My 40th Birthday

I woke up this morning to find a delicious Texas-sized chocolate donut on the counter and Justin flustered with something on his phone that he was trying to put together for my birthday.  It didn’t take much to decipher he had some sort of video he was trying to send to me before heading off to work.  With a little help we were able to air drop it to my phone and then he was off to work and I was off with the littlers to swim lessons while the girls cleaned containers.

While the kiddos swam I had nearly an hour of birthday greetings to watch.  Oh, my goodness!  I laughed, I cried, it really was an wonderful surprise.  I love that Justin put that together for me even though it meant he had to pester several of the participates.

I put together a collage of screenshots from each of the clips.  I so loved hearing from everyone and felt such gratitude to have each of them in my life. I joked with a friend that it felt a bit like a funeral tribute, but without having to be dead.  

Carly had also left a birthday greeting for me.

After swim lessons I snuck in a workout at the gym – cause I ain’t getting any younger.  Then had just enough time to shower before meeting up with Justin’s Dad to go over some bookkeeping I’ve been doing for him the past several months and try to get handle on all the post-holiday chaos throughout the house.  I don’t think Mom’s get days off – even on their birthdays.

The family had one final surprise for me.  Abigail had put together a scavenger hunt – each clue led me closer to the ultimate birthday cake from Cold Stone.  So delish!

Justin and I decided participate in sealings at the temple before going out to dinner at PF Changs. 

So long 30s – I think the 40s are going to just as awesome!

July 4 Celebrations

Keeping with tradition we all attended our community Independence Day Celebration at the community park.  We arrived right as the activities opened so we were on the first little train ride of the day. 

Once again, the big kids (including Jason) dispersed with friends shortly after we arrived.  Every so often I’d catch a glimpse of them roaming about.

Even Katie hooked up with a few buddies.

We ate, we played, we visited with friends.  Always a good time.

Why does my boy like to be goalie?!?

That evening we joined several families at the Reynolds for a BBQ and then we met up to watch the community firework show. 

This would be Abigail messing around on her phone during the show

Wonderful day all the way around and love any opportunity to catch-up with some of our favorite families. Happy Birthday America!

Summer Swim Lessons

The girls first full day of summer was busy running Carly’s EPIC business (see previous post). Jason and Katie spent the morning of their first summer day at swim lessons.  Unfortunately, Drew’s level was full and he couldn’t take lessons until later in the summer when all three of the littlers did a four day session. 

By the end of the second session Jason had progressed from a Youth 4 level to the highest Youth 5 level.  Some days Jason was the only kid is his class so it was great to get some extra attention.  Katie has a few skills left to work on before she can move up from Youth 2.  

People love Drew and he has the cutest little personality, but he often plays hard to get.   As a result, I wasn’t sure how Drew would take to swimming lessons.  He was totally pumped to go to the pool, but got miffed when his class didn’t start until after Jason and Katie’s was finished.  So when it came time to get in the pool he was less than thrilled.  In fact once in, he hung onto the little swim stand for probably half of the first the class.  I walked out of the pool and peeked on him from the window until he started cooperating.  He ended up loving the class, though he refused all week to put on the floaties and instead would just try to swim without any floatation.  The kid isn’t at all afraid of the water, he just wants to do it his own way.  Stinker.  Clearly he loved it.

Back in Business – EPIC (Eagle Pointe’s Immaculate Containers)

The first full day of summer was Carly’s first EPIC work day.  Abigail wanted to get in on the gig this summer since she knew she was going to be so busy during this summer that she wouldn’t be able to babysit as much as she did last year.  Over the course of the summer the girls cleaned 67 containers – up from the 59 from last summer.  Since Abigail got a cut of the profits Carly didn’t make as much from EPIC as she did last year, but she more than made up for that by taking on many babysitting jobs that Abigail had to turn down.  I love to see my kids working hard and learning the value of money.

EPIC only lasted through August 1 – I could have reposted it on the neighborhood facebook page to get a few more before school started but Carly was ready to be done and had made good money.  That girl is a hard worker!  She gets high praises on her work and ended up with approx 9% in tips.  Even the trashman stopped to give Carly $5 one morning.  Apparently, they formed a bit of a friendship last summer and he has been impressed to see her out there each week working hard.

Carly will tell you that Abigail wasn’t the fastest or most meticulous of workers.

The powerwasher was a huge help this year!

Some weeks we’d arrange to pickup the containers on trash day and clean them the following day – that way Carly could work two days a week instead of just the one.  That meant our backyard looked pretty sketchy.

It was another great summer cleaning trash containers! Hopefully Carly will be up for another EPIC summer next year.

June Wrap-Up

Our last day of school was a little later than originally scheduled since we had a few snow days to make up – the kids last day ended up being Monday, June 19.  School was only a few hours that morning so both the girls made separate plans to go paddleboarding with friends that afternoon.

Carly was miffed I made her wear a lifejacket :)

Abigail was also supposed to be wearing a lifejacket – let’s just assume they only took them off for the sake of a good photo.

Lunch dates started right away – Carly was up first and chose Cheesecake Factory.

The Squires asked us to join them on a double date hiking up Little Si.  This was my first time up this trail.  It’s a pretty easy climb and doing it with friends made it even more enjoyable.  We finished off the evening replenishing the calories burned at the North Bend Bar & Grill.

It’s not unusual for Abigail to make us cookies around here.  This time Drew got to help her and he loved being involved.

Also not unusual is for Drew to be running around the house in only undies :)

Drew has gotten into singing lately and we’ll often hear him break into song at the most random times.  Usually they are primary songs.  I took a video one night of Jason and Drew singing while they were supposed to be going to sleep.  It starts as just singing and then switches to a competition {figures}.  It’s a long video, but it’s easier for me to just post the whole thing instead of trying to edit it down.  Besides I love listening to Drew’s little voice.

I posted this picture on Instagram with the following caption:  “We’re not big gift givers around here so when my Mom asked for ideas of something she could send Drew for his birthday I honestly couldn’t think of anything.  To teach me a lesson she sent just what every mother wants – TWO HUNDRED BALLS!!! #wishshewashere”

The kids are actually really good about keeping the balls upstairs in the bonus room.  But clearly that wasn’t the case on this particular day.

Abigail went to EFY with her cousin Hallie during the last week of June.  I’m sure there are plenty of pictures she took, but these are the pre-EFY pictures Tami sent to me when she dropped them off in Tacoma. 

She had a great week and is already talking about attending AEFY next summer in Idaho.

Working out in the summer was tough for me to fit in.  The girls were so busy during the summer that when I was able to go I needed to take the littlers with me.  They didn’t mind since they child watch areas usually took them outside to play.  Jason actually preferred to exercise in the gym with me if I wasn’t doing a class.  He’s stamina impressed me – he could plug along side me on the elliptical for an hour and he enjoyed doing some weight machines afterward as well.  He got into listening to audiobooks this summer and liked to listen to them while he exercised.

Someday this boy of mine will run circles around his Mama – stronger, faster, taller.  Can’t we just slow this growing up business down?