"Wow"

"That was just about all they could say, Wow". This tagline from one of my favorite children's books, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, by Kevin Henkes and it pretty much sums up my July.

We spent most of July working on art projects. The kids went to their grand parents house for a week and my cousin Jeanna from Nevada came for a week as well as my cousin Ivy. We had Tricia camp, and it was a blast! I made a mosaic and a cool bracelet and we did a murder mystery dinner party. I was Wilma Winterflood and I was posh (that is a fancy word for fancy). I excelled in all the social graces as well as tapestry. (I will add some pictures in here at some point.) Getting ready for this special event was such a wonderful time, I did most of my cousins makeup and hair, it was a neat bonding experience.

We had a week at home, in which I started a new semi-full time job, doing daycare out of my home for a few weeks. Then more family came into town, my cousin Tiffani and my aunt Polly. We had pool party after pool party and did another fancy art project. I never knew myself to be

such an artist! It was certainly fun dabbing into the world of creativity for a few weeks.

Then this past weekend we headed south to visit my brother for his birthday. It was sort of like FuToN weekend only there were more girls and for a few hours there was no one was playing a video game. I don't know how the XBOX handled being neglected for 2 whole hours, but it (they-

afterall there were 3 XBOX's set up!) worked just fine after the majority of the guests went home. After a fun party we headed back home for another pool party! This one included two of my great aunts and a bunch of extended family. It was a wonderful time.

Then on monday we said goodbye to aunt Polly and now we look forward to a quiet August! Yeah right! It has been crazy busy, but a great time. I enjoy having such a large family, there is never a dull moment! Through it all the kids and Tim have been great, I am feeling very blessed to have such great kids and a wonderful husband.

How Big is Felicity?

SO BIG! This little trick never gets old, however, Felicity has modified it a bit. Instead of lifting her arms on her own, she looks at one of my hands, grabs my index finger, very dramatically turns her head in search of my other hand and grabs the other index finger, then proceeds to lift up her arms and smile with the cheesiest smile ever! So Big and so cute!

This is her with Bethany on the slide.

Summer Thus Far

I was updating my profile and pictures on the side and I saw all the pictures I took with my blog in mind. It is kind of funny because early on in my blog writing I had stories but not pictures, now I take pictures for the blog but never write the story that goes along with them. Oh well.

As I mentioned in my post earlier today, we have been on the go this summer; from the zoo, to park day, to wading pools, back to the zoo, to picnics, to fashion shows and then to the zoo and wading pools again! Man, have we been staying busy! Just yesterday Ronni was telling her daddy at dinner, "I had A LOT of special blessings today, I got to go to the pool and have chocolate milk from McDonald's, that is a lot of blessings..." It was really funny. Anyway, here are few of the pictures from our crazy-busy-fun summer thus far!

Works For Me

When my kids have had an overdose of fun and can't seem to figure out the proper way to act even after we have exhausted our normal form of discipline we resort to a last ditch effort, which so far has worked pretty well. It is called blackout. I learned of this term through Dr. Ray and my sister. Basically the kids know that there is a possiblity they could go into blackout when they misbehave. Blackout is a time in which they have to sit quietly without any special blessings. If they get one stick, it is 1 hour, 2 sticks 2 hours, 4 sticks equals a whole day. I use the stick so there is something tangible to help them understand what happened and it marks when it begins and when it is over.

For anyone who wants to know what my blackout system looks like:

Who's Your Buddy Who's Your Pal?

PAPA!! Even Felicity thinks so! She loves the camera so it took her a while to say it, but as I was picking out the video to put on here, each time I asked in the video, she answered! SO stinkin' cute!!

