The end of Summer but not the Heat!

Weeks 9 and 10 of Summer brought as much fun and busyness as the first weeks did.

Week 9 had us coming back from vacation and attempting to get our home and lives pulled back together. There were several end of summer play dates and the beginning of some shopping trips. Grammy (my mom) took us to the mall one day and the girls enjoyed going to Justice to pick out earrings from Grammy. I also surprised them with lunchboxes from Justice. I couldn't help myself there was a sale and the price made it completely comparable to Target's prices. I regretted it as in the car on the way home the comments from the back were "Do you know what I really like about it? It says Justice with a cute heart on the back." My girls have never been treated to making purchases such as these from a mall. Until now they believed all things come from Target, Costco, Ross, TjMax or Walmart. Then all afternoon Sarah went through her cloths and proceeded to bring out items with the "Justice" label claiming how much shes always admired them. (Justice cloths are sold at Ross.)

The meltdown occurred a few days later when Sarah's BFF Mary Jane had purchased a lunchbox to match Sarah and also acquired the matching backpack. Sarah now knew she had to have one as well. I made it a point to stop by Justice to check it out and discovered it was more than twice as expensive as any other backpack I'd been looking at. To make matters worse it would never hold up for more than a year. I was trying to help explain to Sarah the importance in making wise purchases. Nana came to my rescue, she especially took Sarah out shopping (to Ross) and bought her a far better backpack for half the price then spent the remainder on extra accessories, showing her that when you shop smart you get much more for your money. Thankfully Sarah came home excited to tell me all about the bonuses her backpack afforded her.

For fun Friday the girls were able to create their own 3D rings. I had saved this project as one of our last because I knew they would enjoy having them to wear at school.



Week 10 was to be quite and pretty laid back with only a few items left to buy and everyone settling into the routine of a school schedule. Daddy always takes the girls to buy supplies and I must say I really enjoy that tradition. My contribution is to spend the evening separating and labeling everything.

We also went out this week and did family pictures. I know it's crazy to make the end of summer our family picture time, but I like to try and get it when we are all looking tanned and refreshed after a vacation. Jessica has become more cooperative and I was able to keep Jarom in a good mood all day so he wouldn't be too crabby. I think they are our best family pictures ever and I wasted no time in getting them hung around our home.


You'll never guess, but our Final Fun Friday was to have the girls make photo albums of their many summer adventures. It was my hope that they will appreciate the many bonding memories we've built.


2011 was a summer I know I will always cherish. We spent countless hours working and playing together as a family. I was able to spend the time getting to know each one of my daughters on a deeper level. I truly feel that my summer goals were reached.

One Last "Surprise" Adventure....
The Monday before school started we drove out to Surprise to spend a last day with my family and celebrate Papa's 61st birthday. To every ones complete happiness my brother, sister in-law and their 3 beautiful children came down from Utah that morning. We only get to see each other a couple of times a year so this was a great treat and rearranged my schedule for the better. We were able to relax, play games, go swimming, snuggle the kids and just enjoy being together. They left on Wednesday and the girls started school on Thursday. It was truly a perfect end to our summer break.