Another Week Gone By...

... before I even get the week before posted!  What a surprise, huh?  But... I'm actually doing the text for these BEFORE I forget all the happenings!  :o)  {Which actually means that by the time you do read this... I WILL have already posted the last week!  Yay!}

So... the past week+ {really meaning 6-14 June} we had yet another fun filled week+!  Let's see... well, without putting in the cleaning, garden stuff, and piano we had playdates on Monday.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I got to spend 3 hours a day WITHOUT any children!  They went to "Kids' Camp!"  It was at a friend's house and her daughters were running the camp.  They went last year, too... and had a BLAST!  They came home with face paint, a Father's Day craft, art, homemade play dough, had a water day, did some baking, ETC!  And I got to go to Costco all ALONE!  Aaahh!  The simple pleasures!  :o)  Plus I got to catch up on some other things around here... though none of those included the blog, obviously, but still... things that needed to be done!

The highlight of the week was that Ella CUT HER OWN HAIR.  BOOOOO!  And not only that, but she came up with several different stories as to WHY she did it and told them to different people.  Grrrr.  It still needs some work, I'm afraid, but what do you do?  She had just finished telling Damian the NIGHT BEFORE that she was so proud of her "hair getting DOWN", and then this!  TRAGIC!  She told me that her hair was "nasty dirty and (she) was cutting the GERMS out of it!"  She told my neighbors that she wanted "a makeover."  And she told someone else something else... and on... and on...  The funny/sad part was that Damian was actually super LIVID about it.  He was sooo mad that he grounded her.  But I didn't let that happen because I'm the one who has to enforce that, and I wasn't going to cancel my summer play plans for that.  Even Lexi and Braeden were surprised at how angry he was with her.  I thought it was really out of character for him.  Huh???  Anyway... we evened up, much to her dismay, she screamed the whole time because she didn't was a "baby haircut" and that turned into giving everyone else a haircut, too!  (Meaning Lexi and Braeden.)

She was sooo distraught.  Damian had told her that he was going to shave it off like a baby's haircut.  So by the time we got her here... she was just beyond upset.  :o( 

The pink on her forehead is the remains of face paint from kids' camp.  Braeden, too!  He's got a snake on his arm and a frog on the other, compliments of Lexi!

How on EARTH can I fix this??

The evidence that Damian found. 

The rest of what she cut... not including the clump that came off on me while she was on my lap, and not including what Damian found on the kitchen floor.  {I honestly didn't know she actually had that much hair to even cut...}

The dry proof that something happened!

In this one you can see how bad it is...  boo!

But she looks so innocent, huh??  How can one stay mad at a face like this???

Damian finally had some time to take Braeden over to the clubhouse to shoot some hoops at the court over there.  Braeden was schooling him by the time it was over.  He was dribbling, turning, moving around Damian, and even shooting them in.  We have NO IDEA where he gets his natural ability.  It certainly isn't from me, and Damian doesn't claim it either.  ??  It's a mystery!  Wait... I mean... he gets ALL his talent from ME!  ;o) {NOT!!}

We went swimming at the pool and enjoyed Damian's company for the entire weekend!  Something that hasn't happened in SOOO long!  He was ending opthamology before starting OB/Gyn, so he had the weekend off!  All of it!  A-mazing!

We had more play time with friends, and yet another tea party!  I have to say that for as long as it takes me to get all of it together, it is just the easiest way to get the kids to eat lunch.  They get to be outside with friends, have food and treats, enjoy pouring their own "tea"... it's mostly fabulous!  {Except they decided that the tea plates weren't big enough anymore, so I lent them my porcelain saucers... asked them to be VERY careful with them... and ended up with one LESS than they started out with.  HUMPF!  Oh, well!  All for a good cause, right??  I'm trying to be a FUN mother!}

The day's lunch/tea special includes:  marshmallows, chocolate chips, Ritz crackers, Flipside crackers, colby jack and pepper jack cheese, ham, turkey, cherries, apple chunks, fresh pineapple, cucumbers, and carrots!  Mmmmmm....  right??

All 6 plates currently represented here!  Haha!  Around the table L to R:  Alyssa, Anabelle, Lexi, Ella, Braeden, and Tristin

It might appear here that she is eating healthy, but she has marshmallows in her "tea."  Not healthy or appropriate at all.

Cute girls.  I didn't have to harass them to eat any of it!  They just ate... and didn't even have more than a few chocolate chips or marshmallows until after the healthy stuff... {mostly because the other 3 had piled their plates so full of them that they didn't get any... especially Braeden, but I'm still giving them credit here!}  LtoR:  Alyssa, Anabelle, and Lexi

After the tea party they headed across the street to jump on Alyssa and Tristin's trampoline.  It got a little rowdy... to say the very least!

The three girls laid down and the two little ones took turns jumping at and ON them.

Whoa, HAIR, Ella!

We're pretty sure that the more time she spends on the trampoline the greater her chances are of biting her tongue off!  Haha!

