More Summer Crafts

This morning Grey and Romy left for three weeks with their dad.

I wanted to spend my last few days with them here doing fun things.

We went to see Cars2.

Holy Moley, that was not fun.

I am not a big kid movie fan. Cartoons kind of drive me crazy. I did love Toy Story 3, but Cars 2 was downright painful. Even the kids didn't like it. Greyson said "I didn't really like the movie, mom. The plot was too cliche'"

Yeah, he said "cliche'"

                                                                            Funny kid.

I really hate this character.

We went out for Pina Colada Slurpees and the kids didn't do any chores on Monday.

Grey had a really rough day yesterday and we didn't do as many fun kid things. I think the excitement of the upcoming trip and the adjustments we are trying to get through with his meds were too much.

Yesterday he was moody and angry and the Autism won.

So, Romy and I did some crafts at home yesterday.

She and I have made Old School Pikmin our game of choice this summer, so we did some Pikmin crafts with felt and the hot glue gun.

 Cute Kid, Messy Room

 Our Army of Pikmin

Pikmin Pillow

I pulled out my dusty old sewing machine and sewed one onto a T shirt for Romy.

You can't see it, but it has a little nose.

The blue ones have mouths and the yellow ones have ears.

That's some fascinating Pikmin trivia for you, there.

She loved it and wore it today when she and Grey left for their trip.

I know I'm biased, but dang, these kids are cute.

This Too Shall Pass- or Else

My Husband.

Sigh....

He is the best- the BEST.

I hit the jackpot when Matt and I found one another. He's an amazing husband and a great father.

This week he worked with Grey to help him start doing his duties as a Deacon in church. He helped him work on tying a tie - that's going to take some practice- and while the Mitchells were here, he helped give Grey the Priesthood.

It was awesome that Uncle Chris was able to help, because he also helped give Greyson a name and a blessing when he was born.

I love that Matt and Chris are friends in their own right. That two of my favorite people, Chris and &Kristine, are two of his favorite people.

I love that the kids all look to him for answers and to be a leader and he is able and willing to do so.  I love that he loves me and is there for me when I'm doing great and when I'm doing crappy.

I've been feeling crappy the past little bit.

A weekend where kids chose to lie and then feel sorry for themselves when they got caught and instead of taking responsibility for their actions and stopping the behavior, they just blamed others and kept digging. I struggle to understand that behavior and my tolerance for it is low.

I don't understand the need some have to invest in "blame." What a worthless way to spend time. It doesn't matter whose fault pretty much anything is, if it causes problems for you- you have to solve it in your life.

Nobody can make you lie, nobody can make you say crappy things to people, nobody can make you sell out someone else. You choose that when you do it. I've done it in my life and it was all on me when I did it.

We have a Savior who loves us and gives us a way to repent and change.

I am so thankful for that space and that gift.

 I have made so many changes as I grow closer to my Father in Heaven and figure out that I'm actually God's daughter, not the angry people who raised me.

I wish that my children all understood this.

You can't blame others for your choices.

I'm tired.

I'm tired and feeling off track, filled with self doubt and rather sick of the "journey" right now.  

I guess it's a growing season, but ugh---it's sucky right now.

Some days are hard.

Crafts are Cool

 Today we took the kids to Hollywood Connection for some rollerskating and games and then came home and let the kids swim until their skin looked like raisins.

When all of that was done, we settled in and did some arts and crafts.

 I saw a similar craft on some website, they used fancy wooden peg dolls, we just used regular wooden clothespins and paint.

It's our family!

 Dad, Mom, Parker, Emma, Zane, Kate, Grey, Jane, and Romy....

 Grandpa and Grandma Olson. 

Greyson worked very hard to put Grandpa in camouflage and gave him dogtags as well. The untrained eye might miss these paint globby details.

And, of course, a red Dalek, The Eleventh Doctor, Adipose (made by Jane), Amy Pond, and The Last Centurion Rory.

The doctor is wearing a fez because fezzes are cool.

Summer Mind Dump

No deep thoughts, no incredible adventures, just the warm sun shining down and all of our favorite summertime things on a day when nobody has to go anywhere until we run out of Otter Pops.

Just some favorite summertime things.....

The window looks filthy, but it's steam.

Matt got me this movie theater style popcorn popper and I use it every day.

Popcorn is my favorite.

Try mixing the cheese with the caramel.

So yummy.

