IT'S ONE A.M. AND I'M TOO TIRED TO BE FUNNY

I just uploaded a bunch of pictures from my camera to my laptop and, lucky you!, I've decided to blog about them. Our summer ended with several fun activities. I feel like August lasted about three days and I was not at all ready for school to start. It still feels surreal to me. On Monday night (while getting ready for the first day of school the next day), we listed all the fun things we did this summer. We decided that this summer was the best summer our family ever had, barely beating out the summer we spent in Washington, DC because we didn't have Cameron then and we do now. Basically, she was the tie breaker. (And what a cute tie breaker she is, too!)

Anyway, here's the rundown:

Brian had to work one Friday in Boise so the kids and I decided to tag along and hang out for awhile. I swear, all you need to do to entertain kids is stay in a hotel. They loved everything about it: the elevators, the ice machine, the mini fridge, and (most popular) the pull-out couch.
The hotel we stayed in also has the best indoor pool I've ever seen. It has a shallow splash pool for the little kids which was exactly what we needed because Cameron was terrified of the water before this trip. In fact, the first day at the pool she wouldn't even let me put her bathing suit on her but the second day, she slowly inched her way into the water and ended up loving it. Of course, Lauren and Baker loved it, too.

Brian went to some meetings on Friday and had to take the car so the kids and I had the choice of staying in the hotel all day or walking all over downtown. We chose walking and headed over to the zoo where I spent $3 on a single lettuce leaf so that Lauren could feed a giraffe. It was worth it, I guess.

Anyway, good times in Boise. A few hours after we got back home, our good friends stopped by on their way through town. We discovered that our two oldest girls and two youngest girls had matching outfits, so of course we had to take pictures of it.
This picture totally blows my mind because when we met this family, Lauren was 2 and their little girl was only a few weeks old. Look at them now! It just doesn't seem possible that they grew so big in such a short amount of time.
Cameron was being such a pill and wouldn't pose for the picture. And, oh my goodness, holding this baby and having her fall asleep in my arms was the closest I've come to wanting another baby since Cameron was born.

But then they left and I got over it.

We went on a camping trip with a few other families and discovered that camping with three young children won't, in fact, kill us. We all had a blast and it just might have been the best (and most sleep-deprived) weekend of the summer.
Cameron literally spent hours playing in the boats (on land, of course). It was awesome because it meant I didn't have to chase her all over the campground.

We figured that, in one day, Lauren probably rode her bike a total of 20 miles. That is no joke. Not really sure why she's wearing a life vest, though.

Exploring in the mud as only a four year old boy can.

Building a dam.

Best buddies.

There were never such devoted sisters (bonus points for knowing that reference!).

Finally, the kids asked us to take them swimming one last time before school started. We couldn't believe how crazy they went in the water. Cameron would actually jump off the steps, Baker went on the slide and the diving board (if you know Baker, you know how HUGE this is), and Lauren went off the high dive and did the backstroke across the entire pool without stopping. Too bad we didn't discover our kids' swimming abilities until the very end of the summer!

Snack time!

Being brave with Daddy.

I think this is how we all felt by the time summer was over.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN CRAYONS (SERIOUSLY)

I am not a very crafty person to begin with, but I really detest having to do crafts with my kids. Mainly, I am too obsessed with order and organization and doing things perfectly to enjoy having small, messy, impulsive children trying to "help" me. (Am I writing my own application for Mother of the Year here, or what?)

But enough about my maternal deficiencies. Along comes my super fabulous subscription to Real Simple magazine. If you do not get this magazine, you should. It is Awesome. And Real. And Simple. Who couldn't use an extra dose of that in their lives, right?

(They don't pay me for this.)

(But they should.)

They had this awesome (and real and simple) idea this month to take all your old, stubby, broken crayons and turn them into new crayons. It seemed like something I could pull off. Even with my children helping me.

Here is the step by step guide (with pictures!) to this great project that you should most definitely try with your kids:

1. Collect all your old, stubby, broken crayons and peel the paper off of them. Your kids will complain mightily about this. It is a great time to teach them that sometimes we have to work hard and do things we don't want to do in order to achieve something good (life lesson #1). You will also get a lot of shards of crayon wax under your finger nails. Refer yourself to life lesson #1 and set a good example for your children by acting like it's no big deal.

2. In the magazine, it says to put foil cupcake liners in your regular muffin tins. I couldn't find foil liners (only paper ones, which won't work) so I bought disposable muffin tins. Fill them 2/3 full with crayons.

3. Put them in the oven at 275 degrees until they melt (about 10 minutes or so). This is great entertainment for small children. The crayons will be liquid when they come out. Be forewarned that it makes your oven smell like hot wax.


4. Let them cool for a few minutes and then put them in the freezer (make sure they stay flat!) until they harden completely.


