So long, Summer

Fall’s sudden appearance seems to be monopolizing the blog world this week, doesn’t it? I maybe laughed for longer than necessary at this:

Because, seriously…

I did not document our Summer sufficiently here, so I’m about to do the quickest recap possible in an attempt to fit this in before it snows. This is more for my benefit than anyone else's, so feel free to skip or skim.

The Summer kicked off in mid-June after an extra week of school {Thanks, polar vortex} when we jumped in the car and headed to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for my brother’s wedding. We spent 5 days celebrating with backyard parties, picnics, playing lakeside, watching movies with cousins, boat rides,  LOTS of food, and a beautiful wedding. My brother and sister-in-law planned such a fun weekend for all their guests and we found out we can share a relatively small space with my sisters’ families and still really like them {and I think they like us too}. I sort of loved every minute of it. This event probably deserves its own post...

^Milo really loves Aunt Jamie. He just could not handle the cameras any longer...

And the following lovely photos are by Helios Photography:

^They basically looked the happiest for the entire weekend. Love, man. It's the greatest.

^The other happy couple. Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen?

The month of July was a complete whirlwind. I think we were home for maybe one weekend and about 10 days all together. It kicked off with a little kitchen reno project {new floors to replace our disgusting carpet and kitchen linoleum} and continued with several trips across state, tons of cousin time for the boys, the end of my summer class, our first-annual All Star Game party, a mud run, a surprise birthday party for my grandma, mom, & sister {80-60-40}, a camping trip, and a shower for my other new sister-in-law. July also brought sadness with the death of my sister’s father-in-law, so a lot of our focus was on supporting them and helping with my nephews any way we could. July had lots of ups, but was also pretty heavy on the down.

 ^I got home from my last day of class to find all these decorations the boys made. 

We do not take baseball lightly around here.

August didn’t offer much reprieve from the busy-ness as we traveled to Ohio again for my brother-in-law’s bachelor party/sister-in-law’s shower {which turned into a bust for Jason and I since Milo was sick and ended up in the ER with pneumonia. Going out of state for a night just to spend it in a hospital is really not ideal, but thankfully he didn’t have to be admitted and had a very quick turnaround to healthy!}. The next week we attended their wedding ceremony {an intimate ceremony in the backyard of a bar. Such fun!} and then went back across the state that weekend for a pig roast/barbecue/party to celebrate again. Whew.

I started fall classes the day after we returned and have since been acclimating to our new structured schedule. It’s actually been really nice to settle into some routine, even if it does mean missing my boys and saying farewell to beach days and late nights.

I’m so very thankful that Jason and I both have easy summer schedules that allow us to spend so much time together, traveling and seeing family. At the end of the school year, I always think I’ll cry when school starts back up again, but somehow the year’s patterns make me ready for it when the time comes. I know I’ll be cringing at the thought of this come May, but autumn really is great with its beautiful colors and comfort food. So, bring on the pumpkin spice, I guess. {But let it be known that I’m currently wearing jeans. NOT yoga pants}.