Crammed Full of Fun

This was our last week of  summer vacation before school starts August 16.  Boo!  So long, sleeping in and lazy mornings at home.  Sunday after church, Julia, Lauren, and I went out to lunch at Jamba Juice, then to see a play.  Julia's friend, Elizabeth, was in Anne of Avonlea at the San Luis Obispo Little Theatre.  It really was a lot of fun!  The play was good; Julia happened to be reading the book right now, also. 

We made a quick Costco run and did a little back-to-school shopping for the girls.  We'd gone two weeks ago with everyone, to get backpacks, lunchboxes, basic supplies...  Austin picked out a few new shirts, but he was sooo bored when Julia and Lauren tried on clothes!  Then Lauren started talking about how she itched, and she had a "botherin' feeling" that she had lice.  Oh, what the fitting room attendant must have thought!!  Big brother horsing around with baby sister; then one kid talking about lice.?!?!  So much easier just to take a couple kids at a time!  At least clothes shopping!

~Lauren mentions getting a "botherin' feeling" often, when she can't stop thinking about something; or when she's very concerned about something not going right.~

Our last swim lessons were this week, ending Weds. the 8th.  Julia's job [for just a few minutes] was to hold the pool noodle and make a tunnerl for Caroline to swim through.

The kids were so funny choosing what kind of silly jump they wanted to do at the end of the lesson.  Sometimes Miss Jennie lets them choose, like today.  Austin's back was red, as he'd been scratching it.  Miss Jennie asked him why he was so itchy that day?!  His reply:  "Bedbugs!"  Not sure where that idea came from!  Bedbugs?  Lice?  Where are these kids coming up with this stuff?!

Tired out after swimming lessons.  Caroline wanted to sleep with Bitty Baby, so badly.  Lauren really didn't want to share, and kept making comments how Bitty Baby was her doll!

One of our "Annette" dahlias, from Doug and Annette.  :)  This dahlia was huge!

They are really blooming right now.  Sadly, a gopher completely chewed through one dahlia's stem--no more dahlia!  :( 

The leaves seemed a little wilted, so I checked on that plant, and out came the whole stem, gnawed off about and inch below ground.  Naughty, naughty gopher!!  There are also gophers destroying our garden, and one of them killed some of my other flowers!

Caroline was so tickled to be carrying Bailey around the yard!

Bailey has such a sweet personality, and tolerated Caroline chasing him, picking him up, then letting him go.  Over and over she did this.

Bailey always loves attention--not sure he knew what he got himself into with this attention-giver!  Oh well.  She had fun and didn't hurt him at all.

Monday night Julia had a sleepover at her friend, Lorin's house.  I picked her up Tuesday morning, and took the kids to the Avila Barn.  It was really hot there!  The kids had fun feeding the goats and other animals.

It was a perfect day for ice cream, but no one got any, b/c the power was off for the whole place!  I let my kids choose cookies and a giant Rice Krispie bar for their treats.

We also went on a hay ride around the orchards and berry patches.  There was no fruit ready to pick, so we just got a ride.  Until just before the end, the driver (the Barn's owner's son) dropped us off in a Triple Crown Berry patch.  We picked a very few blackberries, as they weren't quite ripe yet.  But at least it was a little something.  :)

The kids were still starving, so we drove to San Luis Obispo to eat at Panera Bread.  Yummy!  Caroline wanted to go to Old McDonald's.  ;)  Oh well, I'm sure we'll end up there another day!  We did a few errands after lunch.

There are lots and lots of these beautiful zinnias growing  at the barn.  They were so pretty!

Beautiful colors!

Thursday we had a free day at home.  The older kids had me buy canvases months ago, for paintings they wanted to do.  Well, guess what--it didn't happen till now!  There is just too much going on, typically, for us to get a big chunk of time to do art.
Austin made a splatter painting.  It goes perfectly in his room!

Caroline's art...I didn't buy her a canvas, but of course she didn't want to be left out from the big kids!  She wanted a picture like Lauren's, so I helped her draw sea creatures and sea life.

Lauren used oil pastels, and Caroline used crayons to draw their sea life.   Then they both painted blue over top their drawings, to make an ocean scene.

Julia found a cat drawing in the art book we used, and decided to paint this cat.  It was very challenging to her to draw a cat!  Her painting turned out cute though!

Caroline had her big birthday party in WA, but I didn't take along three of her presents.  No room!  She saw these presents set up, and made her own scene with them, with her ballet outfit, toy instruments, and her ocean art!  Then she wanted me to take her picture.

Little girl, BIG present!

Friday, Brian took the day off from work. We went to the Ravine waterpark in Paso Robles.  There were big, long slides, as well as a kiddie pool with short slides. There was a lazy river to float down, which connected to a wave pool.  The wave pool was Austin and Caroline's favorite thing to do at the park.  The water park had life jackets for infants, all the way up to 90 lbs.

It was such a fun day.  The kids loved the waterpark!  We ate dinner at Olive Garden that night in San Luis Obispo.  We were all so tired and worn out!

