Who needs toys?

We bought a wagon.

And guess what gets played with the most.....

Boxes are the best!

Help me.

Wow.  I'm so behind.  Makes me want to curl up in a ball in a corner somewhere.

But I can't.  There's always too much to do & not nearly enough time to do it.


Just keeping up with this chica.....

.....seems to take most of it.

I put her in her highchair with a sucker while I took a shower, to keep the destruction down.

And I come out to find this.

So funny!

I can't tell if she is really the busiest, messiest toddler I've had, or if it just seems like it because I'm older & more easily tired. And out of shape. And haggard.

Hmmmmm.

Jen

My little sister Jen is having a lot of fun right now.

She has two babies.  Eleven months apart.

Baby Tate

And this guy......

Brock.

He's a month or so older than Caroline.

And boy does Jen has her hands full.

They came in town & we took some pictures.

Is that not the yummiest?!

Our goal was to get something with the two of them together.

But all I got were different variations of this.....

So we ended up with ones like this.....

Which I thought were so much more real!

Hang in there Jen!!!

Love you!  :)

Time to lock up the Sharpies....

(taken with my iPhone)

Anyone know how to get this stuff off?

Back To School

Marlee's first day as a Junior.

Jake's first day of 8th grade.

Max's first day of 6th grade, Zane's first day of 3rd grade, and Gus's first day of Kindergarten!

In all honesty, I've never been sad to see any of my kids off to Kindergarten thus far.  

Until now. 

This one was kind of hard.  My littlest guy......

He wasn't terribly thrilled either.

But he put on a brave face & gave me a wave.

I think I would have been crying if it hadn't been so bleepin' hot.

Then Caroline & I walked back home. 

Just me and her. 

It was so quiet!  It was awesome!!  Until I started realizing how much I depended on the other kids to keep her entertained.  She doesn't want to be in a room by herself, so I have to be right by her side all the time.

So this is our routine......

While I'm cleaning up after breakfast/school-lunch-making, Caroline gets into her toy drawer.  And she literally gets into it.

When she's done, I pick it up while she starts on the arts & crap cupboards.

She helps herself to a little snack while she's at it.

So then I clean up that mess.

Meanwhile, she's moved on to the book basket.

She loves books.

And they all must be pulled out every time.

Then comes the very popular party-plates-and-napkins drawer.....

Yes, I know I need to dig up some of those cupboard lock thingys.

And then there's the bathroom cupboards, with fun things like tampons to unwrap, and the bandaid drawer, and the laundry basket, which is a favorite.

And so goes my day.

I love it.

Marlee Goes to Homecoming

So who's her hot date?

It's Weston, her  "best friend".

Mmm hmmm.     Rigggghhhhhht.  :)

And they went with these guys.....

Michelle & Seth

And Katie & Grant

Just the girls....

These three are bff's, and they play volleyball together.

And they are absolutely beautiful!  I love them!

I'm so glad Mars has such great friends.

And it sounds like they all had a good time, going by Marlee's "Bueno" when I asked her how it all went.  She's not one for giving up details.  That's all I got.  "Bueno."  She's strangely non-dramatic for a teenage girl.  It's weird.  And it's great most of the time.  But not when I'm trying to get a lowdown on something like this. Don't they know that we live for this stuff?!  Sheesh!

And what's also weird is that I can already tell that Caroline is not going to be like this.  One day I'll be complaining about how I can't get her to shut up!

hula baby

is yummy yummy!

The face of misery

Poor Zaners.

This is not his idea of fun.  But we've all had to do it.

And Brian makes it even funner by telling him he's not getting back into the boat until he gets up.  That's what his dad did to him, so that's what he does to our kids.  I can't say that I'm on board with this method, but I'm not usually there to intervene anyways.  I'm always at home with a baby.

So, after several attempts (with the help of Marlee's friend Weston), and apparently plenty of tears and exclamations of "I'm NEVER, EVER coming to the lake again!!!" (I wasn't there to save him).......

.....he got up!   Sort of.  Good enough.

And a very relieved Zaners was allowed to get back into the boat.  Exhausted, but also proud of his accomplishment.

And before we know it, he'll be up & lovin' it like the others.

Gus will be next.

But for now, he rides on the tube & jumps in & swims around when the boat's stopped, & eats Cheetos & Sprite, & plays with his fave toy of the day, like Orca whale here.

Always the cliff-jumping, which freaks. me. out.

Another long hard day at the lake.

Ten years ago....

I took this picture of 6-year-old Marlee before I walked her to school that morning.  We were really late, because I couldn't pull myself away from the news on TV.  It was so unreal.  All I did was watch the news, flipping back & forth between stations, for weeks.

I remember how a kind of depression seemed to settle in after the shock had worn off.  But I also remember never feeling such intense patriotism before in my whole life. 

I can't believe it's been ten years.

Sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday.  But then at the same time, it's hard to remember that blissfully naive pre-9/11 world.  So much has changed.

Marlee's changed a little too.  :)

The Summer of 2011

It was short.  Not the hot weather, it's still here, but summer vacation.  The few weeks we have to fit in scout camps & girls camps & basketball camps & youth conferences & swim team & family vacations & family reunions & EFY's & then have bumloads of "free" time to get bored out of our skulls while living in our swimsuits.  It gets shorter every year.  And by the time you fit everything in that just must be a part of summer vacation, there's no time left for the chilling out part, the getting bored part.  I miss the getting bored part.

So it was short, but sweet, nevertheless.

Here's a summary of our summer of 2011..........

My beloved garden that I finally planted in the spring.....

.....which I then neglected in May & June, then was dead by the end of July.

Maybe I should use those tomato cages next year. Duh!

School ended and the Trek began a couple days later.

Right after that, I was able to go relax up in Deer Valley, Utah with my Mom & sisters & SIL's for a few days.

Man, I really needed that!

Then came Scout camp & basketball camps & swim lessons,  then Coronado for the Fourth.

In between went like this......

swimming

Plants vs. Zombies

Caroline learned how to climb the stairs.

Then she learned how to play baby games on my iPhone (Happy Babies app is awesome!)

lake trips

staying in our jammies all day

The playroom looked like this.  Or worse.

Caroline looked like this in the mornings.  So excited to play with her brothers.

more swimming

scrumptious baby in a swimsuit

who's a total chicken about getting in the pool

not a fan

She just wants to steal shoes.

I looove how her hair gets curly when it's wet.  Can't get enough of it.

Oh, and Marlee would look like this alot.....

Trying to make up for sleep she didn't get the night before.

Then.....

we went

HERE........

the Big Island of Hawaii.

For two weeks!

And did things like this.....

and this.....

and this.....

And hung out in cool places like this.....

and this.....

And did some of this.....

and this.....

It was epic.

It was a trip of a lifetime.

And I have a bazillion photos to show for it!  Bit by bit.  Baby steps.  That will be my strategy.

So we got home from our Hawaiian adventure just in time for Meet-the-Teacher nights & frantic back-to-school shopping.  A bit rough on the re-entry to real life.

And here we are.  September already.  I need to get going on Halloween!