Happy Birthday Jules!

I can't believe my sweet Julia is 5! We had a celebration! Julia had a Pet Shop party and invited some of her good friends to help celebrate. She just loved that it was finally her BIG day!



(Okay so I am a little cheap and used the same poster board for Cam's robot)



The cake wasn't my finest hour but the gift bags turned out cute. A special thanks to my creative party decoration maker Kierstin who helped make everything turn out so cute for both my kids parties!

Lots of new Zhu Zhu pets!

After all the planning and game playing in the end the kids had the most fun just playing with each other. Isn't that how it always goes?

We Are Family...

I got all my sisters with me!



What a special weekend with all the girls in town! It was so nice to be together and have everyone here when Katie went through the temple. I know this most likely won't happen again for a long time. Kierstin is moving to Connecticut, Amy is in Iowa, Kara in Utah, and Laura in Idaho! There is nothing like a sister.

The productivity of my day

I have spent about 2 hours of my day looking for a library book that has been misplaced, I might add that I turned my house upside down looking for that darn thing. It is my own little form of insanity!! On the positive side, I found Natalie's sunglasses during the book hunt that I have been missing for weeks (but no book).

I ordered a summer workbook online for Cameron. It finally came after taking almost 2 1/2 weeks to get here. They sent me a "used" workbook instead of a "new" one like I ordered. Who in the world wants to buy a partial used workbook? I spent a good 45 minutes erasing the "used" parts. Seriously.

I took the kids to a library event at the library. I thought it was going to be a bubble something or other, what it ended up being was a room that should hold 100 people with 300 in it and a very strange woman performer doing some weird magic/musical/bubble slapstick. Natalie cried the whole time that she wanted to go home and get away from that lady. I felt the exact same way as Natalie by the time it was over.

Helpers and why I need a new feather duster!

The kids helped me clean today. They did a good job!! I am now completely out of Pledge and my house smells strongly of lemon and orange furniture polish. I can think of much worse problems.



I gave Natalie the feather duster to dust with but apparently that wasn't good enough. She found a water bottle full of water from outside and brought it in to do the job. While I was cleaning the bathroom, she came in and assisted me. Can you say new feather duster?



Cameron helped Mitch out with the lawn last night. I think that the mower weighs more than him!

A Frog Story

Our yard is literally hopping with frogs...that being said....



On Tuesday it was finally warm enough to pretend that it was summer. The kids wanted so badly to try out their new swimming pool. Although 72 degrees isn't beach weather to me, we will take what we can get! We had a fun day playing in the pool. Unfortunately in order to get the pool to drain and moved off the lawn you have to deflate the pool and hang it over the rails on the deck to dry. What a pain! The pool has three valves the size of quarters that you can let the air out, so it goes pretty fast. It is pumping the thing back up that is annoying....

So the next day, Wednesday the weather seemed good, the pool was re-inflated and the swimming continued. After a while the kids start shouting that a frog was in the pool. I looked up to see the shadow of a frog in the pool. I thought, how in the world did a frog get in the water? A closer look into the pool I realize that the frog wasn't in the pool but INSIDE the pool's air chambers. The previous night we left the quarter size holes unplugged and a frog decided to come on in. The kids thought it was hilarious. You could see it hopping around the inside of the pool. I wanted the frog out. Mitch and I tried to get the frog out for a LONG TIME but didn't have any luck. The frog would not cooperate! Mitch decided after the pool was deflated for the night to keep the pool plugged up so that another frog wouldn't come in and after the frog died we would then be able to get it out.



You know, just what you want--a dead frog's silhouette while enjoying the sun during pool time. The next day I went out looking for the carcass and found that silly animal still hopping around. I pleaded with Mitch to get it out alive. After working on it for awhile, he finally got it to hop out. I am sure the frog had a tale for his family when he returned home. And that is the story of a frog and a pool. The moral of the story? Keep your valves tightly closed while the pool is not in use. You never know what might crawl or hop in. The end.

Summer Reading Program

Cameron is serious about the summer reading program from the library. We HAD to go sign up the first day it was available. When you read for 20 minutes you get to fill in a square on your chart. To get the finisher prize you have to read for 1,000 minutes. He is a man on a mission...

Today I found him sitting in front of the clock (so that he knew exactly when 20 minutes was up so he could mark his chart) reading his favorite books.

Poor guy...

A few days ago while brushing Cameron's teeth I could see a big cavity in one of his molars. We made an appointment and he got it fixed. Hey, who needs that extra $150 anyway? He has his dad's soft enamel (this is his 3rd cavity and he brushes!) He is such a good boy at the dentist and so cute to watch. Watching my kids get shots as infants doesn't bother me (okay, so I might have a heart of stone) but watching Cameron get Novocaine with that really long needle was hard.

As a bonus of the day Julia threw up in the car on the way to the dentist. Kierstin was kind enough to help me clean her and my car up. Car throw up is bad. Lucky me.

The Pine Cones

Grandpa Swany was having a pine cone problem in his yard and offered Cameron and Julia 5 cents for every pine cone that they picked up. Cameron was a pine cone picking up machine. After it was all said and done Cameron made 20 bucks and Julia 7. I told my dad that he didn't really need to give them that kind of money but he said that it was a deal. Cameron had a great time at Wal-Mart picking out what he wanted to spend his money on. He finally decided on a bag of 12 tennis balls. He spends his days throwing a ball against the house and catching it with his mitt. Julia on the other hand knew exactly what she wanted the minute the money touched her hot little hand--a hula hoop.



