One and a half

Today, Marlee turns 18 months, one and a half years old!
I can't believe how fast this has happened. 18 months means time for nursery at church. Whoo Hoo!!! That is really exciting and also a bit frightening. I swear I was just lugging her around in an infant carrier. Time flys.
At 18 months, Marlee is a very busy girl. She hardly creates one gigantic mess before she has to rush off to destroy something else. If she wasn't so funny and cute and sweet, we might even be angry about this. We call her the destructo baby. She likes it.
Her favorites:
Person: mom, but barely. She loves it when Sage runs in to get her after a nap, they laugh at each other, not sure what is so funny though. She loves to greet Hayden after school and Heath when he gets home from work.
Place: Sage's pink booster seat. PLEASE mom, just let me ride in there once! or at any park with a slide, the bigger the better. No fear with this little one.
Food: yogurt, food off other people's plates. She is a scavenger. Marlee will ignore the food on her plate and scarf down all of Sage's lunch, even when they have exactly the same thing. I am on to her though, and now just switch plates as she climbs out of her seat to find new food. (Not to long ago, we were playing at the mcdonalds playland and she wandered to the table near us, climbed up into the highchair and began eating the little boy who had vacated the seat's french fries-yeah, I'm mother of the year! Talk about horrified)
Game: name that facial feature. She can't get enough of poking me in the nose. It is so funny. Coloring on the walls and table and carpet with stray marker is her new trick too. She seems to be fond of painting, but I only give her a brush and water which is ok because it serves as a drink when the painting is done.
Fetish: shoes. any shoe with do-Heath's work boots, my flip flops, Hayden's soccer cleats or Sage's black sparkle shoes. Her shoes are ok in a pinch. She is really good at walking in shoes that are way to big. Maybe she has a future as a clown...a mom can dream.
Comfort: binkie and her night-night (pink blankie). She loves to drop the binkie out of the crib against the wall so that when she gets up, we move the furniture around for a scavenger hunt. Its hilarious how this never gets old. She laughs every time I move the crib.
Word: "mama" Also: "bobo's" (from Diego), "pumpkin", she has a few words, but mostly she speaks gibberish. Boy, she can let you have it too if you make her mad.
"uh uhh" means yes. That can get confusing.
Animals: Dogs and monkeys. She makes a great monkey noise. She knows it too. Horses get her excited too, and neighbor cats.
Song: Shake it, by Metrostation. She seems to be a fan of Pink too. hmmm? But anything loud that she can dance to makes her happy.
Marlee is a tough little gal, she doesn't take to much abuse from anyone. Yet she has a very soft cuddly side that will absolutely melt my heart everytime. She likes to place one hand gently on my cheek and just look in my eyes. so sweet. She has a great sense of humor, love of adventure and an intense curiosity of just about everythink. I have little hand prints all over that just make me laugh. She brings me so much joy everyday. I can't believe how fast she is growing up.
I put together some pictures of the past six months. enjoy!

Something About Sage

My Sage is an amazing little girl. She recently accomplished quite a feat, however, I have been afraid to post it because i was sure she would revert back if i did. Back in September, we all went to have our teeth cleaned and the dentist had a serious heart-to-heart with Sage about her thumb sucking habit. As a former thumb sucker, i found it to be very cute. Not only that, it calmed her so why worry right? Well, the dentist told her she was a beautiful princess with beautiful princess teeth, but her thumb sucking was starting to move her teeth and if she didn't stop, she would not have pretty teeth for much longer. He also confirmed that princesses do not suck their thumbs. As a former braces-wearing teenager, I understood what he was telling her. So after the gorgeous hygentist (Sage was quite sure she was Sleeping Beauty) backed up the good doc, Sage decided enough was enough. Me, i wasn't so sure so i offered up a bribe-a princess dress if she could go 2 weeks without sucking her thumb. Well, let me tell you, the bribe was completely unnecessary. Sage has never put her thumb in her mouth since we left the dentist office. Amazing! Getting to sleep at night was a bit tricky for awhile, but she is working on it. She picked out a tinker bell dress and tells everyone how she earned it. I am so proud of her and her accomplishment.

Big Boys

The high school football team came by recently doing a fundraiser. I told them I would buy one of their cards if they played catch with Hayden for a few minutes. He had seen them coming from down the street and was so excited when they got to our house. Then, I made them pose for a picture... Who knows if they will knock on my door next year.

