Lite Brite Kitty

Put a new lightbulb or battery in an old toy and your kids will "rediscover" how much they like it. I've been trying to leave out fun toys for them to play with more often this summer so I can avoid hearing the dreaded "there's nothing to do" complaint. Although I'm often tempted to say- oh, I'll give you something to do (then assign them an odious household chore).

Run Run Run!!!

All the kids and Jeremy ran the mile for the local Whaling Days race (James ran a kids dash). They did a fantastic job. Carter and Madison both finished fourth in their age categories. Madison had her best mile time ever- 7 minutes 10 seconds! My kids enjoy being speedy- they've all been training since just after they could walk.

Swim Lessons for the James Fish

James has been taking his first swimming lessons on the base with a classfull of cute girls- lucky boy! He can't completely swim on his own yet, but he's getting closer and closer. He couldn't take any lessons last summer because he had a skin problem going on and couldn't swim in public pools, so we're a bit behind in his swim skills... but he loves the water so he'll catch up eventually.

Girls Camp Adventures

Madison and I had tons of fun at girls camp this year. It was her second year going and my first year since I was 13. I got to be a cabin mom with my friend Thelesa and our cabin was the totally radical "Ninja Turtles". The theme for camp was YW- Heros in Christ and it was a great experience for the girls. The leaders put in so much effort to make camp a spiritual and fun experience for the girls and I'd say it was a huge success in both ways- at least for the wonderful girls and YCL's we had in our cabin.
I'm so glad Madison wanted me to go to camp with her- I loved it! Oh and a big big big thank you to Jill, Cori, Lisa, and Cindy who helped watch my boys while Jeremy was at work so I could go to camp with my Madison.

Manly Men

I don't remember whose idea this was but it was fun! A bit of silliness is good for the soul. I wonder if this is a preview of the facial hair we'll have when we're old ladies... That's a scary thought!

James has his baby...

Being so cute and having a baby of your own can be exhausting! James has been saying he has a girl baby in his tummy for months and she came out on the fourth. The baby doll in his picture is what his baby looks like. I can't believe she was in his tummy bc she is huge! Congratulations James (hee hee hee)

Bump

The baby bump is a-growing. I can't wait to celebrate his freedom next month!

Fanning the Flames on the Fourth

Well, we hunkered down inside to escape the heat on the fourth of July this year and played cards and games with our fun family in CA. No one complained too much about missing the fire in the sky, but we did have fun with poppers outside that night.

Tower of Power

Jeremy and the young men in our church lashed together this tower in our sideyard to pass off a pioneering merit badge requirment for Scouts. James had a fantastic time "helping" the big boys!

And where were Carter and Grant you ask.... They flew off to CA with Madison on the 22nd for some quality Grandma time. It's been really strange without my whole crew of kids around. They'll be loving this tower when they get back up here.

AR Champs

Carter and Grant both got gold medals for the 10-11 school year Accelereated Reader (AR) challenge- Hooray for my readers!!! Grant also got the highest number of reading points for all the 1st-3rd graders at his school (those Harry Potter books are worth alot of points).