Week #27:"But, when's the 4th of July?"

This week...

...we celebrated the 4th of July in simpler style this year. Traditionally, we go all out on independence day. And I love that, because I love America and the freedoms we enjoy. However, throwing a big bash can be taxing. Jason had to work the 4th this year and I wasn't up for hostessing a big celebration without him. So we went simple, simple, simple. I think the kids still had a lot of fun. I'm reminded of a conversation I had with Paul earlier this year...

February 17th, 2014 

Paul, Ben, and Claire were playing well together as I was doing the dishes.

Paul: Get the fireworks!

Mom: (In a teasing voice) Fireworks? Is it the 4th of July?

Paul: Haha! When is the 4th of July?

Mom: On the fourth of July!

Paul: No, when is it?

Mom: On the fourth of July.

Paul: What? It's actually on the fourth day of July?

Mom: Yes! That's why it's called the 4th of July. 

We went to the 4th of July breakfast at the church in the morning. 

Paul and Claire played Crepe Paper Mummies.

Timber!

Breaking Out!

Hold Still!

It was so fun to watch the fireworks with just our little family. Jason went to bed early and Claire ended up crawling in with him. She is devastatingly afraid of fireworks. Lainey was pretty freaked out as well, but fell asleep on the couch when I put a movie on for her. Perfect!

...I had a good find at the goodwill. Photo courtesy of Claire.

...we had raspberries from Grandma Zirker's garden. Nothing like picking them fresh. I remember picking raspberries growing up, it wasn't always a fun job then.

...Emma found a quiet spot to read her book on the tablet. Her and I are both reading the Septimus Heap series. Excellent read! We're on book six.

... I posted an Oreo rice krispie recipe to Facebook as "a new recipe to try." A friend commented that it would be a good recipe for him to try and I could bring some by any time. Haha! I was actually not feeling well and so he brought me a batch. Tyson Chapman is the funniest guy and even turned the misspelling of my name into a good laugh.

...Emma learned to sew.

...Officer Jason Gilbert got a surprise hug from Lainey. Jason works for Pasco Police Department. We see him a lot for his lunch/dinner breaks and water refills. He came by on the fourth and shared in our BBQ fun. When Lainey saw that he was here, she came tearing our of the house, down the drive, and launched herself for a huge hug. She doesn't usually make such a big deal of his visits and never asks for a hug. It was so funny and cute at the same time. Now they're best buds.

Week #26:A Big Fat Lip and A Long Bike Ride

This week...

...I got a fat lip in my softball game. I was playing catcher because the normal girl had stitches in her finger and didn't want to be handling the ball so much. I was poised and ready for that ball to come right to my glove, and then it didn't. It hit me smack on the lip, and tooth. It really swelled up, and then it was really sensitive for the whole week. Here's my fat lip so you can feel sympathetic.

...we went on a bike ride, a long bike ride. Not so bad going out, but Lainey had a hard time on the way back in. We usually ride back through the neighborhood that borders ours to the East. It seems to be relatively slow on traffic and therefore kid biker friendly. What I failed to realize, even as we started our ride, is that this was Lainey's first time pedaling her own bike for a long distance with the family. All last year she rode in relative ease and comfort in the bike stroller. Needless to say, the ride back was full of me coaxing, her crying and fretting, and then me getting really frustrated. She was just too tired and on the brink of exhaustion. I tried to hold her while pedaling with her bike on the back of mine. Didn't work. Unfortunately on a bike ride like that the only way for everyone to get home is on their own bikes. Too bad so sad for Lainey. She had to work her own pedals.

...Lainey saw Dr. Doofenshmirtz at the library. Celebrity sighting!

...our neighbor let us take turns with his new bike. Our neighbor, Joel, is the bike man. He collects vintage and unusual bikes as a hobby. He restores them and takes them to bike shows. This is his new bike. It has a seat for three on the back. I tried to take it for a spin, but wimped out. I had visions of me toppling to the side and sending the littles in the back sprawling on the pavement. Not good! But Joel and Jason managed it just fine.

(Photo Bomber Ben)

...we went swimming! Sister Haines is a woman in our ward that lets us come and swim in her pool. We are so blessed that she lets us come so often. We enjoy the swimming, but also the time we get to visit with her and her granddaughters. The kids are really progressing in their swimming abilities because they have the chance to be in the water so often.

These are some of the lilies blooming in Zae's beautiful garden.

