Last day of summer break

 

Mallory had her first day with kids today. It was a half day.  She said she has some really sweet kids and she is excited about this year.  

The rest of us spent the afternoon having a little swimming party.  

Evelyn has learned to swim without a life jacket this summer.  (Thanks Sunny!). 

Wrenley grabbed my hand and proclaimed “you going to jail!”   What?  Why?  “Because!”  

She’s ornery and I would guess the preschool will have their hands full with her.  It’ll be a fun full but still! 

When we were done swimming, the girls had their obligatory popsicles.  I asked Evelyn when they ask her what she did on summer break what are you going to say? 

She answered “I’m telling them my Grammy let me have a margarita!”  

Girl….it was a margarita FLAVORED popsicle!  

I suggested she refrain from telling them that. 

I doubt she listened.  

I know summer is still a ways from being over, but I spent a little time this evening looking at my summer projects.  

My flowers on the patio oasis are still really pretty. It has been a weird summer.  Cold, rainy days followed by a days of the hottest hot and dry days, then more rain. I don’t know that I have done a good job watering because it was confusing on how long it was since it rained last.  But they have seemed happy and happy flowers are beautiful. 

Hard to tell from a picture, but the peach sticks I planted are now taller than me!  I am super excited by that.  

And my “Eric” tree is probably 3 feet tall now.  

The last two years the end of August has been a train wreck.  Two years ago, I fell and broke my shoulder.  Last year, my brother passed away and broke all of our hearts.  

I am praying that this end of August  is a big nothing year.  For all of us.  

I am also praying that this is a healthy, successful, peaceful and productive school year.  

Ready or not, the bus rolls out at 6 am tomorrow.   

Nooooo!!!

If the fair is over.  And the locusts are screaming. And the garden is finally starting to produce, and the pool is finally beautifully clear  for the first time all summer, and Preston is home for a few days because his internship ended….it must be time to go back to school.  

And I want to scream Noooo!  I just want a few more days.  A few more weeks.  A few more mornings without the school schedule.  

But what I want is hardly ever what I get.  

And I know what my grandpa used to say about wanting anyway.

 So the girls and I went to town and got new pencils.

 And socks. 

And a few pieces of paper.  

And Jim drove me out to pick up my bus. 

And I spent today weed eating  and floating. 

And feeling sad that we only have one more day “off.” 

And driving my roads because they added several stops to the end of my route. And making arrangements with the neighbor so that the girls can park in their driveway until Harper finishes driving school and can drive them to school later next month.  

And did mention feeling sad? 

Except for the part where I reclaim a bus check, this is my sad place.  

Will I be ok?  I’m sure I will be.  But I never like the end of summer.  I’m pretty sure I never will.  

And I loathe the first couple of weeks of school.  Getting back on schedule. Trying to get people to learn the routine. Keeping the school staff from making stupid and unnecessary changes to things they have no idea about.  It is just not very much fun. 

I’ll survive. 

It was a perk up to get some photos of my widdle buddy!  He’s helping dad with the master bathroom remodeling. 

Evelyn and Wrenley went to the school open house and met their teachers.  

Saige made a wacky cat cake. It made me laugh. She used every single spoon and bowl we have on this little project.  

Saddest sight in the county. 

Maude is just about to have a lot more loneliness in her hands. She’s been hanging with her bestie all summer.  These 2 are hilarious.  

Thursday - back to school.  Tomorrow - last day fun. 

We got this. 

 

survival

 

We survived another fair.  I love the county fair.  I love having time with the kids, taking off work.  I love making memories, seeing old friends, and playing around with the critters.  I love carnival food, and crazy events and the lessons it teaches.  I love seeing the kids take pride in something that they accomplished.  It truly makes me happy.  One thing about it though, when we are running and trying to keep up with the schedule, and the stress of keeping things alive and cared for in a strange environment, it seems like literally everything else takes a backseat.  The house, the laundry, the yard, the garden, work,  keeping up with people.  All of it slides into the abyss.  Which is why, although it was fun and rewarding, it was also a relief to have it finished.  

We attended the last event - the fair ground clean up, and packed up all of the equipment and junk until next time.  The girls were very helpful.  Even Wren did some of the heavy lifting!  

 

Mallory had to go back to work last week.  She has had a pretty difficult summer, and has not has much of any resolution to the health issues she has been having.  I know she wanted to wrap that up and start the year off feeling better.  The American health care system let her down.  As usual. 

But she is strong, and dedicated, and she will get her answers in time.  She will muscle through and be the best 1st grade teacher to her kids!  She is excited about teaching and getting a new year underway!

I am proud of her.  I hope she has the best year!

