Back to School!

How is the summer over already?!?? I'm glad we were able to fit a lot of fun things in even with all of the house chaos, but man, did that summer go fast!

We did something really smart at the end of the last school year: because we weren't sure if/when we'd be moving, we ordered school supply kits for both boys through the school. Staples puts them together for you and ships them directly to the school with everything they need, and it comes labeled. The price wasn't much more than we expected to pay for their supplies, and we took advantage of it!

However, as Paige is entering middle school, we had to buy hers. Thankfully we had a lot of hers either leftover from last year or in our school supply cupboard. I couldn't justify buying all brand new pencils and binders when some of hers still looked brand new!

Sorting through our supplies on hand

Does anyone else ever feel like kids grow more in the summer than any other time? Cause I swear my kids do. These pants were a little long in the spring:

The boys grew so much this summer that Nate didn't have any pants for school and Ry had just a few shirts. My house looked like a clothing store exploded all over it while we sorted through their clothes!

Paige had fun going through her clothes this year; this is her new favorite hoodie! She's making her "GRRRRR" face to match it ;)

And we of course had to do some shoe shopping! 

All three kids needed sneakers, and Paige needed some new flats. She doesn't wear sneakers for most school days (unless it's a field trip), and as her feet haven't grown in about 3 years, she had worn out her flats. We found this cute black lace flats that have sparkles on them!

We totally timed our shopping right; Famous Footwear had a buy one get one half off sale plus an additional 15% off coupon. We were so under budget that this mama got shoes, too!

Last Wednesday was the first day of school. This was the first year that my kids didn't have their picture taken together before school! Paige has entered middle school, and the middle and high school kids start an hour earlier than the elementary kids. I wasn't about to wake the boys up really early just for a picture, so separate will have to do this year.

Here's my 7th grader!!!!

And my 6th grader....

And my 2nd grader!

Okay Time, we can slow down now. Thanks!

Ryan wanted me to have my picture taken as well...so we did a selfie! He is my mini-me!!!!

We are looking forward to being in our new house really really soon! It was sad knowing that this was the last first day pictures at this house...but being so close will be worth it!

Vacation Prep (AKA Needing a Vacation to get over Vacation Prep)

Oh vacation, how I love you.

Every year my in-laws rent a house somewhere big enough for the entire family to go stay and be together for a week. We've done Honeoye Lake twice, Autumn Lake (Adirondacks area) twice, and this was our third year in Salvo in the Outer Banks. We stayed in a different house than the previous two years and really enjoyed the new place!

Now I don't know about you, but planning for a vacation is hard. It's easier now that the kids are older and we don't have to worry about diapers and all the other baby things, but still trying to get a family of five packed for a week and getting two animals prepped to leave is challenging.

To Do Lists!

And this year decided to throw us a couple curve balls.

We knew this year would be a little different. Our house still has a For Sale/Sale Pending sign in front of it, and even though we don't live in a village or city, a lot of traffic goes by here everyday. We were a little nervous about leaving our house vacant for a week, but we took steps to make sure that it wouldn't look fully abandoned: our cat was going to stay here and our neighbor would check on him nightly, and some friends were also going to come and harvest our garden while we were away. It's not as much movement at our house to make it look occupied, but we thought it would be enough. (And it was!)

The one problem about the house still being Sale Pending was that we didn't know if we'd need anyone to come through the house for various appointments during the week, and one even got scheduled for the morning we were going to be leaving....meaning we had to leave the house SPOTLESS. That's hard enough to do on any given day, but trying to get your house spotless while trying to leave for vacation is a whole other level of craziness!

The biggest curve ball of them all we didn't even begin to expect.

We swung by my in-law's house on Wednesday to drop off some things, and my father-in-law commented on how our exhaust was sounding loud. We thought it was just a heat shield, so he said to bring it over early Thursday morning and he'd help Pete take a look at it.

Thursday morning came, Pete took the van over. I'm home with the three kids, babysitting an additional two, and trying to pack. Pete calls: the fixed the heat shield, didn't really see anything wrong with the exhaust, but there's a squeaking and squealing noise. They took it to the mechanic's, and the water pump is dying. And two front bolt springs (I think that's what they were??? Definitely part of the front suspension...) were completely broken and could cause real damage at any point....also known as, van isn't leaving the shop OOOOR going on vacation. Big $$$$$ flashed in front of our eyes!

So Pete and his dad checked into rental vans, and we didn't want to pay the price to rent one. We decided to take our car, and my in-laws graciously offered to take one of our kids in their vehicle so we wouldn't have to have three kids crammed in the back of our car. Thankfully we had fixed the car and it's issues earlier in the summer so all it needed was for the air conditioning to be recharged for it to be ready to go.

