I am so excited that the last day of school has arrived. I love having all my children home with me! The fun we have! The stories they share! The morning snuggles that don't have to end to run someone somewhere! The picnics and trips to the beach! Camping and nights at the log house! Nights seeing the Loon's and some fireworks too! Spray parks and the parks that aren't so wet! Bubbles and sidewalk chalk! The constant sound of a soccer ball being kicked around! Smoothies and slushies! Walks, just to walk and some to find bugs! I just love the summer, I hope everyone does!!!

Holy Luau

One child with food allergies food done and wrapped so not to be contaminated-check

Grass Skirts and Leis color coded with flip flops-check

40 fruit and cheese kabobs made-check

24 bags of M&M's decorated-check

1 huge fruit salad made-check

All last minute phone calls made-check

All decorations packed to go into car-check

30 watermelon skewers done-check

One large bowl of cinnamon tortilla chips made-check

My ability to delagate more- working on it

Going to bed-soon

End of the Year class party- done tomorrow

Having Fun- double check

Rain, Rain go away
Making me sad and depressed today!


.....Or maybe that is just the PMS!!!

New Ground to Cover...Literally

Today I am taking an adventure I have never done before and that is paint a old wood floor white. The wood floor is original to the house(1946) and was never sealed. If I could of reasoned putting forth all the effort to sand them down and refinish them and know it would look nice, I would have. After much debate and close examination of the floor I realized they couldn't be refinished and started doing the research to paint them. Wish me luck on covering new ground!!!

The Sweetest....

Recently our computer needed a new password and like all computer issues in our home are resolved by my Honey. The next day when I went to sign in(forgetting the password was changed)I of course couldn't and called him to find out the new password. He had confirmed he had changed the password and told it to me. I was surprised to tears of our new password. He changed it so everytime I sign on to the computer it is a compliment to me!!! It is great that while he is away at work, that everytime I sign on to the computer he is saying I love you and this is how I feel about you!

Grateful For Good Kids

Today as I am busy running around trying to get something done so we can be already for the summer, I throw lunch at my children and run off to finish a project. The next thing I hear is a prayer being said. In the rushing around I had forgotten and my sweet angels had remembered! Today I am grateful for good kids!!!

Kids Say....

The following is from the Laid Back Boy:

"Is that for me to bite?" "yes" says dad

"Is that for me to eat?" "yes" says dad

"Is that to go down my esophagus?" "yes" says dad

All of this being said in an over dramatic silly voice, just to prolong the need to try a bite of something he wasn't quite sure of! It is cantaloupe take a bite already!!!

An Ode to Memorial Day Weekend

Start out driving very far,
Can’t wait to get out of car.
Hotel checking in and out,
Lots of water spouting ‘bout.
Slippery slides and lots of laughs,
Hot tubs lounging and floating rafts.
Up and down the cargo nets,
All while getting soaking wet.
Dinner in a camping tent,
Time with friends so well spent.
Up at the crack of dawn,
Ready to run with a yawn.
10K started with a flash,
Hoping not to come in last.
Thirteenth is how it ends,
The teen is thrilled , let’s run again.
Back to water, fun, and slides,
Lily pads and rippled tides.
Water basketball resumed,
Tired moms and dads subdued.
Break for pizza where you say?
At Paesanos whenever we stay!
Back to buckets dumping fast,
How long will this fun all last?
Soon it will come to an end,
Drying off and dressed again.
Back in car is where we head,
All of us are ready for bed.
Home we go or maybe not,
We know a very special stop.
When we get there sleep is had,
We are now staying with mom and dad.
We have a lazy day at the lake,
A scenic paddle boat ride we do take.
Building sandcastles, talking walks,
Turtle hunting and late night talks.
Fires built and smores to eat,
This is a very special treat.
It is late at night you do see,
A forest ride is in need.
Do the spiders glow or not?
Off we go for our late night jaunt.
Yes they are glowing, candy is had,
This is what it is like staying with mom and dad.
Sleepy heads hit the pillows,
Up at dawn with laughs and giggles.
An early morning run is under way,
First to touch the castle gate today.
We then run back and eat a bunch,
I hope this holds us over ‘til lunch.
Basketballs, they start a bouncing,
The old ones take a good old trouncing.
Fishing lines begin a flying,
Kayaks rowing and jet skis riding.
Winds are blowing freezing cold,
Hot tub tubbing we are sold.
Off to the forest we go again,
Hiding from the blasting wind.
Down time is had by all,
While some of us are bouncing balls.
A turtle hunt is under way,
While trawling gets the catch of the day.
Naps are had on our way back home,
No more fish try to eat a worm.
Grilling is what comes up next,
Hope there is no burning while we text.
The weekend is now come to an end,
We enjoyed our time with family and friends!

