Livin' on the Edge

Our summer has been full of some fun stuff. (Except when C decided to walk into the pool yesterday...not fun) The long summer days and nights have been quite full. Here is a sampling of our summer fun.

swimming. Swimming. SWIMMING! 

The girl's can't go enough! Thankfully we have generous friends who don't mind us pool crashing.

 

Camden mostly likes snacking while everyone else swims...

...but he does enjoy the water as long as he is attached to me.

Or being thrown in the air.

The girls love swimming with Papa Joe because he turns into the tickle monster.

hOme ImProVinG

 

The kitchen is so close to being done...so close. I just need two days kid free, but that will never happen so the white paint sitting in my garage for my cabinets will continue to gather dust.

DoOrbeLL DiTChinG

We started a tradition many years ago of doorbell ditching. Sometimes we leave treats, sometimes we leave gnomes, sometimes we leave giant paintings of mountain lions.

FriENd CeleBraTing

YAY! Jessica R was born!

FrieNd & fAmiLy HosTinG

My dearest old school friend, Jen, came for a very quick visit.

This is how we have multiplied and replenished the earth.

It's awesome that our kids are the same age and gender. We couldn't have planned it any more perfect!

 

GraNdmA VisItinG

GK came for a chemo visit.  We are sad that she has to come all this way for chemo but we are so glad that we get to spend some time with her when she comes. This time we got a whole week with GK. I hope our crazy life served more as a distraction than more drama. We love her and she is one tough grandma!

EcliPse WatChinG

Can you believe it took me almost a month to see it!? It was awesome...so much better than the previous ones.

CouSiN PlaYinG

Having built in playmates is pretty cool. (I love that they all have the same summer haircut.) Yay for sleepovers and the playdates that last all day long.

There are never enough hours in the day. With all of our summer fun I still have to tutor, run and work on my book, which makes for very little of this...

...napping only happens when I stop moving enough to realize how tired I am. This day Eden was having a melt down and needed to take a rest. She wanted me to snuggle her...well how could I resist! Clearly I needed a Sunday nap...too bad Sunday can't be everyday. Now I'm off to feed my children and attempt to clean the bathrooms...I get easily distracted on bathroom cleaning days, so not a summer fun activity.

Eden is Seven

Seven is big.

Seven means losing your other front tooth and forgiving the tooth fairy when she doesn't come two nights in a row! Thank goodness your mom knows all the toot fairy rules and can explain why putting a cracker crumb in a box to trick the tooth fairy when you loose yours in a blanket means that she won't come. Good thing you have a seven year old cousin visiting who spots the tooth and you get to try for the tooth fairy another night.

  

Seven means your old enough to have breakfast in bed because you won't make a mess.

Seven means you can swim without a life jacket and just a noodle (or a grandpa).

Seven means you can read all the cards your cousins and sister made for you.

Seven means you have even more candles to blow out...

...and your very own cake to eat.

Seven means you ask for a skateboard, and only a skateboard for your birthday. This makes your parents crazy because they think a skateboard is completely ridiculous but since that's all you asked for you get it anyway.

(So Edes got her skateboard, a bed lamp and some polly's. I believe in showering my kids with affection instead of gifts, so when they want something as bad as Eden wanted that darn skateboard I had to give in...Honestly all we need is one more thing that can cause bruises and scrapes. She also got some money from her grandparents which brought her way more joy than I ever expected. )

Seven means you plan your own "scooter" themed birthday party.

The Invites

The craft (a license plate)

The Activity

Unfortunately your mom veto's the scooter obstacle course down at the park idea and has you go on a scooter scavenger hunt around the neighborhood instead.

Seven means that you have watched enough Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss to really believe that your mom can make a scooter cake.

Thankfully seven year old eyes think this version is just as cool as Buddy's and Duff's.

The Rest of the Party

Seven means your mom is happy that her little girl is growing up. It also means your mom gets a lump in her throat when she watches you toss the baby dolls aside and chose hip hop over ballet. Seven means second grade. Seven means only one more year until you are eight. Seven means mommy is getting old and time is going by way too fast...

...WAY...

...TOO...

...FAST.

Happy Birthday to my big seven year old Edee!

May this year be full of fun learning experiences and a LOT less tattling....

(This is Eden's favorite song "And we danced anyway" by Deana Carter)

Fourth of July...yes I realize this is late.

We went to Oregon for the fourth, it was good times...GOOD times!
Here is the recap.

"Fire"works...Real fireworks.

There's nothing like real fireworks on the fourth. We have been deprived of our sparklers for 10 years now because of our lame fireworks laws. So if we want to live it up we have to go to Oregon.

C enjoyed watching them from a distance while Aric gave us some great commentary...

 

The photo op that wasn't.

I tried so hard to get a good fourth of July picture and this was the best shot I could get...

Here are a few of the out takes...

Abuelita "Nandez"

Since my mom's house is not big enough to house all the peeps Aric, C and I decided to crash at my Abuelita's house. She ate Camden right up and he loved every second of the attention.

She would take him out for long walks, she would let him fall asleep in her bed while they watched Telemundo together, and she would cook him up whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it. It brought back some great memories...except there wasn't Telemundo back then so we would fall asleep watching Dallas or Solid Gold.

She spoiled Aric and I too, she made us amazing meals in fact she refused to be out done by Mazatlan...they are a local Mexican restaurant who make the best fajitas, I have to get me some every time I go back home...SOOOO YUMMY!

So she made a special batch of fajitas just to show me that she was still number one...there are no pictures of those babies because I was to busy INHALING them!

Love these people too!

Besides the fajitas....I love going home because that means I usually get to see some of my relations that I don't get to see often. Like my brother Eric (AKA Rico), this guys is so awesome, I still can't believe my little brother grew up to be such a great man.

This is my niece Zoe. We rarely get to see her because she lives so far away. She is growing like a weed and now her feet are a full size bigger than mine...

Pochito, yes that is his name...sorta...that's another story for another day. He is my little cousin. He is so crazy and he lights up a room and fills it with loudness.

He loves Camo, he seriously could not be more than a few inches away from him at all times. It was hilarious!

It is always a treat when my Tia Ines shows up. Everybody needs a Tia Ines in their life! Camden can't get enough of the Tia love!

   

Here she is instigating the group "hill rolling". Evelynne and I had been telling the girls all day to stop rolling down the hill but Tia Ines decided that we were being too fussy so she showed us!(notice she is the only adult doing the hill roll)

 

Nothing screams the Fourth of July like a pull up contest!

    Here are me and Aric showing off our stuff...I was only able to do one because I had a dress on.

Andy and Evelynne...Ev and I tied.

 

Here's Joe and my mom. Joe rocked it for an old man, and my mom well...let's just say she hung on real strong.

Even Camden got in on the contest!

Here's the whole crew that participated...I smell a new tradition.

RoaD TrIP...3+ hours UGHHH!

Can I just tell you that this is the best sight EVER! After three hours of a crabby, high pitched squealing baby, we were done with this road trip. The last 20 minutes we had to sing "Give Said the Little Stream" (lovely Mormon classic) It's the only song that kept him from screaming so we all took turns singing it. It was lovely.

We knew we were in the Inland NW when this truck drove by. The sticker says "Control Your Children NOT MY GUNS".  The guy saw me make gun signs with my hands and Aric thought he was going to run us off the road.

So there you have it. Our fun fourth of  July. Now I can go to sleep without this post looming over me. It is done.