all grown up

The day before school started the boys all had dentist appointments

this is what Ryan and Luke picked out of the prize box

They totally made me laugh

Ryan's is just funny a little mario & luigi looking

and well Luke, he just looks like a creeper.

once again....

it was time for the first day of school

the boys were so excited

Ryan didn't eat dinner last night and hardly any breakfast this morning because he couldn't wait,

he told me this was going to be the best day ever, his first day of first grade.

Ryan loved his new shirt and wanted everyone to read it, including the crossing guard at the school.

He was nothing but smiles lining up with his classmates and friends.

Luke has been really excited for school to start too which made me happy because he's been a little nervous in the past years.  It took him probably four tries with a little of my help to get his hair just right for today. 

Luke told me just yesterday that he was probably going to wear one of his old football jersey's for the first day of school not one of his new school shirts that we bought.  I wanted him to have something special to wear for the first day so we did a quick shop and found one and those things aren't cheap.  Anyway we also went to Kohl's where he found this lovely shirt (you know how I feel about character shirts), the best part about it was that it was on clearance for $1.35 plus I had a coupon!  So you can see which new shirt won out for the first day but at least he was a happy boy. 

 Cody is always ready for school and loves to learn and socialize with his friends.  He was awake at his normal everyday of his life time six o'clock and got ready right away.  Cody is just so laid back and easy going, he even helped make the waffle mix to have it ready for when I came down this morning.

 Cody was fun to school shop with this year, his style is changing and he is starting to try some new looks.  As far as his hair goes, well he could still care less, he wants nothing to do with it.

 Amanda and I walked the kids to school, took plenty of pictures and

 lined them all up where they needed to be.  

They were all smiles.

I asked the kids what was I going to do with them being gone all day,

they said I could play with the lizard, play fetch with Ruby, get on the computer for a little bit,

or play video games and of course they assured me that they would miss me.

I guess I will just take one day at a time.

wet-n-wild

I guess Amanda and I only have ourselves to blame with letting the kids do so many things together

because now they just expect it to happen and consider everything a tradition now.

They wouldn't leave us alone about having another messy day and a family dinner together 

so last minute we made it happen to oblige them

and we had five happy kids....all smiles.

first game:

get the quarter out of a frozen block of kool aide using only your mouth or hands

(no biting or breaking it apart) 

 second game:

crack an egg over your head without knowing if it is hard boiled or raw (or scrambled like Ryan said)

this wasn't as easy as it sounds because it turns out eggs are really hard to crack on your head

third game:

find six gummy bears in a plate full of whip cream and sprinkles

fifth game:

unfold and put on a t-shirt that has been frozen folded and wet

(Ryan was the only one of my boys to not give up on this game, it was definitely a challenge)

I think Abigail won every game, she loves a challenge,  Ash loves to get as dirty as possible (she leaves you speechless), Luke tries his best to beat Abigail in every competition while Cody tries to stay as clean as possible and Ryan well he is just somewhere in the middle of it all.

Lastly we filled up some water balloons for the kids to play with.

They are so funny they don't really care about throwing them and having a water fight

instead they like to draw faces on them and have their family of babies that they carry around

and care for. 

Next up came Dominos for dinner

underwater pictures

coke floats down at the pool

the whole family in the water playing shark.

The kids loved it and had a great time

sadly though they could of kept going and going

they didn't think it was enough time

but man were we exhausted!

a little conversation

Ryan and I had a little conversation at the pool the other day, 

he asked me, "how do you get married?"

I told him first you will fall in love with someone and then you will have to ask her dad if it's okay that you marry her.  Once you do that you can buy a ring and then ask her to marry you.

He asked me what would happen if the dad says no?

I told him that he doesn't have to worry about that because how could someone say no to someone as sweet as him.

He told me if he said no then he would just pay him some money.

He also told me he wouldn't get married until he was 26, 35 or 49 years old 

and that he would live with Heath and I until then.

This news made me happy because I know that in a few short years he would never think of saying something like that. 

As of now he plans on being a motorcycle cop and will let me go and not give me a ticket if he caught me speeding.

 Later on though he did change his mind saying he would have to do the right thing and give me one which I was okay with.

Ryan said he was going to save five hundred dollars from working to buy her a wedding ring but he doesn't yet know who he is going to marry but said that they will have two babies.

The funniest part of our conversation was when twice he asked me, 

"now whose my dad again?"

I'm not for sure why he was so confused on this maybe because we were talking about everyone's middle names and who was named after who and there were too many dad's being talked about?

I just love those little talks.

 Ryan not only pulled out his second tooth with a little bit of Heath's help but he also learned how to dive this week.  He was so amazing to watch and so brave.  The older boys just learned how to dive this summer in swimming lessons so I was so surprised that within just a couple of tries he had it figured out.