Even with all of the craziness and our plans going straight out the window, we are so thankful. We are glad Pete's dad had the wisdom and foresight to check our van, thankful there was space for Paige in their truck, thankful our friends and neighbors were able to look after our house, and just so thankful that we didn't try to take the van on vacation (we probably wouldn't have made it out of the state, or at least through Pennsylvania....it definitely wouldn't have made it over the bridges and bumps on the OBX island!).

We were able to leave our spotless house at 5:58 Friday morning (two minutes ahead of schedule!!!!), with Paigey securely in the back of her grandpa's truck and the boys snuggled in the back of our car. We were Virginia bound for the night, and were praying that all the bumps in the road were already behind us!

Up next: Friday afternoon fun in Virginia!

Summer Bucket List Bingo Update #3

We're slowly making our way through our bucket list!

Over the past week or so we've crossed off:

Dinner at Five Guys! This was Nate's biggest wish for the bucket list this summer, so it made perfect sense to have it double as his birthday dinner! The kids absolutely loved it and are begging to go back.

Pretending to be sleepy :-P

Dewitt Park and walk to Blondie's for ice cream with our friends! It was a great afternoon hanging out with our friends Jess and Aaron. We don't get to see them outside of church that often, and we really enjoyed catching up with them. We haven't really explored this park before, and I can definitely see us coming back to explore more, especially now that we know the secret path to Blondie's!!!!

Proof that Ry will talk to Jess!!! He loves pretending to be shy around her.

Aaron playing with the kids

Family baseball! Okay, so I wasn't feeling well and while I technically didn't play, but I was umpire, so that counts for something, right? Pete and Ryan were on a team against Paige and Nate, and while we didn't officially keep score, it was a really close game. We're really looking forward to our bigger yard so we're not playing around our vehicles anymore :)

While we probably won't be crossing everything off of our list this summer (yet again), I have to remember to cut us some slack. We've been so busy with house things, but I'm loving how intentional we've been about taking time to fit in some fun things along with the chaos as well!!!

What fun things have you been up to lately?

Summer Bucket List Bingo Update #2

We're about halfway through our summer already, and we've been able to cross off more activities on our bingo sheet!

We did our play date square! Okay, so there's no picture of this, but the kids got to go hang out with some friends for a couple hours while Pete and I were at the inspection appointment for the new house.

We made cookies for neighbors! We made them for two of our current neighbors that we are going to miss terribly. However, we also made them for our next door neighbors at the new house! Yay!

Chocolate chip, peanut butter chip and M&M cookies!

We tried out the newly discovered play ground at the park square! We did this during one of our house showings. It had been rainy most of the day, but it stopped and cleared up nicely so we could burn off some energy.

Mason loves the park!

It was Mozzie's first time at the park!

We did fishing at Pete's sister's house! Well, Pete and Ryan fished. Nate and Paige chose to go in the boat instead ;)

Pete caught the biggest fish!

And Ry got to throw it back

Ryan's fish!

Fly fishy, fly!!!!

Paige and Nate with Pete's mom and sister

To see other posts about our summer bucket list (including the full list of activities), you can find them here.

Moana and Selling Our Home

We absolutely love the Disney movie Moana! The music, the story, the characters....it's becoming one of our favorite movies very quickly.

The thing that surprises me most about it is how it's helping my kids get ready for house showings.

Say whaaat?

Enter Tamatoa!

If you've seen Moana, you'll know that Tamatoa loves anything shiny, and he also sings a song by the same name. It's slightly addicting and gets stuck in your head really easily, which believe it or not, has been helpful.

When we started the process of getting our house ready to sell, our realtor told the kids to get our house as clean as a bright copper penny. The kids decided that wasn't good enough, so it evolved into a quarter or even a one dollar coin.

But then when I was waxing floors to get them nice and shiny, I got Tamatoa's song stuck in my head...and it spread to the kids. And our thing now is that we have to get our house Tamatoa Shiny. They run around singing the song, picking up and cleaning quickly and efficiently....something that never ever happens.

So thank you Disney for creating a character that makes my life so much easier!!!!

Do you have any tips or tricks for helping you or kids clean up quickly? I'd love to hear them!

Secret Keeping: A House Hunting Update

Guys.

We found a house.

And we've been under contract for about two weeks.

There were some things we had to get through before I could share the news, and we've crossed all of those hurdles, so now we can share! Yay!

So what house did we choose? Was it House #5, Yellow? Or House #6, Ranch?????

Before I tell you, here's the backstory:

We saw both of these houses on a Monday. I had a feeling that one of them was "The One" that day.

Pete....not so much.

He was willing to take a second look at it, which we did on that Friday. After the second showing, I was ready to put in an offer.

Pete....not so much.

So we prayed and talked and did pros and cons and prayed and talked some more. For five days.

