Summer fun

Wow, it's been almost a month since I last blogged. I'm so behind!

So, last Monday we left pretty early in the morning (7am -- I was so proud to get out early!) and drove down to Buckeye to spend 5 days with my parents. We had a great time.

On Monday, Dave, Annie, and Daniel came to spend the day with us, and Dave and I made fritters together. It is a treat that we made a lot when I was a kid -- kind of a thin buttery pastry deep fried, then powdered sugared (yum). I had been wanting to make it, but it's a lot of work with all the rolling out, and then frying, too. But Dave, who has been wanting to make it also, but hates frying, volunteered to mix it up and roll it out (which is what I hate), and then I fried it. Perfect combination and it was fun to eat a memory -- haha.

Tuesday morning I had to take Kate to a NextCare to get her ears checked out, and sure enough she had an ear infection. She was in a lot of pain that morning, and didn't want to take the liquid Ibuprofen that the doctor gave her to help. The doctor finally had to take a syringe and push it in her mouth, and she finally swallowed. It's funny, Kira and Brynna love medicine and always wish they are sick, too, so they can take it, and Kate doesn't want to touch it. But I've used a syringe all week with her, and she took it much easier.

Anyhow, Wednesday, my parents and I and the kids went thrift store shopping together in the morning. It was fun getting lots of bargains and found stuff for all the kids and me, too! We had lunch at Sam's Club, then the kids and I went to visit Misty at her house for the afternoon. It was fun to have all the kids play together.

Thursday, my sister Cristeen came over. We played some card games and had a nice visit.

Friday, we packed up the car with everything and set off to visit my sister, Sandy's house. Annie and Daniel came over, too. Sandy fed us some homemade pizza and corn from her garden. Then my niece, Heather, saddled up her pony and led the kids around their yard on it -- it was so nice of her since it was so hot out! Afterwards, we went swimming in their pool! The kids were so thrilled to be able to do all that!

Friday evening, we went back to Dave & Annie's house and spent the night. We played some Settlers and RummiKub together after we got the kids in bed. Then, next morning we got up, packed up everything again, and left for home! Came back home to breezy, overcast, 70 degree weather! Gotta love it!

I've spent this week just catching up on yard work and house work. I ended up re-doing the rows on my garden after seeing my dad's garden and realizing that how I planted was not the best. Some of the plants have come up pretty well, but there was still a lot that didn't come up at all, because they weren't getting any water. So, Monday and Tuesday, I spent alot of time re-doing rows and planting more seeds -- crazy, I know. But I'm motivated!

Oh, and Kate and Brynna had their first piano lesson yesterday and they came back glowing from it. They were so excited and said it was so fun. But as we all find out, the practicing part at home was not as fun. They're doing fine now, but I don't think they realized how hard it is to learn new things and have to try and try again (and again and again) before it becomes easier. They were just easily frustrated. But they're committed and I'm committed and they're excited to keep learning!

So, here's some recent pics:






And some garden pics, of course!

My peas are coming up really well

Here's garden after I re-did rows. The spinach (which I mistakenly thought was cabbage) is coming up really well; I have about 5 plants of yellow squash, 1 zucchini plant, 5 pumpkin plants, 3-4 butternuts, 2 cucumber plants, 4-5 carrots, and 7 corn plants already up. And then I replanted more seeds in areas where nothing came up. So, yeah, I guess you could say I'm still obsessed with gardening!