This drive stinks big time

I just want to be back on a cruise ship.  We will be driving til 3am. Totally wiped. Sigh.

Back from cruisin the Bahamas

Such a great time...still in Florida..exhausted! :)

Hays is here! And great tropical grad party

So thankful our family is complete again (Hays arrived!) and so grateful to all who made her tropical grad party so fun!  Love our FL fam and friends!

Tropical FL Grad Party prep, lazyish day, can't wait to see Hailey in 9hrs!

Keeping busy here in So. Fla...can't wait for our family to be complete tomorrow and to indulge in tropical grad party fun!  Woohoo!

Another great FL pool day and seeing dinger bud, Lein and fam!

The rain didn't stop us...back in the pool almost all day...and a great day seeing my double dinger bud and kiddos!  And a wonderful evening seeing more family.  Great being down south where a storm rolling in doesn't stop the fun.

Yay for Ft. Laud. and Fam!

Finally arrived at lunch time after a quick hotel stay in Gainesville.  So tired, but so great so see the FL fam!  The kids played in the pool all day (rain and shine!)...we had scrumptious food, laughs and even spa time.  A nice laid back day.

You know you’re tired when...

You should be on your way to south Florida but you realize you’re on your way to nyc. Oh boy. We need more rest. We are officially in the sunshine state, but stopping in Gainesville soon to rest for the night. What a long day of driving. :(. Just want to be in FLL with the fam. :)

Florida/Bahamas here we come! (Hopefully!)

Ash is back!!!

She had a great week at camp! She talked non stop all the way home.  Lol!

Planning for Paris!

Planning our trip to Paris and so grateful my friend Nathalie is helping.  Looking forward to meeting our French friend in a couple weeks!  Europe, here we come!

tired of planning, tired of cleaning, tired of photos...just tired!

I think you get the jest of it...

Endless procrastination

Our day...daddy took the day off...

 We slept in and I had to get Shelb from her sleepover core group campout...the boys were lazy as always, but daddy put D to work building our grad party photo booth.

 I found this oldy but goodie memory of my own grad party and prom...lol...T-Nasty and L-Nasty ruled the school (ok, not really), but we were cool!

 obviously D worked really hard on the grad party photo booth

 Someone is helping plan a baby shower...

 It's always an adventure with Shelby, the high-heeled drama queen around!

 Adorbs!

 He lost a stitch already somewhere in the house. Not at all surprised.

 Shelby missed XC so she had to run with her bro...who just might be a lot faster than her...he actually was over a block ahead of her and he didn't even look winded after running 3 miles.  All the while she was giving him advice on how to run...and he came home stating, "I am not running with her again!" :)  Cannot blame him. She's bossy!

 Sometimes Indiana is pretty

 Showing Hailey (facetime) the photo booth.

 Tired of sorting pics.  Feeling total sadness over not being more organized with my photos...but alas I have to be ok with it because I am a busy mama of 5 and have no time.  I am not a scrapbooker and I'll be lucky to just have photos on the wall.  Thankfully it does not really matter to Hailey, I think.  Matters more to me.  Glad daddy can help bc I am not a techy person.

                 Ready for the lil' peanut girl shower!

 All we have for our big grad party and only a few more days to plan it since we'll be on vacation this weekend...ugh!...thankfully our lil' FL shindig was easy to plan!  YAY for tropical!

A glimpse into Ashley's week at Hilltop camp...looks like she's having fun with her friends!

Heart be still...

 Just found Hailey's old preschool scrapbooks in our garage...I honestly never thought she dreamed to be a ballerina...but this proves it...(scrapbook age 4...lol!) :)

 Career day age 4 :) Look at those dance moves!!  Impressive!

 And look at this sweet 3 year old pic...oh my goodness...love her name "Hildly"? lol...and all of us rainbow colored family watching her! haha!

Career day age 3...wow.
I know she was on her toes from the moment she could walk.  But truly never remembered her voicing that she wanted to do this.  Not many 3 year olds declare what they actually end up doing 15 years later.  Good job, Hailey-the prima ballerina! :)


(and, thank you, Miss Angela for working so hard on scrapbooks back in preschool...it's my only recollection of this)

Ash is off to church camp, Logan’s Mario play date, and evening with old friends, but just too busy!

It was a full day.  It was a good day.  I just wish for more time and more energy!

Quiet day but drowning in pics...

Trying to get organized for grad party.  Realizing I am not organized at all.  Feeling frustrated by overwhelming disorganization.  Ugh.

Goodbye Lo and Ash, a night of Joshua Bell

The fighting kids put me over the edge today but thankfully Nina and Poppy saved the day and took half the kids.  And Shelby and I enjoyed a musical night of orchestra and Joshua Bell.

Missing Nina and pops!

Defnitely feeling a void with Nina and Pops gone.  But had a nice girls night out and am ready to tackle life...gonna he crazy the next week prepping for Fl, the Bahamas, a grad party and Germany!

Fun in the creek, first stitches for Lo, and I’m tired!

The days are about to get busier.  Nina and pops leave tomorrow. This leaves me without extra helping hands.  Sad.  But they were here to enjoy a little more creek time today, with crawdads and a slippery rock.  All was going well, til one slip of the foot and one chin to the ground.  The same chin that was glued a couple months ago.  This time it needed 5 blue stitches.  He was so brave. I was so proud of him.  He is definitely going to be my accident prone kid.  I think he might have been our first Steg to get stitches?!  All I can say is I miss lazy summer days. This summer has not been restful at all.  That stinks.

A busy day, grateful for extra helping hands and free chikin!

IKEA with Nina!

Yay for our new IKEA in Indiana and for bargains!

Where is summer going?

I’m sad summer is flying by so quickly.  But glad my parents are helping and the kids are loving it.  Family is the best. ❤️❤️

Thank you, Nina & Pops!

So grateful to Nina and Pops for taking the kids all day, feeding them and amusing them.  They were lifesavers.  And the kids loved it. A trip to the shelter to see kitties, a trip to the creek and park, yummy food, a movie, ice cream night and good times.  So thankful.  Poor Kev and I are knee deep planning Germany and dealing with that stress.  Not easy to do all this without a travel agent.  Ugh.

Nina and pops are in the house! Last day swimming, violin and a fair night!

Swimming lessons, my preschool job, violin and cello lessons...

Happy July 4th!

A great day, but totally too hot and exhausting...can Indiana heat be worse than Florida?  Yes it can!

Hays back to nyc and a party for Sue Sue!

feeling sad our Hays is gone but had a fun evening celebrating Sue Sue! 🎉

A great day picnicking by the lake with Nina and Pops...last day with Hailey...

A lovely day by the lake dam...fishing and picnicking with Nina and Pops...now a night of fair baking and Hailey's prepping and packing to leave us for summer...back to NYC...gonna miss her. We've loved having her home.

Sad note:  My phone has bit the dust...possibly losing all my photos and videos from the last month...which is all our vacations and Hailey's final stuff in NYC. I am heartbroken.  Pics mean more to me than just about anything....so pray we can retrieve them in someway tomorrow. :(