Boys, Boys & more Boys!

I love the street we live on. And I love the cul-de-sac that we live across from. It has been one of the best things about this house. There are a total of 8 boys between the ages of 5 and 9 that live in this cul-de-sac. When the weather is nice they love to play outside and most of the time they all get along really well. Last weekend they spent a couple of hours out there playing. Thank goodness the weather is starting to cool down a bit.

They started out on their bikes.

They played a little hockey.

Then some baseball.

They also played some football & soccer. It's so fun to watch these boys interact and play together. I hope they stay friends for a long time. And I hope we never have to leave this awesome cul-de-sac. It's the perfect place for these boys to run, play and burn off all of that energy they have.

The Lake

We went to the lake a couple of weeks ago for the first time this year. My poor kids have been begging all summer. It's one of their favorite things to do during the summer. The water was cold but that didn't stop them. They had a blast. Thanks to my sister & brother-in-law we had a boat and some fun water toys. The boat wasn't big enough for all of us so we set up on shore and took turns.

This was the first year that Jaxson liked being on the boat. In fact, once he had a ride he didn't want to get off!

Haley was the only one who got to be on the boat the whole time. She refused to get off. Stinker!!

She rode the knee board for the first time and did a great job.


Their favorite is the tube. Jaxson absolutely loved it, even on the choppy, bumpy water. I, of course, was in the boat the whole time stressing about him falling off. I made Haley hold on to him with all her strength and told her that if he fell off she better be right behind him. I know, I know, he had a life jacket on and would've been just fine but I'm such a worrier.




It was a great day!

Slip-n-Slide Fun

This has got to be the world's largest slip-n-slide. OK, maybe not the largest but it was really big. And it was really fun. Just a giant piece of plastic, lots & lots of dish soap and water. I don't think the kids would have had any more fun at a water park. Thanks to the friends who invited us -- we had a blast!

The soapier you got the faster you went.

The down side to giant slip-n-slides? Serious plastic burns. All the boys were moving a little slow the next morning. OUCH!

Volleyball

Haley is 2 games into the season and they're 1 and 1. Unfortunately the one loss was the game that I got to go to but they played the best team in the valley and really didn't have much of a chance walking away with a win. Haley did great though. She played at least half of each game and had a couple of good plays. There are still a lot of games to be played and hopefully and lot of wins.

My camera doesn't do well with action shots so I didn't get anything exciting. Don't you just love those tight little shorts? Her dad surely doesn't!

She's #7.

I am really proud of her. She has been working really hard at this. They practice everyday after school for about 3 hours. She doesn't get home until almost six and then she has to keep up on everything else that's going on in her life: Homework, piano, violin, mutual & family stuff. Some nights she's up until 10 or later doing homework. By the time the weekend rolls around she's exhausted but she has a great attitude about it and genuinely loves it. The only area she needs to work on is keeping up on her daily household chores. She figures that's the one thing she can slack off on. I'm gonna have to straighten that girl out!

Jaxson's b-day Party

Jaxson was one lucky boy this year. He had two birthday celebrations -- one for the family and one for his friends. He got lots of really cool presents, ate lots of ice cream & cupcakes, had a ton of fun on the waterslide and had a huge piñata. What more could a 5 year old ask for?

Wipe Out

Jake took a spill on his bike yesterday. He was getting ready to jump the curb and he said his hand was sweaty and it slipped off the handle bar and he lost control. Poor guy. He held it together long enough for his friends mom to do a quick check for any broken bones, load him and his bike in her van and bring them home and come in and chat for a couple of minutes but as soon as she was out the door the floodgates opened. Jake can be pretty tough when he wants to be but around mom & dad there is no holding back.

After a quick shower to clean off the dirt, lots of Neosporin and some Motrin he was fine. At least until about 4:30 this morning when he came and woke me up cause his shoulder was hurting. Oh, the joys of motherhood!

This was the worst of the injury.

Big nasty bruise on his elbow (was real convienent yesterday when it was time to do chores -- hurt too bad to take out the trash)

Can't see it very well but he has a big bruise on his jaw. (sorry, blurry picture)

I'm sure he'll be back out on his bike today. I'm glad that an accident like this won't keep him down for long.