Wednesday, June 26

ART camp!


even though we love love LOVE summertime, sometimes having the kids home all day long drives me crazy. they get bored, then the fighting starts, and then i get crabby. its not very pretty or fun. i really wish i was one of those amazing moms that truly appreciates every second they are with their children, but im not. i try.... maybe someday i will be. 

SO, last week jack and ellie spent their mornings at
ART CAMP! and they absolutely loved it.


jack was in a clay animation class and they made a movie called Monster Miracle. if i can figure out how, i'd love to put it on the blog because it is awesome!
i just happened to come in once while they were filming a part of the movie




 on the last day of ellie's class, they invited the families to come have a picnic. 


it was great fun seeing jack and ellie in a completely artistic environment. they both seem drawn to it and im glad they had the chance to go last week. and not just because i needed a little space :) they want to go back again, so maybe we will sign them up for a week in july. if anyone local is interested, it is at the Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs on old 41.

this, that and everything


oh summertime, how we love you.
well, most days :)
we are spending the majority of our days in our swimsuits, but we have managed to find a few other things to do besides swim at the beach and pool.
here is a little roundup of our goings-on.

chris finished the kitchen!!! 
yesterday ellie said she loved the new kitchen "because everything is just so smooth".
chris let jack help him with a few things like using the staple gun to put new molding around the doors and baseboards.

charlie calls the sink "my sink" because he gets to bathe in it periodically.
is there anything sweeter than a little person covered in soap suds?

we had FHE with grandma a couple weeks ago while grandpa is on his bike ride from maine to key west this month. we played a browne family classic:
cut the cake
we have really been missing grandpa. it seems like we are always telling stories about him and jack has especially liked hearing stories from grandpas LDS mission in mexico. i cant wait for him to get back so he can tell jack his firsthand account of killing a huge desert lizard and then eating it. so funny.

ok, back to our goings-on...

we took louie to the park one afternoon and it was so blasted hot, i broke down and we all got ice cream cones. lou was in heaven but each time i would pull out the camera, she'd give me a serious look...


happy birthday to rikki!

i got my hairs did.
and even got bangs, which im liking.

the kids and i came up with a few little fathers day gifts for daddy.
a sampler of bottled sodas:

a sampler of cured meats and hot sauces, which has provided enjoyable entertainment:

and the kids each drew themselves on shrinky dink and we made tie tacks for chris to proudly wear to church.


charlie loves fishing as much as jack now, but he opts for a net and much smaller fish.


yesterday we spent the afternoon learning the pledge of allegiance. well, jack knows it from school, but ellie had not learned it yet and i felt a little guilty that i wasn't the one that taught jack, so i made sure i fixed that the second time around :) we did a few flag crafts and even charlie will say it along with the kids. did you know, that on mondays during the month of july, if your child can recite the pledge, they can get a free scoop of ice cream at the Royal Scoop? we are planing to do that for FHE sometime.


this morning we made a run to a local danish bakery called sweet odin's.
these kids love donuts, but charlie takes the excitement to a whole new level. he is obsessed. and its so cute.


and after sweet odins we went for a walk on a little hidden boardwalk close by. its great to get out and do stuff early in the morning to beat the heat, otherwise we are all cranky. and by we, i really mean me. 


Monday, June 10

a few firsts


my first time shooting our 45.


truth be told, im a pretty darn good shot.
so much so, that chris has started calling me "lethal lisa".
thats a first for me.


it was an awesome date!


......

charlie's first haircut

.........

ellie's first time on stage and she loved it!
she was a narrator for their preschool program that was based on eric carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

she was very nervous ahead of time to say her three lines, so i bribed her with a chick-fil-a milkshake if she could do it. and she did! without any problems. in fact, she loved it and i believe she may have an inner thespian waiting to bloom :)

her teachers
miss jean

and miss annie

...........

my first attempt at cinnamon rolls in almost 9 years.... 
and they were delicious!


i attempted making cinnamon rolls the first month we were married because i thought thats what good wives do. well, they looked and smelled great, and they were hard as a rock! we threw them against the wall and they didnt even make any crumbs. i swore i would never make cinnamon rolls again because they failed me. ive been scared to attempt them again ever since. well, our new countertops were just begging for some dough to be rolled out on their surface, and i felt emboldened enough to face my fears.
im so glad i did.

............

jacks first time golfing 18 holes


and his first ever shout out to his mama


........

this is my view on my morning runs now that the kids are home from school...


........

our first tropical storm this year came last week.
we were so tired of staying in doors that we still went to the beach in the rain one day.

.........

we had our dear friends the tucketts over for one last time before they move this weekend. words cant express how sad we are about their move, but are also so excited that they have finished this phase in their life and that they get to start a new chapter.
i love you melissa!
all 7 kids were wrestling and it took me a minute to realize that chris was the instigator of the wild romp

...........

jack has a new favorite hobby:
roller skating :)


chris took the kids and after tripping over ellie and falling on top of her, she gave up. but jack is getting pretty good.

.........

last friday was national donut day, which of course we celebrated :)

...........

on saturday our primary had their first 
Articles of Faith
Scavenger Hunt
and it was so much fun! the only pic i took was of their treat bags with popcorn and water for them to take home. 

we had several of the kids tell us how much fun they had, and that made blowing up over 50 balloons totally worth it!