Summer Fun

If we are friends on Facebook you'll have already seen my pictures for our trip to Fiji. Fiji was definitely the highlight of our summer. But we have also done a lot of other cool things with the kids. It has been a magical summer.

Swimming at the Reed Cabin. It's so nice to have the cabin and the great swimming spot available whenever we want. We stayed 2 nights and 3 days recently and it was so fun. DH's sister Kim's family came too. We stayed a night while DH's brother was here for the 4th of July weekend. This last time Em discovered that the life jacket is trustworthy and she was swimming everywhere and jumping in a bunch of times. At first she was so scared to get in but once she discovered she could be independent and safe she was so proud of herself.
Safety Town for Em and Ballerina. They learned so much that I had tried to teach them but when I taught them it was scary. They had a lot of fun and made some friends.
Here's Em at swim lessons. Em wouldn't ever leave the wall but she did get better at her swim techniques. Cor and Mya both did great and are very confident in the water. Ballerina was so funny at lessons but she made some strides in her confidence in the water.
Here's Jenna (one of my sisters) holding Brooke, our neice. That's Abby, Jenna's 2nd daughter, at Agate beach which was really windy that day. We had so much fun with Jacob and Heather's family when they were here for a week in June. The weather at the beach was perfect. Their four kids and our four kids all played together happily and there weren't any injuries the whole week. That's a miracle.
While Jacob and Heather were here we spent part of one day at OMSI. It was so much fun and we have a family pass and this is the first time I've been there. I'd go all the time if it wasn't for the drive. In the picture is Ballerina (pink), Emily (blue) and Kylie (brown).
Our cool friend has a boat so we had a boating date. We went with the Anth, her husband (cool friend) and Kirk and Brittany. DH's sister was nice enough to watch the kids. This is DH and Kirk trying to hold on while cool friend is trying to dump them off. Brittany and I got on the tube on the conditions that we would not end up in the water. Cool friend assured us we would stay dry. Unfortunately their was a problem and we ended up in the Willamette River. Oh well. I did find out my pink shorts are see through when wet. Good thing I had my bathing suit on underneath.

rain, swimming, interviews, shopping and cute dresses

I love summer. How I love summer. My favorite part has to be WARMTH! I prefer being too warm to being even slightly cold. For over a week we've had warm weather. We did have Thunder and Lightning storms the last couple days which was amazing. We so rarely get lightning, it was exciting. But Cor went to go swimming with the Scouts yesterday and they were only in the pool a few seconds before they had to get out and take cover.

Summer also means Ballerina's birthday in a few weeks. Her birthday is actually on the official first day of summer and this year falls on Father's Day. We are having her first "friend" party on the Saturday before. I thought I was being smart and ordering her party supplies early. I ordered Em's too late and they weren't here for her party. They arrived almost a week ago, three weeks before her party. She was so mad that I wouldn't let her have the party that very day. So we printed a calendar with a few other important dates on it and every day we put a star on the calendar to mark the days passing. She is only slightly pacified by this activity.

Summer means cute dresses every where and I am caught up in the trend (not to be confused with a fad). I would even say Spring/Summer dresses are a Classic. I just ordered three fun dresses online and Anth help me find one at JCrew for under $20 which is my criteria. Anth and my Sister Staci got me into wearing skirts which is fun but I am so ultra picky about how things fit around my waist. I have found that I prefer a fun knee-length dress. All are sleeveless but I am prepared with several new layering tees.

Yay for end of the school year. DH finished his last Administrative this week and even got a call from the school district for an interview for a Vice-principal position. That is next Tuesday. I don't know how anxious he is about it but I can't wait. We've been so busy all week that we haven't had time to talk about it. He is glad to have the opportunity to interview. It makes all the work seem more worthwhile. I am so proud of him and excited to see where this will take him in his future job opportunities.

Baseball is almost over for Cor. It has been a lot of work just running one kid to all his practices and games. DH and I decided were just not as into that as other parents. Maybe later when all our kids are older it won't seem so exhausting to take all of them everywhere. On Wednesday I spent over four hours driving my kids to all their stuff then we ended up at the church for my meetings and DH met me there to pick up the kids. I was so frazzled by the end.

Summer will be a nice break from the endless scheduled events. Plus a vacation to beautiful South Pacific should be rejuvenating.

Today's Shopping Trips

I didn't take pictures but I think I did good today.

I went to Safeway and I bought 35 items. I spent $44.27. I saved $43.83 which was 50%. The average price of each item was $1.26. Not too bad.

I also went to Walgreens and spent $26.48. I got 13 items. Each item averaged about $2.06. Which is still pretty good considering the items I was buying. I also got $7 in register rewards so you could say my total is $19.48 which would make the average price of each item $1.50. But I usually use my register rewards for the kids to get stuff.

Tomorrow I am going to try and go to Walmart to get Cory a new sleeping bag for our trip to the cabin. It's the Cabin Work weekend. We go to DH's Mom's family cabin and do cleaning and repairs. All the Aunts, Uncles and cousin who can make it come up too. There aren't any huge projects this year so we'll clean for a while and eat a lot. It should be fun. Mya and Cor are really excited.

I also have a gift card from my birthday and I am going to look for a clock to put above my sewing desk. I usually need to know the time when I am sitting there and I can't see the clock on the stove or the microwave from that angle. When I am in the middle of something I don't want to get up.

It's been such a crazy week and I am exhausted.

Deals at Albertson's Today

I spent $15.58 for all this. The average price of each item was $.71. My total savings was $64.40. I am pretty happy with it. I am trying to figure out this whole couponing thing. That blury spot in the picture I am pretty sure is from the girls putting their fingerprints on the camera.

Waiting

Everyone is waiting for something:

I am waiting for Summer.
Designated Hitter is waiting for Administrative classes to be over (only 2 left).
Mya is waiting for more books to read.
Cor is waiting for whining to work.
Em is waiting for Kindergarten.
Ballerina is waiting for Jesus to come.

Awesome Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day. Designated Hitter did everything I told him to and then some. I got perfume, lotion and Pride and Prejudice (the old one, of course). Mya made me a poem and card and Cor made me a fridge magnet. Ballerina told me Happy Mother's Day about every 15 minutes. Em decided to be true to her personality and refused to recognize anyone's happiness but her own. If there's any kind of pressure to conform she opposes it. She is a very good kid otherwise. We watched P and P all day. I really got to relax.

Blogs to check out...

DH started this blog:

Yak Brothers of Oregon

My SIL started this one and she takes lovely pictures:

BELS Photos