Summer's End
And just like, that, the summer is ending! I can't believe that the kids start school TOMORROW! Fourth and Second graders! We have the New Haven Elementary open house this afternoon and then the bus will be here tomorrow morning at 6:50am! Luckily, the kids are really excited to start school again and they can't wait to see their friends from New Haven. We had hoped to be moved into the new house by now, but this will work out for the best.
Finally, a boat ride!
Owen enjoying the lake
This is only the second time all summer that they've had the boat out. Gracie and Owen were pretty excited to go for a ride! Grandpa Tom even went fast for them. That doesn't happen very often. I hope that Nick and I get to go some time this fall!
Gracie and Owen have spent at least a couple nights per week down at the lake for the last several weeks so I can continue to work. They have loved being with Grandma and Grandpa! They get to go swimming every day and are completely spoiled by my parents.
Cleaning up horse poop. This particular day was their idea.
We still have horses! I feel like I have neglected to report on how our animals are doing. We don't get out there to work with them enough, as a lot of efforts have been focused on getting our house done. Gracie and Owen put a halter on Dancer last week and Owen rode for a little bit.
Thor is getting big! He has changed so much in the past couple months. He's too big to run around free in our yard now, so he stays in the dry run with his mama. We have put all the horses together a few times, and they seem to be getting along ok. Thor and Dancer chase each other around.
Owen riding Dancer
Playing in the rain
Nick takes a turn on Indee.
This was a different night. Nick went out to play with the horses. I don't think Indee liked having him up there too much, but she tolerated it for a little while.
Meet the Tigers!
Owen with Coach Odom
Gracie and Owen with Truman
Owen with one of the football players
Birthday party!
Wiffle Ball! Boys vs Girls. Girls won, of course.
This was the first of many birthdays this month. Including Gracie and Owen's, the kids will have over 6 celebrations to go to this month. They have a lot of friends with August birthdays.
Owen's friend, Gibson rented a big water slide for his birthday again. They added a game of wiffle ball, too, that adults could also play.
Waiting for the slide
Every day is a softball day for Gracie.
Last trip to Iowa for the summer.
We surprised the kids by coordinating a birthday lunch with some of their friends from Huxley at Hickory Park. They knew that we would be going to Ames, but they definitely were not expecting to have friends meet them there. Owen thought that it was just a coincidence that we all ended up at the same place. Silly Owen. Mom knows how to make you happy!
Cy never gets old!
Owen with Gracie and her friend, Elin
All of the Stagg kids, Elin, Gracie and Owen
Owen was so happy to see his friends! Logan, Landon, Owen, and Jonah.
We had quite the group!
Birthday ice cream!
Gracie gets her ice cream
Another party!!!
Our main reason for visiting Iowa this time was to attend a send-off party for one of Nick's former high school wrestlers and assistant coaches from Ballard. Dillon has come to see us a couple times and we were so glad that we could see him before he leaves for the Marines. He will eventually be a pilot for the Marines and has been commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. We also got to see a lot of people from Cambridge and Huxley who were part of our wrestling family in Iowa. The kids got to swim for awhile and we stayed a little longer than intended, but with no regrets.
Nick and Owen with Dillon
We stopped to see my grandma for awhile in the morning, also. We didn't stay as long as we have in the past, but we crammed a lot of activities into about 24 hours. I'm so happy we were able to do everything we did! I hope we get to go back again soon!
Somebody was exhausted after the big day!
Getting ready to move again.
Last week, the kids decided to clean out a lot of their room. This was not prompted by me. They cleared off their book shelf and brought it into the living room. I think they are ready to be in their new house, too. Right now, our house is full of stacked boxes and other things. We have made pathways through everything. It is not in quite as much disarray as when moved in, but give us a couple more weeks. It'll be there.
The siding is probably about 1/2 done. They haven't started anything on the garage side yet, or above the porch. Not sure what they're waiting on.
The kids looking out of Owen's window.
I can already see them thinking about getting on the roof.
Front of the house, not quite done.
The walls on the inside are done. They have added the texture, but I'm not sure it's the texture that we asked for. It's a lot thicker than the orange peel we requested, which was in our old house. I hope they can fix it. Otherwise, it is ready for primer and then we can start painting. I will have to get a few more things, but I plan to start adding color on Friday, if all goes as planned. We don't have a move in date yet, but it's obviously not going to be this month. Hopefully early September....
I have taken a different position for the fall in the athletic department at Mizzou. I will be the Interim Tutor/Mentor Coordinator. I will get to coordinate and schedule all the tutor appointments and services for student athletes. It will be a lot different from what I was doing, but hopefully I'll learn a lot and I will like it. This position typically comes with the Academic Coordinator position, but the director is letting me try it out to see if I like it. It is still about 3/4 time, but there is a possibility of becoming full time at the end of the semester. We'll see how this goes! I'm pretty excited to try something new! I will start tomorrow and work closely with someone who has done this position in the past.
I still can't believe that the summer is pretty much done. We are ready to get back into a normal routine, but I feel like the summer has flown by! We didn't really have a "vacation" this summer, but the kids have gotten to do so much and we have taken several trips to Iowa. Gracie had a few weekends for traveling with softball and Owen had his Cub Scout camp adventure. AND there's all the time spent at Camp Grandma in the Ozarks. I think the summer has been fun!
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