Corny

Our Bishop at church is a farmer. A week or so ago, he got a whole dump truck load of corn and dropped it in the church parking lot. Mounds of corn! We were driving home from Hayden's baseball game and decided we should stop and get some. He grabbed an ear and started to swing like he was Ichiro. Some of the kids running around the parking lot were eating it raw. Sage thought it was a good idea but quickly changed her mind with the first bite. All three were excited to take a little souvenir home.
Mmmmm, the corn was fantastic! We froze 60 ears, and about the same off the cob. Our freezer is full of corn and nectarines!

1st day

Hayden's first day of first grade went well he says. I can't seem to get any details about school from him other than he now gets TWO recesses! Pretty big deal to him! Also, he is excited to be able to eat at school. So far he has mostly taken "cold lunch" but experiments a bit with buying hot lunch and sometimes just milk. He brought me a spork the other day because it came in the pack with a straw and napkin when he got milk and thought it was just too cool and handy to throw away.
I haven't been able to figure out what else happens during the day, it might be a secret because he isn't sharing. Sort of a first for Hayden...
Sage started preschool and loves it. She loves Michelle her teacher and has been waiting all summer to start. She knows a few of the little kids in her class and is busy trying to learn all her new friends names. She brings home cute little worksheets and is so proud of them. She was tickled to wear her Fancy Nancy ensemble the first day. "My shirt says mer-a-see, that means thank you"

Jack Johnson at the Gorge

For Father's day, we got Heath tickets to Jack Johnson, his fav. He had to wait a few months, but the concert was so worth it. We had not been to the Gorge for a concert before but had heard good things. WHOA! it was so amazing! What a view! We got us a little spot on the hillside and ate our Subway as the sun set and then settled in for a great show. Sometimes you go to a concert and the performers sound all distorted and its really a bit disappointing. Not Jack. He was as good and perhaps better than his CDs. Stacy took the kids for the night (I've said it before, but man, is she a great friend or what?!!!)
It was a very lovely evening, not too hot, not too cold. Millions of stars. Great music.

Olympics

So, I finally found the cure to Post-Twilight depression.
The Olympics!
Did you love them? We did.
We kicked them off with a opening ceremonies party. We had yummy Chinese food and good friends. We played the Wii-Mario vs Sonic Olympics, tried to do another game with frozen T-shirts that didn't quite work out like Family Fun said it would. It was a fun night. The opening ceremonies were phenomenal! I stayed up all through the parade of nations and fell asleep right before they lit the flame. Then I proceeded to try to stay up well past midnight everynight for the duration.

Heath and I were jumping up and down watching Michael Phelps swim. I was so excited for the mens gymnastics bronze. Nastia, Shawn...fabulous! Love all things gymnastics. Women's Beach volleyball was Heaths favorite, hmmm, wonder why. Hayden loved the basketball. Sage's favorite was the syncronized diving. She told me that she wants to dive in the next Olympics-go for it Sis, we will be there to cheer you on. She will only be 7, maybe she can dive for China, they like them young. Track and field was sorta disappointing. The 4x100 relays had me so mad I could hardly keep watching. But some of the later events were fun. The sweep in the 400 was really fun to watch. It was so great. Hayden keeps wandering about humming the Olympic Theme and I am already planning to go to the Vancouver Winter Games in 2010. Now, I just need to figure out what to do with my evenings.

Tail End

So we had an incredibly busy summer. Last week we took a final trip to Seattle just the kids and I. It was too short as always. We happened to pick the worst weather of the summer for our week, but that barely slowed us down. We took off Sunday after church and got to my dads in time to watch some of the gymnastics.
Monday we went to Saltwater Park, a place I spent a lot of time at over the years growing up. What a nostalgic place! It poured on us, but that was OK. We checked out barnacles, and looked for shells. I think Marlee might have eaten some seaweed, but I am not sure. Hayden climbed the rocks and Marlee desperatly wanted to swim in the Sound, but as it was maybe 60 degrees, I wouldn't let her (oh yeah, and she can't swim). Sage was a bit more hesitant than the others, she was really bummed that the snack bar was closed.
We went at low tide and boy, was it low! There was an Army ship right off the shore doing cleanup of the bottom of the Sound. Pretty cool to watch. Hayden had been hoping to make a sand castle, but the park sand is too soft until it turns into rocks. hmmm, maybe we will have to take a trip to somewhere with great beaches for building sandcastles soon.


