Julyness

4th of July was pretty awesome this year.  Every year we go out on canoes and paddle out right underneath a large local firework display.  We are so close and you can literally feel the grand finale in your body.  It’s crazy.

For the actual 4th some of Josh Kelley’s family came over.  We did our own amateur firework display.  Josh taught the big kids how to shoot bottle rockets on their own…with watchful parental supervision.  Hudson and Solomon seriously went to bed with faces covered in ash and soot and ginormous smiles plastered across their faces.  Hudson wrote in his journal the next day about how awesome it was Dad taught him how to use a lighter.  I love boys!!!  We had BBQ nachos and ribs and cookies and more homemade ice-cream.  There were card games until far too late.  A total blast.

Summer is for sure wearing on our sleep habits.  I have a feeling the start of school might just about kill us.  We are so in the routine of staying up for late nights and sleeping in for late mornings.  It is crazy rare to drive just about anywhere lately and the two littles not to dose off.

Just give me all those summer sunsets. Every.Last.Single.One. Summer forever…until I officially lose my mind and can’t take it anymore 🙂

 Working has been super hard this summer.  I finally finished up a bunch of orders…all key fobs…last week.  I still have name pillows and some art orders just waiting.  I went up to my cloffice…closet/office…and then this.

I cannot escape them and they must be with me at all times!!!!!  Josh brought home Hook from the library the other day and I cried when the mom started talking about how little time we actually have with our children.  I’m trying to soak these days up.  One day far too soon these days will be gone and I’ll be chasing after them for attention.  Leave it up to Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman to speak parenting wisdom.

 I do love all the down time for summer which makes our kids be creative and use their imaginations to fill their days.  We are not a go-and-do-all-the-time family…we can’t be…funds and energy are lacking 🙂  I do love to see what they come up with to play.  The other day we were leaving to run some errands…we walked out to the van and it was surrounded by orange soccer cones and this was on my windshield.

I died laughing.  It totally made my day.

A $2 calculator I swiped at a thrift store has come in handy.  They wear it out and set up stores and libraries, etc.  Today they had a full on barber shop.  Hudson asked, “Hey do you care if we really cut out hair?”  Why yes, yes I do care if you really cut your hair.

Amon and our littlest often can get excluded from the big kids’  play time because they get the crazies so easily…more so our littlest.  The 2 of them are always coming up with new things to play once they get the big kid boot…they speak each other’s language.  The are constantly stripping all the cushions from our couch to make either A) A boat or B) A puppy home.  Their newest game is ping pong.  DVD cases serve as their paddles, our coffee table is their ping pong table and the ball is actually a tiny plastic pumpkin.  It’s hilarious.

We finally made it out to the drive in movie the other night…despite not seeing either movies…it was a double feature…and they had technical issues so zero movie viewings actually took place.  But we had a blast anyways.  And got free passes to come back.

And our daily quiet time has been my saving grace this summer.  1 hour.  No talking.  Everybody’s body is still.  You must journal and then read and if you want you can sleep.  That’s it.  MY SANITY!!!!

Now the sun and friends are calling our name today and we’re answering.

Happy Thursday!