Summer snacks...

One week into summer break and my kids were driving me crazy. There where always hungry. They were searching the cupboard constantly looking for crackers or granola bars. Every hour. Even less. So I changed my snack approach. I made two separate trays. One veggies and ranch. The other fruit and dip. Any time the "I'm hungry" comes at me I pull one of those out. They devour it! Even better they are full when they walk away. They don't come to me over and over wanting food. Its been great. 

Such a cheese...

Her little personality is just bubbling over these days. She has started saying small words and signs words as well. My new favorite word is "dint-dee" or stinky. She will come to us and say she is "dint-dee". Oh dear we just love her.

Avoid at all costs...

I avoid as much as possible shopping with children. I would rather get up early, go late or get a baby sitter. Every so often I have to go full on grocery shopping with all of them. It took 3 and 1/2 hours to get it done but we did it. And we all came out alive. Can't say I will do it any time soon.

Have you met Harry....

You should meet him. He is great.

One morning after dropping off Bode at school I heard a little kitty crying out the back door. I have a knack for finding stray cats. Seem like I find one every so often. I normally find their home, find a home for them or drop them off at the shelter. So of course I went off in search of the little crying cat. The girls and I walked to the greenbelt behind our house. I found the tree the cat was crying up in and reached up to see if the cat would see me. That's when I saw him. The cutest little orange cat. He hopped right into my arms and started purring. I brought him home. Laine was in love. He was so sweet. We got him some lunch meat and water. I put him in the garage until we decided what to do. I took pictures of him and posted them on facebook on the swap shops to find his home. That night we bough some food and a litter box. The day after that we took down the pictures online. The next day I made an appointment to get him fixed. The next day we named him. I think he choose us. We love him. He is the best little cat. He tolerates the kids. They drag him everywhere. He cuddles them every day and sleeps on their beds at night. He also like to sleep between Jer and I at night. He also play fetch with hair ties. He will bring them back and forth to you over and over. Spare me your cat lady jokes. I admit it freely. We love cats. We also love dogs and will get one some day :)

The world is her canvas...

The older kids are really good at leaving crayons and markers around. Piper is really good at writing all over herself. She especially likes to color on herself in sharpie on Saturday nights so she looks extra good for Sunday.

The last beautiful morning...

The last week in May was beautiful. It was warm enough to swim but not sit outside and sweat. We spent a few mornings eating breakfast outside on the patio. Too bad the first week in June summer really kicked in and 100 degree breakfasts on the patio aren't as fun.

Summer time...

Last day of school...

Bode finished up his 1st grade year in May.

He had a great year. His grades where great, he got straight E's this last quarter. That means "excelling". He for the most part loves going to school. He did have a few pretty convincing fake out days where he played sick...

We go to Grandma Rena's on Sunday to have dinner. In April we managed to go a few Sundays in a row. There are always yummy treats. I always tell them they can try a few but don't over do it. He over did it that night. He spent the night hugging the bowl. He missed 2 two days of school because he threw up in the night. The same thing happened the next Sunday. I limited the treats but he still threw up in the night. Missed school. The next week I was a hawk. They had 1 treat! The next day was Grandma Brooks's funeral and I could not have sick kids! Sure enough early that morning I hear Bode barfing in the kids bathroom. What the heck! He comes in and says, "mom, I threw up. You can check the toilet". He walks away.... I was not fooled this week.  I gave him some pepto and off to school he went. Later in the day Kim asked me if Bode was feeling ok. I told her he was fine even though he threw up in the morning. She laughed. She told me before we were leaving that Sunday night, he was cramming his belly with the veggie tray, chips, fruit and anything else because he said he wanted to be sick so he didn't have to go to school. What a kid. He can make himself throw up. I fell for it 3 weeks in a row. 

An almost 2 year old...

This little gal is a mess. Literally. You know exactly where she was in the house because she leaves little trails wherever she goes. She will be 2 in October. She is really reeving up to be a terrible 2 early ;)

What men do...

What Jeremiah really wanted for his birthday was do go camping with his friends.

They were all excited to go, planned all the yummy food, packed up the truck and headed out.

I hear it would have been really fun except that Jeremiah got sick. Like chills, fever, cough, yuck all over sick.  He came home feeling so yucky. He ended up having to take a bunch of sick days and just slept for days. Not a great way to start off your 30th year. I am glad that his friends went with him. Hopefully they will want to go with him again to make up for the sick camping trip.

30 ain't old...

Jeremiah turned 30 last month.

He told me that he didn't want a big fuss. We kept things very low key. Although I don't think he would have been disappointed if we threw him a party. Guess that will be for the 40th one.

We went out on a date and I forced him to buy new clothes.

On his actual birthday he had to work.

The kids and I decorated with a mustache theme. Jer took mustache may to heart and grew a killer mustache. We went with it...

Happy Birthday Jeremiah!

Just dance...

Laine had her spring dance recital in May.

This one was really cute. She has done 3 of these now and each one is getting better and better.  All the girls in her group knew all their moves. It was fun to watch! I'll have to get the video off of Jer's phone to post. She is so sweet and sassy.

One year down...

Laine finished her first year of preschool.

As with many of the things Laine does, I think she just likes to be in the action.

Not that she didn't learn things but I think she just like to be social and be with people. That is a trait my kids get from their dad for sure.

She grew so much! The first picture was August 2012, the second was May 2013. Such a big difference!

Smile, cry or both...