My Mom and Dad put together a great BBQ for the whole fam that night. It was way fun to see everyone-totally makes it worth the drive just for that.
Tuesday we bounced at a new bouncy place. Marlee showed her agressive side when any kids tried to take her ball. Sorta eye-opening for me. I have seen her get down and dirty at home wrestling with her dad and brother, but never to strangers. going to have to work on that. We did a little shopping at the outlet mall in North Bend with Avery and Jamie-Good stuff! Aunt Shelly took Hayden and Sage for the night. Wow! Marlee and me went to dinner with my parents and it was so peaceful. I got to check out the new Southcenter mall. Fabulous!
Wednesday, me and Marlee had lunch with Grandma Bird and Marie. We may have done some damage at Lasting Memories Scrapbook store. It was very nice to spend time with them. Then I got my kiddos back. They were totally exhausted-good work Shelly and Brianna! Dinner with Jamie and Kyle. Avery had some great books-Fancy Nancy and Alice the Fairy. Sage hopes to aquire them soon.
Thursday we hit the Rock before heading home.
Some of you may notice that there are certain things I do pretty much everytime I go to Seattle. Its never enough though. Sometimes its hard to be so far away. I hated all the nasty traffic, the rain was a drag, and its always hard to be away from Heath, but getting to see everyone was wonderful. I had a great trip and can't wait till we go back again.

1st Grade

I can't believe that summer is over! What happened? I swear it was just last week that I took the girls to the craft store to stock up on supplies to keep us busy this summer before school was out. As if that was necessary!
Hayden starts school tomorrow. 1st grade! Wow. We met his teacher today and got to see lots of friends from Kindergarten. He is getting to be so grown up. As I was unloading his school supplies, I watched him visit with his buddies Braxton and Rylie. They talked about the places they went and what all they had been doing for the past few months and then chatted about video games then the Olympics and it really hit me that he is not such a little guy anymore. I tried to keep from getting emotional but it was definetly a moment for me. Tomorrow he will head off to 1st grade, and be gone all day. Don't get me wrong, I am soooo looking forward to this, but it is also so hard to let him go. All day, that is a long time. I am really going to miss him, he is an incredible kid. So smart, so kind, so sensitive. I couldn't be prouder. I think the girls are going to have a tough time too. Sage is going to be lost without her big brother to play with. Marlee loves to wrestle with him and lights up EVERY time he walks into the room. He is so good to both of them.
So, 1st graders are pretty grown up. Hayden got a new Nike backpack because the old Spiderman one was for Kindergarteners. He has his own hair products because he likes to style his hair in the morning just right. He is excited to ride the bus. We got him a lunchable at the store today for him to take for his lunch-he thinks those are for special occasions. And he says that 2 recesses is pretty cool too. I know he is going to do well. I just think I need another week to get me ready for this.
Hayden and his teacher

Got Fruit?

Our nectarine tree was so loaded this year that one of the branches snapped from the weight of the fruit. Even after that loss, we still got 4 big paper boxes full. Nectarine pie, jam, smoothies, frappes, leather, even salsa; dried nectarines, fresh nectarines, frozen nectarines... any more ideas? They are soooo yummy!
Not as many pears, but they look to be manageable.
Oh, and if anyone was concerned, our pepper plants that were violated earlier in the summer have continued to produce and we are getting hot and spicy around here!

Breaking Dawn

OK, its been a couple weeks since my last post. Where have I been? Oh, a little town called Forks. Breaking Dawn came out on the 2nd of this month. So, now that I am on the last couple of chapters of my second read, I am starting to realize that life must go on...I absolutely loved this series. Breaking Dawn was not my favorite, but there is certainly enough closure for me that I don't feel like there should have been more. well, perhaps more Edward, but who doesn't want a bit more Edward??? My absolute fav part of the entire twilight series is found in the final pages though. good stuff.
Stacy and I went to the Barnes and Noble midnight release party. Just us and a few hundred teenagers and a handful of other obsessed moms. It was great. Stacy wore her Team Edward Tshirt with pride. I had a bit more trouble deciding. Team Edward on front, team Jacob on back. Love that kid!
No, I'm not kidding, we really wore t-shirts. We had a ton of fun. We made an agreement that we wouldn't talk to each other before we were both done, but 7:30 the next morning, Stacy was calling to discuss the first part. :) She is such a fun friend!
Imagine my shock when the paper arrived the other morning and found my friends from forks making headlines. (With a little creative help from Heath) We laughed pretty good over this. Isn't he funny?

