The Week in Review

This past week (30 May (Memorial Day and the FIRST day out of school!!!) through 5 June) we had quite the active week!  I washed 4 swimsuits from each of us!!!  That's a GREAT week!

Monday and Tuesday were totally devoted to cleaning our house and yard.  It was quite the undertaking!  And we also added the disgusting car to that!  That escapade took me 4 hours on Tuesday!  Yikes!  We did have a tea party during that time with the neighbors and friends that were there for the day!  Love tea parties!

Theresa also watches two little girls 4 days a week for the summer, so they joined us.  The younger one, Destini, was in Braeden's kindergarten class, so it works out perfect!  Around the table clockwise starting with Ella at 12 o'clock:  Ella, Lexi, Destini, Braeden, Alyssa, Shani, and Tristin.

Graham crackers with icing, marshmallows, chocolate chips, cheese chunks, goldfish, strawberries, watermelon, and carrot chips!  Yum!

Yummy strawberries!

Would you like a spot of tea?  {Read this in your best English accent!  Just for Lexi... because she LOVES a good accent!  NOT!}

Destini and Braeden!  It's so fun to see them play together outside of class and school!

Take special notice here... as he's getting stuff... of the ONLY thing on his plate!  Haha!!

The kids decided that just a car washing wasn't good enough, so they got on their suits and had a water fight in the culdesac with the other kids around here!

Wednesday we headed up to Aunt Colleen's for the day and evening, ate lunch at the Corner Bakery with SAmberie and got "ice cream" at Yogurtland afterward and played in the fountain until it became too obnoxious!  Then we headed to get Lexi's ears pierced... FINALLY!  Damian and I gave her a certificate for her birthday and she had to decided WHEN.  She didn't want to tape her ears up for soccer so she decided to wait until the end of the season, and then we got busy... and busier with the last week of school, etc.  So... FINALLY!  It's done and she loves it!

A final look at the "old" Lexi!

She is realizing that she IS, in fact, a little nervous!

Prepping for the pierce!

Marked with pen... almost there!

No going back now!  It stings a little... but no more than a shot at the doctor's office!

Other side!

All done!  AND... look at that happy face!  She's beautiful... with or without earrings!  She chose these earrings.  Titanium stud with just a little chrystal.  No design, no colors, nothing.  Simple... yet elegant!  I totally thought she would choose the multi-colored flowers, but... I just can't ever guess anymore what she'll pick!

SAmberie took them to the park in the van WITHOUT me for a while!  They are going to be such great parents!  They PLAY with the kids and make them feel like they are amazing!  THANK YOU!  And it was just funny to see the two of them driving off in the van with all my kids in tow!  :o)

We had dinner, played, and then headed home!

Thursday I had piano in the morning and then we headed to the pool with friends:  the Clemons' and the Rath's!  COOL water, but lots of fun with friends.  I was put in charge of Ashlyn while Danielle ran home to get her floaty device, and wouldn't you know... after she was told many times to just sit on the first stair or the edge and NOT get in, I turned my head to find Lexi and Braeden in the big pool, and when I turned back around, Ashlyn was in the middle of the spa floundering under water.  EEEEEKKKKK!!  I jumped in and got her out... she couldn't have been under very long at all, but still... I had to tell Danielle, and I just knew she was going to be mad.  She forgave me, but I could tell she was upset.  I might not live that one down for a while.  Though I wasn't totally at fault, still...  boo!  But we got some sun and enjoyed good company and somehow still had energy to play outside when we got home!  Sheesh... nothing wears these kids out!

Friday we headed to the beach with the neighbors, the Bozeman's!  An all day event that turned out as a sunburn for some of us.  Not super bad for anyone but Theresa.  WHOA, Nellie!  She is so burned she is purple, swollen, and in LOTS of pain!  Poor girl!  The kids had fun in the water, the sand, the whole bit!

Ooooh, BRRRR!  RUN!  That's COLD!!

Braeden and Ella starting on their holes and sand creations.

Lexi and Alyssa also ignoring the fact that the water is freezing!

Hmmm... collecting seaweed??

Lexi and Alyssa

Do NOT even think about throwing that sandball at my camera!

Tristin... and I'm not super sure what exactly he is doing!

Ella is yelling at Braeden for something... probably that he got Ariel dirty.

So she rinsed her clean and came to show.  And look at those blue eyes!  (Not Ariel's!)

Love those freckles!

PATHETIC!  Tristin would not get out of the sand long enough to eat, so his mom fed him like a little prince!  All she needed were some palm fronds and some fruit on a platter!  Ha!

My cute Gappy McGee!

A couple of buckets, shovels, and just a few other sand toys provides literally hours of entertainment!  Plus they have learned how to catch sand crabs on their own, so they have lots of fun putting lots of THINGS in the buckets, and then burying it all!  {Ella, Alyssa, and Lexi in this picture.}

Bet 'ya can't guess what he's going to do with this!

Or maybe you can!

Haha... poor Ariel.  She got dumped in the sand by her owner.  And notice that the WATER shoe is also there?  Yes... I provided Ella a way to run in the water without stubbing her toes on ANY rocks, and guess what...??  She took off the shoes as soon as we got there.  Old habits die hard!

This was very on purpose.  VERY.  He thought it was totally hilarious...

...until it came time for his mom to help him clean it off!  Haha!  Kids... they make such great decisions, huh??  {Well... just like the rest of us, I guess!}

I asked Ella to take care of my hat for me... and at least just get it to the car as we were leaving!  She started chasing the gulls instead!  But it just cracks me up to see her in it!

My Ella-Bella!  Love it!  I wish I had her dark, beautiful skin!

And Saturday we signed Lexi and Braeden up for the fall soccer season and then headed to San Diego for Tristin's birthday party.  Yes... he lives right across the street, but lots of Theresa's family is down there, and they had a pool party at her dad's girlfriend's house.  Lots of fun... more sun... more swimming... and they STILL had energy.  How is this possible!??!

I must also admit that we have watched our fair share of movies, but have also gotten in some good reading time, too!

Damian... well, he was in Boston the whole week for an ER conference.  He had to present some research that he had done, spend a LOT of time in lectures, but also had lots of FUN and got to eat at some pretty cool places... including a restaurant in Little Italy, for which the bill for their table of 12-ish came to over $700.  Eek!  Good thing the program director picked up the tab for that one!  So nice of him to take all his junior residents out!

He got a tour of the USS Constitution (in his Top Gun/A Few Good Men summer whites), hiked to Bunker Hill, toured the Boston Massacre site, and went to a Red Sox game (boo!!) among other things!  We missed him... as always.  Someday he is going to be able to do fun stuff with US and WE are going to be able to go fun places with HIM.  SOMEDAY!
I'll include a few of the photos that he took with his phone.  Not great quality, but they'll do!  Enjoy! 

George.  There was another picture, but I didn't like the quality and obviously didn't pay close attention, with George wearing a Bruin's jersey.  ??  Whatever.

I'm told that you simply have to blow this up and zoom in to understand what it's all about.  Good luck!  Or just call and ask Damian!  Because he wouldn't tell me.  He told me to "zoom in and READ" because it was "hard to explain."  Really?

Monument at Bunker Hill.

And the actual reason he went on the trip.  He went for an ER conference and had to present research study he had done on tourniquets.  And this poster behind him... that we had to pay for... was over $130.  Ick.  But doesn't he look good in his dress blues??  Very nice!

He told me that he would have someone e-mail him some other pictures.  Namely one from their tour of the USS Constitution... in their whites!  I love to see them in those.  Love it!  But... I'm not holding my breath until I get one, so IF he ever gets one, I'll post it separately!