Summer Fun....

School is finally out!!  Obviously this post is a little overdue but we've kicked off summer by firing up the sprinkler.  Jett goes with water like Peanut Butter with Jelly.  He would live in the water if we'd let him.

This little snippet shows him running the show.....as usual.  Stand back or you'll be sprayed!!  (It's a few minutes long, but worth it.  At least to me.)

And this is after the water fight....

We grabbed the first thing within reach.  These boys were freezing!

I think they might actually like each other....
sometimes.

So snugly.

Wrinkly little toes.

A sweet kiss from big brother.

 There's always excitement here, you just have to look in front of you.

Part of Our Heritage....

At the end of Fourth grade all the students were assigned a big project that traced their family history and allowed them to learn about where their family came from.  I won't bore you with stats and details but rather, allow you to take a journey through time with photos.  Ok, no I won't, but it sounded cool.   Ha!

Here's a look at the final product; our display board.  I say "our" because the project was supposed to be for the kids and parents.  This was to involve the parents in the kids' school work and allow them to spend time together.  The final presentation was given by the student and their parent or aunt/uncle/grandparent, or whoever was available to help them.

That's right!  We're soo-perr Svedish!
The guitar shape in the middle is the branching off of our family tree.

Here's the family detective and his evidence.
Maybe I should have taken this with me in there....Hmm.

This half naked child represents...a half naked child.
Who's part Swedish.
And half naked.

There was a pin marking the city where we're from
but Jett decided we didn't need it.  I'm fine with it.
It's funner to point and ask, "Here?", "Here?"
"How about here?"

This cute little section represents our ancestors livelihood.
They lived in a lush area and were great farmers.
Apparently it's the recessive gene.
My houseplants are staging a coup.



Pictures of the typical period clothing they wore.
I imagine for a hot date, the ladies would just wear the vest
with no long sleeve shirt underneath.  Sassy!
Nothing says 'Pedicure please" like a flashy pair of wooden shoes.



Food.  My link to history.
This would explain my love of Swedish Fish.
No really, they were invented in Sweden; land of licorice lovers.

A little history about the town; Kristianstad, Sweden

You thought the clubs were hot on Saturday night.
They've got nothin' on this place.
Here they are, tearin' it up before the sun's even down!
As for me, apparently I'm genetically wired to be this good.

I think this picture speaks for itself.

So there it is.  A slice of our family history in a nutshell.  The oldest relative we went back to was born in 1410.  We don't know much about him, but that just leaves it open to do more investigating.  This was all found on my dad's, dad's side and I've barely scratched the surface on his mom's side, or even my mom's side.  Confused yet?  Me too.  Whose blog is this??!

Jett's 1st Zoo Trip....

Jett went to the zoo for the first time a few weeks ago.  I love to see things through his eyes.  He LOVED it!  We plan on going alot this summer and can't wait to do it again when Destini gets here.

He liked the giraffes the best.

It looks like they're kissing.  They're not.

He was laying down, peeking under the fence, calling this baby giraffe.

He clicks his tongue, tries to snap his fingers, and makes suction sounds.
Animal whisperer in-training.

Hard to see but this is the Meerkat display.  He screamed when he saw them.

Getting dirty.  Another perk to the zoo.

Monkey see, Monkey do.

Feeding the birds.

Notice the grandpa pants pulled up to his moobs.
I had to lift him over my head to reach these little Thanksgiving appetizers.

Jett didn't know whether to be excited for the bird on my shoulder
or eat the seed on a stick.  What to do, what to do??

Ethan wanted to take this thing home.
Then I happily showed him the poo-colored concrete.
Crisis averted.

Cotton candy for the first time!  There's only one picture because
I have enough of him having melt-downs.
No need to continue the documentation.

This is my favorite!  I'm going to do some crop magic to make it closer.

Coming out of the wolf den.

Me too!!

We found the face painters.  Notice the eyes...

You'd think he was a little Prince used to getting facials.

He was so tired I was physically holding his head up so she could finish the painting.
He just melted when that brush stroked his cheek.

Hand on boob.  Now he's good.
Rawr!  (To the baby Tiger, not the boob.)

So cute!

My little snake lover!

This guy was super close.  I'm so glad that glass is 20 inches thick!

Cutest zoo babies ever!  The Orangutans are my favorite!

He just couldn't do it anymore.

Done.

I just missed this shot.  The baby was at the glass and put his hands on Ethan's.
It was adorable.  I made an Orangutan lover out of Ethan too!

