Summer Birthdays

Grace and Merritt are our summer birthday kids. Since their big days are less than a month apart we seem to barely finish one birthday cake before we bake another. This year it was white cake versus chocolate, unicorns versus dinosaurs, pink streamers versus primary colors. Here's the birthday rundown...










It was the battle of the girlie, foo-foo, rainbow/flower/butterfly/unicorn cake and the dinosaur dig site cake. I buried a t-rex skeleton in chocolate frosting (smothered by chocolate...what a way to die!) and had an action figure there "uncovering" it. I really wanted to have a paleontologist toy, but guess what...THERE"S NO SUCH THING! I guess paleontologist action figures just aren't that trendy or exciting. Merritt was satisfied with my efforts, so that is what counts.










Blowing out the candles...how is it possible that Grace is 6 and Merritt is 9???










Birthday decorations are difficult to make unique and exciting unless you want to spend lots of money, which I don't. We change up streamer colors and balloons, everyone ALWAYS gets the "Happy Birthday" sign I got for free years ago, and sometimes I find something fun to include (like the butterfly at Grace's party; which was a decoration and also a present...$2.00...woohoo!).












Grace got a stuffed animal (unicorn), a Fancy Nancy book, and a ballerina piggy bank, too name a few. Merritt got books (dinosaur and Goosebumps), Rango (hilarious!), and Hero Factory toys, among other things. Both birthdays were lots of fun. We love those two soooooo much!!

Buddies

Grant and Joseph are buddies. I hear Grant declare, "I LOVE Baby Jofuf!" at least ten times a day. This picture says it all...

The T-Shirt

I wanted Merritt to have a particular t-shirt for his birthday. I had seen it, once upon a blue moon, on a t-shirt site, but when I went back to order it, of course, it was nowhere to be found. Does that happen to anyone else or just me? But not for nothing am I married to a creative genius! I gave Chad a vague description of what the original looked like (I think I said something about a stick man and dinosaur bones) and he took it and ran. Chad is amazing and Merritt was tickled pink and the t-shirt looks FABULOUS!

My Growing Garden

The stage of my childhood was set in a colder climate, so the growing season was a lot shorter than here. We couldn't grow tomatoes or other temperamental vegetables, but anybody with a patch of dirt could grow peas. We always had peas coming out our ears and I figured they were the easiest thing in the world to grow. Apparently not, however, because I have struggled with growing peas here! Maybe it's my pride. Who knows? This year, I finally had a little bit of success. Only three of my six pea plants died. The remainder struggled, grew a bit, and produced 10 pea pods. I was so thrilled! My first peas!!! I sat in our swing, shelled them, offered some to the kids (who turned up their noses...what is the matter with them exactly?) and ate each one with great gusto. They were extremely tasty. I'll just keep babying those peas and maybe I'll get some more. In the meantime, I'm planning a raid on my dad's garden. MWA HA HA HA!

I have had much more success with beans.
My bush beans have done splendidly this year. I love kneeling in the dirt and picking fresh vegetables. I get such a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction...especially when I go to the store and see how much fresh beans cost! I love my garden!!

Crash and Burn

Grace's primary class was taking a "let's get our wiggles out" walk around the church when Grace missed the curb and did a sidewalk face plant. As luck would have it Chad had just taken Merritt, who had a headache, home to rest and I was in another ward doing stake primary stuff. Luckily Grace was cuddled and bandaged by a bevvy of wonderful sisters who saved the day. She was pretty sore and scabbed but, amazingly, didn't end up with prizefighter style bruises on her cheek and forehead. Ouch though, poor sweet thing, ouch!

Say What?

Joseph is 5 months old. Even he seems surprised by that! Where has the time flown?? What a wonderful presence he is in our home. A friend said that Joseph has a peaceful and gentle soul; I completely agree. He is such a gift! We couldn't do with out him.

The 4th

Ack! Time...she flies!! I've got some funny pictures from the local Independence Day parade. It's not a very fancy parade, by any means, but I love parades and my kids love the taffy that gets thrown at them and Chad loves me, so we go every year.

Since we were at the end of the parade route we killed time by playing chess, doodling, and kissing Joseph.

I don't know who set the parade law that states every parade must begin with fire engines blaring their horns and sirens as loud as they possibly can, but that's what happens.

Joseph, however, wasn't impressed with the noise.


He eventually woke up and enjoyed watching the parade from Merritt's lap.

A good time was had by all.

I already have plans for better seats next year...cue evil laughter.