dividing & conquering has been the theme of our summer. so much fun to be had for these 3 little girls, which means oftentimes, we're split. meme has been the queen of dance-runs & rehearsal drop-offs, or even hanging with 2 while i take 1, or hanging with 1 while i take 2 ;) when jon leaves work, he's usually driving to the dance school to take 1 to dinner or 1 to rehearsal. so many combinations at play here, which makes our time all together that much more rewarding-

fun surprise at the school library! 

a sweet little fairy garden camp with avery & katie- that meme taxied to while i brought the littles to "help" me teach my dance class-

followed by a slime-making kit purchase. all the things mom says no to, meme is all for ;)

**lucy's learned to text from meme's phone & it's the best. unless i get 100 emojis over the course of 5 minutes, i love getting messages from her when we're apart! ...but she'll still be the last in her grade to get a phone. mark my word ;)

eloise, aaalways reading-

one afternoon last week, i noticed lucy was writing avery's address from the school directory on an envelope, but i was doing 5 other things & didn't really process what was going on. here's what ensued ;)

back to school date for eloise! her requests were simple- target & IHOP! she's all set & ready for kinder! love this precious girl-

meanwhile back at meme's-

bea found her backpack, too- she saw it at a store & zoned in. check & check- preschool, i hope you're ready. 

friday night shenanigans-

happy birthday, little ivy!!

& oz camp at dancing school-

17 years ago tonight, jon walked into my life & changed it forever, in this very spot that he snapped a photo of yesterday, backstage at theatre in the park after i performed in annie get your gun. so glad he had a friend in the cast & a reason to come backstage that night ;) 

& to mark the occasion, lucy has a 6 hour rehearsal tonight in preparation to perform in her first show on this same stage. life is so interesting. 

xoxo, 

-ivy

another week of summer has come & gone-

love mondays with my honey bea while meme does dance runs & pool time with the big girls. this has been so appreciated by all of us this summer-

lucy's newest drawing- these days, she says she wants to grow up & draw buildings for people to build. i see a future in architectural design ;)

the tinitainers were busy with 2 performances this week- starlight & theatre in the park! 

movie date with sweet avery-

art therapy for these besties-

& visiting avery's booth at the lenexa kid maker's market- we stocked up on her beautiful hair clips, bath bombs & coasters! lucy's now intent on setting up a shop well beyond lemonade ;)

lucy is deep in oz rehearsals most evenings, eloise is reading up a storm & betsy's busy hoarding flossers & chapsticks. & that is our life :)

xoxo, 

-ivy

crazy to think our summer is halfway through. i'm not wishing it away, despite the extra bickering. having our days, while still structured in many ways, to do as we please has been a big gift. 

golfing with gdad- these 2 enjoy camp each week, and really enjoy the lemonade and cheetos that follow ;)

lucy's sweetest friend from school, miss avery, learned to make hair clips this summer, and sent each of the girls their own clips in the mail. we had extra big smiles that afternoon :)

pool time has become a favorite time for us- so very different from summers past ;) a beautiful thing about these littles growing bigger. 

freestate fun-

this week included patriotic pride, dental checkups, rehearsals, dancing classes, a soccer game & fresh peach cobbler with farmer's market peaches-

it was also the 4th of july! we had been counting down to our celebrations with the brewers, which has become a tradition for our families.

in the midst of the fun, a smaller-sized street firework malfunctioned [we think tipped over], and our sweet kaitlyn girl ended up with a burn, landing her in the children's hospital's burn unit. while it all happened fast, her parents acted on quick, strong instincts, and got her the best possible care in the quickest amount of time. while we're grateful that the damage wasn't on an upper extremity, and that she will be able to make a full recovery, it's going to take time and patience, which is so much easy said than lived through. we pray for steady hands as her parents change the bandages and burn specialists give next steps in the recovery process, for strong, hopeful hearts for both kaitlyn and her parents as they live through this new normal this summer, and for kelsey, as she learns to process that her big sister's injury is one that will take some extra time to heal before sister playtime is back in its prime. 

xoxo, 

-ivy