Hello Monday-ish

Or maybe it's already Tuesday, but regardless, hello.  

I'm joining Holly and Sarah today for their Hello Monday link up. Here's the 411 on our weekend-

We had a meeting Friday morning with a local landscaping company as we are trying to sort out an enormous project in the back yard. It did not start out to be enormous, but it's grown as these things do when you're married to my hubs. We have a slope in the back that needs improvement/correcting and next thing you know we're adding a patio, a water feature, and an outdoor kitchen. 

None of that was in the original budget so now we're negotiating. Hubs is negotiating. We'll see how this goes. Stay tuned.

I had a mani/pedi Friday afternoon which is always so nice, and also felt necessary after the morning meeting.  

Saturday morning I finished pulling out some of the things I keep put away when the kids aren't here. The pack n' play, the toddler bed, stools for the bathrooms, the toy box and, this year I pulled out a bin of beanie babies I've saved that the littles haven't ever seen. I knew it was in the attic and when I lifted the lid the first thing I saw were four mostly naked Barbies. 

Question for you-Barbie and co. have amazing wardrobes. Why are they always unclothed?  

Look at all the beanies! I remember my girls cutting the tags off but most of these still have the TY tag. My daughter said she remembers Aladdin and the Mermaid were bathtub Barbies so maybe that explains the state of dress here.  

Hubs and I were going to take the boat out on Saturday to meet friends, but the meet up spot was too rough for my liking so we came home and I called my sister to catch up instead. Then of course the news broke about the tragedy at the Trump rally so we ended up mostly watching news the rest of the evening. 

What a world we are living in. 

The kids rolled in Sunday. Daughter2, her hubs, and their crew arrived from Tennessee and my daughter1 and her crew from just down the road as they'd been with the other grandparents the week before. Daughter1's hubs is finishing out his fellowship in Cincy, but we'll have a couple of days with him at the lake before they leave for England later next week.

Can you tell there are people in the house? 

We made homemade peach ice cream for dessert and spent some time just hanging out on the patio while hubs grilled dinner. 

The littlest ones played in the wading pool and the big kids played ball and tried out the hula hoops. 

His momma still has serious hula hoop skills so he's learning from the best. 

After dinner we jumped in the lake and everyone had a big time and were good and tired for bed. 

The kids too. 

Monday morning daughter2's in-laws came by with her grand-in-laws in tow. That would be the in-laws parents, so her kids great-grandparents. I made a sour cream coffee cake and everyone embraced the crazy that is five kids under seven in the house. 

They left around 11 and we loaded up the pool bags, the noodles, lunch in a cooler, everyone's personalized towels Nana orders as soon as you're born-

...the goggles, sunscreen, the stroller, babies in car seats, plus four adults (we were outnumbered by one) and headed up to our neighborhood pool to spend a couple of hours. 

Lots of fun was had by all, then the girls and I brought the three littlest home for naps and Pawpaw stayed with the two big boys to swim some more. They walked home from the pool then spent another hour in the lake on the paddle boards. 

It helps to have a low center of gravity. Just sayin'. The girls and I had iced coffee on the porch and the boys chilled with a movie while the babies napped. 

Fun in the summer sun with my favorite people. 

I highly recommend.