The Dog Days of Summer

A bunch has been going on so far this summer. I haven't blogged a dang thing though. Partly because for most of it I didn't have my camera with me and I haven't gotten the pictures yet from other people who were there. But here is a little of what we have been up to...

Eating otterpops in the backyard in the little bit of shade that we have. The trees we do have in the backyard, are still kind of small. Melissa has been sewing some more... One little note, that sewing machine was once my great-grandma Steinbeck's. And it still works!

I even let Jenna go somedays without making her have her hair done. I make her brush it out, but she isn't all that particular with getting a nice part on the top. But hey, she's happy, I'm happy!

The kids enjoyed painting one day.

I was surprised how careful Jayden was at it. The only bad thing is I try like mad to get my kids to color on both sides of the paper so that we aren't wasting so much. The three older all hate to do it. Jayden doesn't seem to mind. So he naturally tried to paint on both sides of the paper, but was sad to find that it just doesn't work that way. Thank goodness for washable paints though!

I have noticed that the amount of fights are beginning to escalate between the kids, and I know that I am certainly looking forward to school being back in. One funny note, is Jenna hasn't been sleeping in so much this summer. And hopefully that continues for her with morning Kindergarten.

Peekaboo!

Me Yelling: "Jayden!"

Jayden: "What?"

Me: "Come here!"

Jayden: "I can't!"

Me: "Why not?"

Jayden: "I'm stuck!"

He's not really stuck, just didn't want to get out!

My oldest friend - Melany

Maybe the title should actually be My Longest Friend. Because she isn't my oldest friend in the sense of age, but the friend that I have had the longest. Our Mom's met back when we were just 2 years old. They were friends, so naturally we were friends. And here we are 30 years later... Still friends. She came for a visit recently and brought her family. It was fun to see each other and talk about all the people that we used to know or still keep in touch with.

Here's the two of us:

And our 9 kids... My memories with Melany are many:

• There was the time when we were in Kindergarten together and our teacher had a momentary lapse of judgement and ACTUALLY let us sit next together. We sat there SOOO quietly and SOO nicely as she was rearranging all of the kids so that she wouldn't realize what she had done. Only once she finished, the teacher saw us sitting next to each other and made me move.
• There was another time also in Kindergarten where we were playing in the sandbox with another kids' toy car and buried it somewhere and then couldn't find it. The teacher made us go back out there and look until our mom's came to pick us up and we cried the entire time while sifting through piles of sand.
• There were countless birthday parties, holidays, girls camps and playdates. We used to build entire Barbie cities out in the backyard with roads made from chalk and everything.
• There was the time I was spending the night at her house and there was an earthquake {I'd been threw plenty of earthquakes, but experiencing an earthquake in a two-story was a whole different kind of experience}.
• There was the time my Mom was driving us back to her house and Melany dropped her gum out the car window and we had to go back and get it.
• I still remember having matching red T-shirts that had our names on them.
• Then there was the time that I threw-up at her house after eating several packages of banana now and laters. Then I called home to tell my Mom to come get me and ended up crying on the phone to a guy who I thought was my Dad only to hear, "Look, I don't have any kids." Oops, wrong number.
• There was the time that we thought about quitting going to church because they split the ward right between our two neighborhoods (we were like 6 or 7 years old).
• There was the time we sat on their old couch for what seemed like 8 hours at her next door neighbors garage sale trying to sell the couch, but never did.
• Camping in Yosemite and learning to rock climb. And her Dad driving the wrong way on a one-way road.

I could probably go on and on... 30 years really adds up!

Father's Day (A little past due!)

The day before Father's Day, Steve and I went out and ran a few errands. While we were gone, Melissa got the other kids excited about wrapping Daddy's Father's Day gift. The only paper they could find that had enough to wrap around the gift was some left over butcher paper. However, after wrapping the majority of it, they realized they were a little short. One of the corners couldn't be covered. So they made a bunch of "Father's Day" cards to cover it.

Specer even included two of his favorite Pokemon Cards to cover the bare spot.

Don't they look proud of their gift?

Jayden was sure excited for Dad to open it!

How do you like the bow? They taped a bunch of mini butterfingers (Steve's favorite) and some Hershey's kisses to the top. However, I am not sure if Steve actually ate any of them. I think the kids and I took care of that! His gift was a new ShopVac for his workshop in the basement. He has been using our old vacuum which doesn't exactly do that great of a job. Happy Father's Day Steve! (Even if it is a little late!)