Go Ryan!

forty years

all because two people fell in love

this weekend we celebrated my parent's fortieth wedding anniversary

they took us out for a family dinner at Gino's

everyone's lives are so busy so it's been a long time since we have all been together

i love it when we are all together

it was a great time

it's crazy to think of forty years together with someone

when I haven't even been alive for that long

but what a wonderful thing

happy anniversary mom and dad

three weeks

Three weeks from yesterday the boys will be back in school.
Where did the summer go?
Like always I'm not ready for it to be over with,
I love summers home with my boys.
A big change will be happening this year though
and I'm not big on changes.
All the boys will be in school all day long,
everyday.
That's five days by myself.
I'm not for sure what I'm going to do?
For the last (almost) eleven years
I've been home
Home with my boys
Being a stay at home mom
That's the life I know
and love.
I think the house will feel a little lonely
and I know that I am going to miss them.
I have plenty of things to keep me busy at the house,
so many projects never finished and some not even started.
I guess I will finally get some "me time".
I've thought about finding a part time job
but I start to panick if I think about it too much
so I figure the right job will come along when the time is right.
I feel so blessed that I've been able to be home with the boys
and that Heath's job allowed me to do that
it's time spent with them that I will never regret.
So I guess we will see where this school year takes us
but for now
I'm going to soak up every last bit of our summer days
together.

Everyday in (July) plus more

1. the (white) and polka dot dress I bought for Kimberly

2. the new stars & (stripes) Ryan earned for his belt

3. the boys were (out & about) picking raspberries in our garden

4. the flag at the school showing our (independence)

5. (the letter L) for our pet lizard

6. the truck packed up ready for some (fun) camping

7. Kimberly out (in the sun) on her first hike in Cascade

8. the boys all (sleeping) not so comfortably on the way home from camping

9. the (stairs) in our house that I climb a million times each day

10. blast from the past listening to some good music from (1999)

11. Heath will always have his (glasses on) if he is outside

12. Cody & Luke have these (retro) pillowcases in their rooms

13. Seeing the excitement the boys have for the new Halo 4 game is (funny)

14. I (can't live without) my family the McMullen's

side note: when Heath and I were first dating, (me in Idaho him in North Carolina)

I sent him this same picture of me standing in front of this sign

15. (you on 15) heading to church with the family 

16. I love to take (sips) from my frescas on hot summer days

17. the boys at swimming lessons (showing some skin)

18. Luke & Cody (in motion) practicing their swim strokes

19. me looking a little (grumpy) because I'm sick with a summer cold

20. the girls and boys on their (bikes) heading home from the pool

21. (relaxing) with friends while walking around the neighborhood yards sale

22. love listening to this song (on the radio) or on my phone

23. Ash had a little (sparkle) on her shirt

24. Cody reading yet another magazine (the letter M) and learning more facts about everything

25. Grammy & Luke were (moving it) while busy in the kitchen making their potato salad

26.  So happy to have our new patio cover now in our back (yard)

27. We all (loved) spending the day with Nicole, Jim and Hailey at Roaring Springs

28. Ryan relaxing on a (hot) day out on the boat

29. With dirty camping feet like these how could it not be a (Sunday Funday)

30. Luke was one (cool) dude when he wore his swim trunks backwards to the pool on accident but didn't bother to change them once he realized it

31. Ryan gave me this (U.S.A.) five dollar bill when he wanted to buy something for the Wizards 101 game 

the boys have been playing on the computer

And here is the plus more:

Our one day camping trip this past weekend was quick but a success.

We managed to have lots of fun out on the boat tubing with the boys, enjoying the warm sunshine, eating too much food and just relaxing.

After boating Ryan and Luke started up a business of selling rocks or stones like Ryan calls them. They found rocks around the campground, washed and polished them using all of my dish soap and set them out on the cooler to sell.  They were selling each rock for a quarter, but you could buy two for two quarters, or three for three quarters or four for four quarters, not really a bargain but it worked out for them.  Once Cody realized that their business was a success and people were actually buying rocks he decided that he wanted to be part of it too and joined in.  In the end each of the boys made three dollars, not too bad.  My dad can't figure out how Luke convinced him to buy five dollars worth of rocks, rocks that he already owned to begin with, what a good Papa.

A couple of weekends ago we went up past Lucky Peak to do some boating, when Ryan saw this fountain out in the water he said excitedly,  "Hey guys, I think there is a whale down there in the water!"

While we waited for others to get back from boating we hung out on the little beach or tried to catch minnows in the water.  Heath had a bet with the boys that the first one to catch a minnow would win a game  but they didn't count on the only one to be able to do it would be their mom, so no new game!

 We had so much fun at roaring springs on Friday with some of the family.

The weather was perfect, not too crowded and we laughed all day long.

Poor Heath had Cody help him put on his sunscreen and ended up being a crispy critter by the time the day was over, a lesson learned Cody doesn't apply sunscreen all that well.

Ryan was an inch too short to go on all of the big rides but I was surprised he didn't flinch at trying out this ride that drops you off into ten foot.  I was a little nervous for him and told him to swim like crazy once he was in the water and that is exactly what he did.  He loves to tell people now that he can swim in ten feet.  Thankfully the swimming lessons have helped out a lot this year and Ryan came a long ways.  He made huge improvements the last day of his swimming lessons so much that his teacher kept saying, "Ryan, Wow, have you been practicing?"  When I told Ryan how good he did he told me, "Mom, I just wanted to make you so proud of me!"  

That's a wrap!