 Ghetto Walmart pool keeps the kids happy, cool and OUTSIDE instead of chasing me around telling me they are soooo boooooored all afternoon.

Favorite.

 Stupid hellbeast Rosie earned herself a 50 foot tether yesterday. She had full access tot eh entire back yard but is just 3 feet shy of being able to stand at the back door and whine and scratch. She also cannot sprint down the street now.

So far, she hasn't really even noticed it, the tether is really long and again- she has full access the the whole yard still. We still walk her and play with her and she has plenty of shade. If that makes me a bad pet owner, it's better than me kicking her in the face for whining for no dang reason all afternoon long and chewing through the doggie door barrier.

 I took 10 pictures of Wrigley and she closed her eyes in every one.

She must be related to my sons.

I love you, Wrigley but I also hate you.

I ALWAYS have pets, but honestly, I tend to love the idea of a pet more than the actual pet. I always do this.

Not favorite, but it's my own fault.

At least they are cute.

The Boy mowing the lawn. He did a terrible job, but heck, he did it without complaining that he was too tired after 14 hours of sleep last night.

Another favorite.

Old school Nintendo games. Well, gamecube era old school. Lots of Pikmin this summer and Super Mario.

I'm making cuddle blankets for the Mitchell babies. Baby V. LOVES her crochet blankie, but Kristine wishes they had one that was smaller and Baby Z needs some too- enough that they can carry around a woobie and also be able to wash them without a freak out.

It's a great use for leftover yarn and an excuse to start another series of projects I will probably never finish.

Baby V. and Baby Z. are favorites, that's for sure.

 I miss them so much already.

And finally- THIS horrible trashy show.

Trashy as in -- all about trash.

I have become oddly addicted to the show Hoarders and have been watching it on Netflix whenever I'm taking some personal TV time.

It's such a dumb show.

It sometimes inspires me to clean up some of the secret hidden clutter breeding grounds.

I don't know why I can't stop watching. Maybe I'm hoarding episodes of Hoarders.

I only have 4 episodes left before I've finished all 3 seasons on Netflix, then I'll need to find some new disorder to become obsessively interested in.

I am all for having a bit of crap around the house, but holy moley, these people lose animals in their homes. Animals.

That reminds me that I still hate our cat......

Somewhere there is a great joke that is terribly inappropriate but  I haven't worked it out yet and my popcorn is calling my name.

Don't hate me because I'm random, hate me because I'm beautiful.

Bad Blogger

I've been a bad blogger and I suspect that's not going to change until school starts.

We're just too busy enjoying the summer.

This week we are enjoying spending time with these folks:

The Mitchell family is staying with us this week and we love love love having them here. There are 17 people in the house right now, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Kristine and I have been besties for 15 years and even though our lives have been crazy busy and we haven't had the ability to spend hardly any time together since both of our families exploded in size in the past few years, but as soon as we all see each other it's like no time has passed at all.

Don't you just love friends like that?

We sure do and we really love the Mitchells.

 picnic at Bridal Veil Falls

The incredible flying Zander

The almost ten year olds

Somehow, the girls got soaked...somehow

 Uncle Matt's plastic face amazes every baby

 Everyone loves the cheap-o pool

 Manly Men....

 What the boys have been doing 24/7

Flying Sweetiepie

Four more days of loud happy kids, taking pictures of babies and bonding with our favorite people on the planet.

Some Mornings

Some mornings, I wake up to squabbling and bickering.

Those are not good mornings.

Some mornings, I wake up to kids playing nicely with each other.

Those are great mornings.

Today has been a great morning.

Romy and Jane love having their own room. It is a place for arts and crafts, pillow pets, pink sparkly things and a place where they can enjoy being the "little" girls.

They are so cute, they even created their own book check out system with library cards they found in my scrapbook stash.

Today, they were making origami hearts, a gift from Miss Jessie K. in Japan.

Sisters playing together definately makes for a good morning.

It might possibly have something to do with the fact that Greyson the Grump is still asleep, but I'll take it. :)

Lagoon 2011

Emma works at Lagoon and once a month she gets discount passes for a specific weekend of the month. This weekend was discount pass weekend for June.

We loaded up the kids that were home and had a great day.

We haven't been in so long, we use to buy season passes each year, but we haven't done that for two summers, choosing instead to go on vacations.

We had a great afternoon getting dizzy, feeling the wind through our hair on rides and just being together as a family.

I love this family and this family loves Lagoon.