Cameron offered his assistance of pine cone picking up for our yard but I told him that I didn't think I could afford him. Grandpa definitely pays better!

Cameron is 7

Happy Birthday Cameron!

We had a robot themed party and invited some friends over to help celebrate. Cameron came up with a long list of games that he wanted to play that included: Dance robot (you dance like a robot and freeze when the music stops), pin the gear on the robot, duck duck goose, penny toss, airplane throw, limbo, water balloon toss, guess how many candies are in the jar, and hot potato. We ate pizza, played games, and tired mom out. It was a good day. I can't believe that my boy is so old. Where does the time go?









The unwrapping of the presents!

Happy Father's Day!

Didn't my mother teach me anything?

Rewind about 10 months ago to a conversation I had with Cam:

Cam: "Mom could we buy the cereal Cookie Crisp?"
Mom: "No way that is like having a bowl of cookies for breakfast!"
Cam: "I know it looks delicious!"
Mom: "No way"

Cam: "Please, please, please"... (Lots of time elapses with lots of pleading)
Cam: "Can I have it for my birthday?"
Mom: "Sure, why not. (Just wanting the whining to stop) You can have it for your birthday."

Now fast forward to yesterday at Wal-mart. The kids and I were in the cereal aisle at the store. Cam sees the Cookie Crisp.

Cam: "Hey, look it's Cookie Crisp! Remember how you said that I can have it for my birthday? My birthday is on Monday!!" (How in the world does he remember this stuff?)
Mom: "Put it in the cart"

Wins:
Cameron- 1
Mom- 0



As you can see, today's breakfast was a hit! In a related story Laura will be babysitting them all morning! Sorry!!

Hello Summer Vacation...Goodbye Sanity!

School is out for the summer!
Now all it needs to do is warm up and stop raining!

The girl in the glasses

Yesterday I had a million errands to run. Natalie went with me while the other two were in school. For a little treat for being good I bought her some sunglasses in the $1 section of Target. She wore them all day. She took a long nap and I had to wake her up to go pick up Cameron. I found her sleeping like this. Too cute.

Trek Around The Trail

On Saturday Cameron ran in his first 5K! He ran almost the entire time (He stopped maybe 5 times and walked for about 20 seconds before he started back up again) and finished in a time of 30:59. He did great!! Way to go Cameron!!



Mitch ran the 5K by himself and did well but I won't post his time in fear that he might kill me!



Cameron and I ran together the entire race until the end when Cam beat me by a foot :) He was excited that our bib numbers were number 1 and 2. What can I say? I registered for the event early!

I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ...

Yesterday in the car while driving the kids to swimming lessons we were listening to a CD with primary songs on it. From the back of the car Cameron said, "What does croquet mean?" I was sort of confused because the kids and I were playing croquet in the backyard a few weeks ago. So I said "Cam, it is that game we were playing the other day with the mallets and the balls." He then said, "Oh I know how to play that--but in the song it just said "His truth I will cro-quet! What does that mean?" I was laughing hard. The song we were listening to was I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ and in the very last line it says "His truth I will pro-claim"

A little mixed up!

Today Cameron came home talking a mile a minute about everything that went on at school. I think he might have talked for 20 minutes straight without taking a breath. He was every excited about a game that they were playing in P.E., some version of tag. He was trying to explain to me how he got a boy "out" using his hands to demonstrate. As he was explaining it to me he said, "Okay--here is the replay" (while using his hands to show me what happened.) I think he has been watching sports too much. On a side note... this last week while watching baseball on TV with Mitch, Cameron moves his desk into the family room in front of the TV and gives the play by play of the game. Very funny to watch.

Julia on the other hand informed me today that if she ever had a new sister she would want her name to be Allie Rose. Rose being her best friend's middle name. Random.

The makings of a real parent

Julia has officially won the award for giving me the grossest throw up experience in the night. (Of course, the categories for throw up are many)

Last night was a l-o-n-g night. It was one of those nights that sets you apart from being a parent to not being a parent. It is a rite of passage to get up in the night to clean up something foul while still half asleep.

Cameron came into our room in the middle of the night telling us that Julia was crying. Hoping that Mitch would get out of bed and take care of the problem I stayed in bed until I heard the most disturbing noise that shot me right out. As Mitch went into their room Julia leaned down from her bed (she is on the top bunk) and threw up all over her bed, Cameron's bed and the floor, it also dripped down into the small parts of the bunk bed. The smell was the worst. Cameron was sitting in his bed crying because his bed had throw up all over it and the smell was terrible. It took Mitch and I ONE hour to clean it up and that was the bare bones clean up job. The throw up ran down under her mattress and also down in the drawers of clothes under the bunk beds where Julia's clothes are kept. It was a mess. I actually started laughing in the middle of the clean up because it was so bad. Today there was a lot of laundry and the carpet still reeks! When we finally got to bed, Mitch laid down and said "I smell like throw up." I just had to laugh. Yuck.