July

If you thought June was busy just wait until you check out our July…

Took Brooks and two of his baseball buddies to Six Flags for an end of season celebration! They were so kind to let Shep tag along too!

Can’t believe we didn’t get kicked out of this empty food place or that it was unlocked! Probably shouldn’t have let the kids do this, but they were having too much fun!

Texas Giant hair don’t care!

It was a fun, but HOT day! Thank goodness for water rides!

After raising money, coming up with a plan, and purchasing all the supplies, Ellis then created this flier (all on her own) and asked me to post it on our neighborhood facebook page and send it to all of my friends to spread the word! I sent this out at the very beginning of July, so stay tuned for the actual camp later on in this post…

For the Fourth of July we headed to the lake with the Arguijo’s and the Jarmon’s! 5 adults and 9 kids, no big deal, we got this!

Oh and here’s the address bolder I had made for Adam for his birthday!

Cousins having a blast and making memories to last a lifetime!

Adults (plus Kason) having fun too, while the kids entertain themselves!

Gone fishin’

So proud of his catch!

Boat time!

Kason and the “big” boys got to go tubing first

We had so many kids they had to switch off playing at the beach and riding on the boat, lol

Perks of living on the golf course!

No clue what they were watching, but they were perplexed

Kannon really enjoyed the powdered sugar donuts!

That’s one way to play wiffle ball, lol

Today they switched off fishing and riding on the boat instead of playing at the beach

Brooks and his poses crack me up!

Littles turn to tube!

Love my sissy’s!

Ellis and Kason got some air, lol!

’merica

FINALLY got to see the famous 4th of July PK fireworks from the cliffs!

It was crazy, it was loud, it was chaotic, it was messy, it was the BEST!

Summer wouldn’t be complete without the yearly Arguijo/Dimmick cousin pic

Got back from the lake and Ellis jumped right into the first day of “her” neighborhood Bible Camp!

The crafts were a huge hit!

Lots and lots of giggles!

Memory verse time!

They picked out the memory verses all on their own!

Day 2 a few more of Ellis’ friends joined to help out! Definitely some future camp counselors in this group!

They did such a cute job on the snacks! I swear I didn’t lift one single finger to help. As much as I wanted to intervene they did EVERYTHING on their own, I was just a taxi service and adult supervision. They even came up with a point system to get the kids to pay attention and behave, lol

Ciara is Camryn’s little sister!

They even let Shep join on the second day

This cutie is apparently allergic to chalk, so she stayed inside and made bracelets while the others were outside

She got to join in on the bubble making craft though!

Memory verse!

Play time!

It’s way too hot to be outside without water!

While Ellis and Shep were at camp, Brooks got to go to this fun new indoor slide place called “Slick City”! Such a cool concept!

Day 3 and the final day of camp, Ellis had to wake up super early for their last ditch effort to get an IV in her for her infusion! I’m beyond happy to report that it was a complete success! Clonozopam with an extra nurse did the trick!

She even injected herself with her nausea meds! Wow, what a difference this was from last month!!!

After a short nap she was rested and ready for these cuties!

Knocked it out of the park with her snack again!

Musical pillows!

Water ballon fight!

Love this cute song they taught them! Ellis and her friends are already planning how they can make the camp even bigger and better next summer! I’m so proud of them for putting this together and can’t wait to see what else they come up with for next year! You can also see in this video Ellis’ pump she has to wear that attaches to her IV. I think it amazing she can get this medicine all while at home running a bible camp for kids!

