Wednesdays with V + a little NJ.

I want to remember my last few Wednesdays with Evie. I knew it was going to be hard to move away from V and NJ, so I wanted to make sure we had a little time together before the big move.

June 23 

Evie brought her tea set from home. We tea partied the entire day away.

You can't have a proper English tea party without sweets, so we made some microwave s'mores.

When V got tired of the inside party, we took it outside.

NJ was at home obviously enjoying her one-on-one time with her mama and papa.

June 30

This swing and ladder rope saw lots of use from V over the 10 months we lived in our basement apartment.

She also enjoyed the large backyard and trampoline.

Our landlords were out of town for an extended time, so V and I decided to pick the peas that were ready, and we ate them for dinner. Yum!

July 7

I met up with Nae at the beauty supply before taking V for the day.

Then we headed back to the apartment for more rope ladder antics.

It's been crazy to see how much V has grown in the year+ we've had fairly regular weekly dates. From rope-ladder climbing to puzzles, she learned and improved quickly. 

We spent a chunk of the day in the backyard. V was dancing and singing as I sprayed the hose around in circles and she ran through it. It was the sweetest thing watching the freedom, innocence, and joy of childhood.

I have loved our days together and will always cherish them.

July 10

Bill and I babysat V and NJ so their mom and dad could have a date night.

We walked to the park by their home to play for a bit.

We had forgotten to take water with us, and it was a hot day, so we walked across the street to McDonald's for a little refreshment.

This pic was taken right before NJ **almost** hit her head on that tile after slipping off that stool. Thanks to my quick reflexes developed over years of being a mom, I grabbed her just in time. She was still a tad startled, and may have shed a few tears, but there were no bruises or blood. I call that a success.

NJ has not fallen in love with her Gigi just yet. She is cautious and uncertain. I look forward to her realization that I can be pretty great {wink}.

I have LOVED having these precious girls nearby. I will miss them so much when we move. I hope they will live near me again someday, and I hope to be able to maintain the relationships I have developed with them.

Gigi loves you, Evie and Nora Jane!

Independence Day celebrations + final pedi.

Sunday, July 4

We celebrated with Tay, Nae & fam. We made the best Independence Day spread we could without a BBQ grill - our air fryer came in clutch haha. It was a lovely coincidence that our landlords were out of town, so we had free reign of the yard and fire pit.

We used up the last of our easy-fill water balloons from last summer.

The girls loved the pop-its. I go all out for these occasions haha.

We made s'mores over the fire pit.

**a quick selfie of myself to prove that I actually was a participant in the celebrating**

V had to take a turn or two on the rope ladder.

NJ enjoyed an ice cream cone.

Then we headed over to our old neighborhood to set up a spot to watch Castle Rock's fireworks display.

Monday, July 5

This was the observed Independence Day (= no work), so we kept the celebration going over at Tay and Nae's. I had sent Little Billy to a fireworks stand to grab a few things we could light up. For whatever reason (call it legal reasons haha) Costco and other grocery stores in CO don't sell the firework bundles I see all over UT. Bill had gone to the nearest pop-up stand and spent upwards of $60 for a few little fireworks. They were very underwhelming over all, but V seemed to enjoy them, which was our purpose in the first place, right?

Yep, that was it ;-)

We ended the evening with a sunset bike ride with V.

Tuesday, July 6

Mother's Day pedicures, take 3.

Nae brought V along for her first pedi.

We selected our colors, and then waited a very long time. We were finally taken to our chairs, but only one tech was available initially. Eventually another one came in, and finally V had her tech start working on her. I had made appointments for all three of us, and we had to shuffle our schedules to accommodate the day and time they had available, so I was not very happy about waiting nearly an hour to even be seated. Not the amazingly relaxing experience for all of us I had hoped for. Nae is always so kind, positive and calming, which helped keep my frustration in check.

Finished at last.

This was such a fun way to celebrate some of our favorite mommas this year.♥