No way that just happened.

We have never been big Independence Day celebraters so ours consisted of this:

Jamie threw a few pool parties that weekend that allowed us all to sharpen our pool cleaning skills. I did my part by weeding the yard. The whole friggin' yard. It is a very big job and, after watching me work for a few weeks, one of the neighbors even brought me some new gardening gloves (she didn't appreciate the ones Bruce had left) and a great weed picking tool. Some might not be excited by such a gift but I can hardly wait until I have a chance to go and try out my new gear. Unfortunately, my children do not yet share in my passion for pulling weeds so instead they use sticks to dig in the dirt in search of "buried treasure."

When treasure is not available, bike riding is also an alternative to helping Mom pull weeds.

I'm trying hard to make some semblance of a schedule here for the kids so, now that we have TV, we schedule our afternoon meal around a show called Dinosaur Train. As soon as I call out that it's on Adri and Juliet come running down the hall singing the theme song as fast as they can. I'm considering telling them that Dinosaur Train is on in the car just to see if it helps us get to church on time.

Juliet swinging on Gramma's playground

I kept myself sane this month by spending some time with friends and learning a few new tricks. I saw the new Twilight movie with some gal pals and watched another ridiculous chick flick with them a few weeks later. We had a great time and have all made the unbreakable vow to see the new Harry Potter movie together. I went out to see Knight and Day with Carolyn. I learned how to make bread and have done so at least half a dozen times since getting the recipe. I made several batches of jam to be used with the aforementioned bread. I made a cake for someone's birthday at Jason's work. I made a Care Bear cake for Juliet's birthday. I started construction of a dragon shaped pinata for a birthday party despite many onlookers telling me that I should simply purchase a pre-made pinata at the store. I fooled Carolyn into thinking I am a photographer and she asked me to take some pictures of her adorable children. Happily, all of these projects went off without a hitch and I am looking forward to more bread making and less pinata making in August.

I know I've said it before but age one is by far my favorite and Luke is so much fun right now. He is down to one long nap in the afternoon which is very nice, but has yet to be very grumpy when he is tired. He is a troublemaker, yes, but really a sweet tempered kid who is maybe a little too brave for his own good. He is the first of our kids to voluntarily jump off the diving board at the pool and will probably be able to out swim his sisters by next summer.

Luke reading his French book and playing with his American trains

And one more thing to add to the list of stuff that has gone wrong with this house since we moved here, a tree broke in half after a big storm and smashed the mailbox. Lucky for us Jason had decided to move the car into the garage once it started raining so our car was not crushed along with the mailbox. Then the power went out and the generator was broken so we were the only house on the street without power for the next 14 hours. So embarrassing.





Quotes:


Jason: Go to sleep! It's almost 11 o'clock!
Adri: Dad, I don't know anything about clocks!

Juliet: How old is Carson?
Annie: About 7.
Juliet: How old is Madison?
Annie: She's 5.
Juliet: How old is Jenna?
Annie: One.
Juliet: How old are you?
Annie: 30.
Juliet: You mean 20.
Annie: No, I'm 30.
Juliet: 20!!
Annie: Deal.




Juliet: Mom, I ate my whole hot dog and I didn't even choke!

Adri: Mom, I love you as much as Luke drools.

Annie: Juliet, do you know where your shoe is?
Juliet: Yes.
Annie: You do? Where is it?
Juliet: It's lost.

Adri: I spy something . . .
Juliet: Green?! Is it a tree?!

Juliet: I'm going to play lions, would you like to join me?

Adri: Don't tell on me!
Juliet: I'm not going to tell on you, I'm just going to tell Mom you pushed me.

Annie: "I tore open the shutters and threw up the sash."
Juliet: Why did he throw up?

Juliet: Why are you doing that? (I was putting on make up)
Annie: So I can try to look beautiful.
Juliet: Are you going to win the prize?

Jamie: What's in my tummy?
Adri, Juliet and Lainey: A baby!
Jamie: Did I swallow a baby?
Adri, Juliet and Lainey: No!!
Jamie: Then how did he get in (trailing off) . . . wait, I don't think we should go there.

Phew! July was a lot of work but we're pretty sure August will be, too.


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