...I caught Lainey red handed. This girl LOVES tomatoes. She eats them like apples. I think it's awesome! (And look at that responsibility. She eats it over a bowl so it doesn't drip.)

...we give you a finished look at the bookshelf that Jason made for our master bedroom, with temporary decorations, of course. We're still deciding on a look for our room. Hopefully soon we can finish it off.

...Emma babysat a little girl named Bria at our house. She really didn't have to do much because Benjamin and Lainey followed Bria around with her blanket and her binky at the ready to get her what she needed.

Week #25: Temple Walk By Night and Kitchen Backsplash

This week...

...we walked 11 miles to the temple. We did it at night this time so that we could see the temple all lit up. Emma went with me again this year. I thought she would have a better time because she had better shoes and she'd already done it once. That was not the case. Her feet were really hurting by the time we made it into the second pit stop. I told her she could ride, but her desire to actually walk all the way kept her going.

Getting started

At the pit stops, we tried to come up with as many operating temples as we could. I think they wrote down about 125 different temples and only 25 of those were duplicates or not actual temple sites. I thought that was really good.

These fantastic girls were my walking companions for the second half of the walk. Emma, Emily, Cali, Mckenna, Cecily. They were a fun bunch.

This was our marshy view as we left Columbia Park.

Once we actually got to the temple, all of our pain and pressing forward just seemed like a blur. Our feet were already feeling better just being on the grounds.

...we finished the back splash at the Zirker Ranch house. We used an awesome gray grout. I love how it turned out.

...I went one morning with Paul to Cub Scout Camp. It was fun to be there with Paul and his group. The leaders put A LOT of work into that camp. The theme was Cubs in Shining Armor and they learned ALL about knights over the three days. They had trading cards that were a hit, a variety of stations and hands on projects, as well as archery and BB guns. 

Here he's making a box to store treasures.

Archery was a big hit, literally. Ha! Paul really enjoyed this station and even hit the target several times.

Here we are eating lunch behind the caution line and watching them launch gallon size water bottles and gigantic cabbages out into the grass field with a life size trebuchet. This was a highlight of the day, and there were many. (For me it was the Chicago style popcorn from Costco that they had on hand for the volunteers. You know, the stuff with cheesy and caramel popcorn together? Yum!)

...we've had puzzles on the brain and puzzle pieces on the table. My mom always has a puzzle out when we visit. We all like to sit down and place pieces during our stay. It's been hard to keep the little grandkids away from the table through the years. I tried to take a stack of puzzles home once when Paul and Emma were little. Ha! Who was I kidding? I couldn't find a place safe enough from Emma and Paul and their climbing abilities. Plus, I didn't really have the time for puzzles with more than 10 pieces. That has been the case for over eight years. 
  My kids have always loved puzzles, especially Paul. We graduated from 10 to 20 and up to 35 piece puzzles. We do them over and over again. Just recently I realized that we've come to a new stage. When we visit Grandma Zirker, it's my kids who are helping her with her puzzles, and they're actually quite good at them. Claire especially will spend an hour at a time searching the pieces and figuring out where they go.
    On our last trip to Grandma's, we brought home a collection of Disney puzzles. The puzzles range in size from 150 to 300 to 500 pieces. I thought they would be fun for me to do, but the kids have been equally as involved and excited. We've arrived at the stage where I can have puzzles out and the kids don't just pull the pieces down and make a mess. Yay! Here's a look at the ones we've been working on...
Phineas and Ferb

The Jungle Book - this is always the sad part, when you have to take them apart. And it was especially so with this one because it was SO HARD! Oh man! I wished I had taken a picture of the finished product, but I forgot. 

The Little Mermaid

Mickey and Minnie Mouse

Princesses

...we had some splash park fun. We met our friend Jazmine with her kids Angel and Eva over at the ball fields so the kids could get wet.

...Benjamin, Emma, and I went for a bike ride. We went out to the hill on Rd 44. We thought this would be such a big bike endeavor, almost impossible. However, it wasn't that bad. It was so much fun to coast down and we actually pedaled our bikes on the way up.

...we made a mess. Emma is growing up a creative project lover like me, only I feel like she's getting a huge head start. This week we had a day when Emma got out all of her craft supplies and let everyone use them. It was a day of imagination and creation. It was a day when the mess didn't matter.

...I found a fun picture of me. I'm working on a project for Paul's second grade teacher. When I agreed, I had no idea that it would take me 20-30 glue sticks to get it done. Yeesh!

...I took a walk in my mom's garden. I do so enjoy flowers.