July Random Days

Some friends that moved gave us their playhouse this summer. Woo-hoo! Now we have the ultimate backyard for the pre-school set. But, anyway, it took some moving and assembly to get it over our fence and set it up in our backyard, and the day was stiflingly hot and humid. Andy was sweating buckets! Abigail looked at him, pointed to the beads of sweat dripping down his forehead and face and said, "Daddy, you raining." Warren said, "Dad, you must be really hot because water is coming out of your head." Here they all are, "napping" in the play house.

This picture does not do the storm justice. It was July 30th, I think, and we were irrigating and a HUGE rainstorm swept into Mesa. Our entire lot was totally flooded, up to 8 inches in some places. The funny thing was that I had just taken all the kids to the grocery store to get stuff for my mother-in-law's b-day dinner. I had gotten Abigail and Avery out of the car and onto the curb as it rained and had gone back to retrieve Warren when the heavens let loose and soaked me and Warren. The girls were getting saoked, even under the plaza's awning; luckily our plight was viewed by several nice beauticians in their shop and they ran out to rescue my kids and then got us towels for us to dry off with, and let us wait out the 15 minutes of downpour in their store. Nice people make me happy.

One day water spilled on the floor and Warren decided it looked like a map of the United States. He really likes maps; in fact, we're re-doing his room and it will include a huge wall mural world map on one wall--a la the Boyle's dining room, for those of you who have been there. I always liked that.

When I put on makeup, I always get some harmless blush color out for Abigail and a brush and let her put on makeup with me. Well, I wasn't paying that great of attention one day, and she put her brush in lipstick and did up her face. I told her to go look in a mirror since she hadn't seen herself yet, and she said, "Mommy, I'm a mess!" But a happy mess...

4th of July

This picture embodies Independence Day for me. We decorated bikes to ride up and down our street in the shade of the American flags that lined it. We went to a Cub Scout pancake breakfast that morning where I sang, "God Bless America." We spent the afternoon and evening with family, swimming, grilling, playing slip-and-slide/water softball and watching the CountryClub fireworks from lawn chairs in the backyard. It was great.

Avery lovin' the pool.

June 15-16: YUMA!

On our annual pilgrimage to San Diego, we stopped off for a day and a night in Yuma, AZ to visit my Aunt Johnell's family. It was so much fun! Besides eating super yummy food--I'm still thinking about the cornbread--we had a firepit and roasted marshmallows to make s'mores. Afterwards, the kids all tried to sleep in the backyard in a tent, but Warren and Kate both kept coming in for things--drinks, flashlights, pillows. Finally, they decided they were better off inside. But they sure enjoyed the tent the next morning! Here, they are trying to get out the dog door of the tent.
Left to right: Warren, Emma, Maylin--holding Amy, Johnathan, Abigail, Kate and Julie. If the child in the picture isn't my kid, it's my cousin! We had a such a fun time in Yuma! Thanks for sharing your food, your home, your hearts, your yard and your Wii!

June 11 2007: Fathers Day Prep

When I was about 10, I remember being so excited to go to "Kevin's Discount Store," in WW Plaza to buy my dad a gift for Fathers' Day. I still remember the tie: one in pink and one in dusty blue. They were made from some sort of terry cloth/cotton blend fabric and were kind of thin. In short, they were hideous. I like to think that my gifts for dad have improved since then. This Fathers' Day, we took pictures of the kids haolding the letters to spell "PAPO" and put them onto a photo collage tie from zazzle.com. Here are just a few of my favorites.

This picture we used for a gift for Andy's dad, Grandpa Gordon. We made it into a postage stamp, also on zazzle. I had so much fun making my own stamps that I made 3 more sheets.

Avery loved the rubber letters. She is chewing on one of them in all the pictures we took that day. I love her wide-open eyes in this shot.

Vintage Warren: flying through the air on a swing, roaring like a lion. I think this captures his spirit.

Warren's 4th Birthday Party: May 31, 2007

(All captions composed by Warren and dutifully typed by his mom) "Blowing out candles is fun, but I don't like when people blow out my candles and it's my birthday." (We had to sing Happy Birthday and blow out candles twice because one of W's friends stole his thunder the first time around and blew them out. I can understand his frustration--even I was annoyed.)

"I'm sliding down the waterslide."

"We're trying not to let us get touched by the water--(from the sprinkler)--and if I get touched by the water, I fall on the blood." I asked, "What's the blood?" "We were pretending the water was the blood." (This was so funny to watch; the boys would be jumping frantically, but when the sprinkler would change direction and come at them, one of the boys would sound the alarm and they all lined up against the net until it was clear again, whereupon they would resume jumping until the next time around.)

"It was fun shooting water guns."