I have been horrible about taking pictures this summer. We've done lots of fun things, but I have hardly taken a picture of any of them. I was thinking about how much pictures help me remember things. Sometimes there will be an event or outing from my childhood that I've forgotten, but seeing a picture of it reminds of it all over again. In a lot of ways, seeing the picture makes it seem like it was just yesterday. And sometimes, a picture will remind me, not just of what's happening in the picture, but other things that were happening around that same time. My sister-in-law posted an old family picture on her blog. She shared about how before the picture was taken, her little sister was winking at a man in the waiting room and how the man's wife was teasing little 4-year old Kristie about "flirting" with her husband. This might be something she would have remembered anyway, but I think having a photograph connected to the memory helps to make it just a little more memorable. It seems to work that way for me.
So when I realized how few pictures I had taken this summer, I felt bad for not documenting more of just the little things we've been up too and helping preserve those memories a little better. I have a lot of good reasons for not taking pictures. Most of the time I'm keeping track of four little kids. Its hard to watch all or part of them (especially when one is a really busy almost 2-year old) and take pictures. Sometimes I try to just enjoy the moment and not worry about getting my camera out and photographing it all. Sometimes I forget to take my camera somewhere or it might be out of batteries or the memory card might not be in it. All of which happens sometimes. But I'm going to try and take more pictures for the rest of the summer so I don't miss out on any more important events. :)
But here are a few things (in pen and ink, so to speak) that we've done but have no pictures to prove, and few things I do have pictures of (thank goodness!!)
*An end of the year t-ball picnic in the full-on heat and humidity that we endure most summer days. We ate good pork barbecue and fixin's and Ian got his trophy for a great year of t-ball!
*Elise's end of the year softball swim party, which was lots of fun for the team and their siblings.
*Ian had a special outing with his Uncle Ethan and Aunt Lois, who bought him a Spiderman fishing rod and took him fishing for the afternoon. When he came back, I asked him what his favorite part of the day was. He said, "Throwing the hook into the water and reeling it back in." I asked him if he ever left the hook out in the water for a long time to see if a fish would bite. "No", he said, "Well, one time I left it out for a little bit, but mostly I just threw it into the water and reeled it back in really fast." He may not have mastered the art of fishing, but he had a great time. I met them at the mall to pick him back up at the end of the day. Since it was just the two of us, I thought it would be a fun Mom/Son date, so I took him to the food court in the mall. I told him he could eat anywhere he wanted and showed him around so he could choose. Any guesses where he chose?
McDonald's, of course. Never mind that his aunt and uncle had taken him there for lunch. Can you get too many Happy Meals in a day? I think not! Besides, he got a different toy this time. After we ate we picked up a Father's Day present for his Daddy. It was a lot of fun hanging out with this little guy who is fast becoming "not so little" anymore.
*We made at least one trip to the library and checked out half their inventory because we love reading, we love books and we LOVE going to the library. (I think the favorite book of the day was the "Ripley's Believe it or Not" book. If I see the picture of the guy with his head covered in push pins one more time, I may rip out the page, library book or no. Obviously, the kids thought it was
great.)
*We had two birthday parties--one for my brother, Logan, and one for my brother, Adam. We had yummy food and it was fun getting to celebrate with both of them on their birthdays. That doesn't happen too often anymore and I LOVED it. I made Adam a chocolate chip pie which was a hit.
He had plenty of help blowing out the candles, as usual. Thank goodness, too. He's getting a lot of candles on that cake these days. ;)
It was too hot to handle--literally. The pie was so hot, it melted the candles while we sang "Happy Birthday". You had to watch out because your piece might be a little waxy. This pie is so good, though, it even tastes good with candle wax in in. :)
*We spent a day at the water park with our family. Everyone except Cory's sister who live in the bayou and his brother who just barely welcomed a new little boy to the family came and we spend the whole day just enjoying the water. It was nice because it wasn't very crowded. So much fun! One part of the park is this gigantic water slide.
