Making the most of it

We're down to our last week of summer and are trying our best to make the most of it, especially considering that we have all been fighting some kind of cold.  Kate was the first to catch it (that's what we get for being part of music camp last week!), then I got it, then Anna, then Matt.  It hasn't been too bad, but we're all ready for it to be past.

Besides catching this cold at music camp, the girls had a wonderful time.  Our church family is such a blessing to us.  I helped out in Anna's group on Tuesday and Thursday and was EXHAUSTED by the end of each morning, but I guess that 16 five-through-seven year olds can to that to a pregnant lady :)  Maybe it was also because I was starting to come down with the cold.  Oh, well.  It was fun to see Anna be a part of the group, as well as spend time with some of the other kids that age at church.  Most of the kids I've known since they were babies or toddlers so it was pretty fun to get to see them as these young kids participating in music.

I've realized that these last few weeks are certainly the end of a phase in our lives and am trying to soak it all in, despite being hot, tired, and pregnant.  Starting in one week, our sweet Anna will be in kindergarten.  It's kind of hard to believe, but I think we're all ready for it, or as ready as we can be.

In trying to make the most of these last days, the girls and I are doing lots of intentional activities.  Last Friday after we had a leisurely morning, we decided to pack up a picnic lunch and head to one of our favorite parks for awhile.  It was wonderful.

Saturday Matt and I did a bunch of work in the morning and then we were able to play in the pool as a family in the afternoon - probably the first time in a month or so that we've all been out there together!

Sunday was rainy, and cruddy, with several people in the family feeling ill so we just laid low most of the day.

Anna and Kate listening to music together with Mommy's mp3 player.

Yesterday the girls and I took a trip to the zoo, since Anna had been wanting to go all summer and I promised her that we would make sure we did a trip before school started.  We had a nice time and Anna would probably have kept going, but Kate and I were ready to be done by about lunchtime.  So we had our picnic and headed home for a relaxing afternoon together.

I'm hoping to do a field trip somewhere later this week, but we'll have to see how the weather cooperates before we decide if it's an indoor or outdoor one.

Like I said, we're trying to savor the moments this week because I know that we'll be undergoing some big transitions, positive and negative, once school starts for our family.