Ok, don't be too bored.  It's all over with.  Until tomorrow when I add a post about our recent trip with Destini!!  I don't take tons of pictures with animals; we've all been to the zoo before.  I just like to capture my kids' reactions to things, or get those blackmail shots for future use: Prom, dating, graduation, wedding receptions....and so on.

Wild Boys....

I've mentioned many times that, even though I have three of them, boys are still a mystery to me.  I often find myself asking The Hubs, "Is that normal?".  I forgot I took these videos a few weeks ago.  I laughed so hard while filming them, and laughed even harder when I watched them again.  Here's a little peek into my life with my wild boys.

These boys are so funny.  It makes me a little nervous to imagine what they might think of next.

And now the conclusion..

Oh the hilarity continues!  All I have to do is wake up.

Mommy-Daddy Date Night....

A little over a month ago it was unanimously decided, by me, that The Hubs and I needed a date night.  The last time he took me out to woo me was before I was pregnant with Jett...for my 30th birthday.  We'll just say that was a few years ago.

I made all the arrangements.  All he had to do was show up, drive, and pretend to be interested.  Not too hard, right?

Hailey had a friend come over to help watch the boys so she wasn't totally overwhelmed and out-numbered.  Knowing she had backup, I was able to stop dwelling on how long it might be before Fountain Fire Department was calling me to come home.

With everyone situated, were on our way...

Dressed to thrill...haha.
The loving couple.

 Our first stop was Red Lobster.  Because we were celebrating our new found freedom for the evening, we decided to go big.  Clint got some platter that had a lobster tail, 2 different kinds of shrimp, salad, and rice.  I opted for Tilapia, shrimp, rice, and salad, and of course, we got a basket of those wonderful Cheddar Bay Biscuits too.

It was amazing and, halfway through, we were totally bloated.  But, because this was going to be a magical evening, come Hell or high water, we stuffed our faces.  We also knew it could be four more years before we made it back so it made it easier to fight the gag reflex and just keep shoveling.

It was then that my sweet husband looked at his watch and let me know it was 8:30pm.  We gazed across the table at each other, barely able to keep our eyes open, and declared to one another that we were totally ready for bed.

Again, this magic had been planned for a month and we were gonna see it through, dang it!  We headed to the movie theater to see the nine o'clock showing of The Hangover II, just to find out that it was sold out, so we got tickets for the 10 o'clock show.  Big mistake.

Thirty minutes into the movie, The Hubs was asleep and I was totally disappointed.  Overall, the movie had some funny parts, but I really just thought they were trying to out do the first one.  But really, who cares.  Clint woke up totally confused, not knowing what was going on, so I spent a few minutes trying to get him caught up.  He took that well.....and asked me to just wake him up when it was over.  So I did.  We were both exhausted and drove home a little on the crabby side.  It was after midnight when we finally got back.

In whole, the night was good but I'm old enough to admit that we over did ourselves, just a tad.  I think we've decided to stop pretending that we're as young as we once were.  Next time, hopefully not four years from now, we'll be more than happy to plan a "dinner only" date night.  If we want a movie, we can hit RedBox for a dollar.  That way when we both fall asleep, it won't be a twenty dollar nap.

Movin' on up....

Oh man.  Hailey Jo is now a Freshman.  I can't believe it.  It's all going by so quickly!

First, there's the baby stage.  They're little, and cute, and they just become toddlers too quickly.  Then, before you know it, they're in school.

For me, this is where time seems to freeze a little.  There's that annoying age between third grade and sixth grade that just seems to mesh into one long, painful block of time.  Then suddenly, middle school flys by and now I've got a high schooler.

Here's the last bit of 8th grade.  Goodbye to middle school....Hello scary high school!!

She was so excited to wear her new dress!

Standing with the counselor waiting for them to call her name.

She just got her certificate!  On to HS!

Me and my pretty girl.

Growing up so fast...

Hailey and Amy.  Friends from church and school.

So this is how we ended the school year.  Everyone is moving on and growing up.  And now a whole summer of fun awaits.....

New Found Fun....

I recently learned how to make jam.  No only is it super easy but, it's also fun!  My first batch of jam was a delightful little mixture; Blackberry/Raspberry.

The kids enjoyed helping and I was in disbelief at just how simple it really is.  We plowed through the first jar the next day and it was AMAZING!!!

7 jars.  Not bad for my first time.

Almost too pretty to eat.

I plan on making alot more of this in the future.  Not only is it much better than store bought but it's great to have in abundance on the shelf right in the garage.  Self reliance is a good thing.