What do you get when you mix...

Baseball
Volleyball camp
Basketball camp
Basketball practice
The edge (sports training camp)
Friends, both new and old
Family
Vacation bible school
More basketball
Sprinklers
Fountains
Garden picking (and immediately devouring)
Pools
Fishing
Lawn mowing
Impromptu beach trips (how lucky are we that it is completely acceptable to head to the beach for only half of an hour?)
Lazy mornings in bed (it's almost 11 and I'm still in bed, Lila is napping next to me)
Doctor appointments
Dentist appointments
Laundry
Summer stretch (aka forcing one child to read once in a while)
 And throw a few birthdays in the mix...
 What do you get?

Summer!
And, I wouldn't change any most of it!

 I would love to squeeze a bit of family time into the mix... A short vacation would be great, but we will have to wait and see I guess. It's likely that is just a dream!

 I reset the timer in my car to see how many hours I spend driving in a week... I have until Thursday evening to complete a week, I'll let you know. I'm expecting a significant portion of my life is spent behind the wheel!

Spotted... w/ Bailey's camera

Us!
Landon's artwork (and shadow)
Camping
Matt took naps with Lila by the pool while the rest of us swam in the "morning" Ummmm, is it chicken, steak or pork??? (The answer was pork)
Before going for a boat ride
Doesn't that life jacket look comfy? She screamed the entire way through the "No Wake" zone, and then once we could GO she fell right asleep!
Matt took the older kids fishing one day... E didn't do much fishing.
Oh Bailey!
Me and my baby boy! (He'll always be my baby) There was very little makeup used that weekend, obviously!

We camped...

we conquered! We survived our first official camping trip as a family of 6! It wasn't to bad, Lila wasn't great, but it's not completely her fault. I wanted to sit by the pool and relax, not rock her to sleep and hold her while she napped. And sit by the pool we did! It was lovely!



Just one picture to share until I can get caught up on editing enough to feel ok about sharing others!

Changes

I'm sitting here at almost 10pm listening to my daughter scream. She's screaming for many different reasons. One, she is in her own bed. Two, she is tired. Three, I'm not holding her. Four, she's not in my bed. Five, I'm not holding her. Six, apparently she didn't like the burrito I had for lunch today. But then again, most of what I eat doesn't agree with her tummy.

I'm determined right now to get the girl to sleep. She will fall alseep eventually. Right? Ahhhh, why does this have to be sooooo difficult. (Yes, I'm using this for therapy right now so I don't go crazy listening to her scream, b/c I could very quickly loose it and go CRAZY).

I'm thinking that I will soon have a Medela Breast Pump for sale if you need one, or know anyone that does. My body apparently doesn't want to produce much milk anymore. Not sure what the problem is there. It does make me sad to think that I will never have that bond with a baby again. It's not for everyone, and never in a million years did I think nursing would be for me, but there is something about it when she's eating and looking in my eyes, knowing that I'm the only one that can do that for her. It has definately created a bond between me and my children. Which isn't always good. Sometimes the bond is to tight. But they all seem to have adjusted well as they age.

We leave for camping tomorow and I have yet to pack one thing for myself. I got the kids all packed today, towels are all packed and Matt is getting groceries as I type. I did get all the laundry done today! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, she's sleeping, one hour after we started, Elliot's almost asleep... maybe. It's almost time for me to go to bed! By myself. In my bed, alone! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, things have been super super busy around here. Our whole summer was busy. Crazy busy. Before having Lila we didn't want to make any plans to do anything this summer. We just didn't know how it would even be possible. Buc come mid June we were really really regretting that decision. So thanks to Matt's brother we are headed out camping this weekend. Should be fun, interesting at the least. I'm just thankful we are able to get away. Unfortunately no one was able to take the last minute trip with us, so it's just us. We've never gone camping before, just us. Should be fun! Packing and unpacking on the other hand... not so much.

I have been busy taking pictures. Which I absolutely love to do. I've tried limiting my sessions per week, but am not succeeding all that well. Oh well, I can do it, this to shall pass and winter will be here before we know it and I will be bored out of my mind again, suffering from cabin fever.

The kids go back to school in only 4 short weeks. In some ways I'm ready, but in many many ways I'm not. I love having no reason to be up and out of bed at 7am, no reason that I have to get moving. We are normally all in bed until at least 9am. Once school starts that will all change. Landon will have to leave the house at 7am if he's riding the bus or 7:25ish if Matt's taking him. Bailey get's on the bus at 8ish. Last year they kind of got ready together and went out to the bus together, I have a feeling I'm going to have to be a bit more pushy with B this year to get her there on time. She's not a quick mover. I have them jobs this morning which should have taken 1 hour max to get done, 4 hours later, she is just getting done. Good grief. Drives me CRAZY!!!!

Off to put the young middle boy to bed and feed the baby and then edit edit edit!

Waiting for the fountain

Here's how the morning went...

Me: "Kari and Mayci want to go to the fountain with us... ok, sure see you there around 10ish"
Me, E and Sadie (and Lila) arrive at fountain just after 10... it's not on.
Me (on phone): "Kari, it's not on... ok you want to go as in the store... sure, I'll sit with my kids, you go ask"
Kari: (asks at store/bank, they say maybe 10:30, or 11)
Me: (bright idea bulb goes off...) Maybe the fountain is motion activated. "Elliot go run on the fountain to see if it turns on" "Nope, that didn't work"
Sadie & Elliot look in the holes to try to find water... again, no luck

Looking in stagnant water fountain, spitting in the fountain, contributing to the nastiness (but looking oh so cute for a picture)


Me: Let's walk to the Peanut Store to waste some time
(Walk, walk, walk)
(Purchase candy at the Peanut Store)
(Walk, Walk, Walk)

Oh, the story goes on and includes stopping at one other store, a phone call to the bank, a phone call to the city, stopping various employees of various local restaurants, an employee of the USPS (none of which had answers)... more waiting, more waiting, more waiting and finally giving up, without ever seeing a drop of water being released from the fountain.

We'll have to try it again another time. Bummer!


This week has been super-d-duper busy. CRAZINESS. Bailey has been at day camp all week (spent the night last night), Landon has kept busy with various activities, including Baseball and VBS, I've helped at VBS 2 nights, Matt and I went to an open house last night, and tonight he is cleaning up tree's in the yard. Our yard is still a huge mess, sticks EVERYWHERE. Tomorow is a baseball scrimmage and then on Sunday Landon leaves for camp for a few days, returning the day after his birthday. Guess we'll have a party the next weekend. Or not. Who knows.