5. Pop them out of the muffin tins and color away! You might also want to explain to your children that they are not, in fact, Reese's Peanut Butter cups. This will help you avoid major confusion and a possible call to Poison Control (surprisingly enough, I am NOT speaking from experience here).

Chubby crayons for chubby hands!

While we were making these, Lauren said, "Mom, it's like we're recycling our old crayons and that's good for the environment!" (life lesson #2)


And that fills my craftiness quota for the year.

BECAUSE RAISING NERDS IS WHAT WE DO BEST (NOW WITH A LINK!)

Forget about the fact that our oldest child just completed a week-long science camp (and please, please forget about that disgusting picture on my previous post (if you can)).

We have now officially launched our second child into the world of complete nerd-dom.

That's right, this morning Baker was diagnosed with asthma. And not only does he have to use an inhaler, he has to use the kind that attaches to a face mask! When I told Brian the news, his exact reply was, "So you mean Baker is going to be one of those kids?"

Why yes, yes he is.

It's okay, though, the inhaler goes nicely with his Star Wars obsession.

For the story on how we found out Baker has asthma, go here.

WEIRD SCIENCE

Lauren had her first day of Science Camp today. It is held at our local college campus. She was a little nervous and so was I. But, I was thrilled when she came home so excited that she was bouncing off the walls. She threw her arms around me and shouted, "Mom! We dissected a sheep's kidney!" I was only slightly thrilled by this news until she later informed me that she was the only kid in her group who would even touch the kidney, let alone cut it open. She did all the work because the other kids were too grossed out to help.

Is it weird that I am so proud of this?

And, just in case you were wondering (because I know I was), this is what a sheep's kidneys look like:


I know, right? I'm afraid I'm with the other kids on this one.

I MUST HAVE BEEN SUPER GROUCHY THAT DAY

I was cleaning out the art cabinet this evening and came upon this note, shoved into a back corner. I have never seen it before and have no idea when it was written (it's been at least six months since I've looked in this cupboard):

IS THAT WHAT YOU DO? SO DO I!

Is this one of your favorite songs from childhood? Chances are, if you grew up going to Primary in the '80s, you are at least familiar with it. I wrote a little blog about some of the things we do in the summertime. You can find it here.

I hope you are enjoying your summer. I know we are.

And if you went to Primary in the '90s instead of the '80s, well, I guess that's alright, too.

(Proof of a fun summer, taken over Father's Day weekend in Sun Valley, ID):

LIKE SANDS THROUGH THE HOURGLASS...

(*That's a throwback to all the summers I spent in junior high and high school watching Days of Our Lives. Man, I loved that show and the summer always makes me think of it...)

Anyway, I have been wanting to do a "Day In the Life" post with pictures of everything we do in a single day. I always start off really well and then, by 3 or 4 in the afternoon, forget to keep taking pictures so it never happens. Well, my sister did one recently so that motivated me to finally get mine done. It isn't perfect and is probably quite boring, but for those of you who care, here is a picture diary of a day in the life of our family.


Breakfast of Champions: eggos and strawberries (and Baker's morning hair)

We were late for tennis (again).

But managed to make it for most of the lesson.

Cameron and I played on the playground (and, yes, we are still wearing jackets and it's almost July).

This is the part where we went to a friend's house and had a ton of fun and I witnessed no fewer than ten "Kodak moments" of my kids playing with their friends but my camera battery died, so I didn't get any pictures of it. And then we had lunch and quiet time. I don't have any pictures of that, either.

Discovered my peach tree is starting to produce fruit (I was super excited about this)*.

While I was outside taking pictures of the tree, the kids set up this "silly tea party." Seriously, they did this all on their own. I'm not really sure what the Star Wars playing cards are for, though.

Cameron woke up from yet another four hour nap.

And then threw a colossal temper tantrum. It was, miraculously, her only tantrum of the day but it lasted 20 minutes so I figure that evened things out a bit.

She was finally placated with a piece of raisin bread. She is obsessed with this stuff and single-handedly goes through a whole loaf about every three days.

Then the kids played with a pack of Star Wars stickers (it's the simple things, folks).

We had a quick dinner of cheesy scrambled eggs, toast and oranges so that we could rush out the door to go to...

...Lauren's softball game. Where Brian was the first base coach and we got creamed. Lauren spent most of her time in the outfield filling her glove with dirt and then scattering it around her. Then she had to go to the bathroom (on the other side of the whole park) so she missed an entire inning. They only play three, so that was awesome.

Then, Brian took the kids home for baths and bedtime while I went to Target and took longer than necessary so that I wouldn't make it home until after I was sure the kids were tucked safely in their beds (love ya, Bri!). So, I don't have any pictures of that part of the day, either.



(It was worth it.)



*While I was literally in the middle of writing this post, Lauren came in from outside to tell me that Baker threw his basketball at my peach tree and my one, solitary peach fell off. I almost cried.