The Fourth of July

We spent a fun filled fourth of July going to the parade and firework in Melba and hanging out at grandma and grandpa Hirtle's house. My brother Brian and his family came to the parade and sat by us and we also sat by Joel's brother Jake and his family as well as grandma Hirtle. There was a lot of walking involved and Brynlee's foot was still feeling pretty sore but she handled it like a champ with only a little bit of whining. This year Kyla was the one that was super scared of the loud noises during the parade. She sat on aunt Rachel's lap for almost the whole time and would not get off. She made Rachel cover her ears for most of the time and Kyla's cousin Madison was great about giving Kyla a few pieces of candy. By the end of the parade Kyla warmed up to things and was laughing and having a good time so on the way home she talked about how much fun the parade was. The girls all loved getting the candy and they got quite a bit. 

  

After the parade we headed straight to visit grandma and grandpa Hirtle and we ate some hamburgers and hot dogs. Grandma and Grandpa filled up a big water trough with water and the kids had a blast playing in it. It was a hot day but that water was pretty cold and there was a little bit of a breeze outside. The kids still spent a long time playing in that water. 

  

Grandpa let all of the kids take his canoe out and float it down the little canal that runs along his house. Brynlee had fun doing that. Then Joel took all of the kids for a ride in the four wheeler train. Summer would only ride with Joel and Kyla preferred to ride with Joel as well. The kids ate popsicles and had a great day playing with cousins. Joel got a nice long nap in and Summer got one as well. 

We all went out and picked several raspberries outside later that evening. It was hot but the kids did a pretty good job at helping and we got lots of raspberries. Summer loves raspberries and ate a lot of them. We ended the night by heading back out to Melba so we could watch the fireworks. They did not have as many sitting spots so we ended up just sitting on a random sidewalk but we were sill lucky enough to run into my sister Heather and her family so they joined us for the night. Kyla sat on Aunt Heather's lap with her cousin and did pretty well. Summer was on my lap and was having fun until the big fireworks started. Then she closed her eyes and refused to even look at the fireworks. I covered her ears and she would not let me move them. She turned her head into my shirt and stayed like that for the entire time. She would peek for a second every once in a while and then quickly close her eyes and hide her head again. It was kind of sad but also kind of funny at the same time. Joel and the kids all got to eat the traditional french fries before the fireworks started and we all had a good time. The kids were all pretty tired on the way home and Btynlee's foot was really hurting so Joel took turns giving everyone a ride in the stroller and Summer got to ride on his shoulders. By the time we got home that night most of the kids were asleep in the car and the rest of them fell asleep as soon as they got in their beds. It was a pretty fun day.

The Month of June

It seems like June was such a long hard month. Brynlee was so miserable and depressed about not being able to use her legs and play in the water. None of us went swimming the whole month except for in the little pool for Kyla's party. Brynlee was grouchy, bored, and whiny about not being about to do the things she wanted to do. Despite all of the hardship there were a lot of really fun moments. We got to celebrate Kyla and Brynlee's birthdays, we had a baptism, celebrated Father's Day, and got to spend time with some family and friends. Overall there were a lot of great things that happened this month.

 My friend Eugenia and her family spent the night on the last day of the month of May so the kids got to start the month of June by waking up and playing with the kids for a little bit before they had to head home. Brynlee had a half day of school that day and then was officially done with school for the summer. We went to an end of the school year picnic at her school that Saturday.

I bought a cast protector for Brynlee's cast right before Kyla's birthday party. It was supposed to completely keep the water out so Brynlee could bathe and shower with it on. When we used it for Kyla's party it let a little bit of water in so I was a little hesitant to let her soak her foot in the pool. She just had to sit on the edge of the pool and watch and it did protect from splashes. When Brynlee wanted a bath a few nights later she put the protector on and I made sure it was on tight. She only put her foot in the water for a little bit while she got in and out of the tub and she tried to test it out a little bit as she was getting out. As soon as she got out of the bath I could tell that the bag was full of water and Brynlee's cast was soaked. We had the blow dryer on it for hours and her poor foot was miserable. I ended up having to take her back into the doctor's office the next day and they had to cut off her old cast and put a new one one. This time Brynlee picked pink with orange stripes. She only let her family and a few other people sign this cast. She signed her dad's name for him. She insisted that she wanted to keep her old cast. Annalyn keeps using rubber bands to wrap that old cast around her legs and she will grab Brynlee's crutches and run around with them. She loves to pretend that she has a broken foot. 