And then, I don't know what happened, but Pete woke up one day and decided to put in an offer! After a couple days of negotiating, we came to an agreement and signed contracts. The house passed inspection, and here we are, waiting for our house to sell so we can move in and make it ours! Woo hooooo!!!!!

Yeah, I love my new house. Like A LOT.

So here she is, the new Apps Abode:

Yes, to the surprise of many we chose The Yellow House! Before announcing we found a house on Facebook, only ONE person guessed that we chose this one! Everyone else guessed the Ranch. But, after we told Facebook we found a house, the overwhelming response was that we had chosen Yellow!

We have a lot of paint to buy, carpet, paneling and drop ceiling to rip out, rooms to update or move around, as well as "fun" projects, like siding and a porch to add on. You know, just a short little list of improvements ;) She is a fixer upper, but we are so anxious to get started!

So thank you for being on this journey with us! Our house is on the market, and we're waiting for the perfect person or family to come buy her so we can move along with Yellow. I won't be able to share much more for awhile due to confidentiality requests, but I'll be doing some posts of what we'd like to do with the house if there's any interest!

Summer Bucket List

For the past couple of years, our family has made a summer bucket list of things we'd like to do. We don't have many rules about what goes on the list; we don't limit it to free or local activities, but as long as it is something we can all agree on and doesn't break the bank, it goes on the list :)

Now, just having a regular bucket list is all well and good, but we like to kick it up a notch and make it more fun and exciting: we put it on a BINGO board!

We always get super excited to get a BINGO, and when one box can make multiple BINGOs, that's just even better!!!!

Our goal for this year is something we have not been able to do yet: fill in our entire board.

It's a big challenge, I just hope we're up to it!

What's on our list this year:

• Dewitt Park to Blondie's. Our friend Jess mentioned that this park has a trail that leads to Blondie's, and what's better than taking a long walk and getting an ice cream all at the same time?
• Mario Kart night. A video game night of some sort always ends up on our list! This year the kids chose Mario Kart :)
• Glow stick bowling. We had this on our list last year, and we never were able to accomplish it. We have all the supplies still, so a free activity is a great thing to have!

• Camping. We've been meaning to go camping with our friends Stephen and Vanessa the past couple of years, but we've never been able to make the schedules work. If it doesn't work again this year, we kept it fairly general so camping in our backyard will also work for this square.
• Tim Horton's trip. We don't stop here often (unless we have a gift card or someone needs a donut after a shot/blood work), so this is a cheap and super special treat!
• Drive in movie. We LOVE the Silver Lake Twin Drive In, and I think we're going to go try and see Despicable Me 3 when it comes out soon! This is one of our favorite things to do during the summer, so it is a must for our list.
• Fishing at the cousin's house. Pete's sister and brother-in-law just got a new house last year, and it has a stocked pond. The kids love to fish, so we were invited to put fishing at their pond on our bucket list!
• Applebee's. We have a couple gift cards here, and it's the kid's favorite restaurant (and there's food I can eat there, too!).
• Game night. We love our board games! We have a closet filled in our play room and 3/4 of our coffee bar is filled with more board games. This is always one of the first things the kids ask for on our bucket list!
• Make cookies for a neighbor. I want to try and have the kids be thinking more of others and doing random acts of kindness, and this is a great way for us to bond as a family as well as think of our neighbors!
• Family baseball. This is Ryan's favorite square! He keeps asking to do this one, but it's always when we have someplace to go, it's pouring, or it is so humid out we can't breathe without breaking a sweat!
• Letchworth. This one was added a few months ago when I was thinking about applying to the Letchworth Arts and Craft Show in October. I have lived in this area for almost 11 years, and still have never made it to this park. It's quite sad. I'm hoping this will be the summer we finally go!
• Berry picking. This could be any kind of berry at any location. We try and pick blueberries every year, and we used to do strawberry picking. We love to take hikes in the Genesee County Park, and they have wild berries there, so we'll stop and pick them when we've completed our walk. Any of those can fill up this square!
• Buffalo Museum of Science. We went over spring break, and loved it! The kids can't wait to go back. We just renewed and upgraded our membership, so each time we go, we can take one extra kid. Pete and I will be taking Ry while Paige and Nate are at camp, so we're anxious to see who he chooses to bring along.
• Play date. We try to get together with Pete's coworker and her family at least once every summer, but we're also thinking about having the kids each pick a friend and having them meet us at the school playground as an option (or addition!) for the summer.
• Dinner at Five Guy's. Pete and I love this as a date night option when we have errands to run, and the kids are anxious to try it as well. This was Nate's #1 pick for the list this year!
• Bike riding. Ryan just got a new bike for his birthday, and all the kids want to ride this summer. We don't really have a place to ride where we live, so we don't really do it. Ever. So this would be a special thing!
• Movie night at home. Oh how we love these! Eating dinner in the living room while watching a glowing screen with moving pictures? Amazing.
• Fireworks. Last year we saw an amazing firework show at the kid's school for their field days, and we're hoping to go back again this year! If we miss it, sometimes we can see them at our house when neighbors put on a show.
• Make a new flavor of gelato. This is another favorite of ours! We have a gelato machine, and we love trying new recipes. Last year I think we did a peanut butter cup, a lemon blueberry, and peanut butter. So. Good.
• Geneseo Movie Theater. We have movie tickets there that were given to us, it's just trying to find the time and a movie we all want to see!
• Campfire cookout and s'mores. We LOOOOOVE cooking out over a campfire, and then roasting marshmallows afterwards for s'mores!
• Take Mason on a hike. Our pupper LOVES taking a walk, especially at the park where there's shade and a breeze, and the kids love bringing him for snuggles in the van on the way to the park!

