Birthdays

No more broken bones this week, so that's a plus.  But whew, these birthdays-right-in-a-row make for busy weeks!

Last Saturday we ran lots of errands and Dan mowed the lawn.  Brooke and Emily came with me to run errands and we got some flowers to take to Mom's grave for her birthday.  It was nice to be there and remember her on that day.  We went to Carrie's in the afternoon to play games and eat dinner.  It was fun.  Megan even beat Dan, Carrie, and I in Ticket to Ride.

Cheesy grin from Emily

The soon to be birthday girls with Em

Happy 63rd birthday to Mom.

Sunday was my turn to teach and I was glad to have Dan at our block with us so he could keep wiggly Emily.  The speakers talked about Elder Palmer's talk from conference--on the rich young man who asked Jesus what he lacked and Jesus told him to sell all he had.  Elder Palmer highlights that before Jesus answered him, the scriptures say "Jesus beholding him loved him"--that we need to strive to see others as Christ does and teach and encourage with love and hope like Christ does.  After church we had family council and implemented a new behavior chart--Brooke has been REALLY hard lately, so I told her that while the chart applies to everyone, it's mostly for her :).  They start everyday on "green" or doing fine and can move up or down throughout the day based on behavior.  If they aren't green or above at bedtime then they don't get to read books, they have to go straight to bed.  We'll see how long we all last at remembering that :). 

Monday we picked up groceries (no bike rides, darn broken arm!) and then Ali watched Jack and Emily while I drove Megan, Brooke, and Candy out to Grandpa and Giagia's house for a sleepover (Molly and Chloe got to come too).  They were SO excited.  And that made for a really nice quite afternoon.  It's amazing how easy 2 small kids feels when you're used to 5!  Jack had a lot of fun getting to pick everything at Family Night.  He picked the songs, picked the prayers, taught the lesson (on Jesus visiting the Nephites), and picked the activity and treat.  He really seemed to enjoy the extra time with us. 

Tuesday was Candy's 6th birthday!  I taught a swim lesson in the morning, took Jack and Emily to the pool for a quick swim, and dressed them (and me) like cows for some free Chick Fil A before we drove out to pick up the girls.  They got to go to the "spa" with Giagia and get pedicures and felt SOOO special.  And Candy and Brooke got to open their birthday presents from Dad and Sally before we headed home.  Candy got to pick a movie for them all to watch when we got home and she chose our menu for the night.  Ali and her family came over after dinner to sing happy birthday and have cake and ice cream.

Cute little cows.

Candy opening presents.  This is a fidget spinner.  They are just little toys that spin and they are super popular with kids--so popular that teachers were banning them :).  My kids have been begging for one for months and she got one from Grandma Aird--so exciting.

Strawberry cake with strawberries in the icing.

Wednesday we swam for a bit in the morning for playgroup and got ready for Brooke and Candy's party.  Most of their friends are on vacation, so they each invited 2 friends over.  Ali watched my other kids and the party girls got to make sugar cookies, roll them out and cut them with cookie cutters, play with cornstarch and water while those baked, and then got to add frosting and sprinkles.  A fun, low stress party.  I took Ali's daughter home and we all ran in to play for a bit before dinner.

The party girls...

Thursday was Brooke's 8th birthday!  She wanted omelettes for breakfast and to go to the 50cent movie and have the "kid snack pack" at the movies (drink, popcorn, and fruit snacks).  So we did that and came home for lunch and quiet time.  After naps we ran to costco to pick up some picture prints to display at the baptism and to grab a take and bake pizza.  Brooke wanted homemade, but that was close enough!  Ali's family came back for another round of cake and ice cream.  

 White cake with chocolate frosting...

Today I did swim lessons for my friend again and then took Candy to get her cast.  The good news is she only has to wear the above-the-elbow cast for 10 days.  After that we can switch to a below the elbow one that will be waterproof--yay! 

We are really excited for Brooke's baptism tomorrow and to spend time with family.  And we are also really excited for next week! Tyler will arrive home from his mission next Thursday and we will spend the weekend up at Shad's lakehouse for a family reunion.

July

We've had quite the week around here.

Last Friday Dan and I got to grab some sushi takeout and watch a movie for date night.  Saturday we got up and we all rode bikes to the park to play for a bit.  We swam as a family that morning too and just enjoyed the day together.

Sunday was a good Sunday.  Megan did well with fasting and even though Brooke was tough, the other kids did well.  My team teacher taught about the word of wisdom.

I took pics before church--Megan was thrilled :)

Monday was fun because Dan worked from home.  We rode bikes and picked up groceries first thing.  The kids all had dentist appointments in the morning and then I took them swimming with Ali's family.  Dan's work let everyone of early at about 2 so we had a nice relaxing afternoon/evening.

Tuesday was the 4th!  We hosted our annual pancake breakfast.  Carrie came up and we had about 8 or 9 other families come over.  It was a lot of fun.  We swam with Carrie in the middle of the day and then she headed out to Dad's.  We had a barbecue with Ali and 2 other families for dinner and stayed there til our kids were ready to fall over.  They all crashed and we did too.