Right after we took Brynlee in for a new cast, we went to the library and the kids picked out some movies to watch. Then we came home and put the movie in to watch only to discover that our TV was broken. Someone (no one would admit who) obviously threw something at it and the screen was toast. Everyone was pretty upset about that and we went most of the month without a TV. The kids were all whiny and upset about that for a while. Summer was super mischievous that week and got into a brand new thing of foundation that I bought at the store and rubbed it all over her body. She pretty much ruined the dress she was wearing. Those were not the best days.  

I was determined to make the weekend better after the crazy week. The girls had all been begging to have a lemonade stand so we were able to make that dream come true. I took Annalyn to get groceries and to the dollar store for some posters and the girls helped me make cinnamon rolls. The neighborhood across the street was having a community yard sale so we took our lemonade and cinnamon rolls over there to sale. The girls made their signs all by themselves and I love how they turned out. They ended up selling all of their cinnamon rolls and then calling it a day. Joel's sisters Jaime and Joy were both down for the weekend and they came and bought some of our treats. We went to visit them and spent the rest of the day in Melba and we had fun spending time with everyone there. We went back there on Monday evening and saw them again before they had to leave.

Joel bought a wagon and revamped it so that I could fit Brynlee in it and still go for walks to the park. It worked great. Joel went camping on a "survival campout" with the boys from church. They built a shelter to sleep in and they didn't take any food because they were going to live off the land and catch fish. They ended up starving and Joel took everyone out to chuck a rama on the way home. While Joel was gone I took the girls to the park and then my sister Alesha come over and made slime and gave all of us a nice facial. Kyla wouldn't put anything on her face but Summer loved it. It was good to have some girl time.

For Fathers' Day we made Joel a candy gram card and let him sleep in for as long as he wanted. The kids all had cards and hugs for him as well. He is a pretty great dad and we love having him around. For Family night the next day we took a drive to get snow cones and sat by the river to eat them. Joel loves snow cones. 

My mom came over and helped me reorganize some of the girl's closets and get ready to move Brynlee upstairs. As soon as Brynlee could walk on her cast and was walking up and down the stairs with ease we decided to make the move. She is loving having her own space upstairs. Joel fixed up a bed for her and my mom came over another day and helped me to reorganize Kyla's room and we moved Summer into that room. Annalyn will eventually have the baby in the room with her but for now she gets to have a room to herself as well. Then Joel helped me to take out our old entertainment center and we bought a new and bigger television which Joel mounted to our wall. Annalyn and Brynlee both got to pick out new blankets for their beds which was pretty exciting for them. 

We went to the library several times for their summer reading program and had fun doing the activities they had for us. We also went to the free lunch program that they do for the community once and the kids had a good time doing that. They gave away a few prizes and my kids got super lucky and everyone but Brynlee won a prize. Kyla got the big prize at the end which was a big bucket full of gardening things. Each of my girls painted and decorated two different plants that they got to take home and they got a free book. Trying to carry all of that stuff was next to impossible and by the time we got home I had dirt all over my shirt and all over my van.  

My mom took Brynlee and Kyla birthday shopping for their birthdays this month and they both had a blast doing that. My mom went to the mall and got a wheelchair for Brynlee because she was still on crutches at the time. They also both had their yearly check-up and Kyla had to get shots. She cried and was unhappy about that for several days. The doctor made the girls put on gowns this time and they were both unhappy about that as well. Summer really wanted to wear one though and kept trying to take off her clothes while we were there. She really wanted a turn for a check-up. It was kind of funny. Brynlee finally got her cast off at the end of the month and then got sick for the next few days. 

We went to the park several times. Joel even came with us for Family night a few times. Summer loves to look at the ducks when we are there. It is one of her most favorite things to do. I went to parenting class, a RS activity, and book group. It is always nice to have time to spend with other adults during the week. I got a new teaching partner at church. We got cherries that Annalyn helped me to pit. We had a movie night at a friend's house and watched "A Wrinkle in Time." We caught tadpoles at grandma and grandpa Hirtle's house and Annalyn brought some home to keep as pets. Joel grilled some food for us a few times. By the end of the month I was 31 weeks pregnant and starting to feel it. Annalyn and Kyla spent a lot of time playing pretend and they liked to play in the hose outside. Even though we didn't get to do everything we wanted to do this month, we still found lots of fun things to do and had a good time.