Vacation 08

For vacation, we headed on a road trip despite the $4.25+ gas prices. 1st stop: Boise. We devised a 4 hour a day maximum drive plan so that Marlee would cope better. (umm, turns out naps are important too) We stayed at our beloved Springhill suites and had dinner at Wingers. Great start to the trip!
Second stop was Salt Lake City. We were there for a few days so we were able to do some fun stuff: Park City, where they had the 2002 Olympic games; the Hogle zoo, a really great mall-the gateway, and cousin Seran's 1st birthday party. Salt Lake is super family friendly. I wish we had stayed a few more days because there is so much to see and do.
Favorites:
Heath: Alpine slide, rock climbing with Hayden
Lori: The Olympics museum, the Flying Aces Aerial show, riding the chair lift with Sage
Hayden: Alpine slide, penguins at the zoo
Sage: The white alligator at the zoo, riding the carousel
Marlee: THE MONKEYS!!! "hi guys!" over and over and over-Didn't want to see anything else. Milkshakes at McDonalds.
Then on to Panguitch where we got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Gretchen and the boys. Lots of Wii and DS downloading, 4 wheelers, a parade and lots of visiting with family. Thursday we got to see most of the Mitchell clan, and Clay and Kristi and family. There was a bit of a discussion...
Do you dip grilled cheese in hot cocoa? How about toast? What are your thoughts on homemade syrup. Please leave me a comment with your views. Its quite important that you are very honest with your opinion. There might be a couple marriages on the line.
Anyway. We went to the gorgeous and amazing Bryce Canyon. Spent a day at the Cabin at Panguitch lake.
It was loads of fun, even if Henri's drive in didn't have English chips.
Favs from Panguitch:
Heath: riding 4wheelers in the hills with his dad and the boys, chubby cheese burgers
Lori: reading Eclipse on the porch during twilight :), Riding the 4 wheeler with Heath looking for the tree we carved our initials in when we were down on Spring break in High school-didn't find it though.
Hayden: The parade, riding 4 wheelers
Sage: getting candy during the parade, riding with mom and Gretchen to Cedar city and going to the Pizza Factory, and Beaver for cheese
Marlee: gathering up unattended drinks and finishing them off. Doing laps around the van in the driveway.

Week 4: Boys

So we are only on week 4, I had to double check that because I was sure it should be about week 17 or so. This past week seems like maybe it could have been at least 3 or 4 weeks long.
My nephews were here. Dalton, Grayson and Gabe. Sunday morning before church, Hayden says, “Now there will be more boys than girls!” Yup, the testosterone was flowing!
Monday we did the water fountains and Playground of Dreams. Always a good time. At lunch I learned really quick that 6 kids eat a lot of food. I braved Fred Meyer for more groceries with all 6 of them. Crazy, huh? Acutally, it went extremely well. They were all well behaved. As we shopped along, some guy saw us, turned to his wife and said, “whoa, she’s got an army!” The boys laughed and laughed about that pretty much all week. Heath took a Frisbee and they all played during Hayden’s soccer practice at the park. Not sure Hayden was into playing soccer so much that night, he kept looking over at the Frisbee players.
Tuesday we got to start swim lessons for Sage. The boys all took their Nintendo DSs. Well except for Gabe, he had lost his by this point. We rented a couple of Wii games so that it could be all video games, all the time. Well, almost…That afternoon, I invited Michael, Brenna, and Nathan down to slip and slide with the guys and Sage. OK, 9 kids now. I must say, the 3 additional kids made life really easy-who would have guessed. Everyone was completely entertained, all I had to do was provide towels and popsicles. As if that wasn’t enough, when Heath got home we headed out on the river for some tubing and wake boarding. It was a gorgeous night! The cousins loved riding the tube. Hayden decided that he would rather hold the flag, a job he asks about every single time we get on the boat, but rarely gets. He said he really likes to ride with Uncle Kyle, so he will just wait till Kyle comes back and let the guys have turns instead. Dalton tried out the wake board. I would have loved to have gotten some pictures, but I was on the beach with the girls, and Hayden and Gabe who were having the time of their lives swimming and eating sand. He made it up though, so we screamed like crazy people as Heath drove by pulling him. Way to go Dalton! He was pretty pumped up about it.
By Wednesday, my house was as trashed as thoroughly as possible. I am amazed that only one DS was missing. Me and Dalton had turned the place upside down looking for it. Meanwhile, the other kids had pulled out every single toy we owned making our search slightly more complicated. No luck. After swim lessons, we went to the park with a couple of other moms from church. Hayden had a soccer game that night, so we all packed up to cheer him on. He did awesome! There is about 145 kids on the team so playing time is limited, but he makes his presence known. I love to watch him play, he is so serious about it.
Thursday we played the beloved candy bar game. Who doesn’t love a game where the playing pieces are candy bars and everyone wins??? We were hoping to take the boat out again, but believe it or not, the wind picked up. Grrrr…we went out for pizza instead-after some much needed quiet time watching a movie. Then, as if the candy bar game wasn’t enough, we did mystery ice cream game. 6 unmarked pints, you guess the flavors. Well, it was a tasty day. We all pretty much agreed that the ice cream game was our favorite between the two games. AND, I finally found Gabe’s DS buried under Sage’s carseat(???)
Friday, our time was limited, so we had to squeeze lots in: swim lessons, a little geocaching and a picnic, then we hit open gym at the gymnastics gym near us. 2 hours of running, jumping, bouncing and flipping. Too much fun. I sent them home with Heath, wore out. Then Marlee and me went shopping.
We loved having the boys here-Thanks Gretchen for letting us have them for the week!

