July and then some.

At the beginning of the summer I was so worried about how long and difficult it was going to be. How in the world was I going to entertain, educate and nurture three kids during the long hot days without going nuts! It really wasn't that bad. We kept busy and had a lot of fun.

We swam a lot. Aiden and Max both love jumping off the diving board. Jenna-grace mostly likes playing with the water hose.

We went to the YMCA a lot. We have a great YMCA with classes for me and the kids. I got in some good exercising while the kids were having fun.

Aiden went to quite a few fun summer camps including: safety city, zoo camp, and pirate camp.

We also played with our neighbors. We live in the best neighborhood, full of young kids. I even bought this great sign for the street because we were out in the front yard so much. The kids know that they are not allowed in the street, but this helps keep the cars aware and slower. I love it!

During the summer months Max's hair got long and curly.

His hair was so adorable I really thought about just leaving it long.

And then it got so long that it started to get into his eyes. I had a choice. I could cut the bangs and keep the curls in the back. Then I ran the risk of giving him a mullet, which I didn't want. I even thought about putting a barrette in his hair, just to keep it out of his eyes, but knew that Eric would kill me. And so would Max in the future.

Even though I was sad to finally cut all his beautiful curls off, I knew that cleaning him off after dinner would have to be easier.

Yes that is his bowl on top of his head. For some reason, he puts it there every night when he is done eating. To him, it just makes sense.

Aiden is now 6!

For his birthday he wanted a superhero party. I wanted to have it anywhere but at the house, so I convinced him to have it at the sprinkler park. We all love the sprinkler park. What I didn't know is that on his birthday it would be 111 degrees outside. No kidding. The weatherman confirmed that the heat index for that day was 111 degrees. Add in that we had never been to the sprinkler park on a Saturday before and severely underestimated how crowded it would be. It was quite miserable for the adults, but I think the kids didn't care about any of that. They seemed to really have fun.

I wanted to make cupcakes instead of a cake, so it would be easier to transport. But then I went overboard on decorating the cupcakes. The buildings are make out of sugar cookies with lolly pop sticks to hold them up. My sister Christie did an amazing job decorating the cookies. But it was sooo hot that everything turned into mush. The icing on the cupcakes started sliding off and the buildings were all falling over. It worked great in my air conditioned kitchen. But at the park it looked like super-town after a major earth quake. But again, the kids didn't care. It still tasted great. Eric had the camera that day so I only have a few pictures.

Aiden's First Day of School!!!

After I took his picture, I ran Jenna-grace and Max to our neighbors house and sent Aiden on to the bus stop ahead of me. But by the time I was approaching the corner, the bus was already there and this next picture was all that I got to see. I quickly jumped in my van and followed him to school with his giant bag of school supplies. (As was the plan) But I was sad to not have taken a better picture of him getting on his first bus ride, after he has been looking forward to it for so long.

Jenna-grace and Max are going to a great little preschool a couple days a week.

They both really love it!

Now that the summer is over and I might be able to find a few more moments for myself, I am setting two goals. One: to increase, and improve my scripture study and Two: to blog more frequently, so I can keep all of my wonderful friends and family involved in our crazy, wonderful amazing little life. Love you all!!

June

I figured I would title this post June because it seems like I haven't posted anything that happened during the last month. And actually, as I went through some of my pictures to see what I wanted to share, a lot of them are from May. So, I did not miss my calling as a news reporter. But, I do have the most adorable kids, who happen to keep me incredibly busy. I think I have the best job ever.

Last month our friends the Martins invited all the little princesses in our ward over to their castle for a Princess Party. There were somewhere around 10 little girls who all dressed up in their finest ball gowns and accessories. I had to miss the fun and stay with Aiden and Max. But Jenna-grace came home with stories about the fun she had. Below is a picture of her before she left for the party in her favorite purple princess dress.

Before the weather got too hot the kids and I loved going to the zoo. Jenna-grace loved the big cats. Aiden wanted to see the spider house and the seals. But I think Max loved the monkeys! One day we went and all the animals were out and about. The monkeys especially were putting on a show. This little guy below was teasing the kids through the glass. Max loved it!

Aiden is playing baseball this summer. I think he enjoys it a bit more than soccer. He is pretty good too. It is coach pitch/t-ball. In other words the coach pitches three times and then if you didn't hit it, you get to hit it off the T. He has only been playing a few weeks and he hits it most of the time. Mostly (although he doesn't look like it in this picture) I think he is really having fun playing.

This next picture is a few months old. But I just had to say that I think my husband is the most handsome man in the world.

Every morning at about 6am Jenna-grace comes into our room and says in her happiest loud voice, "Mommy, Daddy it is good morning time!" Usually we tell her in our sleepy quiet voice, "Please go back to bed." It rarely works, but still we try. One morning after we asked her to let us sleep please, she really did go back to bed (or so we thought) and so we relished the quiet for a bit longer. About twenty or so minutes later Jenna-grace was back, but this time she had a pot full of pasta noodles and a wooden spoon. "Could you put some water in my pot please?"

What? Why do you have a pot? Where did you get the pasta? Where is the rest of the Pasta? What have you been doing? .... So I got up of course. There was crunched pasta all up and down the stairs and all over the front room where Jenna-grace had been stepping on it and getting ready to cook it. So, although we were always mindful to close the gate at the top of the stairs before, now we have a new reason to double check before we go to bed.

Now my little chef wants to help me every time I am in the kitchen. She loves to mix what ever it is that I am making. And everything must have flour in it!

Max is our little Si chef. (is that how you spell that? Sue chef?) He loves to carry ingredients back and forth from the shelf to the counter for us. Especially if it is the chocolate chips.

This was the first year in quite a few that we dared to go to any big holiday celebration with the kids. In the past, I was either pregnant or just plain exhausted. This 4th of July was so much fun. Germantown has a great big festive with little carnival rides for the kids, a symphony orchestra that plays in the park and fireworks! Although Jenna-grace really enjoyed watching the fireworks, she was frightened of the sounds. She asks me every other day if we can go see the fireworks again. Probably because she missed most of them having her eyes shut tight.

Last week Aiden lost another tooth. But he was devastated because he swallowed it! It came out during dinner and went down with the milk. He was mostly upset because his dad told him that the tooth fairy has to have the tooth in trade for any money he might get. No tooth, No money. Aiden came to me all upset, Eric just giggling away. So I convinced him to try to write a note to the tooth fairy and explain what happened. He included this picture of himself pointing at the place where the tooth used to be. The tooth fairy decided to give him a half advance on his next lost tooth. Eric is such a meanie.