July 22, 2012

   One of the good things about having tile floor in the house is that it's perfect for hippity-hops. These kids hop, hop, hop all around at impressive speed and altitude!

July 21, 2012

  Tonight after the younger kids went to bed I played a game with Shelbi and Sydney.  They could hardly get through the game, they were giggling so much.  I don't know what got into them.  It reminded me of the late nights with my sisters when everything is suddenly hilarious.

July 20, 2012

  Tonight did not go as planned.  Friday night and Jeff was off work.  We had some guys putting rock on our fireplace today.  As they were packing up to leave, I stood back to admire their work.  But what I mostly saw was a fine haze of dust.  They did their best to clean up, but even with the drop cloths and plastic sheeting, dust had settled on every surface of our family room, dining room, kitchen, and piano room.  We spent the next four hours vacuuming, wiping, and mopping.  The really annoying part is that the rock is a three day job.  So I get to do this two more times.  Sorry no picture.  I was too grumpy.

July 19, 2012

   As Jeff and I were coming out of seeing Spiderman tonight, we passed the crowd lined up for the Batman premier.  I've never gone to a midnight showing of a new movie, and am not a devoted follower of these kinds of movies, so I had never seen something like this.  Many people were in costumes, special t-shirts they had made, one guy was wearing a cape.  It's a whole different world to me. 
  Interestingly enough, there were police officers keeping the peace at our theater.  Jeff and I wondered on the way home about how common it was to have police at premiers like this.  The next day I heard what happened in Colorado.  I imagine it will be much more common now.

July 18, 2012

14 years today.  The really remarkable thing is that we were actually in the same state for our anniversary.  Usually I'm visiting Utah and we end up celebrating at a later date.  Of course, we didn't get to go out today.  Shelbi and Sydney were at a church activity so we didn't have a babysitter.  But still.

July 17, 2012

   Tonight's backyard game of volleyball.

July 16, 2012

   Some nights (like tonight) I can feel my frustration and impatience boiling to the top and it's a mad rush to get grumpy kids into bed before I lose it.  By the time they're brushing their teeth, we're so close.  Just a few more minutes...

July 15, 2012

  Does every mom have a secret stash of candy hidden from the kids?  I'm pretty sure that I have the biggest sweet tooth in my family.  Sometimes I just need a little something sweet in the afternoon or after dinner and if I left this out in the open, it'd be gone in a few days.  So here it is, between the nonfat dry milk and microwave popcorn.  So far they haven't found it.

July 14, 2012

  Does anyone else get really excited when they see this?  Not necessarily because it means back-to-school, but because there's just something beautiful about aisles and aisles of pristine crayons, pencils, markers, and notebooks.  I can't help but pick up a few essentials for myself.

July 13, 2012

   Today Shelbi was reminding me of some of the things she used to do in Kindergarten, like asking how to spell everything, or listening and dancing to a "The Little Mermaid" over and over.  It made me really miss 5-year-old Shelbi.  I kindly requested that she go back to Kindergarten this year instead of 5th grade but she flat-out refused.  I suppose that's okay, because now I have this little Kindergartener...

July 12, 2012

  One of my favorite pictures.  In New Jersey we had some friends who were like our girls' fairy godparents.  For Christmas one year they gave the girls oodles of princess and fairy dress-ups.  I don't think the girls wore normal clothes for at least a month.  Here they're watching tv, in their fairy costumes, as if that's a normal thing to do.

July 11, 2012

   Today the kids pulled out every kind of building block we own to make a massive castle.  It really was quite impressive.  Unfortunately all I got a picture of was the mess left afterwards.

July 10, 2012

  Today we met some friends at "Jump and Jive."  This place is basically a big building filled with these bouncy house type things.  Erik spent the whole time imagining he was on Wipeout, trying to make it through the obstacle courses.  As I knew he would.

This blur coming down the slide is Sydney.

I think Ryan liked it.

July 9, 2012

    Every Monday Ryan's chore is to sweep the foyer.  He hates this chore.  You can't tell from the picture, but he whines and cries and insists that he needs help.  I don't get it.  It is the easiest chore of the week.  This foyer is rarely used, so it doesn't get particularly dirty and it's only about 80 square feet.  Silly boy.

July 8, 2012

   Does it get any better than brownie sundaes and watching "Spiderman" on tv?  I think not.

July 7, 2012

   Sydney has decided she wants to be a fashion designer these days. She'll ask me to choose a kind of outfit I want designed and what colors I want it in, then she'll come back a half hour later witht the results.  This pad of paper is really quite clever.  It has very faint outlines of bodies that Syd can design the clothes on and color.  Here is one of her latest creations.

July 6, 2012

   Another great reason to love summer.  If the kids are all outside, soaking wet from playing in the pool, you can toss some pasta salad on a plate and serve an impromtu picnic.  The kids think you're awesome and you get to have a quiet dinner inside with your husband.

July 5, 2012

  This show is a bright spot in the summer tv line up.  Amid the hundreds of cheap, lame reality shows, this is one reason to actually set the DVR.   I usually kind of hate competition shows (ahem, American Idol) but this is full of really talented people. It's never snarky or mean.  It just makes me happy.

July 4, 2012

   For some reason my kids count the Fourth of July as one of their favorite holidays.  We very rarely are visiting family on this day, so our celebration is pretty minimal.  If they knew what the rest of the country was doing today (BBQs, parades, fireworks, parties) they'd probably feel pretty short-changed.
  This year we did manage to set up a kiddie pool on the patio and go to fireworks at night.

I couldn't resist the pigtails.  They lasted about an hour until she remembered they were there and promptly pulled them out.

Because you need goggles in a pool this size.

Light-stick battle while waiting for the fireworks.

Finally dark enough for the fireworks to begin.



Zonked at the end of the night.

July 3, 2012

  A preview of tomorrow's festivities.

July 2, 2012

Apparently we're so boring that after our visitors left this morning nothing else happened that was photo-worthy. 

   These pictures are from July 2, 2011.  If I remember correctly, they were playing "Underwear Wipeout."  Some things don't change that much in a year.

July 1, 2012

  I didn't see much of these boys this weekend.  They kept themselves busy playing with every single toy in the house.  I especially liked watching the two of them swinging back to back, chatting casually.  

  Do you know what else is awesome about having guests?  They insist upon doing the dishes.

Jill picked up this yummy cake in Syd's honor.  Apparently the cake decorator was a little confused by the name "Syddo."

June 30, 2012

This weekend was Sydney's baptism.  We were lucky enough to have my parents and my sister Jill's family here with us.  It was awesome to have a house full of some of my favorite people. 

When we bought this table, we imagined filling up all the spots around it with visiting family.  This happened many times this weekend and it was like a dream come true.

 (I promise I'm not pregnant.)

June 29, 2012

(Upon futher reflection, I realize that what was posted here before wasn't very kind.  Here's a condensed version of the story.)
 

   This is the picture I sent to Jeff at work of our gas meter after the angry plumber plowed into it while trying to run over my bushes.  Karma is real.

June 28, 2012

   Tonight Jeff was working and Sydney was at a sleepover.  The rest of us had ice cream treats from Sonic and watched "Mirror, Mirror."  Both were pretty good.  I made the poor kids sit on a sheet with their treat, but was glad I did because it was covered with ice cream by the time they were done.

June 27, 2012

   This picture is way better than the one I was going to post.