Family reunion prep

How do you get ready for a family reunion??

I honestly love moments like this when all four of my children are working together or doing things together. With thier widespread ages, it doesn't happen as much as I like.

Scrubbng the cabinets



Shredding



Getting rid of the last of the boxes!! YEAHHHH!!!

Storm time

While Matt and I were in Orlano Friday night making an attempt at attending the temple (there's no 8:00 session and we arrived at 7:25) there was a very large storm. Andrew called about the thunder shaking the house and such. We came home and found this:



Andrew is on the floor! Since we've spent many a night with others in our bed turnabout is fair play right??

Reading time

It's great help for a mom to have some help from time to time!

Braden and Andrew prepared some science projects to do with the kids. This is Braden reading to the kids about volcanos. They made a volcano with the traditional baking powder, vinegar, soap, and food coloring after reading!



Reading stories before bed

Chase's birthday

Happy birthday to Chase!! Our "littlest boy" turned six last Sunday! He had a fun family birthday party and was very excited for his party with his friends today! I actually have some pictures for this one!

Here's the food. We had live worms (hot dogs cut into strips), croc teeth (apple chunks), dried ants (cranberries), twisty vines (braided pretzels), beetle wings (veggie chips), snake eggs (grapes), and cake and ice cream.



The party guests



The frog pond, alligator alley, and quicksand (part of the obstacle course)



The frog game-throwing sticky frogs at the leaves for points



The waterfall-general decor and part of the obstacle course



Everyone had a good time and we followed things up with a dip in the alligator pond-the pool-complete with a 72 inch inflatable gator! Don't worry cousins, it should still be here when you come!!

Summer posting

It's been a while since I posted! This summer has just taken over my life and I want some control back!!! We've had far too many things brewing here....a little recap.

Andrew was attending summer practices with the high school basketball team. It was a great experience for him in playing time and getting to know some plays and the coaches. We're hoping it helps him come tryout time! Since that was four days a week, two hours a day I needed to find something for the other three to do. We've been going to the library on Mondays, bowling on Tuesdays, the free movies on Wednesdays, and to the beach on Thursdays. In between all of that we've done chiropractic appointments (Braden has been suffering from headaches since developing mono), orthodontists, piano, etc. It's amazing how difficult it is to have any consisitency or productivity in life when your day is constantly cut up into segments.

Andrew had the opportunity to go to Denver for TSA nationals. Matt's sister, Sara, was kind enough to pick him up at the airport so he could go to church and hang out with them on the day they flew in. He enjoyed being with them and it made a nice connection for the upcoming family reunion. He had a great experience at nationals. Three of his four projects had top 10 finishes, with one taking 2nd. Overall their team had 24 top ten finishes and 12 top three! According to their calculations, that would make them the top middle school in the nation! We're really glad he was able to have the opportunity to go.

Matt and Andrew are off to scout camp for eight days so I'm hoping we can calm down a bit! That's very highly unlikely knowing us, but maybe just a bit more down time! After all, we have a family reunion to get ready for!!