No more taking turns... Ella and Tristin... abusing the girls at the same time!  "Dog Pie" as my kids used to call it! 

Alyssa, Alexa, and Anabelle... the 3 A's  {Maybe we can nickname the A Team...??  Maybe not.}

Braeden joined the fun after having a time out for breaking my plate!  Silly kids.  This can't be comfortable for anyone... can it?

SCARY!

We had to make them quit... it was just getting too wild and dangerous... so they started playing "Mummy Come Alive."  I didn't even know about this game, but they had a great time!  One person (in this case, Lexi) lays in the middle with their eyes closed while the others jump in a circle around them and chant:  "Mummy, mummy, come alive.  Come alive when I count to 5.  1-2-3-4-5, come alive!  Come alive!"  Then the person in the middle keeps their eyes closed and tries to tag someone while they are avoiding her and trying to be silent.

Strange, but fun.  I'm always just worried that they will just walk right off the tramp.  {But then again... I know better, because they ALL cheat and PEAK!}

And... we started swim lessons on the 14th and then scurried off to the beach for the day... and then scurried home for our ward's monthly "Picnic in the Park."  Whew!  Long day, can I say??  But it was super fun, and can I also say that Lexi is a master wave-catcher on a boogie board!  She cracks me up!  When all the boys wimped out, she was the ONLY one who hung out in the water basically the ENTIRE time!  I did finally FORCE her to get out and eat something!  She cracks me up!  For as prissy and drama she is about some things... that is NOT one of them.  Nothing that has to do with water.  She's a fish, I think!  

And speaking of that... when Damian got home and they were telling him about their day (after he left the hospital over 2 hrs. late because he had 2 LATE deliveries) Ella told him:

"I had swim lessons today!  I swam by myself without my floaties and I didn't DROWN!!"  Whew!  Good thing!  He just laughed!

I feel bad that these are the only pictures I took of swim lessons... but they are.  Ella with Miss Heidi.  She can now swim without floaties, but not super well, however, after the last day of lessons we ended up back at the pool and she was FORCED to come up for air, and actually TAKE a breath and keep going!  Good job, Ella!  It's painful sometimes, but you did it!

Now we have 3 little fish!  {However... she will continue to wear her floaties until she is more sure of herself, and I am more confident with her in the pool without them... NOT YET!}  Also... Heidi figured out that if Braeden will keep his knees together while kicking that he doesn't so much swim like a shark and not get anywhere...  Yay!  He's a little submarine now.  And Lexi... well... she basically spent the last day of lessons swimming laps, only breathing every other stroke and torpedoing across the pool.  She is really fast now!  And she can hold her breath for a long time... and she can do a better back stroke, too!

Kaleb, Cray, and Jayden (under the towel) wimping out on our chilly day at the beach!

I don't think Ciara left this chair more than a couple of times!  She was busy reading Harry Potter!

Ella, Ashlyn, and Tristin

My friends, Danielle and Cari!

Lexi having SO MUCH FUN on her board!

Blow this up and look at her expression.  She is pointing with her thumb behind her and making a face at the fact that the boys in the background are using an air mattress in the ocean!  :o)

Porter did really well at this for not having been more than once before!  Lexi, Kaleb, and Porter are all the same age and in the same primary class and they had a great time together!

The usual stuff we see at the beach on Pendleton!

I love this girl's tenacity in the water!  She is so happy there!

Our little beach going group... less a few that weren't there quite yet!

Anderson on the left, Carter in the red, Ella, Braeden, and Tristin in the blue hat.

Yay!  Friends are so much fun!  Cari, Danielle, ME (in a picture!!!), and Theresa!

Ella and Ashlyn!  They didn't fight ONCE while here!  The beach is wonderful for many reasons!

Lexi, Porter, and Alyssa

I took this and sent it to Mrs. Shorack BECAUSE... all 3 of these little ones were in her class!  Carter, Braeden, and Destini!

Baywatch Babies!  J/K

Braeden, Porter and Tristin standing/riding on a boogie board.  They obviously didn't get very far!

Lexi and Kaleb are in the front, but notice Jayden and Cray going WAY out in the back!

It always makes me so happy to see these two hanging out!  They used to be together basically EVERY day and they always have so much fun together... especially when they are doing something they both really love!  {Lexi and Kaleb... obviously!}

Cray is amazing!  He can surf on his boogie board!

Just easily riding the wave in.

Kaleb, Lexi, and Alyssa

This is the Lexi I just LOVE!  Happy Lexi!!!!!

Lexi and Kaleb laughing at each other on the way in!

Uh-Oh!  Ella got some sand in her eye.

This was when I forced her to come in to eat.  Look at how red her knees are from working so hard out there!

It's just not right that they can be so tan and I have to be so white and pasty.  Humpf.

Lexi and Alyssa!

Carter and Braeden! 

A couple of movies for your pleasure!

Going to the beach with friends is SOOO much fun! Love it! Thanks for sharing your time, children, and treats, girls!