If you're a math person and have tallied up how many things are on our list for our 5x5 BINGO board, two boxes should be empty. One just happens to be the free space, and the other one...well, we just can't decide what activity to put there! We have so many to choose from, and are really having a hard time picking from the list of other possibilities. 

Some things we have on the list of possibilities are:

• Air and Space museum in Washington D.C. We really really want to do this either on our way down or way back from the Outer Banks. However, we're not sure when Paige's middle school orientation will be, so once we know when that is, we'll know if we're going to be able to make this happen or not.
• Virtual Reality. Our library has this now, and I think it would be really fun to try as a family!
• Geocaching. Pete especially has wanted to do this for awhile, and I just saw that our county just set up a geocaching trail all over the county, so I think this would be a fun thing to try!
• Move. A lot of people suggested this one, and we LOVE this idea!!!! However, that's kind of out of our hands, so we'd hate for this to be the one square that would keep us from filling in our board!
• Memorizing scripture. Nate has been asking about this one, and we love this idea. But we're not sure what or how much we'd do, so that's the only reason it's on the back burner.
• Go swimming. We have a pool, so this one should be easy to do. However, it's either been too rainy or too cold, so we're not sure when this would actually happen!

Finding things to do that work with our schedule and won't completely blow our budget is what's challenging at this point!

I'll be posting updates regularly on how we're doing. If you want to do a BINGO board bucket list, this is the board we use (and it's free!). 

What would you put on your summer bucket list? We're always looking for new or additional ideas!

Boston Trip: Day #3

Ahhhh, the last day of the trip.

We were really enjoying Boston, but we were ready to go home. Everyone was exhausted, and our super loud crazy bus was sooooo quiet for the first hour or two that morning as so many people were napping.

We stopped for lunch in Cobleskill quickly, and then it was a quick drive over to Howe Caverns.

I've been in caverns before (but can't remember which one it was), but this one was a lot different than I remembered the other one being. We got to ride an elevator down to where the tour started, then started in exploring the caverns.

Paige really loved riding in the boat along the water up to the waterfall!

My favorite part (which I didn't photograph) was the winding way. It's a pathway that's 300 feet long, has about 60 twists and turns, and ranges in height and widths!

After the tour everyone was able to grab a snack or souvenir shop, and then back on the bus. A couple hours later we stopped for dinner, and then the last stretch home....which was not the smoothest sailing.

At one point of the drive we were in Manchester, and everyone was getting antsy and just wanted to be home. I heard a gasp, so I looked up at the people across the aisle from us, and they were all panicking and bracing against the seats in front of them. Paige and I looked out the front window and saw a semi truck riiiiight in front of our window, and thankfully, our bus driver, Ron, is the best bus driver in the world and got us to a stop mere inches from the back bumper of the semi. We all let out a sigh of relief, but then saw the semi pull off to the side of the road....along with our other bus that had been in front of the semi.

Thankfully, they only had a super minor fender bender, where our other bus was slowing down for a construction zone and the semi wasn't able to stop quickly enough. The back bumper of the bus was barely damaged from what we saw, and the semi was a little crunched. No one was hurt, but everyone was shaken up. Our bus ended up leaving the other behind while they exchanged information and filled out the police report, but they ended up not being to far behind us the rest of the trip home.

We were able to get back to school and got our things, then made the drive home. I was so excited to come home and see my guys, but both boys were asleep! Ry refused to wake up (they made me promise to wake them); Nate woke up, happy cried when he saw me, and then fell back asleep (and didn't remember seeing me when I asked him the next morning!).

I really enjoyed the trip, even though it was a lot jam packed into three days. Everyone was really tired, so there were some hiccups along the way with attitudes and tempers. Nate has begged me to go on his whale watch trip next year, and I am looking forward to it! I will be better prepared with what to expect and ways to keep kids happy on the bus or out and about in Boston, and just be able to really enjoy the trip knowing what to expect and take it all in better.

What is your best tip for traveling, especially with tweens? Let me (and Nate!) know in the comments below!