Big news!

On Sunday I put this piece of tape on Hayden's shirt. Can you read it? It says I am going to be a big brother. It was our way of telling the kids. It took Ethan a second to get what the message meant, but when he did he was super excited! Looks like he might be sharing his b-day, yup that means some time in March!

Lake Bartlett

Last weekend we got to hang out with Shawns fam. Went out to Lake Bartlett Saturday. The kids had a blast swimming, and inner-tubing. The weekend was cut short because Ethan woke up with the flu Sunday morning. But it was fun while it lasted! Thanks for coming out guys!

projects

So I may be the slowest painter on the planet. This little painting project took like ummm three months. Why you ask? Because I would only paint after the kids went to bed, and I refused to buy the big 5 gal paint jug, so I had to keep going back for another gal, then another, and another. Ugh, it was kind of stupid. But I am happy with the way it turned out. A fresh coat of paint really does make everything feel fresh, doesn't it? I need to take a better pic of the entry, I did a little thing on the ceiling, stay tuned!

The FOURTH

At home as we get ready for the lake, Hayden asks Daddy, "Daddy are there sharks at the lake?" Daddy reassures him for the hundredth time "No son there are no sharks in the lake".
At the lake Hayden says "So there are no sharks right?" "Yes Hayden there are no sharks". "OK Daddy", as he does a 360 into the water, followed by a front flip. I guess he finally got it into his head.



Our fourth was great, well actually our celebrating started on the third. We made a trip to the Lego store, a 1st for our family. The kids were in heaven there. Followed by dinner at Dave and Busters. Then we went to the park for the big show. Our community does fireworks on the third, I still haven't figured out why, but whatever? It was fun we camped out next to Lisa and fam. Hayden and Ethan ran wild finding all of their friends. They had a good time to say the least. Walking back to our car Ethan announced that it was his best day ever, next to going to Disneyland, of course.
Then Saturday we went to the lake. I was expecting it to be packed, but luckily it wasn't to bad. We played in the water for a long time, Ethan wake boarded a bit, but it was super choppy. it was a perfect family Fourth of July weekend.

Sparklers

When I was young (feels like a million years ago) my Mom would buy sparklers for us for... I don't know it must have been 4th of July, or was it New Years? Any how I was mesmerized by them. I loved how they gave off the most beautiful glow, and sparks (of course), and didn't they crackle? But then one year they stopped selling them because firworks became illegal in the area, or something like that? You could go outside the county or south an hour to Mexico and sometimes find them on a corner being sold by a guy that would knock on your window offering fireworks. It made them even more intriguing, right? I am just saying!
Anyhow when I saw these chocolate dipped pretzels, childhood memories of dark warm nights dancing around bare foot with my sisters and a sparkler in hand, came flooding back to me. Don't they look like sparklers? So we had to make them. No choice. For the love of being a kid I guess.
I just melted the chocolate chips in a bowl in the micro, for 30 seconds at a time, on 50% power, stir and repeat until the chocolate is smooth, then let the kids dip the pretzel rods in chocolate, and sprinkle a little bit of red white and blue love'n on top. So easy! A little messy, but the kids were more than happy to clean it all up for me!

Mmmm punch!

Mmmm punch. I love punch. So cool, refreshing, and delightful. If you are parched on a hot day, or are looking for a special cool treat, try these...the kids will dig the layers!
In three shallow bowls you just mix 1/3c frozen concentrated juice with 1c of water. I used cranberry juice, limeade, and orange juice. Then let freeze for at least 4 hours. Then with a fork you break up the frozen juice to make an icee mixture, see pic 1. Then layer the icee juice in a glass and pour a little 7up over it, see pic 2. Insert straw and put your feet up. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday to you

Thursday was Payson's third birthday. We celebrated with cake, that Aspen and I made. Thank you Miss Aspen! And we went to the splash park. Payson had a busy day after that with doctor appointments so we didn't get to do much more partying. But oh well, he enjoyed his cake! And Ethan enjoyed being our photographer! Kind of a silly pic of me singing but Payson is giving me a cute smile so what the heck.