Sunday

Obviously not everyone went to church this week. Yesterday I was super sick all day (still not feeling great, but don't have anyone to do singing time) and today Olivia has a fever. We think she is just getting what I had. So Brian stayed home with her today. I REALLY wanted Luke to stay home with them since I still an not feeling great, but of course he started FREAKING out about wanting to go to church. He got his clothes out, and so I agreed to take him. He was a MANIAC. He normally isn't a maniac. To top it all off he wouldn't go to nursery and I wasn't feeling good enough to deal with it. So he went to Primary with me. More torture. He was actually really good during Senior Primary and sat with Ethan and Alyssa the whole time. It was just a very long 3 hours! HA
So it was a me and the boys church day! When we got home Brian was snuggling Ollie on the couch, which I know she was loving! All in all I am glad Luke came with me and Brian was able to give Olivia 110% of his undivided attention! She deserves it! Also, she wasn't keen on the idea of being in the family picture. When she came outside she said "I knew better then to not take a shower" HA

The good news is that Shark Week starts tonight! Although we try to follow the advice of Tracy Jordan (from 30 Rock) to live EVERY week like it's Shark Week. It is really special when it actually is Shark Week! HA

Back for More

This morning we got up bright and early again to head to the blueberry patch. This time I had Ethan and Olivia in tow. Kai decided he needed his beauty sleep! We went with the Henrie's and my friend from church Tiffany. It started raining while we were driving up, but that didn't deter us! When we got there it was barely sprinkling. We picked for almost 2 hours when it started POURING buckets. We decided we would just take what we had and get out of there. Because of the rain I only got 1 picture of Ethan. Big shocker, he isn't wearing a shirt! We ended up with 14 1/2 pounds which puts our total pounds of blueberries this year at 27. YUM! We have been busying eating, freezing, and prepping them for jam. Why on Earth and I considering going back just 1 more time?

Our Usual

A day at the pool! Luke likes to swim, and he likes the sand box. But what Luke spends most of his pool time doing is eating all the snacks. For hours he will sit with me, eat, run and play a little, and then right back to the food.

Is is just me or do we eat WAY more food at the pool then we would if we were at home?

School then Pool

Luke "helping" Ollie with her math

Lukie and Joshie sharing pool snacks

Before school even got out I made a deal with the children. I promised that I would be ready for the pool to leave the house each day at 11:15, and all they had to do was have their bedrooms "vacuum ready" and have their reading and math done. It is something that I am not willing to budge on and they know I mean business. With the summer more the half over (cry) I am happy to report that we have only missed 1 pool day because those things weren't done. I think those are great odds! It has been a wonderful motivator and something we have all enjoyed! The biggest struggle has been keeping Luke entertained, and not with the TV which just distracts everyone else, while the rest of us are working. The good news is that he usually wakes up between 9:30 and 10:30 which gives us a good chunk of time. Lets just say he is becoming a VERY good colorer! Ha

It's Raining..... It's Pouring

And the children are playing!

Today was a rainy day, which means no pool for us. Instead the children are outside jumping on the tramp, and when the come in we will watch a "surprise" movie. The only thing that is a surprise about it is that I choose it, so there will be no fights!

On a side note Ethan hasn't worn a shirt since football camp started last week. He cracks me up!

Sunday

Headbands

Today I spent all afternoon hiding in the dinning room make these adorable headbands for my sweet little Olivia. In the last few months I have noticed how big Olivia has gotten, how mature she is, and how unready I am to take the giant leap from little girl to big girl. One big thing that I have noticed during this change is that she wants her hair done differently and that she isn't liking the "baby" bows so much. She told me last week that she should really be wearing more headbands, and who am I to argue that! I love you Olive!

Blueberry Picking

This morning I got up at 4:45 am to get ready to pick blueberries, and then I woke Kai and Olivia up at 5:00 am to get them dressed and on the road by 5:20 am. I was so tired and DID NOT want to get up, but I am so glad that I did! We had a wonderful time with our sweet friends picking buckets and buckets of blueberries. I hope that Olivia and Kai will always remember this morning. I hope they will remember how tired they were this morning when I woke them, how much fun they had while they were there, and how yummy their hard work tastes. Just like everything in life , that is worth anything, it starts with hard work. The hard part always precedes the reward.

