Beginning of Summer

I feel like the first 2 weeks of summer have just flown by because they've been so busy! I know it seems ridiculous - I used to have time to blog, no matter what. But now I find myself exhausted at the end of the day, having not sat down to rest or even edit, let alone gather my thoughts and write. Between yard work, church things, and all the kid activities we have going on, June is CRAZY. I'm hoping life will slow down in July, but I'm not holding my breath.

The first 2 weeks of break included swimming lessons up at Happy Hollow pool. The kids all had a great time, even though there were some pretty chilly mornings! (We didn't have any rain days, though, so there's that.)

Tess is slowly but surely getting more comfortable in the water. This was on life jacket day.

All three boys made full use of the diving board on the last day.

Cole was especially pleased with himself - he was too scared to jump last year. Well done, Cole!

Friday was Lance's birthday. Did I get a single picture of the birthday boy? No, I did not. But I did get a picture of these luscious peaches Gigi and I got from the Georgia Peach truck that morning. SO GOOD. I made a couple of pies, some pie filling, some jam, and froze a bunch, and we've been eating and eating them. So yum.

Lance had his annual LAN party that night. Josh also had a ball game, which I went to by myself. (Which was actually kinda nice - no kids there to bug me or whine or entertain...)

Josh's team has finally figured things out and they're on a 5 game winning streak. I like this time of year in Little League because the kids all play better and the games are more interesting.

Saturday was our ward's summer social. This was the only picture I thought to take - so many kids on that merry-go-round! We had a nice lunch, although I felt like attendance was small.

Miss Tess is the only kid who likes to eat the peaches. She's a smarty.

Cole had a double-header the other night. IT WAS SO STINKIN HOT. And humid. A breeze picked up later on so it wasn't so bad. But still.

Cole's team wins some and loses some. They're kinda on a losing streak right now, which means Cole isn't nearly as interested in playing.

Poor hot kid.

Tess LURVES to go to the games because she likes to play with all the other siblings of players. She gets to eat yummy treats and get completely messy.

Her messiness exceeded expectations that night.

Josh had an eye appointment today, so we made an afternoon of it. We started at Costco for lunch. We then did a little shopping, and I had to stop my kids several times, making very serious threats the last time because they were behaving as if they had never been in public before. Good heavens.

Then we made a quick trip to the Art Museum's free gardens. I accidentally called it a park, and Cole pouted the whole time because his idea of a park and my idea of a park are two different things. (He was expecting a giant playground. All he got were giant sculptures and some swings.)

The park is right on a lake and it was SO HOT AND HUMID. You just wanted to melt away.

I made them pose here because I just loved how green and lush it was!

This is how I felt by the end, too. SO HOT.

We ended our trip with Josh's eye appointment. It wasn't as wild as this picture might suggest, but it wasn't exactly fun, either.

And good news on Josh's eyes: by December they're going to take away his glasses; they don't think he'll need them anymore. If his eyes start to cross again he'll need surgery, but if they don't he'll be all done! Fingers crossed and prayers said for the latter option.

Cole's 8th Birthday

It kinda felt like we celebrated Cole's birthday for over a week. That's because the celebrations started during the last week of school.  Cole's birthday is May 29th; school is already out for summer by then and his half birthday is during Christmas break, so we just celebrated a week early.

That day also happened to be the school cook out, so we got to eat lunch together outside, with Cole wearing his birthday crown. He was pretty pleased about it.

Not pleased enough to hang out with me, though. As soon as he was done with lunch he proclaimed "I'm gonna go play with my friends now", and he did just that. Even mom can't compete with recess.

I brought Sam's Club chocolate chip cookies for snack that day and his class sang to him. He loved the attention and it was fun to see his class one more time. (I spent a lot of time in there this school year!)

Cole's actual birthday was on Memorial Day this year, hence the patriotic presents.

He chose birthday pancakes over Mary Lou doughnuts. (The boy ain't right...) ((Just kidding. This was way easier. But still, pancakes over doughnuts?!)

We let him open presents throughout the day, but I only got a picture of this one - a new set of scriptures from Grandpa ElRay and Grandma Susie! (Doesn't he look so excited?)

We went to the Harrington's annual Memorial Day barbecue that night and I provided birthday cupcakes. Cole is still a chocolate fiend.

I did some with coconut chips, too, because coconut and chocolate is delicious.

The Harringtons have a pony - isn't that crazy? And cool. It took her a while, but Tess finally got brave enough to ride it.

We ate and chatted, and after much asking and whining we finally sang happy birthday to Cole.

The evening ended with a rather large bonfire, which all of the kids loved.

Hanging out with our Townie friends is always a good time!

We decided to have Cole's party the following weekend since more people would probably be able to make it.

He requested a very, very chocolate cake.

He got it. (It's not the most even of cakes, but that's because I was kinda rushing to get it put together the night before. So. Much. Baseball. This year.)

Cole had 4 buddies come to his party: Ethan Harrington, Liam, Noah, and Karsen. We played games like "Don't Eat Pete".

And "Pin the fries on Colie's mouth". (Cole LOVES french fries.)

And "hot and cold".

We also had pizza and soda for dinner - another of Cole's favorites.

He was a pretty happy kid!

As a finale we shot off paper rockets with the air compressor. Those little boys were pretty impressed!

As you can see, Cole was more impressed with his fidget spinner.

Cole is such an awesome kid. He gets overshadowed a lot by his older bothers and princess little sister. But he's coming into his own and starting to make his own way. He doesn't take guff from anyone. He still has crazy logic, but he's also still crazy smart. This kid is going places. He's finally starting to enjoy reading novels at bedtime instead of fact books (hallelujah!), and he can be pretty well behaved when he wants to. (WHEN HE WANTS TO. Otherwise, look out.) He loves going out to eat, swimming, playing on computer, and wearing jammies all day, any chance he can get! He's still a bit daring as far as self-preservation goes, and I am often amazed that he has reached the ripe old age of 8. If raising 4 kids has taught me anything, it's that guardian angels exist and work overtime trying to keep my accident-prone/oblivious-to-danger children alive.

I sure love my Coler Bear and am so glad he is in our family!