to honor him by running this cross country meet for him. This year was the first year they added a kids run. We were happy to join & look at this crew...

 All three {Yes, even Maeve} ran the entire time and it was hot!

 Little running crew...

 Maeve & Eva ran the race together so they wouldn't get lost.

 They finished thirsty, hot & hungry! Fun little run for them. Marin has been running twice a week trying to prep herself for cross country which starts next week already. Can't wait to cheer her on!!!

xoxo

Ugh! The summer is over & our kiddos are headed back to school. We've had such a great summer & we are just not ready for it to be over! Tonight was open house night. We packed up all the girls school supplies & headed to the schools to meet the teachers.

Margaux was 1st. We know her teacher very well & are very excited for the school year with Mrs. Z as her teacher. Added bonus, I sub a lot in her room so Margaux will have mom for a teacher now & then. We'll see how that goes!

 This is a first for Margaux. The kids typically are assigned classroom numbers, she has notoriously been #2 or 3 but this year she is #1! She was so excited & super easy to remember. All three of our girls are very lucky to have friends in their classrooms this year. Margaux's class is stacked full of great kids. Hayden & Myah were visiting last night right when we stopped. 

4th grade! I cannot believe it.

 Both of our bigs had the same second grade teacher so we were shocked to learn that Maeve got Mr. H for second grade. Not a bad surprise, she is super excited & we have heard amazing things about him as a teacher. Her class is also stacked full of friends & we know she will have an amazing 2nd grade year. 

 Second year with a desk. She is one of my two messy children. We'll see if she can keep that desk tidy & organized all year long. Added bonus, one of her bffs {Eva} sits directly across from her. 

She was thrilled. 

 Last, we headed over to Marin's school. She was placed in one of the two "houses" she had hoped for so that made her happy. She has friends in class but most importantly her whole crew in her lunch hour. I told her that is the only time that matters! She posed for a quick pic in the hallway before we headed in to the classroom to meet her teachers. Both very nice women. She will love 6th grade in the Lambeau Lodge.

 The most important thing for open house is her locker {in her mind} We spent a lot of time there making it look just right. Notice how clean piggy #1's locker is too! Not sure it will stay that way all year. Margaux definitely wins for the most clean kid in this house. 

Eventful night & we have three happy girls ready to start the school year. As wonderful as our summer has been, they are ready for a routine again. And mom is ready for a break!!!

Once we got home it was time to relax with our bff Sloane. 

Hot pool time at aunt Sara's. We just love her to pieces.

5 more sleeps until school starts!! xoxo

Random August fun...we did manage to sneak in a few dinner nights with friends. This specific night we had a little too much fun & I paid for it the next morning. Ugh, I don't get out enough!

 Dinner number two. We have so much fun together. 

 Then this past weekend we headed to upper Michigan for a weekend at the Veraghen's. One of the kids favorite summer spots & we hadn't been up all summer. Hard to leave the amazing new pool in their back yard!

Gary drove up to Marquette Saturday am to check out the trails for his 100 mile race coming up in Sept. Crazy how beautiful it looks, I am excited to see if the leaves are changing when we arrive for the official race. He'll head back up this weekend for one more training run. Less than a month til race day!

The weather was so funny. Cold, rainy then hot. Didn't stop the crew from having a great time. The nice thing was the cooler temps made for great bonfire nights. 

Gary & all the kiddos loving the golf cart. 

The crew of kids & adults. 

Today we headed back earlier because Marin is headed to Milwaukee with Estelle for a few days & I have my fantasy football draft tomorrow evening. The fun never stops! xoxo

Happy Birthday to Grandpa!!!

Fun time celebrating him tonight. Love these peeps so much. 

Still can't believe we have a Fitz {baby boy} in the mix. He is so fun.

 xoxo

More up north fun this past weekend. We headed up to a new lake with more neighbor friends. So thankful to have so many great families in our lives. We sure have had some great weekends this summer. 

 The Ebeling's & Herber's are both big boating families. Not something our family does a ton of. Our kids have done tubbing but never skiing or surfing. Marin was a champ, she got up on water skis for the first time {after only 4 tries} and she also tried surfing & had success with that too. So fun for her & Gary gave it a go as well.  

 The weather was perfect so we had a lot of water time. The kids really enjoyed the water tube. Fit so many kids which made that the favorite of the weekend. Big water party!

 They had lots of song requests & loved dancing on the tube. Only had to fetch them out of the middle of the lake after falling off a few times. After a while they were falling off on purpose because it was soooo fun. 

Feels crazy that it is August already. The weeks go by way too fast, especially when we have been so busy. Only a few short weeks until school starts. We'll soak in our last few weeks while we can. I love summer, but I will be happy to have a break from the heat. It has been so hot & dry. Great for all our planned outdoor weekends though!!! xoxo

Packer Family Night 2018

Such a fun group of neighbors & friends...

 As always a super fun night for our kiddos. Last year the weather was amazing... this year it was a little hot. Like 95 degrees hot. We were all a little sweaty & miserable sitting so close together in the stands. The kids demanded treats & drinks. {which was frustrating to their hot mom} In the end, they really all had a great time. The dancing was their favorite.

 There was a big storm coming so they started the fireworks a little earlier than planned. Maeve was scared of course. This summer has not been good for her when it comes to fireworks. She is still terrified of the fire they could create. Poor peanut.

 Once the show was done & the lights were back on we quickly snapped a few pics & got out as fast as we could before the rain started. We got a little wet on our walk to the car but it felt amazing.

 Margaux smiled for all the photos this year. She was well rested & had a fun time. Last year she was a hot mess by the time the fireworks ended & wanted nothing to do with photos. 

Love this night! We are all looking forward to football season & cheering on our team. 

xoxo

And she's home. We bought her a welcome home cake to celebrate! We all missed her so much!

We were sooooo excited to see her when we arrived there for pick up. Her smile was so big & I loved the hugs. She had a great week at camp with her friends & met some new friends as well. Their little group had an awesome time together with their counselor Peaches.

 Margaux said they kayaked, did some archery, hiked, played games & sat by the campfire at night.

Here she is with the whole of friends, older girls included. We keep talking to Marin, we'll see if she decides to join next year.

A few last minute shots of the girls near the beach before we left camp.

Until next year! Margaux's only complaint was that she didn't love the food {which was my exact worry while she was gone}. She requested hamburgers & brownies for dinner when she got home! Poor little thing was starving. She needs to learn to not be so darn picky!!! We've got a year to work on that! So glad she had a fun week, this mom is happy to have her home. xoxo