Lemons, Hide and Seek and Life Vests

Yesterday Hayden, Ethan and Libby played hide and seek. It was so sweet the way they were including Libby. Libby was in heaven, she loved it. She even came up with a few hiding places too, but mostly she liked looking for them. After playing for awhile she put the boys hamper on her head, and said "where is Libby?" It was so funny. She couldn't see anyone, so of course no one could see her, right?!

Libby finally held still long enough for me to do a quick little braid. It was sloppy, but I was elated. She has so much hair I've been wanting to play with it and do some cute hair dos, but she apparently doesn't share my enthusiasm for hair styling. I have also recently started using regular shampoo on her hair, I know your thinking who cares, but it feels like a huge milestone to me, because that means she does not have baby hair anymore, she has little girl hair!! And its so EXCITING!! (oh I love having a girl!)

 We haven't been able to talk hayden into trying the wakeboard yet, he will do the knee board sometimes, but mostly he likes to play in the water and throw the football around with Dad. In this picture hayden is holding onto the handle and shawn is pulling him to the swim step.

Another milestone: Since Ethan is 12 he leagally doesn't have to wear a life vest on the boat, and he can "legally" hold the flag! He is so happy, and a little smug when all the other littles are putting on their life vests....Sometimes its the little things folks!

Saturday Ethan's flag football team played in the play offs. It was so hot. They had to play five short games. They didnt win, but they made a touchdown on the best team in our Anthem league, which kicked the other team out of the play offs. Oppse! Ethan has had a BLAST playing this season. And we already have him signed up for the fall season. This is huge for Ethan becasue we usally have to talk him into playing sports. Yay Ethan!

We are anxiusly waiting for lemons to ripen and check on the tree regularly. Its so exciting. We love all things lemon. Fruit trees are illegal in Anthem, so I can niether confirm nor deny that this tree is actually in our yard. We wouldnt do something like that!

The kids have only been out of school for a week and a half but I am already certain this is going to be the best summer ever. It might have something to do with the fact that I am not working this summer, yup that definelty has something to do with it. My goal for the summer is to relax (aka be lazy), but use our time effectively. I have come up with a schedule that gives the kids downtime to do what they want, but they also have responsibilites each day, some of which they can on their own time, some they have to do a certain time. Every summer I set goals for each child that we need to work on. One goal that I have this summer for the boys is to work on their typing skills. Ethan is really good but sometimes he uses the peck method because he thinks its faster. So during their computer time they will work on improving their typing skills for 20 minutes. Another goal that I have is I want to teach my boys some life skills, such as how to cook easy meals (and maybe desserts, becasue thats way more fun) and clean. They are great at helping around the house, but I have yet to relenquish some of my deep cleaning jobs because I want it done right! But I know they are capable, I just need to give them the opportuinity to learn. So we'll see how it goes, I'll keep you posted on our summer endevors!

Happy SUmmer!

One Year Older

Shawnee is one year older! Oh my! We celebrated his birthday weekend with his parents on Friday night. We had lasagna, his favorite, and a gigantic chocolate cake, also a favorite. If you really are what you eat, then Shawn would be chocolate, through and through. No joke! Shawn had to work on his birthday, (Not right!) but he made it in time for Ethan's flag football game. Phew! It was a good game. Then we hit the lake for a few hours. I thought the water was freezing but it didn't stop the kids from all jumping in. Although that might have had more to do with the fact that I bet them beforehand that they wouldn't. They made sure to rub it in that I was wrong. It happens. Then we hit date night. And we might have made our friends wait an hour for us, oppse!! It was a crazy busy day. Can you believe that we are still friends? Thank goodness they are forgiving.

Happy Birthday Shawn. We love you.

Lake Time Again

It is getting hot here, already! I mean really hot, like close the windows turn on the ac, hot! And I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand I am scared, its barely April, and the summers last forever here, so its way to early to be so hot already! But on the other hand I am really looking forward to swimming at the pool and going boating.

So on Saturday I talked Shawn into taking us out to the lake. We knew the water would be FREEZING, but I didn't care. It was such a beautiful day! And we are always so busy so we had to cease the moment! The boys invited friends and had a blast. They even got in the water, I was totally shocked! And they kept getting in! Hayden knee boarded, and Ethan and Alec inner tubed! It was awesome. Libby is not crazy about her life jacket. I wish they made baby life jackets that aren't so bulky, but oh well. She dealt with it. It was a great morning!

Saturday

We finally made it out to the lake this last weekend. If we hadn't I think Shawn would have never forgiven me...I made him work on the backyard last weekend. -Hehehe! We met Shawn's brother and nephews out there. It was a beautiful day for being out doors, it felt like returning home, I had forgotten how beautiful it is.
Hayden was a little nervous about jumping in the water, he is still convinced there are sharks...if he only knew what was really down there-trust me you don't want to know! But I am sure next time he will be jumping in with the rest of the kids.
We skipped rocks,-James is the King of skipping rocks. True talent I can't skip a rock if my life depended on it!
The boys all wake boarded and all did great. Just like riding a bike you never forget.
We fed the ducks, who followed us around, they must have been starving- which Hayden was very pleased about
The kids played in the water, climbing up the tower and then jumped into the water catching a football.
I hid in the front of the boat and read a book (The Mortal Instruments, which is highly addictive), while getting a tan.
It just doesn't get any better than this.