Ready for breakfast

Emily was tired at the pool--she fell asleep on me!

Wednesday we biked early.  Dan worked from home again (woohoo!) since he had a dentist appointment.  I took the kids to the pool for playgroup.  At naptime it was my turn at the dentist, 3 fillings (2 of them were repairs of old fillings)--my face was numb for hours! 

Thursday we biked early.  I took my big kids and Ali's big kids to the 50 cent movie.  We sat with some friends and that was fun.  We had lunch with Ali and came home for naps.  Brooke and Megan had friends over. 

Today we skipped biking and I took my kids to the temple to take pics for Brooke's baptism.  She looked so beautiful!  We went swimming and ate lunch and then I did a swim lesson for Jack and my nephew Luke (he's 4).  They did great.  During nap time I was working on Brooke's baptism announcement when I heard a big crash from the bunkbeds where Candy was having quiet time.  About 10 minutes later, she came downstairs all teary telling me her arm hurt--sure enough, that big crash was her falling off the top bed and catching herself with her right arm.  She was bracing it against her body and I just knew that wasn't a good sign.  So I took the kids to Ali's house and took Candy to the ER.  Aaaand, broken.  tada.  Both bones of her lower arm (radius and ulna).  So she's in a splint for a week and we'll meet with an orthopedist next Friday to get it casted.  Hopefully we can get a waterproof cast like Zach and Owen :).  She was super brave, the ER doc was shocked it was broken with how fine she was acting.  Thankfully she didn't need it set or anything, it was all lined up.  We got back to Ali's as Dan got home from work, so she fed us all dinner and we came home.

At the ER waiting to be splinted, poor baby

End of June

 We've had a fun summer week this week.
Last Saturday (6/24) was rainy and our friends came back from youth conference about 11 am to pick up their kids.  We had a quiet afternoon at home.
Sunday (6/25) was busy.  Dan had meetings most of the day and it was my day to teach my class lesson.  Our Bishop had the whole primary come into the chapel for a few minutes to talk about the sacrament and the purpose of sacrament meeting, so my lesson time was short after that.  It was about D&C 76, the 3 degrees of glory, and Joseph's testimony of Christ.  It went great! I learned some humbling lessons on Sunday.  As we filed in to the chapel, I saw a group of kids trying to sit together that I knew would have a hard time being together and listening, so I quickly asked them to split up to avoid that.  One of the boys (he's 8) ended up leaving the chapel and I later found out that he is having a hard time with even coming to church and he was really upset that he'd been asked to not sit by his friends.  I apologized to him and texted back and forth with his mom a little bit after church and we are ok, but it was a good reminder to be more Christlike--to show love and seek to know the individual before I discipline someone. 
Monday (6/26) started with a bike ride, grocery pickup, and chores.  Then Candy went to a friend's house and my primary class came over for a party.  We played charades, had lunch (they wanted pigs-in-blankets, lemondade, and donuts), played Carcassone, and played some games on the xbox kinect.  It was really fun.  We played with neighbors before dinner and had a nice FHE lesson by Brooke on how we got the Book of Mormon.

Sleepy baby in the car after grocery pickup

My primary class...

Tuesday (6/27) we went to the library for story time and to pick out books and hung out with cousins there.  Megan and Brooke had friends over in the afternoon and we had piano lessons (our last ones for the summer).  After dinner we let the kids stay up late and said goodbye to our neighbors who are moving to Albuquerque. 

There was a rainbow after the rain in the morning!

Our kids and our 2 neighbors--we play with them a lot so we are sad to lose them.

Wednesday (6/28) we went bike riding and did chores and cleaned bathrooms before heading to the pool for playgroup.  Lots of friends were there so that was fun.  Jack is really getting good at swimming all over, taking breaths and jumping and such.  

Thursday (6/29).  6 years since Mom passed away.  And 15 years since Shad and Amy got married.  It's hard to believe how time flies.  We rode bikes in the morning with cousins and then Ali took the big kids to the 50 cent movie and I stayed home with the babies.  They were cute toddling around together. 

My bike buddies

Snuggles on the couch

Candy and Emily were laughing so hard last night--Candy said "look!  Emily is a lion!"

Friday (6/30).  We skipped our bike ride today and headed out about 8:30 am to go to the beach.  We went with cousins to Sylvan Beach (the one that's only like 35 minutes away).  It was breezy and sunny and not too hot and the water felt great.  The kids had a blast.  We got home and stopped off at the pool to let the kids get the sand off a little before coming home for naps.  Dan and I will get a date night tonight so I'm looking forward to that. 

Emily fell asleep on the way to the beach and was OUT!  But woke up quickly to play.

Me and my crew!

 Summertime is a lot of work keeping the kids busy and happy but also a lot of fun.  I can't believe tomorrow is July!