A Fun Visit

Maddie, Joe, Hannah and Abbie

Megan and Sophie

Abbie and Hannah have a thumb war

Abbie and Hannah

Hannah, Abbie Sophie and Maddie

crazy faces...

fun on the swing

looking cool!

friends reunited.

 

We had a super fun visit from some friends who moved to California.  They were back in Lincoln visiting and we had them over for dinner last Sunday.  A fun time was had by all.

An Update in Pictures (random order)

Josh is going to be in Pinewood Bowl's production of Hairspray.  Pinewood Bowl is an outdoor theater here in Lincoln.  It's located in Pioneers Park.   Anyway.....I dropped him off for rehearsal the other day and man!!  I just had to stop and take a picture...it's so green and pretty....I wanted to stop, get a blanket out and just lay here by the lake for awhile.....

Joe auditioned for The Little Mermaid Jr at Lincoln Community Playhouse.  He sang "I'll make a man out of you" from the Disney movie Mulan.  This pic is from the headshots I took of him on the day of his audition....He made it into the play!  He's in the ensemble and so far is playing one of the seagulls, he may have other parts too.  90 kids auditioned and only 32 made it into the show...I think that's pretty dang cool!! 

Hannah's curls....she loves to have curly hair.  Her hair is getting so long!!  She told me she wants it to grow as long as Repunzel's hair....um...yeah.

Josh has a job!  He's working at the YMCA as a daycamp counselor.  I arrived to pick him up one day and he was out with all the kiddos.  All the little girls call him Joshy......How cute is that??!!! 

Hannah wearing curlers.  Megan found these when we were thrift store shopping (my favorite).  What an awesome buy, they were only like 2.50 for 14 curlers....and they are soft so they are comfortable to sleep in. 

The kids love to "pose" Murphy.  He is so lazy and will just lay there at let them do whatever. 

We have been getting a ton of rain!  One of the rainy days Aaron let Hannah and Joe play and play in it....they were soaked!!  We made them strip down right there on porch.....don't worry we held up a towel so they weren't showing their goods to our neighbors. 

We had a blocked drain spout....yeah....the rain was pouring down off the corner of the roof.

Hannah and I

Megan and I went to Walmart.  I had to use the restroom and afterwards could not find her anywhere!!  I looked for like a half hour.  She had my phone and my purse....finally I decided to go to the customer service area to call her and that's where I found her sitting waiting for me to come out the bathroom.  She took many selfies to kill time I guess. 

my nemesis and I meet again....LAUNDRY...uuuugggghhhh.

Hannah thought this was a great pose to show off her cuteness.  I especially love the tongue in her cheek. 

Joe's first day of rehearsal....this is a sculpture in front of the Lincoln Community Playhouse. 

On Monday we went to Mahoney Park for a farewell for a family in our Ward.  Hannah got this awesome bruise trying to climb up the slide....when I first saw the bruise I thought one of her brothers had grabbed her arm really hard....I was actually re leaved to find out it was from playing and not from abuse...LOL. 

ps....I've tried on many occasions to take pictures of Matthew and he runs.

Throw back Thursday

Missing my Sister like crazy!!  

That's why it's so green here

After their fun in the rain

We've been having some really awesome Thunderstorms!  Lightening and super loud claps of  thunder....it's truly amazing.  Tonight the kiddos wanted to play in the rain....Aaron let them because he's an awesome dad like that...they had so much fun.....boy were they drenched!!  They had to strip right there on the front porch.  Aaron held a towel up so they were not showing their goodies to the world or our neighbors.....

While taking the pictures we noticed the rain was coming down in a sheet off the corner of the house....so later, after his meeting at the Church, Aaron found that the rain spout was clogged so he fixed it....it's sure nice having a handy guy around.....

yeah....the rain gutter was clogged....Aaron fixed it soon after this.

Princess Hannah

This girl can make a party out of any situation!  She is always entertaining herself.  She's also one of  the biggest pack rats I've ever  met.  If you were to open one or all of her dresser drawers you might find many things in there besides clothes, like....a ball of clay, papers from school, old Valentines, a hanger, stuffed animals, an old transistor radio, headbands or a box of chalk.  Yesterday I bribed her to clean her room.  I told her if she would clean while I was sleeping, I would take her to get a couple sundresses.  She cleaned it...part of which consisted of pushing things out of the middle of the room to the edges of the room...but it did look a TON better so she got two new sundresses and she was happy and now she can actually play in there....until it's a gigantic mess again.  I give it two days, maybe three.  

9 year old wisdom

On the way home from the zoo tonight we passed a firehouse and Joe saw a fireman standing outside smoking a cigarette.  He said "Mom!!  That fireman is smoking!!  That's the opposite of what he's supposed to do...he's supposed to put fires out not start them!!"  The boy's got a point......

Conversations with an 18 year old

Josh got a job at the YMCA as a daycamp counselor.  He is training this week and we are struggling to get schedules synced.  I got home this morning to find out he needed me to take him to work, but not til 930 and  I am soooooo tired!!!  Here's the conversation.

Me:  Can't you just go to work early?

Josh: I don't work until 930, I'd be like an hour early.

Me:  So??

Josh:  There's nothing to do.

Me:  Watch the girls in exercise class.

Josh:  There's only old people in the class and their exercise consists of lifting their leg.

Perhaps this is only funny to me because I've been up all night and I'm a bit loopy but I could not stop laughing!!  I asked him if I was considered an old person and he said "no"...............good answer, son.

Megan's humor

We went to a graduation party after church on Sunday.  While we were sitting at a table outside with some friends Aaron looked over and saw an older gentleman...like grandpa age, white hair, a little stooped over.  Aaron said "that guy looks familiar to me, how do I know him?".....without missing a beat Megan said "You see him every Tuesday, his name's Morrie".  I laughed a little too long and a little too loud!  I love love love how quick she can be and how witty she is! 

Some thoughts about motherhood...

This has probably been one of the hardest years in my mothering career.  It's been seriously difficult for me to hear about my friends/family sending their kids off on missions for our church and having mine not want to go....in some ways I feel like a failure.  I feel jealous when I see the pictures of my friends children going off to the MTC and pics of them on their missions.  Don't get me wrong I could not Love my boys anymore than I already do....I love them without end and nothing they say or do would ever change how much I love them.  I am proud of them...and want to be a part of their lives no matter what.  Though I may not always agree with the choices they make I am always their mom and their biggest cheer leader.  So, even though they don't want to live the lives I envisioned for them, I'm still here for them....I'm still their mom.  I can't wait to see what will come for them and I plan to be there cheering them on.....

One of the few pictures I have of Josh and Zack together......

 
 

Ginger Love

Just really love this ginger boy.