In the group picture below, you see Lauren's arm raised high.  The kids have been watching the Olympics, and she sees the gymnasts raise their arms like this.  Lauren has gotten extremely interested in gymnastics.  She checked out gymnastics books from the library, and she and Caroline practice doing the moves/tricks in the books.  Then they dance around like they are doing gymnastic floor routines.  So fun!



 Austin stacked a bunch of inner tubes just before the park closed and we left the park.  This was at the shore of the wave pool.

Caroline's "big" birthday present was this Snow White Cottage.  It is so cute!  I bought it last year on Black Friday for $15!  So worth it!  I saved it in my present stash for her birthday.  All 3 younger kids like playing in these tents!  the pink one is Lauren's castle tent.  The kids combined the two to make a bigger tent!  They rigged the tent storage bags and Austin's shirt on top to connect them both.

 So cute!



June 17-23

 Father's Day

Brian chose BBQ hamburgers for his Father's Day dinner.  He did the grilling.  But I at least made breakfast, which he usually does on Sunday mornings.  We had spinach frittata, fruit, and little cinnamon rolls from Costco.  I made the casserole the night before, so just had to put it in the oven in the morning.

A sleepover in Julia's room.  Lauren and Caroline each got a turn sleeping in Julia's bed.  They felt so honored to have a sleepover with Julia!

Austin and Pongo

Monday morning these kids built tall, tall towers!  They all worked together, then someone got to knock it down.  Sometimes the towers fell on their own....this one looks a little unstable here!

Julia had a movie night with the Jr. High group at church, so I took the younger three to the park up the hill, right next to it.  They were so excited!  Brian was in Harris Ranch overnight for a meeting for work.

Sliding together.  Whee!

Friday Brian's mom and our niece, Alexis, came to visit us.  That night we all went to the drive-in to see Brave.  It was a lot of fun! 

I'd baked a big Costco pizza and sliced it at home.  I kept it warm in a 9x13 dish in my Pyrex insulated case.  We had tons of popcorn, cookies, and other snacks we brought from home.

  It got cold once the sun went down.   The second movie playing was The Avengers.  Austin and Brian really wanted to see it.  I was curious about it, since I heard other people say it was really good.  Alexis fell asleep in Grandma's car (it was late!  And cold!)  Caroline fell asleep.  The rest of us watched the show.  Lauren said it was boring.  I think Austin (!!!) and Brian enjoyed it the most.  I thought it was good, but kind of like an old Batman episode (conquer the bad guy) that just kept going and going.  Ha!  I wasn't bored, but it wasn't quite as exciting for me as it was to Austin.  :D

Saturday night we went to Avila Beach.  Brian grilled chicken.  The kids all loved going in the ocean! 

Caroline wanted so badly to go out with the big kids!  I did let her go in the waves--just not as far out as they went!  She has no idea the waist-height water for the big kids would be about up to her neck.

Posing in the waves...  The water felt fine while the sun was out.  But like the night before, once the sun went down, it got chilly, and we needed our sweatshirts.  Thankfully it wasn't windy.

Cute kids

After eating our picnic dinner, we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.  The kids played on the playground for awhile, and then we left.  It was a very nice night at the beach.

July, Part 2

We celebrated Caroline's 3rd birthday July 8. It was such a crazy, hectic time with Brian and me packing, and cleaning and painting at the new house. Escrow closed July 7--delayed 1 day b/c of the July 4th weekend. Brian's mom came the 6th to watch the kids while he and I worked at the new house. Grandma gave presents to Lauren too, since she wasn't here for Lauren's birthday. So of course Lauren thought Caroline's party was also for her!


Caroline was so excited just to be recognized and have a special time all about her! Julia gladly made her birthday cake. And put three ponies on it for our little 3-year-old.


It was hard work blowing out those 3 candles! ;)

We moved loads and loads and loads of boxes and "small" stuff ourselves. Brian borrowed a trailer from a coworker and hitched it to his Explorer. Every time we went to the new house we'd load up the Explorer and the trailer. And load up the van. There was barely room for our two extremely helpful, capable unloaders! Seriously, unloading went so much faster with these two kids! Sometimes our trips would be in the dark right before bed, and still we'd bring them along. Then take them back home so they could go to bed while Brian and I continued painting and cleaning!

July 10 was Caroline's actual birthday. Brian's mom watched the kids every day and cooked everyone dinner too. We couldn't have gotten so much work done without her! We would have had to have hired babysitters, I have no doubt!! Anyway, I've taken pictures of all the kids on their big day, so had to w/ Caroline too, even though we were sooo busy and tired. She was sad about me being gone all day, every day, and I made me think how thankful I am I don't have to go to work and leave her every day! She did have fun with Grandma though. They'd bring the big kids to VBS. One day they got smoothies at McDonald's. That went over very well!!

Sweet little 3-year-old.

