the third week of summer

The third week of summer was a week in which I took no pictures. 

We did a lot of ordinary things. 

I made the kids fold laundry while we did mom time mostly every day. I am reading to them from the book of virtues each day. And telling them over and over again to stop complaining about having to fold laundry while I read to them. I let them take turns reading some passages, too. So their hands got a break while their mouths and minds were working.

We went to the gym a lot. I tried Zumba and a class called Bang. We got the boys a month membership to our gym so they can join us for the rest of the summer. They lift weights with E and run on the treadmill while I go to classes.

I also finished up a two week boot camp trial with a friend. And I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Perry loved every day of his summer camp. 

Kyler, Kacin, and Layla hung out with friends and swam and hung out with me when their friends were out of town.

I took all the kids (except for Perry who was at camp) to the public pool to enjoy a lazy river, big water slides, and a diving board. Brinna didn’t necessarily love the kid slide we sent her down on, but she enjoyed the rest of the pool.

I went to more appointments. 

We looked at a couple of houses. Beautiful ones. Because we are entertaining the idea of moving onto more land. 

My to do list barely got looked at. 

My parents passed a stack of pictures to me. So we looked at those with huge grins. Grins at my cuteness as a baby and grins out of laughter at my awkward stages. 

It was pretty fun sharing that random assortment of childhood pictures with my kids.

Eric had a new promising opportunity come up at work.

And I went away on a pretty spur of the moment girls trip to California.

in which Brinna says no

Brinns is the most easygoing little one there ever could be. She is usually quite happy to go get in the car or take a nap, but this week she discovered the word “no” and the art of running away and “hiding” if she knows we are looking for her or going to take her some place she doesn’t want to go. Hiding consists of throwing herself face down on a big comfy pillow or climbing under her crib or peeking behind the couch. When she’s going to run she gives you a mischievous smile and then toddles those little legs away at double speed. And her “no” is usually accompanied by a big grin. Recently, when it came time for a nap, she told me no and then demanded over and over again “more Kyler.” She snuggled up into the safety of his arms for a few more minutes. But when I stretched out my arms and requested her, she couldn’t resist that either. I gave her snuggles as we climbed up the stairs and she peacefully accepted her blanket and pacifier and quickly drifted off to sleep in her crib. 

the second week of summer

Someone is in the pool just about every day of the week, but on the days I can’t get into the pool with her while everyone else is swimming, Brinns gets this alternative: a bowl of water on the back porch. She’s quite pleased to mix it and pour it and throw ping pong balls into it. And climb inside for a little dip.

We went to see Cinematic Pop in concert at the Mesa arts center. It was a nice night out! 

Two of Kacin’s friend’s sisters had to have surgery. Layla thinks so highly of them and asks me all the time to especially have K come play with her. They are teenagers and more of babysitters to Layla instead of playmate, but Layla just considers them her best friends. When she heard from their brother about their surgeries she wanted to make them a present. She worked hard on cards for them and then gave them pages out of her new sticker book she got for the summer for them to enjoy while they recover. I love this girl’s big heart.

The evenings right now are perfect for the splash pad.

Layla and her friend participated in “The Greatest Show” camp. They had a blast! And it was a spectacular performance at the end of the week.

I got a group of moms and girls together to serve at feed my starving children. 

Eric and the older boys also went on a backpacking trip for a few days. I can’t do much by way of telling you about their trip except to say that it was beautiful, it didn’t go as planned, but they enjoyed the adventure all the same. And Kyler remarked that the dads were as bad as mom’s on this trip and took way too many pictures. I’m so glad they did! I’ll let the pictures do the talking about their adventure.

The backpackers were scheduled to come back Sunday afternoon. Saturday night the moms and kids who were left behind gathered for pizza and playing. I was just about to head home when the backpackers all surprised us and came through the back door. Because of various circumstances they cut the trip short by one day. It was a fun surprise reunion. And then we got to sit together and watch a slideshow of pictures and hear about their adventures. It was a good way to bring the adventure to a close.