Keeping Busy

July was a busy month full of appointments, play dates, library visits, and a little swimming.  Savannah & M made "best friend" scrapbooks over a few days time and loved every minute of it.

 Jacob put on a boys day camp for a couple of days.  It's a good way for him to earn some money and all of the kids enjoy it.

 

Jacob is great with kids.  He started babysitting a friends' kids in our home on occasion this summer and is so sweet with them.

Landon is 3!

Landon was finally old enough to be excited for his birthday this year!  He loved opening his presents and having the Benoits come over for dinner and cake.  At church he made sure that all of his nursery leaders knew it was his birthday and he was having a "low-bot" cake.

He loves his new race car shirt from the Strongs, second only to his robot shirt.

 The LeSueurs gave him "Wall-E the Low-Bot" and he watched it at least once a day for the first couple of weeks after.

 He loved this car carrier truck when we visited his cousin Joshua last year, so I was super excited to find it brand new in the box at a yard sale for cheap.

 He loves his "green car" and is very possessive of it.  Luckily he let Daddy show him how it works.

 Another yard sale find, a basketball hoop that I found for $1.  He loves to play "baskapoop" with Daddy. 

 

 

Jacob loves to run the video camera lately, although he needs to work on holding a little more still and not zooming in so close.  He was excited to have the job though.

History Camp

Zach went to the Summer Explorers History Camp for a week, at the Williamson Museum in Georgetown, TX.  This is the museum for our county.  They put on this history camp every summer, and a friend told me about it.  Zach loves history, especially learning about World War II, and the entire week was devoted to it.  It was every day for 6 hours inside the museum.  Zach wrote a paragraph about why he wanted to attend the camp and earned a scholarship, so he got to go for free!  

They learned all about how our county was affected by the war and heard stories about people from our county who served as well.  They had lunches that were based around what they would have eaten during the war, learned about rationing, victory gardens, morse code, etc.  At the end of the week they put on a USO show for their families.

Zach really liked the director, Ms. Nixon.    

Zach wouldn't let me take pictures of him during the show, but here is a picture of when he was off-stage, just to get a feel for it.  It was held in the old county courthouse across the street from the museum.

 Zach's main part during the performance was to be in charge of the morse code machine, signaling "V or Victory."  He hates being in front of people, but luckily Ms. Nixon figured out a way to get him involved that he was excited about.

 Zach with his "Victory Garden" and the museum in the background behind him.

 Zach loved the whole World War II exhibit and thought it was great to spend his days in the museum, except "when it felt like school and I had to sit at a desk."

Hopefully he'll want to do it again next year!

Ribbit

We have tons of little frogs that live in our backyard for most of the year.  Most of them live in the hollow area under our shed (it's on a wooden platform to keep it level).  When it rains their little spot floods and they all come out.  We love hearing them chirp us to sleep every night for many months during the year.  They are so tiny that they sound like little baby birds.  Landon was so excited to hold this little guy.

 

 

Connor's first day at judo

Connor has been looking forward to starting judo for months.  Sensei was gone for business or vacation most of the summer though, so he'll mostly begin when school starts.  It worked out well though that lots of kids were on vacation the day Connor started, so it was a small group.  There were also a couple of other kids that started the same day.  Jacob was at scout camp, so Morgan helped Connor to do know what to do and when.

Connor LOVED helping to roll out the mats.  He really wanted to help carry them out to the floor, but I think they weigh 3 times his own weight.

 Stretching

 Sit-ups

 Break falls (learning to fall correctly so you don't get hurt)

 Connor's little face was so determined when he did randori

 All the kids are beet red because the school does not keep the air conditioning up during the summer.  That's dedication.

Jacob's Scout Camp

Jacob left for scout camp at 5:00am on Monday, July 8 and returned home on Friday night.  They went to the Cockrell River Scout Camp near Wimberley, TX.  There were four deacons who went from our ward (12 & 13-year old boys).  They had various merit badges classes each day and then time to do stuff with their troop.  Jacob earned merit badges for Chess, Cinematography, Geology & Space Exploration.

Just before leaving at 5:00am - Garrett, Noah, Eric & Jacob

The boys slept in these tents, two boys to each tent on a cot on a wooden platform.  Jacob said his tent was full of bugs.  Welcome to camping.

