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June 2025 Round Up

We closed a really big chapter in our families lives at the start of this month and said goodbye to elementary school. I don’t really have anything particularly groundbreaking to say that hasn’t been said before but I just feel like this moment should be captured in some way because it does feel like that big of a change. I don’t dwell a lot on my age (probably because I still am incredibly close to most of my friends from High School so in my mind we’re all still 18 and no one can convince me otherwise) but our family feels older now that we have two middle schoolers and I’m still working on making that shift both internally and externally.

I’ve always been conscious that the spaces my kids touch in this house need to be ever-changing as they grow up, but I definitely haven’t had to think much about it since I’ve been able to keep their spaces relatively the same over the last five years….until now! Changes feel urgent and chaotic as we adjust to this new stage (dropping a bed in the middle of the “playroom” for my oldest to have his own room, setting up a makeshift living room in our unfinished basement to accommodate bigger and nosier bodies, taking down the swing set in the backyard to make room for a pitching net, figuring out if we need to get a mini fridge just to keep up with the snack intake) and I’m trying to remind myself that it’s all OK if it all feels a bit messy and uncomfortable — isn’t that what being in middle school feels like anyway? So I guess you can say that our boys, our house and our family are all entering our adolescent years with the growing pains to match.

Before I let the emotions of the next school year get away from me – let’s talk summer and some of my favorite things that get us through the next few months. While my oldest is content to spend his days outside playing any sport he can get his hands on, my youngest is a self described “indoor kid” so finding summer camps for him has been harder but he has loved his time exploring different STEM activities at the Bucks IU Fab Lab. I myself also try to keep my pale butt cool and shaded during the summer so if I’m outside at a baseball game I usually have my Ryobi Portable Fan to keep cool, or if I’m at the pool I have a glass of my favorite simple summer drink (Prosecco + Blood Orange Italian Soda from Wegmans + lots of ice) and I picked up some pairs of these mesh Swim Pants this year because my thick thighs feel much more comfortable in them than shorts.

I’ve been brainstorming how to give the TV console in our living room a marble top without having to actually pay the heft price of actual stone. First I tried some faux-marble contact paper but was left with tons of bubbles and edges that easily peeled – but from afar it worked well enough and gave me time to look into more options until the light-bulb went off to just use inexpensive Vinyl Floor tiles made to look like marble. I planned them out so the grains would match up and give a super convincing look of a slab of marble from a distance. For the edges I first installed metal trim to help keep the barn doors from scratching the cabinet frame, then I cut the vinyl into thin strips and carefully caulked the seams. We’re going on a year of use and it still looks brand new.

  • Finished installing picture rail in the front room and dining room
  • Bought a new rug for the front room (I get my vintage rugs from Etsy sellers; I keep an eye out for the size I need and save the ones I like to my “favorites” – some sellers will offer you a discount code if they see you have your eye on it)
  • Cleaned out the basement and scheduled a Green Drop pick up for my donations
  • Put together a “Sports Emergency Bag” for the car including:
    • Ibuprofen and Tylenol
    • Sunscreen + Bug Repellant
    • Mini First Aid Kit
    • Duck Tape and Super Glue

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May 2025 Round Up

June 10, 2025