Movie Night!

So...I thought I was all caught up on the blog, and then I found my camera and downloaded pictures dating back to Easter...so it looks like I still have some work to do :)

I found this one:

It was Kayte's entire 5th grade class.  Some of Joe's and my fondest memories from growing up was movie nights with friends, and it seemed time to get that party started!  This is a super fun class, and I am looking to many more years of these people camped out on my couch :)

Pinterest Phenom

Sara made up this little sock doll all by herself!  She stuffed the bottom of the sock with cotton balls, tied the end with a knot to make a ponytail, added a little sharpie, and voila!

So creative!

Ben:

So Ben thought the 4th of July might be a gift-giving holiday, what great holiday isn't?  I told him that it wasn't actually, but he insisted that he had gifts for everyone.  So he gathered a few of his precious treasures and passed them out. 

I got this:

It is Ben.

You can tell it is a small boy, because of his short hobbit legs, that's how you know.

He said that this little fella would keep me company this year while he was away at school. 

"See Mom, you won't be lonely and have to eat lunch all by yourself!  You can eat with this little guy...it will be just like me!"

Where are the tissues hiding all of the time????!



Flashback

I literally spent this entire Thursday updating and refreshing my blog...things have gotten away from me recently and once the avalanche starts there is really no good way to just pop in.  So I cleared my schedule and had so much fun going over the last three months.

And to reward myself for all my hard work, I dug through some of the oldies and this one caught my eye:

A little two-day old, jaundiced Ben and I get baby fever almost instantly.  Look at those precious cheeks!



First Boating Day of the Year!

We found out that the Driskills were headed to Dworshak and we didn't want to miss the opportunity to meet up with them, and talk my sister into teaching my kids to ski!  Who knew that it would be Kelly who would take on that title??

My kids were more than reluctant to learn, which makes it a pretty tough job.  No success this time around, but the summer ain't over yet!

After we wore ourselves out with that exercise, we moved onto swimming and speeding around on the rocket.  The day was HOT and the water was perfectly cool...

Sara was actually with us that day, but she spent most of the time on Ed and Kelly's super-fancy boat with Jemma Jane, instead of our old dingy one :)  And managed to stay out of the camera's limelight....

I cannot wait to go back!!

Jammie Ride!

Kicked off our 3 day weekend with a jammie ride in our new truck to the theater to watch How to Train Your Dragon 2.  One of us whooped and hollered through the fight scenes and cried when tragedy struck.  

So.fun.

Makin' jam.

Will was pretty excited about making jam....he'd picked a whole bunch of strawberries at his Grandpa Dave's house and we found a no-fail recipe on line.  Turns out, newbies can pretty much fail at anything.  All the reviews on the recipe said that you had to make sure you cooked it long enough or it could be too runny...up to two whole hours!  So we doubled the cook time from 10 minutes to 20 and cooled it off overnight.  In the morning, we made a batch of biscuits and pulled out the jam.

Hard as a rock.  Harder, if at all possible.

So we honeyed our biscuits, tossed the jam, and readied ourselves for raspberry season...

Ooo, we did manage to make a good seal, though.  I thought that was a huge success!  :)

Just hangin' around...

We are enjoying these hot summer nights!



The Fourth of July

Our fourth was pretty relaxing this year...we slept in, hit the pool, and then headed out to my mom's house for a big.huge. party!  So fun!

Coordinated.  Check.  Looking at camera.  Check.  Smiling.  Check check!

Such cuties!!

Festive, aren't we??  :)

This kid kills me.

Lots of food.  Lots of people!

 

As you can see, the fireworks have started, and some of us are none too pleased.  I'm with Henry.  This is certain death...someday.

J. Crew?  In the flesh.

Firework spectators.

Boys will be boys...

Ten minutes after the fireworks stop popping, this kid is still holding his ears....

...still holding....

.....there is debris left to start on fire.

We headed out early for the fireworks in Pullman, and the kids danced and danced and danced....and the show was really amazing...it was a perfect night!