Unfortunately, Ellis had a bad reaction to the IVIG infusion again. The first night went wonderfully so we thought we were in the clear and went a little faster the second day. Can’t remember if I said this in the last post but the infusions take about 7 hours each day to slowly go into her body, and she has to get them two days in a row. The second night she had uncontrollable vomitting and a migraine again, and of course Adam was out of town so I had to call her nurse in the middle of the night. Her sweet sweet nurse, who lives about two minutes from us, and is a single mom of 3 came over bright and early the next morning before her first appointment and administered an IV of fluids for Ellis to help her migraine go away. This nurse right here, is seriously our angel on earth! She has been the biggest blessing to us and we appreciate her more than she will ever know! Next round we have steroids and pain med suppositories on hand to help with the reactions for poor Ellis who is such a trooper. She keeps asking why she has to do this and saying she’s too young, and it absolutely breaks my momma heart. I keep telling her that I have no idea why God gave her PANS but that he doesn’t make mistakes and remind her she was wonderfully and perfectly made by Him and that He has GREAT plans for her and her life and to trust Him with our whole being because He is SO good!

Baseball is over for a month, so you know what that means….time for another sport! Nice shot, Brooks!

And swim is officially over! Woohoo, no more 6:30am wake calls in the summer!

Sweet boy asked his buddy to write this on his back for him!

From swim champs to the lake for an evening boat ride to dinner! Memaw, Papa Joe, Jeanne, Tyler, and the Booher’s joined us this weekend!

Celebrating this young 52 year old at Hemmingways!

Any excuse for dessert!

Time to head back! Night rides are my favorite!

Bigs against littles in a fun game of basketball, lol

Everyone went on a morning boat ride and I stayed back with Ellis (who napped), Memaw, and Papa Joe.

I took Memaw and Papa Joe on a golf cart tour ride of the neighborhood, and they were in awe!

Ellis woke up from her nap and wanted to go on a golf cart ride too!

Back on the boat after lunch!

Mexican train with Papa Joe was comical!

Astros!

Night cap!

Love the special bond between these two!

Tyler killed it at wake surfing!

So glad my dad made it back out to the lake! I know it’s a pain getting there from Houston, but he always enjoys it once he’s there!

From the lake straight to camp! I took the kids while Adam stayed back and cleaned up the lake house and put the boat back in storage. Ellis was super nervous the entire drive there and it didn’t help that it was pouring down rain at drop off. I was so afraid she wouldn’t stay, but as soon as she saw her room she was excited!

These boys weren’t nervous at all

I can see why they weren’t nervous! This place looks like so much fun!

Welp…Ellis made it in one picture with her cabin mates and counselor and then her anxiety got the best of her and she couldn’t get a handle on it. I thought after talking to me she’d be okay, but she just couldn’t do it. I made it all the way home to go potty real quick and then had to turn right back around. Anything to make my girl feel safe and bring her comfort. Got on the road at 11 that morning from the lake and didn’t officially get home until midnight that night. 13 hours on the road made for a loooooooong day!

While the kids were supposed to be at camp, Adam had to travel for work, so I planned on getting some boring cleaning and organization done and made Ellis help me with some of it. I didn’t want her to feel bad about not being able to stay at camp though, so I took her on some fun play dates with friends too…

Slick City!

Then back to school shopping with Grace! They secretly picked out a silly outfit for each other to try on, and they were cracking me up!

Silly girls!

Ellis also got invited to go out on a boat in lake Texoma with friends!

Meanwhile, the boys were having an absolute blast at camp!

I live for these letters they send to us! So glad Brooks is growing in his faith, but hate the food is “mid”, lol. I’m also shook that this almost teenager still isn’t capitalizing the i by itself. The teacher in me is screaming!

Even Shep has no idea what that last part is supposed to say, lol????

Theme nights are the best!

Brooks is getting down at the silent disco!

We get to write the kids two letters, and for their second letter I included notes from friends. Their letter back to us included notes back to their friends too…

The last weekend the kids were at camp I had planned on going on a trip to Nashville with Nancy and two of her friends from New York to celebrate her birthday and her getting a Dyslexia teaching job! I dropped the kids at camp and Adam picked them up!

Nancy and I took the 6am flight and made it to Nashville bright and early! Bars are already jamming by 10am!

Her sweet and hilarious friends Aly and Liz joined us later that day!

I hit it off with them like I’ve know them forever!

So sad my BFF won’t be bale to hang out with me during the week day anymore, but so excited for her and this new adventure!

