Lake Time

For the 4th of July, we went back up to the lake.
It's becoming a well loved tradition with the kids, and I am enjoying that they are getting more and more used to swimming in it.
This year the conquered jumping off the dock, "driving" the jet ski, kayaking with no adult (super safe right?), and napping in the sand.

Perfect holiday if you ask me!

Doing Laundry

Apparently this is the reason that putting away a basket of clothes can take
all. day. long.

She's Getting Hitched

My sis is starting the great adventure of marriage and a family soon, and I got to throw her a bridal shower.
It was super, super, duper hot...which was a bummer, but she enjoyed herself.

I'm excited about the upcoming changes in her life.  I'm excited to watch her become a wife, and a mom, and excited that I get to be a part of it all.

The invites were the colors of her wedding, purple and orange, with a country theme.  I tried to follow that with the shower stuff, without doing the same thing as I will be doing for the wedding.

I made up some table runners, and some favors, and then did a little display for the guests to get to know their "story".
 

 
 
We had a brunch, so lots of yummy food, and true to my mom's previous events, she made sure there was enough...and then some for everyone.

 
 
 There were beautiful bunches of wildflowers everywhere, that I didn't arrange...because I'm terrible with flowers.

 

 
 The one "game" that I had everyone do (I'm not really a fan of shower games and such) was writing down date night ideas for the couple and putting them in a cute jar.  It was something that I would have appreciated had it been my shower...which, of course, it was not....
 


And here's my favorite part.
I made my very first ever embroidered craft.  And I really like how it turned out.

Before I knew that her wedding invite would look like this, I had picked out a gift for them that I wanted to make.  And I got to sit in my hammock and work on it...which is always really, really, nice....
 

 

 I think she really liked it!

Brynn Turns 9

She wanted another (4th year in a row) water party this year for her 9th birthday so we just went ahead and reserved a space at the local pool.

If I haven't said it before, let me say it now.
It's worth the money.

I didn't have to clean my house.
I didn't have to decorate my house.
I didn't have to even think about kids eating on my carpet, or spilling drinks on my floor.
I just showed up, slapped up a banner, threw down a tablecloth, put out some food and called it a day.

And it was perfect.
Except when they had to clear out the pool because someone pooped in it...
but whatever.

It was all Popsicle themed, and it was fun, and she was happy.
And that is all that matters....

Happy Birthday to my little(ish) one who turned 9.
She made me a mom.
She introduced me to a type of love I had no idea existed.
A gut wrenching, soul embracing love.
She's generous.
She's dreamy.
She can get lost in a creating a drawing for hours.
She surprises me with her grace and her patience with her siblings.
She's a blessing to us all.
I'm thankful that she's on loan to me for this short season.

Love you to the moon and back Brynn!

One Night Away

It's always a dream come true when you get a night alone after having kids. 
But a night away...alone? That is almost unheard of for us!

Its literally been almost 4 years since we have had a night away, so we grabbed the opportunity of a night in (say what?) Fresno, for my friends wedding.
Who cares that we spent almost 10 hours in the car for a 18 hour piece of respite with just the two of us....

We dropped the kids off, after two quick runs home to grab forgotten items, and then headed off. The ride in the car was amazing.
No potty breaks.
No interrupted conversation.
No stopping for food.
Just an adult drive.
 (I've completely forgotten what that is like....)

We got to swim before getting ready for the wedding, and then had an amazing night celebrating with good friends!
 
 
 
Then we slept in (again, gasp), and swam again, and headed home.
 
 
 I'm still not sure why, (and honestly, maybe I DON"T want to know) this sign had to be posted by the pool....

But seriously, I will take any time alone with this guy that I can get.
And I'm pretty sure he feels the same way.....

Ocean Love

My hubs has always had a love for all things ocean.  It's a little sad that this wife doesn't share the same passion. When I look at this picture I just have to laugh!
These guys are still jetting off for quick surf sessions. The only difference is that now they have to check with the wives before they take off.....

Father's Day

Who knew these five people could make me so happy?

Happy Father's Day to the one that made it all happen!

Facial Injury Month

We have officially dubbed May as "Facial Injury Month" in our house.

Incident #1
We took a bike ride on a Sunday afternoon. All was going perfectly well, until Maeve hit a patch of gravel on the path and flew over her handlebars headfirst.
*Bad Mom Disclaimer*
My first 2 thoughts after I saw her bloody face were
1) crap.  i hope she didn't knock her "good front tooth" out.
2) crap.  i wonder how much stitches cost?

Rich took off to the get the car. Ride was over....
Gravel Road: 1, Maeve: 0

Incident #2
Nolan started shrieking one day while we were out at my parents on their back deck.  Apparently a wasp had landed on his face, and he had been bit, and stung.....
Lip at 2 min:

 Lip at 4 min:

Lip at 10 minutes:

Wasp: 1, Nolan: 0

Incident #3

Remember that rule "don't run with sticks"?

Well.......

Cannon came home from the beach with this beauty of an eye injury.

Daddy had looked at his eye, but not pulled down the bottom lid to see that there was actually a decent scrape.  I ended up taking him in on this one.  It was a conjunctiva hematoma.  Basically an eyeball bruise.  No treatment needed...

For the record, he wasn't actually running with a stick.  He had "planted the sticks in the sand on a hillside, then fallen on one." 

Right in the eyeball.

Yeah...

Beach stick "planted" in the sand: 1, Cannon: 0

Summer's Funner

How have we been? How has our summer been?
Well, let me tell you all about it!

Summer is like a whirlwind of scheduled unscheduledness.
And I love it.

We've done a ton so far.....

Maeve got her ears pierced....which was *slightly* traumatic for us all.

 
 
 (Yes, I am "that" mom who pulls out the camera when the kid is crying instead of comforting her....)

We finished swim lessons. This is the last year that I will have to get in for the mommy and me class.
Can I get an "amen"?
 
 

 

We picked and ate the last of our "winter crop" of veggies.

 We found weird bugs in parking lots.....

 We are slowly breaking this kid into the idea of potty training....

 We built Lego roller coasters,

 We've spent countless hours in the hammock,

and driven home from swim parties late at night with children sleeping in weird, awkward painful looking positions.

 We've played in the dirt (and apparently been run over by a pack of wild dogs....).

 we've found "art" on the walls...on two separate occasions....(ggggrrrrrr)

 We've sweltered in an absurdly hot house,

we have had semi successful (thanks to Facebook advertising) Lemonade stands,

 and all this activity has left some kids too tired to even make it through dinner.

 It's been really good so far.
Thanks for asking!