It looks like it would be awesome, right? If your idea of fun is dropping off down a dark hole and being flung around, only to be spit out at the speed of light, then it is fun. If not, this may not be the slide for you. It is so fast and furious, you want to make sure your swimsuit is adjusted appropriately when you get to the bottom. Sometimes the force of the slide does crazy things to your suit. This may or may not have happened to someone I know. :) It might also cause you to use profanity. We were watching some of the kids and adults in the family come down the slide last week. Lots of the little kids were lined up at the fence and several of us grown ups, when this lady came down. Clearly, no one had warned her about this slide. The first word out of her mouth when she sat up at the bottom was a loud curse word. Then she glanced over at the fence to see close to ten children staring at her with wide eyes. She apologized, of course. :) I went down it once--three or four years ago. That was all I needed. Elise went down it for the first time last year and once again this year. Its not her cup of tea. Ian went down several times this year, until the last time he kept his head raised when he went down and knocked his head against the side of the slide at every turn, and ended up with a really bad headache. Thankfully a good night's rest did the trick and he was all better the next morning. It was such a fun day and I think we're already ready to go back!
*Ian's friend had a birthday swim party and invited the whole family, so we ended one of the most beautiful days we've had this summer, at the swimming pool. We had good fun, good times visiting with friends, and good food. We could barely drag Elise and Ian out of the water when it was time to go home.
*Our church had its annual 4th of July breakfast (actually on July 3rd this year). There was tons of food and lots of fun with friends (again). Ian gave us a little scare when he and Charles Allen decided to walk around the school and we couldn't find them. A playground full of equipment, a football field to run and play in and a pavilion full of food and they decide to wander off where there is nothing. Then at the end of the activity, most of our kids (meaning my own kids and their cousins) decided to follow a path into the woods and gave us another scare when they wouldn't come out and then had gotten turned around and couldn't figure out how to get out. Luckily, once we got on the path, we were able to get them out in no time. But to a worrying mother, it seems like a lot longer.
*We had a family cookout at our house for the 4th of July. I'm detecting a pattern here, but we had fun times with family again, as well as lots of good food. Because I had a nasty cold and an early meeting at church the next day, we skipped fireworks this year, much to the dismay of our kids. However, we snuggled in with pillows and blankets and watched "The Wizard of Oz" and had a wonderful evening anyway.
*We've had a couple of play dates. (LOVE those!!!)
*We took advantage of
Sonic's half priced happy hour drinks and
slushies one day. We got six drinks for a
steal!!!
*Its been really hot, so we've eaten a LOT of
popsicles.
We are keeping the freezer stocked because there aren't many ways too keep cool in the heat of summer.
*We're watching lots of movies. We don't watch any TV, play computer games or video games during the week when the kids are in school. Most afternoons, if we're here and not doing something else, I'll let the kids watch a movie while I cook dinner. They love it and it gives me the time to get dinner going. I've enjoying watching along with them too. Last week we watch Cheaper By the Dozen and I'd forgotten how much I liked it.
*We're also making sure that just because its summer, we don't slack off on fashion.
*We're also enjoying having Grandma over.
I just love that
Lisy Lou. :)
Paige was loving being silly with Grandma.
Merry Grace was telling Grandma something really important.
Grandma spent the night with us on a Saturday night and then spent Sunday after church visiting and playing with the kids. We all love having her around.
*We've been making sure that when we go outside, there's water involved, because it is HOT out there.
One day we went outside and turned the water sprinkler on. Even though it was super hot, the water coming out of that hose is super cold. Apparently this girl can take it. :)
We love our sunglasses around this house. :)
Little Paige has a thing for shoes. She especially loves wearing her shoes mismatched and on the wrong feet. In this picture she as two right shoes--one
croc and one flip flop. She gets angry when she has to wear a matched set on the right feet. I've said it before, but I'll say it again--This girl is a
mess!
Ian and Elise played this fun game where they threw Frisbees toward each other and tried to catch them. They got points for how many they caught. Ian was a really good thrower and Elise was a really good catcher. Basically that means that Elise got most of the points.
Ian didn't seem to mind. They both had a great time. And believe it or not, Paige never got hit by a flying Frisbee or even run into by one of the kids, although she sure missed a great opportunity.
After getting freezing cold in the water, the kids would spread their towels out on the ground and warm up. Paige did it more for copy cat value, since she barely got wet at all.
Ian got some kind of splinter or something in his foot. The girls came over to see if they could help.
So we've been having lots of fun this summer. Its so nice not to have to get up and be somewhere every single morning. We're loving the summer routine. So we've had a lot of fun and can't wait to have more!!!