We left with 12 1/2 pounds of delicious blueberries, minus the ones already in our bellies! I think it was worth it, and so do the children. In fact we are planning on going again and bringing the rest of the gang! So I guess in the end they decided that the reward as worth the hard work! I am so proud of them!

When we got in the car to head home Olivia insisted her bag stay on her lap. Then she fell asleep, and then Kai fell asleep. But the blueberries were always protected!
Ethan had his last day of football camp today, and that is why he didn't join us. I thought 5:00 am was too early for a boy who had 6 hours of football in the blistering heat in front of him. He wasn't pleased with me, not one little bit! However, when I picked him up and the car said it was 103 degrees, I know I made the right choice! Ethan had a great week at camp and got a great "report card" from his coach! We are super proud of him and excited to watch him play this season!
For dinner we ate blueberry pancakes of course. Olivia and Kai wanted them for breakfast, but I didn't want Ethan to feel more left out so we waited for dinner! They were fantastic!

We have eaten and entire bag of blueberries already today!

HOT & HUMID

Today had to have been the hottest day of the summer so far! When we left the house at 8:30am to take Ethan to football the humidity was already thick!

We watched little Ethan today while Emily had a doctors appointment and it is always a blast when he is over here. My children go crazy over him, and just love him to pieces. He wanted to go outside from the second he walked in the door. I hurried to do a quick load of laundry to take him outside. They all jumped on the Trampoline until Emily got back! Seriously, could they be any cuter!

After little Ethan left Olivia, Kai, Luke and I headed to the pool. It was so stinking hot the only thing that made since was to be fully emerged in the water. All day as I was burning up at the pool I felt so bad for Ethan to be out in that nasty heat.

This picture is of Ethan before practice started, happy and dry!

This picture is after it was over and the temperature was 95 degrees, soaking wet and still happy!

I sure love this boy!

The Pool & Chipolte

Today after we dropped Ethan off at football camp the children BEGGED to do to the pool, and I obliged. We only got to play for an hour and a half because we needed to get to Chipolte by 1:00 for Elisha's Birthday Lunch!

I took a few pictures of the children

Then once Olivia and Kai were done eating I gave them my phone to tide them over so I could visit for a few more minutes. Here is a lovely picture of the birthday girl that Kai took!
Of course, what trip to Chipolte would be complete with the self portrait.

The whole group!

Happy Birthday Elisha! Thanks for sharing a little bit of it with me!

Wacky Monday

I came up stairs to go to bed and found Kai asleep in Lukes crib

Luke asleep in Kai's bed

Then woke up to both of them in my bed!

Also, today was Ethan's first day of football camp. He goes from 9-3 and it is MEGA hot and humid out there. The other children and I arrived a little after 2 to watch him in action, and when we got there he didn't have a shirt on! He put it on a few minutes before I took this picture of his team playing Raider Ball.

Sunday

Drive-In

Tonight we headed to the drive in with the Steinhafel's. Both Nate, myself, and all of the children had never been. I absolutely loved it and can't wait to go again! We saw Cars 2 and then the new Pirates movie. Kai and Olivia were asleep before Pirates came on, but Ethan was still going strong as we drove away. I think it was our latest night EVER out with the children. We didn't get home until about 2:30am.

Zoo

We finally made it to the zoo this summer. The children love being at the zoo and could go once a week and still love it! Luke was a totally blast today at the zoo, and was going crazy over all the animals. It is so fun to watch him grow and learn new things, and enjoy himself like a big boy. Even though I still treat him like a little tiny baby! HA

Tigers are the first animals you see when you walk in to park. There is a little cub in the background and boy has he grown since we went in March.

Luke wasn't sure about the leopard. He kept saying "its eat me, mama!" I told him no Lukie he won't eat you, but he didn't believe me at all!
The cute Steinhafel's.
My favs, the elephants.
Here is the baby who has also grown like crazy since we were there last.





Then the best part, watching the elephants get a bath. Here she is laying down, but she did what they told her to do and would switch from side to side, lift one foot then another, face forward and backward. IT WAS AWESOME! The kids loved it.
They really wanted to watch the baby get a bath, she wasn't as good of a listener as her mom, though! HA


Luke has got a serious tan going on!


My boys next to the crocodile. Olivia was hiding behind me once she realized it was real!