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.