Last Week of School

We’ve been on summer break for over 2 weeks now and it’s been nice to have a little less to do and keep up with.  The last week of school was pretty killer and ran us quite ragged…it was like the last sprint before the finish line.

The kids’ last week of school was a busy one.  So many events going on it made my brain hurt.  On Tuesday alone Amon had his class picnic, Harper had her awards ceremony and Amon had his class program and graduation.  Meredith came in for a quick trip and asked what we were up to that day.  I told her all the kid events going down and she jumped right in.  When Harper saw Meredith she was so confused and thought she came in just for her awards ceremony.  🙂  She rode along for carrider line pickup, ate a quick breakfast for dinner and then off we all went in the pouring rain for Amon’s program and graduation.  What I love so much about Meredith is our chaos seems to phase her zero.  I don’t feel like we’re too much…I’m not nervous we’re stressing her out…I don’t feel judged…and I’m not worried about what she thinks of us.  We just get to be the Kelleys with zero strings or conditions attached.  She’s really good to all 9 of us.

The official last day of school was very exciting for everyone.  We had all been looking froward to this day because we all needed a slower pace, some sunshine and water and some fun.  Last summer consisted of the high of the highs and the low of the lows…majority lows.  Josh Kelley and I feel the need to make this summer really special.

First day of school/Last day of school.  You can see our past photos HERE.  Next year our littlest lady will be thrown in the mix too since she’ll be starting full time pre-school at our elementary school.  5 different classrooms and I have zero idea how we will keep up.  Let’s just not talk about it. Summer forever.

Our littlest lady and Leo spent their last few days just the three of us before it was seven of us EVERY SINGLE DAY, ALL DAY LONG.  Yikes.  We did all the normal things like grocery shop and go to Target.  She mother hens him to absolute death.  We’re working on it. 🙂

We threw our nephew Cooper’s girlfriend Alicea a graduation party.  Alicea is the sweetest!!!!  I mean, she comes in our house and plays with our kids and chats everyone up and eats all the foods and holds her own amongst our wild, loud bunch.  Major props she’s hung around this long, but Cooper is pretty great so maybe he’s the kicker.  It was so fun celebrating her and we’re all so thankful we get to know such an amazing lady!

Alicea’s favorite desserts are brownies, Funfetti cake and anything smores.  So of course we had to have all three.  A party is not a party without plenty of treats.  I made a funfetti cake with rainbow chip icing, THESE brownies which are my all time favorite brownie recipe and THESE smores bars which were crazy easy and absolutely delicious.  If you like smores…make them asap.

 Our first official day of summer was pretty chill.  We watched movies and read books and played outside.  I put up all the kids school clothes and organized our swim basket.  We stayed home in preparation for lots of wave pooling and fun.  Like the calm before the storm except the storm is a really good one. 😉

My friend Emily recommended doing charcuteri dinners and they are now our official weekend dinner of summer.  I mean, you seriously cannot go wrong with any giant combo of this thrown on a big board and set in the middle of your table for the masses to consume.  Ginormous hit.  Like hugely legit.

Bonus:  Josh and I don’t really have to “cook” anything.  Unless by cook you mean throw tons of fun snack foods on a giant cutting board.

And the last thing we squeezed in was a hospital visit.  Alas, these heart kiddos are just special and need extra attention when health things pop up and when a high fever persisted our doctor’s office sent us straight to the ER.  They kept us overnight to rule out an infection in his heart or anything else serious heart related and late afternoon the next day they let us go.

I had approximately 22 emotional breakdowns and I know the majority of the nurses and doctors thought I was some whacked out mom.  I wanted to tell every single one of them about Everett so they would know I was only mid-level crazy and really I was just sad and missed our boy.  The kindest lady did Leo’s EKG in the middle of the night and she knew about Everett and instantly I felt seen and breathed a sigh of relief…like someone really got it and understood.

When it was all said and done every last one of us…kiddos included…felt the weight of this small visit.  It felt big even though it was small.  It threw all of us whirling back into last summer with Everett and it was really hard and sad.  It left Josh and myself wondering how on earth we’ll do this all again on a much bigger and more serious note with Leo.

It took us several days to recover and now we’re in full on summer mode.  Make every bit count.  Have as much fun as we can.  Soak up every ray of sunshine and swim until our hearts burst.  Tan lines for days and empty bottles of sunscreen behind us.  All the fun, special times together plus a gazillion icees and slushies and late night firefly sessions and movies and snacks.  We’ll sleep later.  Like I said, summer forever.

7 Comments

  1. Here’s to a fun-filled summer with your precious kiddos!!!

  2. Love this. We have snack night, picnic style in the living room floor every weekend too! Just like your pic above. We all love it.

  3. You all are just amazing. Play hard, love hard and focus on the kiddos! No wonder Leo’s trip to the ER freaked you out. He truly knows pure love now of his own family and seems totally relaxed with you. Continued prayers for your broken hearts. Everett is missed and loved by many. Enjoy your summer!

  4. Tabitha says:

    Hello!
    I have wanted so bad to reach out to our mutual friends and check on how Leo was doing, but you know that little thing called HIPAA that hospitals are so big on . I’m so glad it was a fast stay and nothing serious. I can only imagine the anxiety that comes in hospitals for you guys now. Your ability to continue to put your heart out there for littles like Leo and Everett is so admirable. It was a pleaseure to finally meet you face to face, but I hate it was under those circumstances! Praying y’all have a fun, calm summer!

    • Well you made my very crappy night so much better. It was insanely nice to meet you!!!!! Thank you so much for being crazy kind and so crazy good to our boy…and awesome at your job. Seriously. Was so grateful to have met you.

  5. Toni :0) says:

    I LOVE your little guy’s 143 shirt. I just saw the documentary on Fred Rogers and they talk about the meaning behind 143. Touched my heart. Go see the documentary of you can. It’s lovely. Enjoy your summer. You both are awesome parents and cheers to a charcuterie board!

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