The Pricelessness of Tea Parties

I was invited to tea today, and after putting it off while I looked at three different facebook pages and one status update, I knew I didn't want to put it off any longer (and I didn't want her to have to ask me again). So I joined my two princesses on the porch for a tea party. I tried to sit across from Ronni on the couch, but that just wouldn't do, the little Miss Kitty chair was evidently the spot reserved for me, it is amazing how well those chairs hold up! We had a delightful tea. I nearly choked on a grape, the tea was a little bland for my tastes, and my English accent wasn't impressing her, but all in all it was a wonderful time. Sitting on the chair in the porch with Felicity on my lap, happy, and Ronni next to me, smiling sweetly, I wondered why we didn't do this a little more often. Normally, when Peyton is taking a nap I am also laying down, or doing laundry or cleaning or balancing money or... you get the point. Anyway, today I participated in a tea party, and I truly enjoyed it.

The title for this blog could have been We Survived. Tim had another FuToN weekend this weekend. This time it was in the same town we live in so it wasn't as much of a burden as when he is out of town. Friday we went to the Zoo, had ice cream from McDonald's and a movie night, Beauty and the Beast. Saturday I went over to my mom and dad's and helped them clean out their garage. It is funny, we were supposed to have a deck painting party, I thought that would be a bit strange considering it was the last FuToN weekend that we surprised them with painting their upstairs! Alas, it rained so we didn't paint their deck, but we were able to clean out their garage and organize the cupboard under their sink (both are no small feat). Then my mom offered to keep Peyton over night, so that was a special treat for him, he had a golf lesson with papa on sunday, always fun!

This week has already been full of excitement. Today was the first day of Vacation Bible School. I was mortified when one of the teenagers helping asked me if Peyton knew how to listen! So it hasn't exactly started off on the right foot, but I think he may be sick, so that explains that a little bit. My brother in law Sven passed his boards so he may officially practice nursing in the state of Iowa! Congrats to him. Tonight, weather permitting, we are going to go and see Rich Hardin do a rehab start with the Iowa Cubs and then with 4 days of training coming up later this week, this week promises to be pretty crazy, but I am sure we will survive that as well!

Growing Up Fast *Updated*

The children in this household are growing up pretty quickly these days. Ronni has decided she wants to be a nun (with some positive peer pressure from her cousin Bethany). In fact, she announced it at the Aldi checkout and I am sure I got more than one shocked look, especially when the two girls were jumping up and down saying, "We can go to the same convent and we could be sisters!!" Peyton has also decided he wants to be a nun, we have explained that only girls are nuns, and boys can be Priests, but he is still pretty insistent, we'll see. Felicity is a mover and a shaker, that is for sure. She is grabbing life by the horns! She loves crawling and loves eating and loves being awake at 5:30 am and loves her siblings and her daddy- did I mention she is awake, for the day, at 5:30. That is the only bit that I am not loving. It is so sweet to see her so excited about life, she can brighten up the darkest day with her sweet smile, we are so thankful for her.

This past weekend was a whirlwind for us. My sister was an intern for the Principle Charity Classic and hooked us up with some pretty sweet tickets. We took the kids on Friday, all in all they did pretty well. There was one little hang up when Peyton fell and scraped his knee and wouldn't stop crying, one of the tournament helpers came running down the stairs to where we were by the portapotties, cookie in hand, asking me if it would help get him to be quiet, you would think, but it took a few second of convincing him he wanted the cookie/shoving it in his mouth before the crying actually stopped, I was mortified! But we moved on and the rest of the day was great. We came back, childless (except Felicity, thanks to my Aunt) on Sunday and got to watch the dramatic 4 hole play off! It was great fun! (thanks Kaela!)

I was helping with First Communion at our church, so Tim (the rockstar he was all weekend) took the kids to the Zoo to see Duck from Word World, a really neat television show on IPTV.They had a great time.

They also got their faces painted. The last time Ronni got her face painted, she had a spider web all over her face and she called herself spider-girl...

We are looking forward to an exciting summer. In addition to the zoo, and the pool and the lake, we have lots of summer activities planned. I just hope the weather will start cooperating. I actually like warm weather, and I am so looking forward to the temperature rise! To give some of you an idea... Tim had his space heater in his office on this week. It is JUNE!!! That is crazy. I hope all of you have a great summer!