all June...

Well, I have surely fallen behind in posting, so I am going to do one big catch up post.

our June included...  

1. an online class for me

2. visit from Mike's parents

3. heart attack for my Dad (2 stents later he is well and on the mends)

4. all night relay for life cancer walk in town

5. baptism for our A

6. afternoon with a house full of family and friends and food, of course

7. one of Mike's co-workers stayed with us for a week

8. open house for Mike's work (which was a HUGE success--more that 400 people came in two days to tour the new building) for which I designed and printed invitations, posters, handout cards, after photos, as well as a before and after slide show.

and we are only up to the 9th of June so far...

9. strep throat for the 2 girls

10. many extra trips to help out at school with projects and activities

11. trip to McCall, ID

12. end of school

13. strep throat for J

14. J ran in the Hersey track meet in Seattle (placed 10th in his age group for the state, with a fever and strep throat)

15. quick solo (sans any and all children) trip to check on my Dad

16. Mike's annual work family party, which I missed because...

17. an all day baseball tournament for J in Yelm.  (D and I took him)

18. start of our summer schedule (workbooks and chores)

19. going to my sister's to celebrate Ty's birthday pirate style

20. J earning his Bear in Cub scouts

21. and possible alien abduction

Needless to say, we have had a busy month...

and here are the photos...

(so not fond of how mushy blogger makes my pictures look)

we discovered that S will wear tights if I cut the feet off of them. hahahaa!

she doesn't like the restrictive feeling of tights on her feet

my mother's day flowers from J growing.

getting the guest bedroom ready for my in-laws

making sugar cookies with Grandma Clegg

A's baptism

wishing for a pedicure

the empty ink cartridges piled up, and I even had thrown some away already.

the front of Mike's building.  

There are some pretty awesome before and after pictures on my Facebook page.

some doodles I drew for my shoppe

My mother's day plant from A finally has a bud

a handful of neighborhood kids at my house.  

my girls had strep throat, otherwise they'd be out too.

I left Mike with 2 sick girls and the 2 healthy and busy boys.  

I took off for the afternoon to see my Dad.  

He is doing alright, and thought he was well enough to mow the lawn this day, a little more than a week after his heart attack.

He was teasing me and as ornery as usual. :)  love you Dad!

Spent a few hours drawing for the kids while they colored in what I drew.

random pile on my desk.

D smiling at me.

my cool new rainboots packed for our trip to ID.

Mike's fish

Our cool plane we flew home in

unpacking

Happy Father's Day!  We love Mike!

Some of the workbooks.  I have my kids do a reading, writing, and math page daily, as well as a journal entry

My mother's day flower from A with it's flower

D munching on a strawberry

A new hair cut!  She loves how easy it is to brush!

cute plate I got

The underdogs- J's traveling team, and he chose MY number! :)

D munched on these while we were at the tournament the day before

some ribbons I put in my shoppe

Our pirate family (minus Mike) for Ty's party. :)

a typical expression from my oldest once he sees the camera out. 

Hopefully it won't be a full month before I post again. :)

our life in photos!

Seems like I don't post much other than pictures, but since I am such a visual person...I think it works!
We have been getting ready for Mike's open house at work, and A's baptism.  Fun stuff!

the rest of May...in photos

A, she was pouting just a little.

D at the dentist!  He did awesome and had a HUGE alligator mouth!

S, posing in her dance costume

Our extra "son." This is a shot from some pictures I took for his senior photos!

A lame photobooth photo of me. (the only picture for the day)

J being silly!

D and his LONG lashes!

S's little legs!  Such a stylin' girl!

a few days in photos...

The open bag of stuffing...or fluffing as it is called.  D successfully made a huge mess in the living room, as he went swimming in da clouds.

wallet + computer = trouble. :)  hahahaaa!!

living in a small town I have learned to do a good amount of online shopping.

Caught this shot of my little S while I was out doing a photo shoot of a darling little baby! Love it!

Plus, I love that she is letting me take pictures of her again.

The spa party!  It was a huge hit and I am officially the coolest mom ever.  It was A's first friend party, so she felt awesome...and that was the point.

The little blue eye shadowed, 80's princess ballerina.  The recital this year was flashback to the 80's, so the girls were happy little campers to have blue eye shadow.  

Catching up a little...

big things this week...
A turned 8 (and is super excited that she gets to start Activity Days this week)
and will be getting baptized very soon.

J hit a grand slam (only because he is speedy fast and DID NOT listen to the third base coach to stop), and won three first places at our local Hershey Track and Field Event.

D continues to act older than he is and say funny things...
* while I was attempting to help Mister Independence push the cart at the grocery store he looks at me and says, "Mom, get you dirty hands off da cart".
* when Mike called me Am the other day he said all scandalized like, "Don't call she Am, she my MOM!"
* and regularly sasses back with "yeah, yeah, whateva"  Thank you big sister, A!
D is just growing up tooooo fast!  and he is full of 2 yr old spunk.
S loves t-ball and hits the ball when pitched to her about 50% of the time.  If they miss after 4 pitches they get the T.  She always NAILS it off the T.  She smack it hard too, about to 2nd plate most of the time.  Yet she definitely gets distracted when in the outfield: kicking dirt, picking flowers, dancing,  etc.  :)
A and S have their dance recital this weekend.  One of my favorite nights of the year...NOT!  hahahaaa!
A gets to have her first birthday party with invited friends.  She is thrilled...it will be a spa themed party.  UGH!!  why am I doing this to myself.  LOL!

I have decided to make some changes in my online shoppe.  That should be fun and exciting.  And a little sad too, as I will be closing one chapter and beginning another.  I also started an online photography class and am super excited about it.  Up until now, everything I know I have taught myself by reading books and playing or from google.

Mike has been doing some continued education classes to keep his administration licenses current.  So he has been out of town, hanging with the other administrators from WA.  It is always good for them to be together for a bit, because they are otherwise so spread out.  His remodel is SO SO close to being done.  They will have a big open house and celebration soon.  And it looks so gooooood! woo hooo!!!  I'm glad he's home today!

onto pics...sorry for the redundancy for those of you who are on FB too.

getting ready for baseball!

my sick little D.  I love his dinosaur book, triceratops stuffed animal, and his plastic t-rex sticking out from under his leg.  LOL!!  it was a dino obsessed afternoon.

S sharing a flower with her new t-ball friend.

After all, what else are you supposed to do with waiting to bat.

S-  a quick picture before the sun went down.  (I hate using my flash)

A planting her faux garden

S on the beach (our very mossy beach)

I had taken some senior pictures for another gal in our ward this evening, and then I let the kids play at the playground right there.  

Instead of staying at the playground, S, of course, found her way to the beach.

Happy birthday to A!!  

She loved her little cake, except she said the neon green food coloring (which I love the new neon food coloring) made it look like I had put guacamole along the outside.  She wasn't too keen on chocolate and guacamole! LOL

a little light family reading

my proud boy of his newly discovered running skills!

1st place in softball throw, 200m and 400m.

Me...feeling lucky and blessed.  I thank Heavenly Father daily for these little guys and the joy they bring my life!