Art Class

Here are the projects from this summer's week long art class that Brynn took.
She love, love, loved it!

(This one is my favorite!!!)

(and this one kind of creeps me out.....)

A frame with their class pic in it, but the best part is that like a true child of mine, the picture has to somehow be messed up.....


Apparently the sun was in her eyes...wha?!?!



And last but not least -


What a great week for my artsy little 7 year old!

Slumber Party

The "play room" has some more perks then I realized! Not only does it occupy the kids during the daytime, the kids also occupy it at night.
In fact, they have occupied it almost every single night this summer! 
It's a summer slumber party.

Father's Day

Our Father's Day wasn't so great.
We were woken up by the eldest saying "my tummy feels weird", followed by 25 hours of non stop vomit.  We didn't go to church, didn't have the special breakfast that I had planned, and didn't get to celebrate with the family. 
Huge disappointment for everyone.
I made a little gift for Rich, and the kids each helped. 

Happy Daddy's Day to a great dad! A dad who helped dump barf buckets, and would rather hang out with his stressed out, over anxious wife then his friends and family on his special day.  A dad who sleeps on the couch when there are puking kids, a dad who just smiles when his wife reminds him for the bazillionth time to wash his hands.  A dad who makes funny voices when reading books, and can "take the (invisible) stairs down to the basement" over and over again just to get a chuckle from the kids.  A dad whose smile brightens up our house, and whose laugh echoes down the hallway long after it's supposed to be lights out.
I love that dad...and his kids do too!

Pat Me on the Back...

...because I conquered and survived a trip to the beach with the four kiddos...all. by. myself.

Swimming

Rich was off one day during swim lessons, so I got a few pics of my fishes.
Lessons for Nolan were a breeze. He loves the water, loves to splash, loves to jump in, and loves the toy time during class.

 
Lessons for Maeve started out rough.  Her teacher was a boy, and that just threw her whole universe into a tail spin.  She cried the entire first session, and most of the second.  She got in the water on day 3, and by the end of the session she was back to her usual splashy self.
 
Cannon enjoyed his lesson until he got the news that he needed to repeat the class again next year because he is basically equivilant to a rock in the water. 
 
Brynn love, love, love, loved the lessons.  She got promoted to the next level, and is begging to sign up for another session this summer so that she can dive off the sides, into the "deep" end.
 
She doesn't realize that we will ALL have to get in the water again cause there is NO WAY I can spend half an hour chasing Nolan around the pool without loosing my patience and my mind...

But I think the best part of the whole session, was the fact that the cousins got to do it together again!

Boys Night

Rich took the boys for a hike the other night.
Apparently this is an AWESOME thing to do with Nolan, because he is confined to a path, but feels free because he is outdoors - and that's his favorite place to be!

Love those boys!

Fair Entry

Every year that we go to the fair, Brynn always mentions that she wants to enter something into for an exhibit. This year we finally did.
There was a contest and she entered in her sticker entry, and her postcard entry.  She was really excited to work on it. 
And it's a win-win, because they display every entry! I'm sure we will be spending some time staring at the wall of sticker entries and postcard entries until we can find hers!

Snapshots of Summer

Just a few snapshots of what's going on here.

 

There is some reading (yes, she is finally doing it on her own free will) and sharing a chair, and giggling...

 

And this guy hides anywhere that he can to get some peace and quiet.

 

There are towels, and swimsuits, and swim bags, and swim gear....everywhere.

No pics of kids in the pool though, because I am in there with them...eek. 

And, I am getting some reading done too.  Not much checked off my "to-do" list, but a few books checked off my "when I get a spare second I'm gonna read this" list.

Ice Cream Dreams

We had our first ever (gasp) taste of ice cream from the ice cream truck. 
It was cold.
It was sticky.
It left blue stains on new clothing.
It resulted in an evening swim to wash off the residual sugar (yes, that's how we bathe in the summer).
And it was good.  Very, very good!

Tball Trophy

Tball is over, and someone is pretty excited about his new trophy!

Summer Happenings

School's out!
Hooray!
Time for kids to be home with me all. day. long.

We are trying to up the "fun factor" here since the kids are getting older and are not entertained by me telling them to count the numbers of the windows in the house anymore.

We put up the 3 year old pool (lifesaver!) and to my surprise, it still holds water!
We moved it from the back patio to the side patio.  When our outdoor table shattered in one of the windstorms of the spring (boo) - my bad : apparently you are supposed to take the umbrellas down when the wind is gusting - it cleared out a decent space for the pool (yay).

Then we picked up a free basketball hoop and put it out front. 
Let's all agree that even though its "for the kids" its really "for the hubs".

Then we went big and got a trampoline!  It barely (and I mean BARELY) fit in the space outside of our bedroom.  Not the prettiest thing to look at when we open our eyes in the morning, but tons of fun for the kids...and lets be real - tons of fun for me too!

I have a few things on my "to-do" list for this summer.
I want to finish a ton of my projects.
I want to clean and organize my whole house.
I want to check off the stuff that my kids have put on our "50 Fun Things of Summer" list.
I want to inspire my non reader daughter to read something this summer.
I also just want to relax. And swim. And sit out on the trampoline and watch the stars with the hubs. And enjoy the all my extra time with the kids...when they are not fighting...

Flip flops. Sunblock. Open windows at night.
Love this time of year!