 Dinner in the cafeteria

Jacob has had a fun time getting to know these boys and hanging out with them over the past few months 

 Archery during free time

 

 Playing cards during some down time

 Troop swim

Brother Heiner (orange shirt) switched off with Brother Mata (who was taking all the pictures) during the week.  Brother McBride (wearing the hat) stayed the whole week.  Brother McBride is not even a leader for the young men, but they needed an adult volunteer who was able to stay for the week and he volunteered.  We were so grateful to him, otherwise they may not have been able to go.  We are also so grateful for all of the time Brother Mata spends with these boys each week.

 

They apparently hiked up and down this hill many times a day.

While Daddy is away...we play!

While Dallin was gone we tried to keep busy and entertained.  On Friday night we had a movie night (although I can't even remember what they watched).  But they had built these forts and I let them keep them up all week.  That night I let them sleep in them.  Jacob chose the comfort of his own bed though.  Zach's "fort" WAS the bed, so he was happy.  I was amazed that they all fell right asleep. 

 

We had Lucy's best friend Ginnie staying with us for the weekend.  They are doggie best friends.

 

We tried to play outside, but it was too hot.  Landon loved his little sprinkler, but it just didn't cut it for the big kids.

I made new blankets for Landon and Connor since their others were completely falling apart.  These are smaller flannel blankets that they drag all over the house.  Landon's has robots ("low-bots) and Connor's has bright green snakes.  I also started curtains for my bedroom, but lost wind on that project and it is on hold until the kids go back to school.

 

Zach also got an expander put in his mouth on July 2.  I took a picture, but it's kind of a gross angle looking right up his nose, so I'll spare you.  He is getting braces on the top row of teeth at the beginning of September (4 brackets), and then they will eventually add on brackets as his teeth grow in and then on the bottom as well.  He has lost like 7 teeth since May.  He'll have them on for almost 2 1/2 years, but should be done all at one time instead of two separate sets like Jacob.

4th of July

4th of July morning the kids and I went to the annual breakfast with some friends at the Ashfords house.  After the breakfast we went to buy fireworks and then home for Landon's nap.  The Benoits invited us swimming, but since it was nap time I just dropped off Jacob, Savannah & Connor.  (Zach chose to stay home and bask in the peace and quiet.)

 

In the evening we went back to the Ashfords to do fireworks.  They live just outside the technical city limits, so we can do every kind of firework, right in front of their house.  All of the kids did sparklers except Jacob.  Last year all of the kids, but especially Jacob, were totally traumatized when the last HUGE firework set fell over and shot directly at us and the house.  It took them all quite a while to even come over for sparklers.

 

 Savannah "helping" me light some fireworks.

 The kids hid out in this corner for a while for the first of the big fireworks.

 Then Jacob moved to the porch and they all followed.  Luckily all of them but Jacob loosened up after a while and were running around and getting excited.

 Towards the end one of the dads that was there very patiently coaxed Zach to help him light some fireworks.  In the past Zach has always been terrified of all fireworks and hated the noise, so it was a miracle that by the end he was lighting them and was the kid who wanted to stay and do more when it was time to go.  Too bad for all of those pictures my camera was on the wrong setting and they are totally blurry.

Thanks for a fun day Ashfords!

Dallin's AZ trip

Dallin was able to fly to Arizona from July 3 - July 9 to spend some time with his family.  He loved staying with his sister Carrie and hanging out with his family.  He was able to be there for the blessing of Carrie's new baby, Blake.

In April when Carrie had Blake they did a C-section because they thought she had an ovarian cyst.  After Blake was delivered they discovered that she has a rare form of uterine cancer.  Dallin wanted to go spend some time with Carrie and her family.  His brother Justin was also moving with his family to Michigan for a Master's program for two years, so he wasn't sure when he'd get to see him for a while.  Daniel's family was also in town for the 4th, and Melinda flew down for the baby blessing.

 For the 4th of July they had a great time swimming, hanging out, eating, and doing some fireworks.  Thanks to Carrie for letting him stay with you and also to Tanya for taking so many awesome pictures!  (Dallin actually took some of these, I was so happy he remembered to take pictures for me.)    

 Dallin and his two brothers.  He also has four sisters.

 Most of Dallin's siblings each have one red-headed child, just in case you ever wondered where Landon gets it from.  Will & Matthew are both Savannah's age.

 

 

 

Carrie's husband Jeremy is an awesome cook.

 

 

 

 Blake's blessing day - Sunday, July 7

 Carrie, Blake & Dallin

 

 Dallin & Nora

 On Monday night Dallin stayed in Phoenix with my parents since they live pretty close to the airport and he had a morning flight.  They went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant and the waiter sat them at the "Bill Clinton table."  The picture is really blurry from my dad's phone, but better than nothing.