More summer fun

The Hazar's were in town this weekend and so we had a fun weekend.

The kids and David went swimming at my in-laws hotel pool downtown.

They love when Daddy swims with them because he plays with them the whole time.  I totally remember swimming with my dad and how great it was.  Getting thrown into the air.  I still have such vivid memories of standing on his shoulders while he squatted down in the water and then he would jump up and we would push off his shoulders and do a back flip.  Those were the days.

City creek.

Here we are in front of our town home we bought to rent out.

Summer days

The kids have been outside all summer.  I use to have a system that I used so I could regulate how much TV the kids were watching, but since it has been warm my kids leave the house at 9am and don't come back.  Not really, but seriously they are gone most the day playing with their friends and outside.  So I haven't needed to use my system anymore.  Here they are out in front of a neighbors house causing trouble.

Dean can hardly stand they his siblings are outside all day and he is not.  He is always pointing at the door and grunting or crying if I don't go towards it.  I take him out here and there, but not as much as he would like.  He loves when Clara takes him out.

Clara and her friend London riding around with their American dolls.

Why do kids have to be kids

Alvin came downstairs screaming that his fingers were stuck and then I saw this.  He actually had one finger on each hand stuck in it, but one of them came out with soap, but this one did not.  His finger was getting swollen and so I could not get it off.  I ended up having to saw the toy with a knife.  It was a little scary trying not to cut his finger along with it.  Anyway, I ended up getting it off, but it was a little stressful for a moment.  Alvin is getting so mischievous lately.  He got into my paints downstairs in the basement and painted the walls and ground of the unfinished part, one day he was screaming downstairs that he was stuck and so I finally ran down there and he was holding up an extra door that had tipped over and he almost couldn't hold it anymore.  Lately he has been cutting everything into little pieces.  The other day he cut up my older kids' flash cards.  Not only do I not want him to ruin the flash cards, but I also hate all the little tiny papers all over the house.  AHHHHHH! KIDS!

My Bro's Band

My neighbor across the street is in a band and mentioned to me that he was on the search for a new singer and so I mentioned that my brother is an amazing singer and so then they met him and loved his voice and now he is their lead singer.  The name of the band is Frequency One and they have a ton of performances coming up in the next couple months.  This was the first one they had with Porter as their singer.  It was so much fun. And Porter sounded amazing.

I cut his hair the day before and I loved how it turned out.

Here he is singing All Along the Watchtower.

Peoa Rodeo

We went to Peoa for a Junior Rodeo.  I signed my kids up to ride the sheep, but it took to long for that part of the rodeo and we had to leave to go to a party so they didn't get to do it.  I was dying to have them ride the sheep.  Too bad.  Maybe next year.  My dad grew up in Peoa Utah. It is about one street long. It is close the Kamas.  His family had a mink farm and my grandma lived in the same house until she passed away in her 90's.   I grew up going to my grandma's every Sunday and staying there for a week in the summers.  I have so many memories playing in the fields by her house, throwing cow pies as frisbies, swinging across the river, climbing trees, collecting sticks, pulling thistles from my grandma's lawn, feeding stray dogs our leftovers, going to the Marchant store to get penny candies, going to the rodeo, and parade, eating ice cream every night before bed, learning to sew with my grandma, going to "skull island" (what we named it), painting my grandma's fence, waving to my grandma in her window as we left her house, and I am sure there are many more memories that I don't remember, but I will never forget the fun we had.  When we went to this Rodeo this year my dad was in heaven,  He loves seeing people he knows that still live there and talking to people that know his family.  He could have stayed there all day.  It was a lot of fun to be up there.

Lots of fun climbing trees.

homemade shirts

I bought a bunch of $3.50 shirts at walmart to make cuter shirts like these.  The one above I added the flutter sleeve and the lace around the neck.

Fun bib shirt.

And really cute triple ruffle shirt.  They are to die for on.

Dean's first steps

Little Deanie walks.  He is still crawling most the time, but takes steps here and there.  I love all the fun stages they go through.  I love when they first roll over, then when they sit up, then when they crawl and then when they walk.  I know other moms hate them to become mobile, but I am cheering because my kids are all so much happier when they can move around.  Happy Day!!

Clara's Rainbow Birthday Party

Clara wanted a rainbow party and so did I.  I guess I kind of brainwashed her into doing it because I thought it would be so much fun. And it was.  I was so excited that I got to use my mural for the 3rd time.  My uncle made it for Clara's Tinkerbell party 3 years ago and then I added butterflies to it for Clara's butterfly party and this year I added a rainbow for her rainbow party.  I know my uncle put a lot of hours into making this so I am glad I have gotten lots of use out of it.

I made paper pinwheels

And a balloon banner.  Thanks to pinterest I knew how to do all of these things.  Pinterest has been my best friend these days.

I made applique shirts again with rainbow hearts.

Lots of rainbow food.

Rainbow jello

Rainbow cupcakes

Rainbow fruit kabobs

and Rainbow goldfish

Here is the birthday girl.  She turned 7 this year.  Clara is the best daughter I could have ever asked for.  Since I only have one I am glad I got a good one.  She is so helpful and good at things.  She will clean her room and the upstairs and then bring me up to surprise me.  She is so nice to all her friends and tries to include everyone.  She is still a little tom boy and likes to play boy things and play with the boys on our street, but she still loves girl things too. Like rainbows.  She is always making sure everyone has a friend at school.  Once I dropped her off late to school and she started to walk in and then she noticed a boy by himself over by the locked doors so she stopped and walked over to him and walked with him into the school.  I later asked her who he was.  He wasn't in her class, but she knew his name.  Usually kids don't play tons with kids who are not in their class.  She saw him alone and knew who he was so she didn't want him to walk in by himself. I am so glad she has such a sweet side.

We started the party by decorating their goodie bags.

We made bottle cap necklaces.  I had tons of different little girl images for them to pick from.  Lot's of different hair colors and hairstyles to choose from.

We made rainbow button bracelets.

We ate rainbow jello.

We had a hunt in the backyard kind of like an Easter egg hunt, but with rainbow colored dollar toys.

And opened presents.  So much fun. Another thing Clara does that is so sweet is befriend the kids that don't have as many friends.  Last year when I volunteered in her class I noticed that instead of getting her work done during the station time she spent a lot of the time helping this other kid who has some kind of learning disability.  I was so proud of her, but also worried she wasn't getting her own work done.  This year she told me that no one sits by that same kid at lunch and so she sits by him so he won't be alone. What a sweet girl.  I don't know where she got this side to her, because I was not like this as a child.  I do have a brother that is very much like this though.

Last day of School

Summer is here.  I can't believe it.  Get ready for the craziness to begin.  Our street has 40 kids on it under the age of 12 and so it is going to be full of kids this summer.  My kids loooove our street.  There is always someone to play with.  It has been a good year.  I am excited to not have anywhere we have to go and just do whatever we feel like.