1. Joseph starts 1st grade next week! I have no idea where the time is going, but I sure wish it would slow down. I’m going to miss him during the day so much!

2. Dominic and Isabelle will start school the following week (pre-k for Dominic and 3-year-old preschool for Isabelle). They are both getting excited!

3. Isabelle got her first official haircut this week! My husband trimmed it a little last winter, but this was her first legit haircut. Just a good trim of the dead ends, but she was SO excited and felt so proud 💗

4. How Lodge Has Been Making Cast-Iron Skillets for 125 Years >> Take a virtual tour!

5. Last Thursday night, at least two of our smoke detectors started chirping relentlessly (even though we changed the batteries) and I felt like I was living out the Friends episode where Phoebe goes berserk on a smoke detector that wouldn’t stop beeping. We quickly realized it was the “end of life” chirping and got them replaced the next day, but needless to say, none of us got much sleep that night!

6. Hurry up and make these sweet and spicy zucchini refrigerator pickles before summer is over!

7. Did anyone watch the Field of Dreams baseball game? We loved it! The cornfields as a backdrop were just mesmerizing; I hope they’ll play more games there.

8. We’ve been watching Vera (first two seasons were on Amazon and then starting in season three it’s on BritBox) and really like it. The main character reminds me of Ina Garten, so every time we watch it, I get hungry for one of Ina’s recipes 😋

9. On another TV note, I saw that Yellowstone is officially slated to come back on November 7th, so close yet still so far! I also saw that they are filming a prequel to the show, 1883, that’s coming out in December. I’m already sold on it since Tim McGraw will be in it, and he totally takes me back to my college days!

10. TGIF! Duke hopes you enjoy the weekend!