Summer fun...

We've had fun these past couple of weeks. We went to our nephew Jonas' first birthday party. It was a fun time. The kids really had fun. They had a couple of pools set up and the sprinkler going under the trampoline. They had a green floaty thing that Liam and Jonas were playing on. This is just before they tipped into the water.

Liam practicing his high jumping skills.

Erin liked just getting into and then out of the pool.

Here we are at the parade. We were lucky enough to get a shady spot on the West side of the street. I've got to say, people are pretty touchy about their parade spots in this town. SETTLE DOWN PEOPLE!! It's Just a Parade!! The kids had fun, as did we, it did get a little hot toward the end, but thanks to April's trusty umbrella, we were made in the shade.

Here are a few of the things we have been doing this summer. Going to the park...


More Jonas' birthday pics.

Ah, the perils of learning how to dress yourself. I hear the phrase "No, me do!" a whole lot lately. Miss Erin thinks she can dress herself. She has been partial to Liam's clothes. She likes to put underwear on over her pants.

This was an attempt at putting her shirt on. Inside out, backwards and the holes in all the wrong places. She didn't want it fixed though, so she went most of the day like this.

I did get my quilts done, all but the levi quilt for Erin. I need to get started on that. As you can see, Liam wanted flames (he did want skulls, but decided on flames.) and Erin picked out her purple bugs and flowers one. They turned out okay. I tried a new way of sewing them together before tying them so they are already bound when you're done tying. It worked pretty good! Thanks Mur for the advice.

In sickness and in health...

We have been sick here at our house. Again. We went home (my home where I grew up will always be home I think) for the fourth of July and I got a sore throat. It was the worst sore throat I've ever had. I couldn't swallow or eat or anything. Finally after about a week, I went to the Dr. because it just wasn't getting any better at all. He looks in my mouth and says "Oh, that's thrush!" Yes, thrush was the culprit. I had nice white horrendous spots all over my mouth and tongue. We have pics, but I figured no one wants to see gross spots. He gave me an Rx for a pill (yes, only one pill, isn't that cool?) and I am just now starting to feel better. It still burns a little when I drink water and hurts when I yawn, but other than that, I'm feeling tons better. Then, about three days ago, Liam lays down on the couch and groans "Mom, my tummy hurts, I think I'm going to die. Maybe we should go to the doctor." So I assess the situation and happen to look in his throat and there are those stupid little white spots. Off we go to InstaCare and the doctor doesn't believe it's thrush. "It's EXTREMELY rare for a four year old to have thrush" he says. He says this about ten times and then finally concedes that it, in fact, is thrush. Liam is still taking medicine for it. We are on the mend though Hooray for that!!

Projects

I decided I needed a project, so I decided to redo the boy's dresser. It was a wooden dresser with lots of scratches and dents...



So I took the old ugly hardware off, sanded it, painted it, topcoated it and sanded it some more and it turned out like this...


It's not shiny, the pic just makes it look that way. I thought it turned out pretty nice. Liam wanted it rainbow colored, but settled for red. My next project is to make quilts for both of the kids' beds. Erin also needs a levi quilt.

Special Day

Liam usually gets three stories read to him at night. On Saturday, Liam and I had the following conversation:
Me: Buddy, you're going to lose a story and only have two tonight.
Liam: No mom, I get four!!
Me: You only get four on special days.
Liam: But today is a special day, remember mom the song? (starts singing) 'Saturday is a special day it's the day we get ready for Sunday...'
He got four stories that night.

Festivities

We had a good 4th weekend. We went to my parent's house and had lots of fun festivities. Sparklers were a big hit.

Helping Grandpa fix the sprinkler system.

Licking the beaters after helping Grandma make a cake and frosting Yum Yum!

Cute Owen sitting up.
We hardly ever get Erin to smile in pictures. I thought this was a cute one. We had loads of fun at Grandma and Grandpa's. Liam even got his teeth cleaned for the first time. He liked the dentist's chair and got to wear cool sunglasses so the light wouldn't get in his eyes. He did a great, great job. He sat really still and wasn't scared a bit. Thanks Linda for doing that for us!! We went to the parade, saw my cute nephews in the band, and on the 1st place soccer float (Way to go Gio!!), had a BBQ, played with sparklers, ate lots of yummy food, played, visited and just had fun. It was way too short, but we had a good time. We drove home and Erin wouldn't get out of the car because she wanted to go back to Grandma's house. We weren't about to drive three more hours, so we pulled her crying and screaming into the house. Liam carried a picture of them around this morning because he "missed them". I wish we could see them more often. It was also fun because five of the eight of us (my brothers and sisters) were out there and we got to see them. My nephews and nieces are getting so big! It's crazy that some are on missions, some are off missions, some are getting ready for missions, etc. etc. etc. It makes me feel old. My oldest nephew turned 24 while we were there and we celebrated his birthday. Crazy I tell ya! I used to change his diaper!!! Hope everyone had a fun weekend.

Liam and Erin loved the swingset.


Me and Erin swinging...

We went to the parade and there was a fly-by. It was pretty fun. A few years ago, they would fly so low, your chest would rumble and your ears would hurt. They must have had some complaints because they don't do that anymore. It's still neat, but just not as cool.

Oh Yeah!!! Dinosaurs ROCK!!

Playing with sparklers. What a good daddy Cam is!