With the fair being over, we spent our Sunday doing a half-way job of putting things away, catching up the laundry, cooking actual meals, and relaxing a little bit.  Jim and Andrew went fishing.  Jim came home excited because they had a great time, and they caught lots of fish.  It was not quite as hot as it has been, so that was a good thing as well.  

Preston and Sunny hung out with us, and we spent a little time floating in the pool with Evie and Wrenley.  It was a good day.  

And now, just because I can, I am sharing my fav photos and things from the last week.  

I love that Evie got to have her first fair with Harper and Saige still in 4-H.  I love that they helped each other, worked together and had some fun together.  

I love photos where Harper smiles, but you can still read the "hurry up and get this done mom, because I hate when you take my photo" on her face.  She makes me laugh.  

My babies!  It is insane how fast the time flies by!  These girls are all growing up way too fast.  

I love fan clubs.

And being successful at hard things. 

And hot, sweaty smiles. 

And little bitty kids controlling animals that are bigger/stronger than they are. 

And small sweet smiles that tell more about how a person is feeling than they are letting on.  

And although controversial, I love the carnival, it changes the atmosphere and makes the fair more fun.  It brings carnival food and weird people to town, but I sort of think the world needs more weird in it.  At least it spices up the stories a little!  

I love seeing kids learn to be responsible for another living creature.  And I love watching that animal love them back. I love that kids are learning to love agriculture, and learning to do things for themselves.  

And I love time with family. 

And seeing my girls rock out in the marching band. 

And witnessing the generosity and hard work of a community that I love being a part of. 

Funny photos.

And a redneck good time at the demolition derby.

and now, back to school, schedules, early mornings, and less fun.  

Last day

Saturday was a busy but fun day at the fair.  Easton brought his parents down to watch the pet show, parade auction and  demolition derby.  

Unfortunately, Easton got a little tired of the heat and the excitement and had to miss the derby!  He also got to stop at the new Quik Trip in Emporia.  The boys have this back and forth going about whether Quik Trip is better than Casey’s.  

 

I  am always happy to see my people.  

The pet show was Wrenley’s long awaited debut for showing her goat.  She was beyond excited about it.  We were so proud of her. She marched in, talked to the judge and got her goat a first place ribbon!  

She made it look like so much fun that next year Easton wants to try it! 

I have never seen a kid who latched onto a goat the way Wrenley has latched onto this one.  She absolutely loves Tighty Whitey.  And I know goat’s are strange creatures, but I believe he loves her too.  

We hung out at Mallory’s for a bit after the pet show - to cool off and then let the girls get ready for marching in the parade.  It was nice to sit down for a while and just visit.  

It was Saige’s first marching band event.  I don’t know if she was super impressed, but the band did a great job!  I am proud of my girls, they have worked really hard and spent a lot of time practicing.  

Cameron and Tatum, Preston and Sunny all joined us for the parade.  Tatum’s nephew also joined the fun, and picked up a lot of candy with Evelyn and Wrenley.  

Our 4-H club float took first place in the 4-H division.  (It might have also been the only float in the 4-H division). 

GG and papa Larry got to hang out at the parade and then we all went to the auction and they gave away a belt buckle to an exemplary 4-Her in my brother’s honor.  The recipient happens to be from our club and is an amazing kid.  I was tickled to see her honored.  My brother loved fairs - he would help Clayton at the Douglas county fair and then turn around and show up to help my kids at their fair.  I hope he knows that we appreciated all the help he gave us over the years.  I hope he is proud of the way we are trying to honor his memory.  

Harper, Saige and Evelyn all sold goats in the premium auction.  They have a lot of very generous people that supported them and I am so touched by the generosity that seems to show up for these kids every single time.  

Premium auction means that we bring the goats back home.  Andrew and Madison got them loaded up in Jim’s truck.  But I didn’t know they had gone to load them.  I went into the barn with Harper and our pen was empty. They were loading the ones who went through the terminal sale to take to the locker plant.  I admit I panicked a bit, thinking they loaded Stitch and Whitey. I was headed over to pull them off the terminal trailer when Harper realized they were already in our truck!  Whew!  I don’t think Wrenley or Evelyn would have forgiven us if their goats went to the locker!  

The girls and I were going to go to the derby, but then we realized that it was too people-y and we would never find a place to set up chairs where we would be able to see.   The fairground was hit by some monster storm earlier this summer and lost their big bleachers.  From the looks of it, that didn’t stop people from attending.  Rednecks love a derby!   I’m happy the fair board made money, but I was equally happy to sit in the recliner.  

One more trip in for clean up day and we will call the 2026 Overbrook fair a wrap!   Good memories, fun times with family, proud moments, and gallons of sweat!  

Fair is over, guess I know what that means.