S'mores, Swim Lessons and Messes

Both are a staple of summer, at least for some of us.  Bubba didn't like the marshmallows at all.  Drey probably ate 5.

 Aubree wasn't sure what to think.  She only ate one so she must have not been too impressed.

Swim lessons are also a must during the summer.  Landon had a blast.  Of course his favorite thing is jumping off the diving board.

 Tylee graduated this year and she was pretty excited about it.  I wish she would stick with longer.  She loves it and she's pretty good at it but she gets intimidated by swimmers with more experience.

Scott is bound and determined to cut down every tree on our lot.  This was his first attempt to get one of the huge pine trees down.  It was really scary and very messy.  My yard is never going to look good. This picture makes it look like we live in the wilderness in a cabin.  

 Drey and Bubba have decided to join the Gunnell tradition of getting into the flour.  Once I caught them and got mad Bubba ran away crying, Drey on the other hand is still has happy as can be, and I think a little proud of his mess.

The Best Birthday EVER!!!

I don't think our entire family has been this excited for another person's birthday.  All of us have been counting down the days until Landon's 9th birthday.  You may ask "why the excitement?"  Well when we found out we would be going to Hawaii this fall Landon was so incredibly sad that he wasn't included in this adventure.  After a couple months of contemplating the ramifications having him go with us and saving lots of money we decided to buy him a ticket to go to Hawaii with us.  We told the girls right after we bought it to give them a heads up.  Landon isn't always the easiest person to be around and I was worried they would be annoyed their little brother was going.  I was wrong.  They've gotten more excited as the weeks have gone by.  When he opened that present it up it was better than anything I've ever seen. First he was confused, then shocked then happy, soo happy he started to cry tears of joy.  We were all in tears as well. Unfortunately I was video taping it so I didn't actually get any pictures of him opening it.  Dang! It was the best birthday I've ever been too.  What a great kid!!

Picnics and Giant Bubbles

So, I've noticed that I've been hanging out a lot more with other foster moms/families.  I like all my friends but these ones understand my crazy, weird, hectic life and sometimes you need people like that. With them it's not shocking to show up with 5 extra kids or have to leave in the middle of a picnic to take someone to a visit, or cry when you talk about kids you've only known for 2 weeks that are suddenly the light of your life.  Lately I've been very grateful for their unconditional support, understanding and love.

GONE FISHIN'

It wasn't really that exciting of an activity but I've got such dang cute kids I had to take lots of pictures.  Landon only stop fishing for about 5 minutes so he could shove a sandwich in his mouth and then he was back to fishing. Drey liked to reel them in but that's all he wanted to do.  Bubba and Aubree didn't want to have anything to do with any of it.  

Let the Fun Begin

We made plastic bubbles and it was pretty cool.

We've been to the park a few a times and had picnic a few times, climbed the trees....

 and played in the river

 The kids have loved having the pool on the deck.  The get in and out so frequently that it's just easier to have them swim naked.

 Dreyden is loving having playmates to do all the things he loves to do.

 This was hilarious!! She was playing with the fishy game and one of the fish got stuck on her finger.  She was scared cause the fish bit her and it was stuck on her finger.

 How does one not love this precious smile

 Drey was so tired that he didn't even wait to get into bed to fall asleep.

 We  had a picnic at the splash pad and then played in the water for awhile.  The littles were so nervous about the fountains but with Tylees help they all ended up loving it.

 Tylee and Aubree have something pretty special going on.  Aubree is obsessed with Tylee and Tylee will do anything for Aubree.  It's kinda cute.

 Family movie nights are always better when you have 5 different kinds of popcorn to eat.