Favorites:
Heath: Playing guitar hero with Dalton after all the small people went to bed
Lori: watching the boys crack up playing the Rabbids game, and dancing around to the crazy songs on Grayson’s ipod
Hayden: DS downloading with Grayson, playing on the beach with Gabe and Sage on the Bonsai.
Sage: The candy bar game, swinging at the park with Gabe
Marlee: the Ice cream game, the potato rounds at Eatza Pizza

Our 4th

OK, I know, total slacker! The 4th was over a week ago, but I've been really busy. We had Jamie and Kyle and Avery here and it was soooo much fun. Jamie actually put a fabulous post about it at her site :All Things Avery
We started out with a big ol pancake breakfast, then headed out for a bit of geocaching. We found 1 of 2, but the 2nd one seemed like perhaps someone else had found it and not returned it :( The kids love to take turns carrying around the GPS and treasure bag.
After some power napping, it was time to get serious about the celebration. We made some cute 4th of July crowns. Sage and Avery were extra excited, as every princess would be to have a new crown (or corona, as Dora might say). Marlee was happy to have one of her own too. I found the cutest straws at Target that were perfect for the project. I did not realize that they could also serve as pom poms, an added bonus.
The kids tossed around pop its in the driveway. We also had glow sticks for when it got dark-Pretty risky! We grilled and then headed to the river for the big show. Hayden and Sage crawled into my lap and watched the show. About two big booms in, Sage says to me, "Mom, this is fun, can we do it again?"
The whole weekend was tons of fun. We boated, played Wii, and got the world's absolute worst service ever at Wendys. Not even kidding on that last part.
I loved having them here. I especially liked to watch Sage and Avery play. Sage is sorta lacking in the little girl friends department. They are both at a great age and get along really well and are so darn cute. They both love Dora, and pink and dress up. I figure only another year or so and Marlee will jump right in there with them. Don't feel to bad for Hayden, he got plenty of boy time with Heath and Uncle Kyle playing video games. And that was only the warm up for his week with his cousins.

Missing

Missing: ALL OF MY PEPPERS!!! yes, my cute little bell, anaheim, and jalapeno peppers were pilfered! hmmm, any guesses? I can tell you that my kids know better, and even if they didn't, peppers are not the thing they would take.
The gap in the fence makes me suspicious especially since I saw Ashley the neighbor girl picking some cherries not to long ago.
Heath says its payback. He confesses that he owes Aunt Phyllis a big apology since him and Kody used to pick her apricots and throw them around the neighborhood. I am guilty of picking all the Benson's roses when I was a kid. I picked ALL their gorgeous flowers and put them on bushes in my yard. Real sneaky, huh?
Anyway, I am so sad, I was really excited about them. Probably will patch the fence over the next few days. If anything happens to any of my tomatoes, I might resort to electric fence around my garden.
...probably can't do the shotgun filled with salt like Heath suggested...

