BYE BYE SUMMER (BREAK).

 We are days away from the end of summer, you guys!  Maybe not summer exactly but the summer break.  Right now in Mckinney, TX, it is like walking on the sun every time you step out of the door. We are at the peak of our summer season with this dang heat. You know that feeling you get when you open the oven door and the heat rushes out so hot and fast that it curls your lashes?  Yeah, that's how it's been lately.  August in Texas is no fun.

Since it's the end of our break, I thought I'd share some of the fun stuff from lately that just haven't made it to the blog.  I'm literally just scrolling through my phone pics to see what I can find!

Last night, things got REAL for this kid!  We went to Meet the Teacher night at his middle and I still have a hard time wrapping my head around that.  Matthew is my firstborn.  My sweet, kind, responsible, cautious, rule-following young man.  And I"m just praying he leaves middle school the same way!  I pray every day that he surrounds himself with the right friends.  That is my #1 prayer.  Friends who will hold each other accountable, who won't pressure each other to make bad decisions and who will think it's awesome to continue being awesome!

Right now, his best friends are an answer to my prayers.  I love these boys.  I hope they stay tight forever.

And look what I saw as we were walking down the hall at his new school...

One of my teacher signs was hanging outside one of the classrooms!  And as we kept walking, I even saw another one!  Matthew didn't have either teacher but I did stop and tell one of them that I loved her sign and introduced myself.  ;)

Y'all probably know I'm a big Keto girl now.  (If you missed my big post on #allthingsketo, you can find that HERE.)  But I follow @ketoincourt on IG and I love her!  She has great meal ideas PLUS she shows you some cute stuff too.  She posted this awesome cardigan from Rachel Hollis's new line of clothes on QVC and I thought it was so cute!  I took screenshots so I'd remember to order it later and I did.  She's wearing an XS/S and that's what I ordered too.

I love it with both the black and the white tanks.

It also comes in navy and it's on easy pay too if you'd prefer to do three payments instead of one.  (That always makes me feel better about my spending! haha)  See it HERE.

On Sunday afternoon, the whole fam spent a few hours in the pool to try to beat the heat.  

I pulled my short little beach chair to the top step after a while and got comfy with my Kindle and big floppy hat.  

The giant dinosaur made a great footrest.

My legs were starting to get red and splotchy after sitting like this for just a few minutes from the heat that was beating down on them though!  My tan this summer has been completely of the faux variety so them catching real sun was a shock I think.  I've stayed in the shade 99% of the time this summer because I'm old and wrinkles suck.  So does skin cancer.  But on this day, I decided some Vitamin D was in order and if a little color came with it, then so be it.

Spoiler alert: The splotches disappeared once inside and my legs remained pale.  Boo.  Back to my tan towels. 

Last week, this cute group celebrated one of Mason's best friend's birthdays and I just keep seeing them as a bunch of seniors in high school looking back on this picture and talking about how young they were.

Mason has got such a great group of boys in our neighborhood and I feel like they are going to give me a lot of grey hair in the coming years. 😂

In case you missed the news, we now have a hamster!  It's a tiny Russian Dwarf hamster and when I posted about getting one a couple of weeks ago, my best friend, Dani, texted me and said they had one they'd love to adopt out.  They have a houseful of animals and were ok with parting with Loki.  So we are now proud owners of Loki/Oreo/Hammy/Ace...the boys can't quite decide. haha

Technically, this is Mason's hamster so he's in charge of cleaning out the cage.

This little thing really is adorable.  But she will bite the crap out of your finger if you stick it out like this.  I honestly have no idea how long she'll last.  She was at least a year old when we got her and supposedly they live up to 3 years.  🤷‍♀️

 

I've managed to squeeze in several Girls Nights Out over the past few weeks including one with these ladies!

(I had a few DMs about my shirt on Instagram and I can only say that I bought it on Jane a few weeks ago.  I don't know when it will be back but you can check HERE.)

When we moved to the culdesac, 3 of these girls were in the culdesac with us and one was an honorary member who lived around the corner.  There were so many culdesac parties with dozens of little kids running around while the adults sat under canopies with the food and drinks.  But of course, life goes on, kids grow up, people move away and now the culdesac is filled with nine-year-old boys from all over the neighborhood instead of a bunch of culdesac kids.

We still try to get together a few times a year (on New Year's Eve for one) and at least once or twice the women head out for a girls dinner.  It's always so fun to catch up with everyone because we are all at different stages of life.

And speaking of the neighborhood boys, Mason and his buddy, Asher, love a money-making opportunity.  The snowcone stand has been a hot business over the past two months.  😂

Matthew is now in the youth group at church and they had their Kickstart weekend a couple of weeks ago.  He got to spend the night at a host house and then head to Hawaiian Falls (the waterpark) the next day.  It was a great way to ease into the youth group!

We bought him a new Bible before his weekend and he loves it.  We got the NIV Teen Study Bible and it's his first non-kid Bible.

Yep.  Those edges are what sealed the deal.  haha

We also had a visit from the boys' favorite family member--their cousin, Scarlet!  Scarlet is Craig's brother's daughter and she lives in south Louisiana so we don't see her often.  But she usually comes in with Craig's parents at Thanksgiving to visit for the week and once during the summer.  She's right between both my boys in age so that's perfect and they get along like total besties.  Craig's parents brought her with them to visit a few weeks ago and I think it's safe to say they all had the best time.

 

We drove to Denton (about an hour from our house) to go visit Craig's uncle one night and go to dinner with them.  I ADORE Craig's aunt and uncle they are living the life right now in this awesome 55 and over golf community.  It's got a great pool, a nice restaurant, golf of course and activities galore!

We played a little pool...

...and the kids played with the recliners in the couch.  😂

They are easily entertained.

And finally, the boys (all three of them--2 little and the big guy) are building some sort of "Man Cave" or "Dude Dungeon" in our backyard.  How this is supposed to look, I have no idea.  I feel like it's just going to be a tiny little shed that spiders and wasps are going to love.  But they are having fun putting it all together so who am I to stand in the way.

#butdontsayIdidntwarnyou

So that's a little life lately!  We are sad to see our summer fun come to end but are eager to get all the fun fall things started!  Before we know it, we'll be trick-or-treating, planning our Thanksgiving menus and decorating for Christmas!

I'll be back this week with an update on my Keto journey, friends!  I've had so many messages asking for updates, more meal ideas and how I'm maintaining so I'm listening!  I had no idea so many of y'all would be so into this and it's awesome! If you're new today, and interested in all of that, be sure to check out my KetoLife highlights on my IG profile.  Lots of great info there.  :) 

Happy Tuesday, y'all!