First night we were exhausted from our super early flight, so we pretty much went to apps and cocktails, and then dinner, and then to bed!

One bar for a little bit, but we were tiiiiiired!

Second day we slept in and then went to brunch and shopping!

While getting ready in the hotel room later that day I get a call from Adam telling us Joe (Nancy’s husband) stepped on a metal rake that went through his flip flop and got lodged in his foot. They had to call an ambulance to help cut the long handle and transport him to the hospital to safely take the rake out of his foot. Nancy took a screen shot from her ring camera of the paramedics wheeling him out on the stretcher.

Thank goodness he was just fine. Stuff like this only happens to the Stolarskis!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming with our last night out in Nashville!

Happy birthday, Nancy!

We stayed out until 2am the last night and I was very proud of us!

Nashville was almost unbearably hot and WAY more crowded on a summer weekend than in the winter, but it was still so fun to get away with the girls to celebrate Nancy for a couple of days!

Got home from Nashville, boys got home from camp, and immediately started packing for our next adventure! 7 hour road trip to the Frio and our go, go, go summer had us all feeling like….

Ellis is literally sleeping sitting straight up, lol

Finally made it to the house and after hours of swimming in the pool with his cousins, sweet boy couldn’t hang

Friday we woke up bright an early and immediately got to it!

These two made it to the top of Old Baldy in record time!

Can’t climb the “mountain” without also climbing the trees!

Ellis wanted to quit, but Adam wouldn’t let her, and she did it! So proud of her!

Unfortunately, Brooks threw up right before we started, so I had to stay back with him. After resting in the cool truck for about an hour, he was up and ready to go!

Coolest Papa Joe in all the land!

This kid is part ninja!

My happy place with my people!

Why jump when you can flip?!

Loves my Sissy!

The men play skip ball in the river, while the women chill!

Love that smile!

Ellis has gotten more cautious as she’s gotten older, and I’m not mad about it.

Handsome boys!

From the rope swing….

….to the tippy top of the tree!

Twins!

Bowen is part ninja too!

Couples picture time in the river….

Obligatory whole fam pic by the Garner sign!

This year we FINALLY made it to the Garner dance, and oh so many memories came flooding back!

They have these big boulders in front of the pavilion now, so no more jumping off the railing into the water

Papa Joe and his girls!

It looks almost exactly the same!

Rocking Robin, tweet, tweet, tweet tweet!

The man who taught me how to 2-step ❤️

Couldn’t love this more if I tried!

Carrying on the tradition with our generation! My heart could burst! Elis LOVED the dance and asked to go back every night!

Cutest couple! So thankful for them and the childhood they gave us!

This right here is what it’s all about!

Janel and Justin got BUSTED with open cans of alcohol instead of having them disguised in yeti’s like the rest of us, lol

Walk of shame!!! Hahahahaha!!!

Saturday we got to go on a float for the first time in years! The river was perfection!

Happy Hollow!

They make floating the river so easy for you now a days!

Starting off with rapids!

What heaven looks like to me!

Shot ‘o clock!

Jodie is such a dork!

Crazy Shep 24/7

Cliff jumping time at the end of the float!

Frio Float to end our Frio float!

Shep got a little carried away with his jaw breaker, lol

Some amazing preteens/teens right here!

One too many shots be like….

Thank goodness for Jodie to facilitate volleyball with these crazies!

That sunset though!

Game time!

Sunday we chilled at the river by the house and had the best, laziest day!

David has some serious power wheels!

Maxing and relaxing with our crew in the river….

…playing on electronics of course…

…washers…

…and s’mores!

David was cold, lol

Papa Joe randomly started messing with Jodie’s hair and it was so cute!

Monday (our final day), we decided to go back into Garner!

Sissy’s and Old Baldy!

Brooks on top of the world, eh!

Ended our last evening with a bang…literally. Memaw took an accidental rock to the back of her head and spent a few hours in the ER getting two staples and a CT scan to make sure everything was okay. Thankfully, it was! Grateful Jeanne volunteered to drive her and Papa Joe while the rest of us hung back at the house.