We Made it Through Summer!!

...well almost. And I am so grateful for those who made this possible. A

special thanks to:

The Swimming Pool

The Apache Junction Library

and....

PlayDoh

I don't think we could have made it without you!

Happy 4th of July!

Ryan was still at girls camp that morning, but I trekked down to the park at 7:30am with my 4 kids for a patriotic picnic breakfast and parade. We had decorated a bike, a scooter, and a stroller for the parade. The kids loved it! But on the way home, they decided they had had enough... The boys went on ahead so I couldn't see them - scary... Billie was crying uncontrollably in my arms and Maren decided she couldn't walk anymore because she was too hot. (I realized that if we were pioneers, she would have been left behind for the wolves) I seriously felt desperate & SWORE that Ryan would never leave me for girls camp or any other encampment EVER AGAIN!! I found myself saying, "HAPPY FREAKIN' FOURTH OF JULY!!!" Finally I got home, fed the baby, comforted the 2-yr old, and got everyone a drink and a potty break!!! Next we had a dip in the pool to cool off. Later that night, Ryan finally came home!! The Dodges, Canovas, and Fullers came over and we had a BBQ, water fun for kids, and a little guitar hero for the adults. My kids were not the least bit impressed with the fireworks that night. (Come on! They're FIREWORKS for crying out loud! BIG COLORFUL EXPLOSIONS in the SKY!) Do my kids have thrill issues or what??

Here are some cute pics of the kids that day, courtesy of Nicole Dodge (her camera is awesome!)

A Monster-ific Day at the Museum

Grandma and Grandpa Allred treated me and my kids to a day at the Arizona Museum for Youth. They had a special Monster Exhibit!!! Hello! Boys.... Monsters..... they Looooved it!! Kade and Mack wore these scary monster hands & scared Maren. But Maren liked wearing the gross costumes while putting on their own Monster Movie! Billie looked cool in the black light room... we were all glowing. We drew pictures of monsters, played with monster puppets and monster costumes, read monster books and enjoyed the several displays of monster art throughout the exhibit. It was pretty cool. (One of the funniest things that happened was when we were walking through the art room & Kade picked up a marker and drew on a white board a monster with one eye and six arms and crazy hair.... then without a word wrote M-O-M on the bottom!) What a little turkey! That's Kade's quiet sense of humor! In the Kid Room (I don't remember the cool name that had for it, but it's a play room for kids age 0-4) is where Maren had the most fun. She is a little mom and felt right at "home" in the just-her-size kitchen/home area. She put on her little apron and started collecting and preparing food for many friends. She could have stayed there for hours! I wish I had more pictures. She's so cute! Thanks Mom and Dad for the good time and the memories!!!

Tan Kids & First Baths

At 11 weeks old, Billie is too big for a baby bath. I found it much easier to stick her in with the big kids... and they all thought it was much more fun! I have ALWAYS loved the way babies look wrapped up in a towel right after a bath. I tried to capture that in these pics. :)

My kids are little Mexicans! Thanks to all the swimming they've been doing.

I was bathing Mack tonight and was shocked at his tan line! I had to take a picture to show him how different the color of his back was to the color of his bum! (This is the edited version) He thought that was funny.