This picture makes me happy because this 7 year old boy sneaked his fishy blanket into his backpack and brought it to school. Just so he wouldn't miss it. Then on the way home he wanted to run home from the mail box. He took that fishy and make it a cape and ran like a super hero home. He is still young and innocent. 

This picture make me so sad at the same time. I know that soon he won't want his fishy to come with him. He will hide it because it is embarrassing. He won't pretend to be a super hero and fly home. He is growing up so, so fast.

The random happenings...

I walk in on funny things quite frequenly around here. This one made me laugh out loud. This was how I found them when I came to tuck them in one night.

Meditating.

This is not quite as funny to me. She is turning into a little tornado. She knows that drawers hold many fun things. She wants to explore them all. These two drawers used to be so organized with little baskets for pencils, extra hair tie and little odds and ends. Now the entire contents gets tossed on the ground everyday. So if you some to my house and look for a pencil in the junk drawer please excuse the junk. I choose to not organize a single cupboard or drawer until this phase passes. 

The the boys are gone...

The girls will play.

Over Fathers and Son's the girls and I went up to the mall with Aunt Lee and Daisy. Laine had been bugging me over and over to get her ears pierced. She told me we could do it for a surprise for daddy's birthday. She said he would love it! So after playing mannequin in the store window we went down to Claires to get her ears pierced.

She was so brave and sat very still. She didn't cry at all. Her little eyes got big with tears but never shed a drop. She told me on the way home that now that her ears are pierced, she can get married. If I knew those were the rules she wouldn't have gotten them pierced until she was 25.

Peaceful...

Laine is a go, go , go kind of girl. She rarely stops for anything or skips a beat. She more just skips everywhere she goes. That is why I love to catch her in a quiet peaceful moment. She is such a sleeping beauty.

The first taste of water...

Piper had her first taste of the water for the summer. She loved it. I think we may have a little fish on out hands. Have to keep my eye on this little one!

Sunday afternoons...

I have convinced my children that Sunday afternoons are for resting. After we get dad off to work, eat lunch and put Piper down for a nap, we all go to my room and watch a movie on the bed. One on each side of me. It is wonderful. They watch a movie. I get a nap. The perfect Sunday afternoon.

Why must they get so big...

I drop Bode off at school everyday. He is still so very young but has started catching on to things. Things like its not cool to hold your moms hand at school or give her a kiss on the lips anymore. He used to give me big old kisses. Now every time I go to give him a kiss he puts his chin down so I kiss his forehead. It ok, only breaks my heart a little bit. Only kidding...

I still make him give me a hug and a kiss before he gets out. He still grabs my hand when we cross the street. He will always be my baby. The kid that made me a mom.

Oh what do you do in the summertime...

The only way to survive the summer in the desert is to find water.

This was just as it started getting hot. I bought a little pool hoping it would keep them entertained. It worked for a few days. Until Bode got out of school and took up the whole pool. Lucky for us we ended up getting a pop up pool. It has been wonderful. The kids swim all afternoon. I am not sure how we have survived the last few years without one!

Good thing you love them...

This picture was taken on a particularly hard Sunday. My calling as church keeps me on my feet for 3 hours. We rush home to get Jeremiah off to work. Then it is lunch and naps. Piper was just driving me crazy. She was into everything and very cranky. I sat down to eat and she just climbed up next to me and gave me this face. My heart melted. My kids may make me old but I sure do love them. 

Oh to be the baby...

Family...

Last month Grandma Brooks passed away. Her body was done fighting and she went home to our Heavenly Father. Grandma Brooks was a spunky lady. She never once questioned mine or Jeremiah's presents at family things. For that I am grateful. She had an infections laugh and could crochet beautiful things. She made such a beautiful blanket for Piper. Jeremiah always remembers her having diet coke. Her funeral was sweet and simple. I felt like the best thing I could to was be on baby duty for my sister and sister in law. So even though I was in and out changing diapers and walking babies. I enjoyed the stories of her life. She was a neat lady!

Science Center...

We have great friend out here in Surprise. One of our very best friends are the Dixon's. They moved into our pod before we moved last summer. We have kids the same age and we all became instant friends. I really don't have very many close friends. So my friendship with Thyra is very special to me. The Dixson's have a pass to the Science Center. We had a Friday off and they invited us to go with them. The kids had a blast! I for one enjoyed walking around with my friend.  

Lucky ducks...

Right before school got out we had a half day. Grandpa Alex was free so we decided to meet up with him for dinner. The kids and myself got a little spoiled. Grandpa treated them to build a bear and he took me to down east to get a few things. We don't often get spoiled so this was a special treat! The kids sleep with their bears every night. Piper loves hers the most.

Warrior Dash...

This was the second year I did the warrior dash. Its a fun one. I am so not a runner. At all. It pains me to run a mile. One day I hope to run distance races but not anytime soon. I had been running in the mornings with Becca (on the right). She was getting ready to move so we thought it would be fun to do something together. Jaclyn (on the right) moved here this past year, she is Becca's sister in law, and has become a friend of mine too. She used to be our landlord, turned neighbor, turned friend, Primary second counselor, turned landlord again ;) She is moving at the end of the month and again we wanted to do something fun together. Off to the warrior dash we went!

I was not in as good of shape as I was last year. These two ladies pushed me along. It was great, People assume because of my sports history that I am very competitive, That is not even close to the case. I don't really care win or loose most of the time. I just like to be there. Planing on doing this race again!