Summertime

We had a fun summer. This was the first time I experience a summertime schedule (no school for Eleanor!!) since I was in college. Even though my work schedule stayed the same I LOVED the late nights and late mornings with my babies.

My summer kicked off in a big way with my mega-trip to Europe and when I returned home the first week of June summer with my babies officially started.

Our Saturday-Tuesday morning routine in the summer involves sleeping late and waking up slowly with chocolate milk, cartoons and coffee. Annnnd stealing Sissy's new lip gloss and hoping she doesn't notice. 

One of our first summer fun days with the Voss crew was to Chick-Fil-A then to a creek/beach area for the kids to play.

We came drastically unprepared but the kiddos had fun. Elle and the Voss boys loved it, Ollie and I are still warming up to the idea. 

We spent one Saturday morning cheering on Henry and Bear at their baseball games. 

We hosted Sunday dinner one night and Hens stayed the night after for a slumber party.

These two had so much fun, stayed up super late and Henry was up again at the crack of dawn.

Lots of energy in this one. 

Henry had a loose tooth and he BEGGED me to pull it out.

No thank you. 

Dude man loves movie time. 

I could smother him in kisses. 

Dessert on the deck after dinner happened most nights. 

Elle's dessert of choice was strawberries with whipped cream.

We went a little crazy with the whipped cream!

Ice cream after dinner one night!

Look how fancy Ollie looks!!

Wedding time!

Ollie loves to hang his "guys" from the cable box cord. 

I always find them in the strangest places. 

Headed to the pool one morning!

This is the pool day where the Hylton's caused a scene at the lazy river.

I'm laughing just typing this...Elle was screaming, I fell and missed the tube...we were a sh#@t show. 

Mary and I laughed so hard I was crying. 

After the pool we grabbed lunch and headed back to Mary's to eat but this little babe was just too tired. 

Lots of nights spent playing outside. 

A morning jumping with the Stille boys. 

I made my mom's lasagna one night and Ollie LOVED it. 

He is a hard one to please so this is a true testament to my moms recipe!

Ollie met this little girl at the splash pad who had her own "guys" and it was like love at first sight for Oliver. When she would drop one he would pick it back up for her. It was so sweet. 

One Saturday the weather was amazing! The kids played outside in almost complete silence with Play-Doh for almost an hour. 

Which lead to iPad time on the deck...

and then nap time. :) 

This sweet little sugar.

All he needs in the morning is chocolate milk, his binkie and Buzz Lightyear.

I know I'm super biased but this child is the cutest thing in the world!!!!!!!

Unc and Aunt Paige had to leave Sunday dinner a tad earlier than the babies would have liked. 

:)

Pink sunset in MiMi's backyard. 

Everybody say cheese!

Little Missy isn't too sure about the monkey bars but she always wants to try them out!

I always want to remember that he was little enough to comfortably fit behind the shelves.

Also, I love his silly face he's making. 

In July we headed to Columbia for my cousin Jamie's wedding. 

MawMaw and Beary dancing. 

Hensy and Ollie love each other. And Hens is so great with Oliver!

My baby girl.

My bestie.

My Ronsi. 

These two found their way over to MawMaw and PawPaw's table. 

When your Unc is your best friend in the whole wide world. 

Daddy/daughter dance. 

Ollie was a dance machine! He ran all over that dance floor!!

So the big news of the summer is that Eleanor started sleeping in her own bed. 

We bought a new star projection night light and I swear that thing made all the difference. 

At bedtime I read her a story, rub her back (then belly, then arm :) for a few minutes then turn an audio story on her iPad (like a book on tape). 

She does prefer for Eric to put her to bed on nights that he is off because she can convince him to stay and rub her back until she's asleep. Since I also have Ollie to put to bed my backrubs are 5 minutes then she falls asleep by herself in her room. :)

She has done amazing with this routine! She almost always ends up in our bed in the middle of the night but we are fine with that as long as she starts in her own bed.

And of course there are the special Friday nights where I let her have a camp-out on the floor of my bedroom, but again she starts the night in her sleeping bag and then climbs into my bed. 

Library time with my superheroes. 

Unc and Aunt Paige are super popular with these 4!

Descendants 2 party night!

She had new Descendants pj's, we ordered pizza, ate off Descendants paper plates...we were excited!

We counted down to this movie premiere all summer, Elle was pretending to be Mal the entire time we watched the movie. 

#rottentothecore

Headed to the pool with the little dude. 

New pj's from London!

I feel like I see a glimpse into what older Ollie will look like in this picture. 

And he's back to my baby!

My little sweet pea. 

We had some superheroes protecting our backyard one night. 

Charlie gave Elle one of Nick's business cards and she was just in awe of it!

She kept it with all day in case she needed to call Charlie. 

Ollie loves to build me castles and is always so proud to come and show me his work .

One day we headed to MiMi's classroom to help (and also destroy) her get it ready for the new school year.  I love helping with stuff like this and since Elle wants to be a teacher when she grows up Mary really wanted her to see her classroom. 

Seeing this little doodle man sitting at a desk broke my heart because I know I'm going to blink and he will be starting preschool next year. 

We are super bummed because our most favorite park closed this summer.  It is for a pool/park expansion so in the end I'm sure we'll love the new one but right now we are missing our favorite place to stop and play. :(

I had found the perfect spot to stand where I could see the exit of every slide, every angle of the play area so I could easily keep an eye on both kids at the same time. Since I'm a helicopter mom this is so important for me to feel comfortable (and for the kids to actually have fun) at a park. I'm not the type to let them run and play and I try to find them every few minutes. Mama's eyes are on them at all times. 

I'm crazy but they're my babies so it's justified. 

Sissy joined her school soccer team!

This was her very first practice. 

Even though it is sad to see summer go tomorrow (!!!!) marks the first day of Fall in the Hylton house. Eric's working so the kids and I have big plans to decorate for Fall, order pizza and watch Halloween movies. :)