Week 3

Week 3 was all about house guests. We had my college roommate Amy,and her husband Seth and baby Levi. Then Jamie, Kyle, and Avery came. Sunday night, we got Dalton, Grayson, and Gabe. So the fun will keep going!
Hayden finished the first session of swim lessons. I think we will try to squeeze another session in somewhere before school starts back up. The first week of swim lessons, I tried to no avail to get Marlee in the splash pool. Sage loves it so I thought she would too. Nope. But last week, that was all she wanted. The little pool is only about a foot deep but that was enough for her. Marlee stood in the water and squealed and giggled and splashed. So cute. We set up our own little pool in the back yard for even more fun.
Tuesday, I had my second epidural steroid injection. This time I was super sore at the injection site. It was pretty miserable. The doctor says if this one doesn't work, he probably won't do another. Not sure what options I will have, and frankly, this last shot doesn't really seem to be working this time either. Very sad about that :(

Our 4th was so fun. The kids were so excited for the fireworks. Avery wanted to see the "big meatball" ones! They were so cute playing in the little pool, riding scooters and playing dress up.
We went boating on Saturday and it was wonderful. I forgot to sunscreen my back so I am a bit pink now. The kids all rode the tube and had a great time. Well, maybe not Jamie and Avery when they got sunk.
It was so nice to have visitors. We hope that they all had as good a time as we did.

Summer Week 2

All three, all day, all week...
We did a whole lot of running around.
Swim lessons for Hayden, while Sage entertains herself in the splash pool; Marlee just does laps around the fence.
First Soccer Game: Hayden's team, the Orange Jets got rocked by a group of girls in purple. :)
Hayden got his own library card. And we set off on the summer reading program. We are reading James and the Giant Peach, Mr. Baseball and Katie Lynn Cookie Company. Hayden wows me with his reading.
Lots of sun-Thank goodness for spray on sunscreen, and the glue stick looking sunscreen is fab for faces! Sprinklers, kiddie pools, friends, fountains and slip-n-slides, oh my.
Marlee 2-fistin popsicles. The cherry-mango is yummy (and it was mine, originally)Both top teeth have FINALLY come in!!! whoo hoo. Boy was she a bear the last few weeks (months).
Marlee's favorite outdoor activity: painting. Give her a bucket of water and a brush and she is good to go. No mess, no clean up. Sage loves this too.
Hayden and I played several games of Uno, I celebrated the graduation from kiddie games. It was lots of fun to play a real game. Unfortunatly I think Sage and Marlee still have lots of Candy land and Shoots and Ladders left in them.
Lots of yard work, got the back yard looking decent.
1st boat ride of the year. Oh wow, now it's really summer! Marlee loved the boat. I was a bit worried after last summer, but she just was too little. Sage and Hayden and I dipped our toes in the frigid river, too wimpy to go any further. Hoping to log many more hours on the boat before fall.

Spike!

Marlee's first up-do!

Summer-Week 1

Our first week of summer is in the books. What a week too!

Monday: LAST DAY of Kindergarten!!! Since Hayden is officially in first grade now, we decided that him and his friends could walk home from school. James and Michael are now big 3rd graders so I didn't need to worry about the short walk (but I am a mom, and so I did anyway!) Despite my nagging back, me and Stacy walked part of the way to greet them. They were pretty proud to be on their own, very cute! Then after dashing through the Welcome to Summer banner at Stacy's, they were ready to celebrate. Not with me though. Sage got invited to a friends (Oh my, isn't she big stuff) Hayden invited a friend over, but along the way they ended up at the neighbors for a big water party. Peace and quiet for me and Marlee. Hayden picked McDonalds for his end of the year dinner before his first soccer practice.
Tuesday: We sent Hayden off to Sports Camp! Whoo hoo. Heath took me to get an epidural steroid injection in my back. (jury is still out if it really did me much good). Played with the girls, and boy is it quiet without Hayden. Sage eats up the one-on-one though. All princess, all day!

Wednesday: More Sports camp, Hayden got to meet some players from the local arena football league team. He even got them to sign the ball he got at the game Saturday! Numbing medication still seemed to be having a bit of an effect, so me and the girls hit the craft stores and got all kinds of stuff to create all summer long.
Thursday: Sage had Brenna and Nathan over to play. It was a gorgous day, so there was a bit of sprinkler fun in the backyard. Hayden refused to swim at sports camp. It was also our 9yr anniversary! Yay! How did wii celebrate; let mii tell you: we got a Wii! Big fun. The kids were really excited too.
Friday: Last day of Camp. Sage's friend Marissa came to play. We painted toes and made crowns. Marlee was intrigued by painted toes. A few moms from church met us at the park for lunch and fountain fun. Whoa, was it hot! Aubrey the babysitter came over while we had dinner at PF Changs (it was fabulous, as usual).

Saturday: Picked Cherries, and for the second year, they are full of bugs, YUCK! by this evening, the kids were just about to melt down stage, they are so exhausted by all the weeks events. me too.