1. Last Friday was the final “mommy and me” swim class that Dominic and I did together; he does an amazing job in the pool and was ready to move up to the next level, which means independent lessons. I’ve so loved our Friday mornings in the pool over the last year (usually followed up by a trip to the grocery store and a cookie for him), we have so much fun, do a lot of laughing, and I’m sure going to miss it, sigh. I feel like I just started swim class with him; the time goes so incredibly quickly!

2. The good news, however, is that he had his first lesson yesterday and he did wonderfully. No crying at all! AND since I swung the schedule to get both boys into lessons at the same time to save my sanity, Joseph got a new teacher, which I was very nervous about since he takes a while to warm up to new instructors AND he’s been a bit anxious during his lessons for the last couple of months, but he did AMAZING. He really took to the new guy and I think he needed that little bit of a push to get him going. He was SO proud of himself yesterday, and it made me so happy.

3. Our neighbor had a birthday party last Saturday and the kids had a BLAST. It was their first birthday party outside of our house, there was a bouncy house/slide, and I think Joseph was in it for 98% of the party. Sweet Isabelle missed a nap, but she was such a trooper. She loved playing in the grass, which was awesome because both of the boys hated being the grass their first summer, ha!

4. I closed out the weekend (or kicked off the week, depending on how you look at it) Sunday night by going to the Mixtape Tour concert which included New Kids on the Block, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, Salt n Pepa, and Naughty by Nature. I went with one of my oldest, best friends; it was basically a full-on 80’s/early 90’s dance party and SUCH A BLAST. We had so much fun! It actually astounds me that they can sell out arenas; crazy isn’t it?!

5. This is a fantastic read, such thoughtful nuggets to take away >> Love What You Do in Front of the Kids in Your Life.

6. Ahhhh how sweet is this story??

7. I’m feeling a little copycat DQ ice cream cake action this weekend (or maybe for the 4th?); also probably going to make some blueberry crumb bars since we’re overflowing with blueberries thanks to our CSA pickup and a trip to Costco!

8. What do you have planned for the 4th of July? We’re just going to eat (maybe grill?) here with whatever family wants to come over! We’re getting a playset installed for the kids on Wednesday, so I’m sure the boys are going to want to slide and swing all the live-long day!

9. Sunday is Duke’s 6th birthday! Joseph is so excited to bake him a cake :)

10. TGIF! I hope you have an awesome weekend!