What we did this summer…..

We had a busy summer!  I know that for some people they don’t consider it to be over quite yet, but at our house summer is unfortunately over.  Natalie started first grade on Monday.

 

So here is a quick recap of a few of the activities that we did this summer:

Megan turned 4 in June! 

She asked for a birthday Barbie and was so excited to get one from my parents.

We went to the beach with my entire family.

 

The girls got their hair braided as a beach souvenir.

(They stayed in for a little over 2 months!)

In July I catered a wedding reception (with lots of help from great friends!) for a couple from our church.  I only have a few pictures that Steve took before the ceremony.  We were just a little busy during the reception. 

We covered a big piece of styrofoam with “pretty” lettuce and then filled it in with the veggies.  My friend Rebecca made a mini radish bouquet in the center.

Another one of our amazingly talented friends, Stephen, (not my husband), spray painted and stenciled watermelons for the centerpieces.

We had a beef tenderloin carving station and a mashed potato bar.

We also had a flavored water bar – cucumber mint, mixed berry, citrus, or plain water were the options. 

Steve & I ran in the Color Me Rad 5k.  It was a lot of fun – and yes all of the color came out.  The blue was the hardest to get off, but we looked normal after a much needed shower.

Michael turned 2 in August!

Natalie & I both participated in the $10 school supply challenge this year the school supplies went to the Henrico Education Fund.  The school supplies we gathered went to Donahoe Elementary and Henrico High School.  Natalie’s total was a shelf price of $58.47 that she got for $10!  (She was excited to pose with her purchases.)

 

 

This is a picture of my haul.  I technically won the challenge with a shelf price of $178.97 for $10, but this year prizes were randomly awarded.  It is nice to have bragging rights. :)

Steve and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary in August and were able to get away to The Homestead Resort for two nights – I snagged a LivingSocial Deal.  Steve took this picture of me when we went to the complimentary afternoon tea on Saturday.

Thanks for checking out my summer pictures!

~Ann

Our 8th Wedding Anniversary

We were fortunate enough to celebrate our 8th anniversary this past week. Here is a "Reader's Digest Version" of how we spent the day:

• Steve went out with the girls and came back with breakfast from McDonald's. He also came home with a dozen red roses and a card. :)
• I took a 2 hour nap.
• We rearranged furniture and Steve cleaned the hardwood floor in the family room.
• I was able to get a few small things taken care of around the house during nap time.
• We arranged for a sitter (at the last minute) so that we could go out to dinner.
• We went to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. (We didn't want to get dressed up and spend 2 hours at a "fancy restaurant", and I had a b1g1 free coupon.)
• After dinner we went to Lowe's and bought rugs for a few different areas in the house.
• We stopped at Ukrop's on our way home to pick-up a few things.
• We came home and with the help of the sitter put the rugs in the rooms where we wanted them.

If someone had told me before we were married that that was how we would spend our anniversary I wouldn't have believed them. The truth is that Steve and I having a day off together without other plans is a luxury. I felt like we were able to remember how nice it is to work together on a project and be productive. I told him at the end of the day that although I have enjoyed our "romantic" anniversaries in the past that it was nice to have his help with some of the things I had been trying to do around the house. If we had gone somewhere for the day those things would have still been waiting for me when we got back and having more things checked off my to-do list is a great gift.