~Such a Fun Weekend~

Yesterday was one of those days that seem to stand out amongst the others in the week. Perhaps it was due to it only being yesterday and I can still remember the details... OR, it's due to the fact that it was just that fun! So much fun that we ended up all sleeping in this morning. Which also felt right; Sunday's were made for sleeping in! 

So while the week was full of quiet afternoons while the girls napped and the boys ran around the neighborhood with friends all day long. We had a fun/RAINY baseball day on Thursday. And had a bbq for the neighbors from our old neighborhood, yesterday is what sticks out in my mind :) 

Travis has promised Adeline that if she practiced on her new push bike that he would take her mountain biking, like he does with the boys. Since then she has been telling EVERYONE, "I gotta pwactice widing on my new bike, den Dad's gonna take me riding in da mountains." 

So she's practiced and practiced.  After Travis and I got home from out Mountain biking date, and we all had our weekly "pastry breakfast," we set out for some epic MoUnTaIn BiKiNg! 

In reality we took the family over to a small dirt track that's behind the boys' elementary school, but to Addie she'd made it. You could see the pride in her eyes when she'd succefully glide down a mountain side (pump track hill), or weave her way through endless path options without getting lost (figure 8 design :). And she was BRAVE! There were legitimately some pretty steep areas that she coasted down. The first time, she crashed. She just dusted herself off and said, "Uh, dad weally hurt. But when we fall, we get back up!" SO CUTE! And then another time down, she just rode right into the bushes! But she just looked so DANG cute following behind those brothers and then chatting with just her dad as we rode back to the truck. 

We drove out to Ventura to try a cute little pick up lunch and ice-cream shack. We took the dogs and let them ride in the back of the truck; this brought great joy and a little anxiety as we watched Lily soak in/learn the ways of riding in the truck bed. 

We took our VERY EXPENSIVE and basic food (but the experience was worth it) to a campsite picnic area and enjoyed eating by the water. Afterward the kids have fun chasing frogs out of the grass and down into their lily pads. The dogs LOVED being in the outdoors and everyone came home TIRED and WORN OUT! 

Travis and I cleaned out the expedition while the others napped/had quiet time, they watched a movie and then we had a DELICIOUS J-Dawgs mock dinner, made by Travis. So good. Then fueled and rested up, the boys went back out for night games until nearly 10:00; hence we all slept in. 

I love summer days. I love the outdoors. There is no greater proof to me that there is a God than the human body and the outdoors. And summer puts those two things together, and it brings me great joy! 

Heard her whining, but couldn't find her
at first. 

I'd go back for the ice cream and onion rings

Washed the dog and then the girls had a blast
playing in the bucket afterwards 

Came home from biking and slipped into her new
summer dress within minutes! 

She is a prodigy. We call her "Pooping picaso."

My girls are getting hair!
This was Avery's first ponytail! 

She stayed up all nap. I laid with her and napped myself while she
jumped all over me. I gave her books for the last 20mins, and then
I came back to find her passed out. 

I love these cuties

Bubble face

"Mom I hab a mustache!" 

Started raining so so hard and my trunk wouldn't
close after grocery pickup, so I hopped out to
force it closed... and came back soaked.

She loved Shirley's brownies at our bbq. 

This boys has beautiful green eyes

And this girl's curls! Love them! 

Bike talk with dad

She insisted we dress up for dinner.... and
that I match her

My morning run

~Friday Night Sleep Over~

4th of July Weekend!!

The 4th of July is by far my FAVORITE holiday. It's all the joy and excitement, love and togetherness, and a good amount of importance that Christmas has, BUT it's in the summer (my favorite season) where you can go out and be active as possible! And this year we were 

DEFINITELY busy and active for DAYS on END! 

Thursday we had our best trip to the diamonds yet. There were so many kids, and even some of the parents got out there, which made the kids have that much more fun :) Afterwards my car full of kiddos convinced me to take them for ice cream before coming back to the house where they played the afternoon away. My favorite part was that they all played a boardgames together for over an hour without any arguments, boredoms, or distractions... meanwhile the girls were napping and my house became sparkling clean. And soon as those friends went home we received an invite to water games and a pizza dinner, so we quickly left to that activity. And as we were leaving, exhausted and ready for bed after all the fun, the boys received ANOTHER invite to run to the top of the culdasac for a game of kickball... so off they went to do that until it was too dark. 

My favorite line this week came from Aaron when he said, "There's nothing better than baseball and fireworks." All week our games would go later into the evenings and people began to shoot off fireworks; it was like being in the sandlot. 

Friday Travis and I went mountain biking and I had my most EpIc CrAsH... so mad at myself... and I'm now pretty bruised up all over! But i'm fine and unbroken! We then spent the entire morning at the sandbar around the lake with some friends. The kids had a blast taking out the paddle boards, and the older girls were also so good to take my little girls out to play as well. That night we hosted a bbq for our friends from church. The adults and older kids played volleyball, the littles were mostly on the trampoline, and the inebetweeners gathered every nerf gun we own and had a battle up and down our street. 

Saturday was Ultimate Frisbee morning!!!! My FAVORITE!! I'd never played before moving here and now the few times a year we get together to play are my favorite days of the year. We hired a neighbor girl of ours to come to the park and play with the girls so Travis and I could both play the whole time and I'm so glad we did. It was CRAZY hot and humid so we didn't get to play as long, but in that time I burned 750 calories and had a blast. 

That evening our neighborhood had a fourth of July dinner, the missionaries even came (we have 4 currently), we played dodgeball until it was too dark and Travis made the comment, "The 4th of July, the one night a year we could play late into the dark because of all the fireworks." That's also a line from Sandlot, and I love it. 

When we finally did wrap up our games to do our own fireworks there was a thick layer of smoke in all the yards that looked just like a thick fog. There were firework popping around us and Travis and I wondered if it at all compared to a scene straight from the civil war. 

Fireworks were cool, and extended much longer since there were multiple families combining them together, and we came home POOPED!! The boys made it to bed around 11:00, and Travis and I stayed up until 1:00 and 2:00 am prepping the house for Aaron's birthday! 

Aaron's 7th Birthday!!!!!! 

This is the worlds most imaginative and happy little kid! He LOVES nothing more than to be with people and puppies. He wants to be with someone 90% of the day. Oddly enough, if the group of kids is too large, he just wants to play alone, not in a sulky way, but just because I don't think he likes all the chaos that a group of children can bring. 

He has so much love in his heart to give and share with the world. His primary instincts are to please others, and he has a most selfless nature. That being said, for the past several months he's been in a awful stage that seems to go against all his natural instincts and turned him into a little monster. He seems to be leveling back out some! whoo! Growing can be hard... on everyone! 

This year Aaron wanted a Star wars birthday, and he wanted to make his own cake. In the end he settled on sugar cookies since we have a set of star wars cookie cutters, and then he wanted to decorate most of them himself. 

In the morning, Travis and I slept in due to our late night, and Maddix took it upon himself to see that Aaron got breakfast in bed. Without any prompting he cooked Aaron an egg, made him toast, poured a glass of juice, and served it to him on a tray!!!!! 

Do I not have the best kids, every?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SQUEAKY! 

Your family loves you VERY much!!!!!!!!

Travis attempted a clone trooper helmet pizza :D

Our weekly pastry breakfast

Travis's second pizza was an attempt at the
death star