Wasn’t it yesterday that summer was just starting?! I shouldn’t be shocked, but I am in disbelief that yet we’re at the tail end (and well, our kids’ summer break from school has officially been over for a week now!) and another month of 2022 gone!

Holiday Inn Club

The first week of last month we spent a few days at Holiday Inn Club in Scottsdale for the 4th of July weekend and to have a little staycation. This hotel is definitely a hidden gem, and I really feel like The Princess overshadows it a lot. We stayed in a spacious villa with 2 bedrooms and a living room + kitchen – it had plenty of room for us to stretch out with all 42 of our kids 🤣 What the kids really enjoyed most was their pool – they have a dedicated adults only pool plus a kids/family pool with a water attraction (which we spent pretty much all of our time at!) with 2 water slides and a wade pool with some splashing contraptions. Overall, we had a great time here and will definitely be back!

Hun’s 5th Birthday

Our sweetest Honey Girl turned 5 last month! I still need to get her birthday pics on my feed but here are a few from our family party. We didn’t do any friends (or really any extra family, except for Gammy) and had our traditional birthday dinner at TRH and cake at home with us + Gam. It was quiet, but she was so incredibly thankful and kept saying it was the best.

She also had “Kinder Boot Camp” the following week, which she totally rocked. It helped prepare her for kinder and getting used to her school (which she’s pretty familiar with since the boys have been there for the last two years, but really getting to be in her classrooms and know the kinder teacher staff!). They did activities and crafts which she is all about too, and it proved to be a wonderful experience for her.

Gym is still going well and she’s really enjoying it. We don’t push any of our kids if they decide the sport isn’t for them (of course, they must finish it as long as there’s not injury or something stopping them physically) but we encourage them to pursue it if they love it. I’m hoping gymnastics will be one of these things for Hun! It’s so cool to see the older girls do their thing, and I can’t help but envisioning Honey being in their shoes one day!!!

The Boys

They both have been straight killin’ it with their respective sports! Both are enrolled in Jiu Jitsu and attend classes 2-3 nights a week, along with soccer for Cole and basketball for Conner. I am so impressed with how much improvement Conner has made in basketball, specifically. He’s not only become a really great shooter, but also has been an awesome teammate and making passes/assists. We’re hoping he can play in a more competitive league once school gets more underway, as we want to make sure he’s not getting behind in any school work. He’s still meeting with a tutor once a month just to catch up and get stronger in certain reading comprehension areas. It was hard for him 2 years ago when school closed and some of his weak areas in school became more prominent, so we are really wanting to make sure we help him where we can with that as much as possible.

Both boys also got to go to a D-backs game with C (c/o of Gammy’s work for getting the ticket!) and it was a special thing for them to just go one on one with Daddy. I definitely would love to keep that tradition up of being able to do that every summer!

Colly Girl

What to say… she is still our intense, tough, Mugga Girl lol. Teething has continued into month 8 just really wreaking havoc on her sleep and schedule. She has moments of happiness, but sadly her teething pain has really taken over most days. I’m hoping we’re on the tail end of this – I just checked her mouth a few days ago and it looks like she still has a couple of spaces where no tooth has grown in yet but we are so much closer to the end of this. I don’t remember the boys or Hun struggling as much with their teeth as she has (and no, it’s not because she’s our 4th – she is just a different child!)

She got a ball pit this month which I was fully against bringing into our house – only for it to now be something I feel like we could not be without 🤣. I’ve been wanting to downsize all of our baby gear as Colly is our last and we aren’t using as many “baby” things these days with her getting older. We will always have toys for them to play with but I just didn’t look at this as a toy, but more like a gigantic, ridiculous item in the middle of our family room 🤣🤣 However, I retract all of my previous thoughts and comments because it really has been amazing for her. A great distraction and time filler for sure. Bonus, everyone else in the family loves it (it’s large 🤣) and will chill with her in there which she seems to love.

Home Projects

I don’t want to keep promising posts, but please know that more home/DIY blogs will be coming! These are bigger blogs that take me lots of photo time and drafting for the content itself, so naturally it’s not something I can bang out real quick, but it is still on my radar to share!

I’m giving my pantry another little update (I feel like this space is always evolving, especially with back to school and needing more space for kids snacks and lunch stuff!) so I’ll probably share a reel on that soon. I’m getting Colly’s closet finally all of the way finished – I know I shared a little of it on stories last month and possibly even here, but I just ordered the last couple of things to hold her accessories, so that will be up sooner than later. Stick with me, friends!

Happy AUGUST! Fall is right around the corner, woohoo!