KRIS WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overheard

The Brains dialogue to his younger siblings:

"You know who are heroes?"

"Nephi, Lehi, all the people from the scriptures"

"They are the true heroes"

"They don't use super powers they have glowing rocks, the Spirit, prayer, and the brass plates"


I'm loving it!!!!

No More Garage Sales For Me!!!

I started organizing and cleaning out the house at the beginning of the year and I started pricing and boxing up stuff and putting it in the attic for a garage sale. The thought of having a garage sale is not appealing to me at all. My time can be better spent and is worth more than I could make sitting in front of my house for 2 days. I have donated over the years to Salvation Army but it was this box is worth $5.00, this bag is worth $2.00 you get the picture.

I was explaining this to a friend and she lead me to a friend that lead me to this wonderful website:

www.itsdeductible.com

You just type in what you are donating and it prices it for you(the govenrment allowance for said items)and it saves it for you for the year and you just print it out and attach it to your receipt from donated charity.

We have just donated over $1,000 in stuff this month!!! And I haven't even went and fished the stuff out of the atttic yet!

What have I done?!?

That is what I kept saying to myself last week!!! WHAT HAVE I DONE!!! What started out as a small organization project(and I wish I had taken a picture on Monday night)turned into a full blown disaster and project. What do they say it will gets worse before it gets better!?! Well it certainly got worse and so bad that on Monday night I developed a twitch in my eye! On Tuesday morning I sat on the floor looked at what was ahead of me and the twitch returned as well as a few tears I might admit. Then in true Julia fashion I decided I might as well dig in. Empty boxes were being filled and cataloged at rapid pace 6 boxes to be exact and 3 garbage bags! Then furniture pushed and pulled! Bins sorted through! Sweeping and Vaccuming! Dusting and Washing! Organizing and Tossing! And some shopping!!! Finally on Friday night around midnight my project was 95% done! That is were it sits today 95% done and I am happy with that!!!

A project that honestly I could have had done Tuesday took all week and I look back and ask myself why did it not get done until midnight on Friday? The answer to that.... I made the right choices! When the kids asked to play a game or do a puzzle...we did! When they wanted to read a story...we read! We played outside, made dinner together, and read some more. It was hard to leave a project undone everynight I went to bed but at the end of the day I can truly say I made the right choice....a mess with happy kids!!!

Kids say....

"Mom I am going to live with you forever and ever" the princess

"You are?" me

"Yep and I am going to have lots of babies...100." the princess

"You are going to be one busy mommy." me

"I think I am going to have 200 babies!" the princess

"You are going to be a very busy mommy for sure." me


I love seeing how much she looks forward to being a mommy. For those of us that know her know she will be a great one!

The Joys of Nature

I just got back inside after being out digging in the dirt since 9:00 am(it is a bit after 3 now). First I would like to thank a friend for stopping her husband from killing off a bunch of plants(lily of the valley) so I could scoop them up this morning.Now for the reason for the post:

My kids got busy helping and then went on their own little adventures. Our neighbors have a tree in front of their house right next to the sidewalk. It is a home to a very large colony of ants. Last year they used to draw circles with sidewalk chalk and if the poor ants went outside of the circle the were dead, well ever since we watched the movie Antbully(highly recommended) they have had a different attitude towards the ants. Today as morbid as this might sound whenever they came across a grub in our digging adventures they would go feed the poor thing to the ants. They would watch the ants drag it into their lair and then happily try to find another grub to feed their new found friends the ants. It got so funny because the kids would start taking the ants orders right down to dessert. The ants apparently really liked dessert because they ordered it 3 times! I love watching my kids use their imagination and love the world around them except the grubs apparently!!!

a week

Do you ever have a week when you start out first thing Monday morning behind? And you have lots to do? Not because you sat around all weekend but because you were doing things everywhere but at home. And now it is Wednesday and you are still behind and you are not wanting to do anything and haven't since Monday? But you have been pushing through at a snails pace...welcome to my week thus far! I am not complaining by any means, I am just having a good old fashion vent and hope that those of you out there have had a week like this at some point so I know I am not alone!