Camp, Camp, Summer Camp. . .

We have been so busy this week. We went blueberry picking a week ago Saturday. We picked 18 pounds. Thanks to our friend Jenny for getting us all started on this annual tradition! We went with a couple of families from our ward and had a great time.



Of course we've had to eat lots of blueberries, with peaches, on ice cream, in muffins, on cereal and salad. . .I need to make blueberry buckle and blueberry pie. One word sums it up. YUM!

The kids were busy this week with day camps. For some reason I thought I would have all sorts of extra time on my hands to get some stuff done around the house. Ha! But I did have a terrific week, even if it was busier than the norm.

Jon participated in Cub Scout Day Camp. The theme was "Pirates of the Cubirrean." I got to go to some of the activities with Jon on the last day. They raced pirate rocket ships and had a program with the typical cub scout songs, skits and jokes at lunch.


Rebecca and Ethan went to Safety Town, a program that teaches all kinds of safety tips to early elementary age children. Kirsten cried when all the kids left on Monday to attend their day camps, but she soon dried her tears and we had a good time at home.



The kids also finished up swimming lessons this week. They have all improved their water skills and should continue to do so as the summer progresses.



On Wednesday I taught a mini class on how to decorate cakes using Marshmallow Fondant.



It was a smaller turnout than I expected, but we were able to pull in all the kids that came to play, and had them decorating cakes with the fondant. I really enjoyed teaching the class.

In the evening while everyone was swimming, I went to our local farmers' market and bought corn on the cob and one of those super delicious watermelons that are sold here during the summer. I can't wait to buy some more melons, they are so good.

Friday I spent the day as our family's chauffeur. Mike, thankfully, dropped everyone off at day camp as usual. I got the little girls ready, then we went to the library to drop off some materials. Then we went to see Jon race his rocket. We saw one of the races, but we had to leave before we could see Jon's race. At least we got to see him with his rocket at camp. Then we left and went to pick up Ethan and Rebecca from Safety Town. They learned about pet safety on their last day. I gave everyone lunch in the van, and we headed over to pick up Daddy. He was asked by our friends to take pictures of their house that is up for sale. The pictures turned out really well. It was also a great excuse to visit our friends for a little while. Thanks guys! We then dropped most of the kids off at another friend's house to play, I took Mike back to work, then headed over to the park to have lunch with Jon and see his skit. He earned a lot of belt loops and other cub scout stuff. We then headed home, picking up siblings on the way. The kids had a couple hours to play and hang out, then Daddy took them to their last day of swim lessons and I headed over to the church for Ladies Night Out. Once a month the sisters in our ward can get together at the church, to play games, eat food and visit. We didn't play games this time, but we did have a good time visiting. I was the hostess this month, which means I had to bring the food. I arrived a little early and had a nice visiting teaching visit, while we assembled s'mores as part of the refreshments. I also had a fruit salad, in a melon basket that I made, veggies, dip, cheese, turkey slices and crackers. It was really nice.

My kids were excited to eat the leftovers on our temple trip on Saturday. Saturday evening, after we got back from our excursion, we headed over to the pool and had a fun time swimming. The life guard was the only other person there. It was great.

Have a terrific week! This one will be (hypothetically speaking) low key.

Hoppy Father's Day!

To all the dads, granddads, grandpas, uncles, and brothers in our lives. We made a toad brownie that we wanted to share with you because you are "Toad-ally Awesome!"



FYI--Mike said it tasted really good.


We got to celebrate Father's Day all week long, starting with last Sunday. We had a special Sunday dinner and Father's Day gifts last Sunday, made "Toad-ally Awesome" brownies on Wednesday, made cards and sang to Daddy at church today, and had another great dinner afterwards. Our daddy had priesthood duties that took him away this afternoon and evening. We love you Daddy and appreciate all of your hard work in providing for our family!!!

I thought this series of pictures was really funny. The more children you get together, the harder it is to get a decent shot. What a great dad to take care of this crew!

Nothin' Says Summer Like. . .

Sittin' in the Pool

The first week of summer we watched a couple kids while their mom went to Girls' Camp. Since we couldn't go anywhere with 2 extra kids, we had lots of fun here at home.

To avoid too much television and video games, we've tried to do some active activities each day. I also put together binders for each of our kids with journal pages to draw and write on, math pages to keep up their math skills, and other pages with fun activities to do based on the kids' ages. We've also been taking lots of trips to the library to pick out books to read. I've also been keeping up on piano lessons with Jon, Rebecca and now Kirsten, to encourage them to keep practicing everyday. I need to make an incentive chart too.

Peanut Butter Playdough

Hands-on activities are always great, especially in the summer when you can make more messes and have more time to clean them up. Play dough, sand, bubbles, chalk, water, water and more water, are all fun things to play with in the summer.

Playin' with Friends

We've been getting together a lot with some of our friends. One day I sent all the kids outside and told them to come up with a play to perform for me. They came up with "Indiana Jones and the Bubbles of Doom." They picked costumes, came up with a plot (imprisoned princesses and pokemon, a scary monster, stolen treasure, Indiana Jones and Jedi Knights to the rescue), I even provided them with bubbles, which somehow didn't make it into the actual production. Anyway, it was a fun play. Once I get Mike to help me edit it, we'll post it so you can see the fun they had.

We've been very busy with swimming lessons, playing with friends, going to the park, sprinkler park, library and neighborhood pool and hanging out at home. Whew!!! This summer is going to vanish before I can catch my breath.
Happy Summer!

Swings

"Oh what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green?" CS 245
My kids love to swing outside more than anything else when they play in the backyard. Look at Jon's belly flop. Crazy kid. It looks like he had a soft landing, thank goodness. If you are prone to motion sickness, don't watch. I should have used a tripod to hold the camera steady. I love it when all the kids are playing happily together and having a good time with Daddy.

Alyssa's Tongue Trick

Alyssa has a very cute pointy tongue. She likes to stick it out of one corner of her mouth and then move it over to the other corner. I think she started doing it to feel her new teeth. Or maybe it just felt good to rub her sore gums with her tongue. Whatever the reason, she has a neat trick!