So Long Summer!

10:06 PM

Here we are -- the Eve of going back to work. I have shed so many tears today. To think that my day will no longer be filled with the pitter-patter of little chubby bare feet across my living room floors breaks my heart. But I know there is another group of kids waiting for me who miss me just as much as I miss them, so I'll have to leave my babies for a few hours a day to go hug my other babies all day long!

I would be lying if I said that this was the best summer of our life. On the contrary, this summer was rough in a whole different way than it was last year. Last year, the girls were BRAND NEW, sickly, and I was terrified to leave them.

This weekend, our last weekend of summer, the girls have had runny noses and been SICKKKK all weekend, and Hershey has bronchitis. Awesomesauce. We have been trapped in the house all weekend, missing parties with friends, cookouts, and the last of the beautiful weather before it gets hot as heeelllll here in dirty Jersey for the next few days, which I will be spending in hot, sweaty classrooms with a bunch of hot, sweaty adolescents. Ew.

In honor of the last night of summer, I decided that now would be a good time to reflect on this past two months and recognize the good times that we had, although they seem few and far between. Here are the top five things that rocked my socks this summer.

1. AMINALS! We have a family of deer who live in our neighborhood. Four 8-point bucks, two females, and two babies (who one of our neighbors informed us are TWINS! How cool is that??!?!?!). They come to our yard often, playing in the girls' blow up pool (which we had to deflate) and drinking from their water table (which we had to empty). But they come SUPER close, and I swear I would sit there and watch them for hours if they would stay.

2. Play dates. It's been so much fun to watch the girls interacting with each other (finally), and also finding friends to play with! This summer, they played with Hailey and Ryan, Olivia, Mikayla, Callaiopie, Gia, Della, T, Foster, and Adelyn.

3. Ikea. You know that moment when you see something on someone's blog and you think, "HEYYY I CAN TOTALLY DO THAT!!!" and then you go all gung-ho, buy all of the supplies, and with the first brush stroke you think, Oh shit, I'm in over my head? I did that this summer.

I needed a step stool so that the twincesses could watch while I cook and wash their hands at the sink, and this totally awesome chick put together this amazing how-to hack for this Bekvam stool from Ikea, which is so totally cheap and also so totally sturdy. It was a LOOONG haul, but I finally GOT IT!

I used this gel stain in Walnut, and used leftover paint from painting our kitchen to paint the stripes. I have no idea how I measured the stripes out, but it was really frustrating and took me a really long time. I used painter's tape to get the crisp lines. I also added a coat of urethane to make it waterproof, so now any time the girls are playing on it (they like to sit on the bottom step and use the top step as a table), I can just wipe any stains off and not worry about the paint.

Then there was this:

Those of you who know me well know that I am OBSESSED with Little Baby Garvin. I mean, my dear friend, Erin, and I text each other all of the time trying to put the scoop on the Garvs. It's sick. Well, last year, Jess gave Harper this adorable little table and chairs from Ikea for Xmas. She slaved away every night in her garage staining and painting this set. I thought, if Garvs can do it in a month, I can certainly get it done in 2. HAHAHA! Fool me once...

It stayed the natural color for WEEKS. And then I stained one chair. And there the rest of it sat, with the blue painter's tape, waiting to be stained, for 3 more weeks. And the one stained chair laughed at me. I swear it did.

This week, I FINALLY finished it. I have some silver paint to add and some words that I want to paint on the table top, but the stain was the biggest hurdle. The rest I can do in one nap time.

4. SAHMism. Getting to spend time with my girls was the best. I got to know them better, and although I spent some time frustrated (toddlers are SO super frustrating, especially when YOU KNOW they understand you, and then they look at you and do it anyway), nothing can replace the hugs and the smiles and the fun that I had teaching them and watching as they soaked it all up. They are the funniest and quirkiest little kids, and I wish I could have that all day every day.

5. Mexican Corn. HOLY CANOLI guys, have you ever tried this?! I heard about this in passing somewhere, dug up a recipe on Pinterest, and tried it on the LAST NIGHT OF SUMMER. O.M.Geeeeeeeeeee. Are you kidding me?!?! Corn on the cob will never be the same for me, and I'll never eat it with just butter and salt again. The Mexican in me was singing last night.

Honorable Mention: Potty Training! Janey is 5 for 6 with pee-pee on the potty, and although Emma hasn't done anything yet (except stand in it and reach into it while she was sitting on it), we will keep plugging along!

I hope that you all have a wonderful week, and if you, like we, are returning to school this week, GOOD LUCK and take a deep breath. Only ten more months until summer...

Love you all! xoxo