The end of a busy Summer (ALREADY???)!

I know, I know!  You can't believe it either, right?  It's down to the last weeks of summer vacation already.  Where has the summer gone and how come it's gone so fast?  We have been keeping busy here with lots of things to do.  During the hot spell, we spent most of our time inside in the air-conditioning trying to stay cool.  On the nicer days we tried to be outside as much as possible.

Parker was fascinated with her shadow one morning!

The changes here at our day care family have now begun.  Last week we celebrated Rocco's last "official" day here.  Thank you Rebecca for sending dinosaur cupcakes for the children to decorate and eat.  They were a big hit! 

Rocco and his (heavily) decorated dinosaur cupcake.

Alex shows off his cupcake.

Andrew & Shelby can't wait to eat their cupcakes!

Kiera got to spend a bonus day with us on that same day.  She is such a Sweetie!  Always so happy and with that adorable smile!  She loves being around all of the children.  I miss having her here on a regular basis and hope she will be back with us regularly very soon.

There's that adorable smile that I love!

Kiera loves Andrew

It's hard to believe that Rocco will no longer be here on a regular basis.  I missed him this week already!    

Rocco proudly shows off his latest (chalk) shark creations on the driveway. 
He's getting really good at drawing them!

It was so nice that we also had Caden back here last week for one more day before he heads back to begin another school year.  I misplaced my camera that day so I didn't get a picture of Caden and Rocco both here together. :-(    Madi will be heading off to Kindergarten next week.  How exciting for her!

Drew and Luke were also here with us for the day last Thursday.  We read the book, Chicka Chicka Boom and then made our own coconut trees (complete with alphabet letters on them) for a craft project.  Each family received their own copy of the book to keep.  They were so excited to be able to take their books home with them!

The book and craft of the week!

Parker has been a lot more mobile lately and is "rolling" all over the place these days.  This week she managed to roll herself right over (and into) the cottage playhouse.  Looks like she doesn't want to miss out on anything and wants to play in there just like the bigger kids do!

Parker wants to play in the playhouse too!

Shelby and Madi have become very good friends over the summer and seem to love to play together a lot lately.  On the days they are both here, the tiaras are always very popular with those two (thanks again for donating them Lacie)!

Good friends!

Finally, after taking a vacation day yesterday to go to the State Fair, it was a quiet day to end the week with just Madi here today.  It was her last "official" day here so she got to pick where she wanted to go out for lunch.  She picked McDonald's.  It turned out to be a lucky pick in that they were celebrating Customer Appreciation Day there today.  There was a moon walk, a dunk tank, West Metro fire truck on display, pony rides and a visit from Ronald McDonald himself this afternoon.  Madi and Andrew had a blast!  (Sorry the quality of pictures from my cell phone is not very good).

Madi on the first of her three pony rides.

Madi loved sitting in the drivers seat of the fire truck.

Madi the Graduate!  Now she's an official Kindergartner!
Congratulations!

That pretty much wraps up the end of our busy (but very fun) summer!  I'll see most of you again very soon.  Otherwise, please keep in touch!