Life Lately.

I'll be honest. Life Lately has been busy. But as I was grabbing pictures for this post I realized how much fun we have had too!

Our neighbors and us started a kid swap night once a month. Last month we watched their boys so that they could have a date night, and this month the girls went to their house so we could have one. It's been so much fun for the kids and us! This month since it was our turn we went to the Channel Marker with some friends. It was a rainy/muggy day, but it turned into a really nice night on the lake. We love going there!

While we were there, I got this picture of the kids. Ashley always does super fun things with her kids. She's a pinterest mom.  And I'm jealous most of the time. Since the rain washed out their "drive in movie" in the back yard, they decided to make milkshakes. This is all four of them lined up drinking them.

They are making some great memories with these cute boys and we are so thankful to have them two doors down!

I'm grateful for our date night that weekend, because the next week things got BUSY. It was family camp week at Prairie Camp, so I worked out there every day/evening and I felt like our family was basically passing by each other in the evenings. The weekend that camp ended Mike and I said that the girls were such troopers that they deserved to do something fun. So Friday night we took them to the Splash pad. I don't have any pictures of that - mostly because while Tenley played in the water, Paisley clung to me. She is not a fan of it yet - which is ok - Tenley wasn't at that age either and this year she loved it. So I know we'll get there. Paisley is a bit more reserved around water in general than Tenley has been. Saturday night when I got off work, we headed to Mike's aunts house to swim. The girls love going there and on that night we were able to swim with Mike's cousins and their kids.

Tenley and Madison loved jumping off the side together! Tenley has really gotten a lot better in the pool this summer and is able to stay in the shallow end without floaties. She tends to get a little brave sometimes, so we have to watch her closely, but she has gotten good at knowing when she's tired or needs her floaties back on.

This cute little fishy took awhile to warm up to the pool. She is perfectly content sitting on the steps and playing there while watching the big kids jump around. That's ok. She'll be jumping in soon enough.

Speaking of that cute little girl - we did her first ponytail the other day! Oh my goodness was it cute.

On Sunday after church we had a special surprise for Tenley! (Due to the heat, we decided that Paisley should go with grandma and grandpa for the day- so she had a special day too!) She got to be in the Elkhart County 4H Parade! This is a huge parade, and we knew she would love being a part of it. Pam Shaw called and asked if she would ride on the Apple Festival Float and invite some friends too. So Ella and Jayda joined us and the girls had so much fun sitting with the Queen/Princesses of the Apple Festival!

These girls may be Future Apple Blossoms!  Me? A pageant mom?! haha! Tenley wasn't the only one who enjoyed the parade. Mike, Kayla and I were also in it. We walked beside the float throwing out candy. We had so much fun! It was about a 3.2 mile parade, so we got a good work out in too on a very hot day!

The parade kicked off the fair, so we have taken full advantage of enjoying it this week! Mike and I even got to enjoy some time at the fair alone on Tuesday night! Some very sweet friends gave us track seats for the Cole Swindell concert.

We had a great time and new more of his songs than what we realized! We haven't been to a concert in a long time, so it was really nice to enjoy that together. Last night we took the girls with us to the fair. They loved looking at the animals, the ice cream and the rides! We spent the evening with the Whickcar family and the kids had a blast!

Paisley wasn't a fan of this big slide. Mike enjoyed it though!

One of the random things that the girls have really enjoyed doing lately is going with me to the gym. I go to spinning class on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and during that time they have child care available. The girls have LOVED going with me and playing in there. I love that they are entertained, but also that they get to see me working out too and they will grow up knowing that my health is now a priority in my life. On Tuesday morning I decided we all needed to get out of the house for a bit (after lots of fighting between the girls) so I went to the gym early that day and I caught this picture while I was lifting.

They were great motivators as I could hear Tenley yelling through the window "Go Mommy! Go Mommy!" haha. It almost made me cry. What special times these are! The days are long but these moments will pass quickly. I'm thankful for all them!