Matching dresses, and one more sad pout. These were taken during our dinner break, so maybe she was hungry too? Really, that's how Brian and I felt: work, work, work, then quick break to eat, then back to work, work, work!

Being the nightowl in this family, I would often stay at the new house cleaning after Brian went home and to bed! But he'd go back early in the mornings. Several mornings I stayed behind at the old house and packed for awhile, or started laundry, etc., while Brian went to the new place. His mom did all our dishes and laundry folding, so that was a big help!

The movers came July 13. We planned for them to come July 12, but since escrow was delayed a day, we were glad they could change it to the 13th! There was sooo much to do at the new house. One of my friends helped me haul more boxes and clothes from our closets over. Then she stayed at the new place and helped clean--mildew off window frames, dust blinds, and vacuum closets. She volunteered, and I was not about to turn her down!

Caroline's crib bedding is in the laundry basket.

Moving truck

We didn't have to unpack any dresser/nightstand/cabinet drawers, which was nice! I only packed things up the could break if they got tipped. The movers shrink-wrapped all those cabinets and drawers and were good to go! They put all the big cabinets in their places, took apart and reassembled the bunk beds and china cabinet. The bunk beds alone were worth having them come. ;) They are a pain in the neck to set up! It took the guys awhile, too.

Also on moving day, our niece Alexis flew to LA, so Brian's mom went to get her at the airport, then brought her back to our house. She slept at our new house the first night we did. She went to VBS with our kids on Friday. All the kids participated in the singing program that night. We all ate dinner at church and the kids played at the carnival too. Brian's mom bought two cakes at the cake auction--we enjoyed both! One we kept in the freezer and used it for my birthday cake. Ha ha

One of the things I *had* to have done in order to buy this house was to get the nasty master bathroom carpet replaced. It was a little black/mildewed where the shower door had dripped on it. We planned to have it done before we moved in, but the tile guy was super busy and didn't get to it till after we were there. I gingerly stepped on that carpet every time I walked in there. Iiiiiiicky!!! The carpet cleaner had gone over it quickly with his machine, so at least it was basically clean. But still. Gross!!

When the tile man ripped up the carpet, he discovered cracks in the slab foundation. He said it's not a big deal, and he sees it all the time in our area b/c of the red sand in the soil here. But, he did have to put down the black rubber? layer so the tile on top of the cracks wouldn't crack as the foundation shifts. He said *no one* could use that bathroom till the black layer was dry and covered up! He made a big barrier w/ the bathroom door across the front of the bedroom door, and an end table, and the Caution tape. He said to not let the kids anywhere near that room or we'd have black all over! He put the toilet in the shower while he worked. I thought that was kidn of funny to see it sitting in there.

Saturday, July 16 we went to the Santa Barbara County Fair with Brian's mom and Alexis. Julia entered her 4-H exhibits and wanted to see if she earned any ribbons. The week before, we had to take the exhibits to the fair, including her place setting. Well, she was gathering everything to take, and I'd packed the vase for her centerpiece, the glass for her drink, and the cloth napkin. Bye, bye brain!! She was so good and sweet about her poor old mother losing her mind (focused on moving!!) and kind of had to laugh about it too! She ended up substituting a baby food jar for the vase, used a different (not quite as pretty) glass, and I cut her a piece of fabric with pinking shears to use for a napkin.

Julia earned 2nd place for her place setting and Tootsie Pop flower bouquet, 1st place for her scrapbook and pillow, and an Honorable Mention for her photograph. They wrote on the comment card for the photo, that they give HM's for photos that they would like to give ribbons to, but they are only allowed to give out a certain amount of 1st and 2nd places. Unlike the other categories...

There was a very, very cool butterfly exhibit at the fair. The kids really enjoyed it! You had to go in this separate butterfly "house" they'd set up. Get a Q-tip and dip it in liquid (Gatorade) they had sitting on tables, then hold the Q-tip out for a butterfly to land on.

There were hundreds and hundreds of butterflies...

The kids were quite pleased about attracting them.

Lauren loved having all these in her hair! What a pretty butterfly crown! We walked through some of the animal barns. In the pig barn one brother/sister pair asked Lauren if she wanted to come in the pen and pet the girl's pig. Lauren did. She was kind of shy, but we could tell she was pleased she was the only one they invited in!

Grandma talked about taking the kids on rides, but as it turned out, she was tired and didn't want to wait around in lines. Brian and I were tired. We'd already told the kids we weren't taking them on rides this year b/c we were trying to save $$$ since we just bought the house. And truth be told, I think the kids were tired too, b/c none of them protested much about no rides!

Here's Austin in the Arts building at the fair. And Grandma with our kids and Alexis after church the next day.

They were tired and crabby and hungry, not in the mood for pictures! We are lucky we got these few that turned out cute.

Grandma and the older kids played Dutch Blitz Sunday afternoon. She and Alexis went home the next day.

One of the best things about our new house? The big backyard patio! Austin, Lauren, and Caroline have had so much fun riding bikes and scooters around and around on it. It didn't take them long to discover how much fun they can have out there.