Catching Up

Yay, it's the Fourth of July!

Yep, this is one of those "catch-up" blogs. Where to start? Oh, well, Josh got his cast off last Monday, so that's fantastic news. He has some "restricted activity" rules for the next 2-3 weeks, but then he's free to act like a maniac again (which is good, because I'm dying to get the Slip n' Slide out). That isn't to say that the kids haven't been acting ridiculous. This week, Cameron came over for a play date, and it quickly turned into Who-Can-Cover-Themselves-In-The-Most-Mud-First. I hooked up the garden hose to the top of their slide, and it created one big mud puddle at the bottom. Before long, the kids stopped even trying to land on their feet, because it was way more fun to land on their rears, and make a big, muddy splash. When it was all said and done, we had to basically line them up and hose them off. It was hilarious. When they weren't getting muddy, they were trying to torment this poor, gigantic toad.

Cameron, with mud clear up on his face!
Goliath Man-Eating Toad
Miss Piggy in her mud puddle

I expected the next day to be crazier, since I was going to have six kids between the ages of 2-7 at the house for most of the day, but it actually remained pretty peaceful. The kids spent the day playing with Joey, Kaleb, and Emma, and miraculously, all of the kids (and the house) were still standing by the end of the day. The girls kept making me a little suspicious though, since everytime they went upstairs, they would close the door. When I would stick my head into Quincy's room, the girls would just get all bossy and say, "No! Don't come in!" Geez! Made me wonder what they were getting into.

Firewoman Emma, hard at work!

On a side note, either Jester or Isis just farted, and it smells really, really awful right now. I'm assuming it's Jester, since he is currently sitting here, looking up at me with his soulful, buggy, brown eyes, begging for my tuna sandwich. No, I do not have thermal-image technology which would enable me to post an actual picture of Jester farting (I know, you're so disappointed).

The boys have been busy enjoying the perks of summer vacation. We began a sunflower-planting project when school let out, and the boys have been very big on "working in their garden". On the 18th, we measured their sunflowers, and the tallest one was 16 inches tall (dont' the boys look SO thrilled in their picture?)

They also relished in the opportunity to sleep in a giant box for about a week, until they had all but torn it up. No joke, for a good week or more, they insisted on sleeping inside this box. Although it looked incredibly uncomfortable to me (even with all the padding I put in the bottom), they loved it. It goes without saying that they were really hacked when I finally put the box out with the trash.

Only my kids WANT to sleep in a box...

I have figured out that there should be two "p"'s in the word "summer". Pools and popsicles. If not for these two things, I think my kids (and I) would've gone crazy by now. Although we can't afford some big, fancy pool (oh, how I wish we could!), they are perfectly content with their kiddie pool, especially when they are paired with those super-cheap push-up popsicles. I mean, you can buy a pack of like, 100 of those silly things for $3.00 or something. Talk about cheap entertainment!

Mmmm, popsicles! She kinda looks like a vampire baby, though...

(No Renesmee jokes, Amanda!)

Nothing says "summer" like peeing outside, right Gabe?

Blowing pool water at me out of his bubble pipe. Ew.

Running for the pool!

On a picture note, we had the freakiest-looking clouds roll in yesterday morning, so of course I had to get my camera out. The boys kept asking me if we were going to have a tornado, since that's their big fascination these days. Tornados, of all things. They love watching tornado videos on You Tube, and looking at pictures online. They even checked out a couple of books from the library.

It looks like we are about to be invaded by space-aliens, or that a tornado is going to drop out of the sky. Either scenario is generally considered NOT good.

I am also starting to turn into one of those crazy coupon ladies. Well, I'm not quite that bad, but I've found myself becoming strangely addicted to the Thrifty Mama and Money-Saving Mom websites to find good deals. Just last week, I got some free quarts of paint from the Glidden website, along with a free children's DVD from Fisher Price. It also makes me aware of all the great deals at Walgreens, where you can make an absolute killing on products, if you use manufacturer's coupons. Of course, I use regular ol' coupons at the grocery store, too. Just today, between special offers, and coupons, I saved $13.65 with coupons, got $3.00 back in Walgreens Register Rewards (basically like a $3.00 Walgreens gift certificate), and picked up a free antibacterial hand-sanitizer at Bath & Body Works. The best part is, I didn't have to buy anything that I didn't actually need to pick up anyway. Go, me!

I got to go to an actual party last night-- one that didn't involve children! Yes, this does make headlines with me, because it is so rare anymore that I get to be out amongst adults! Seriously, ask my friends, and they are like, "We never get to hang out with you anymore! You're always stuck at home!" Yeah, yeah, I know. So, you can imagine my excitement about being able to go out, and see some friends. Wahoo! It was so great to see Jason and Maria, and getting to hang out with the ol' South Beech Court gang. Man, we are all getting old (ha-ha-ha). I've got some pictures on Amanda's camera, which I'll get posted soon.

I'm sure I'll be taking a lot of pictures tonight at Jarrod's annual Fireworks Extravaganza. I think that at some point, we need to feature a celebrity guest at this thing, since it keeps getting so big. I wonder what David Hasselhoff is doing next year? Nothing brings a tear to your eye like The Hoff singing "God Bless America", as Jarrod sets off the big finale (ha-ha-ha-ha).