So Long SUMMER

This has been a very busy summer. I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post. All I can say is my evenings have been full of normal household duties, yard work and the beginnings of painting the inside of our house. That has been very time consuming b/c it can only be done with the little angels are sleeping.

We managed to take a family picture before summer began. Everyone participated this time without much drama at all.

We got some great shots of everyone!

Our little K-9 addition that came along around Christmas time...she's outta here. It really makes me sad, but man did it have to be done. Annie was a wonderful, wonderful dog. She was soooo good with all of our kids. They could step on her, lay on her, play with her ears and mouth, take her food, it just didn't matter. They only drawback that she possessed was her hunger to RUN AWAY. She always looked so content when she was in the house or backyard with us, her loving family. But the minute, and I mean minute she saw a cracked door, she was GONE. She would not only get out at the most inconvenient times but she started to show aggressive behavior towards other dogs when she was out roaming around after her "escape". We tried to work with her, I bought a few books to try and train her, we even got a shock collar....all to no avail. We decided it was best to give her away. So I had Steve take her to the local SPCA....which is a no-kill center. They won't tell me what happened to her since we "signed a contract" when we dropped her off, but she didn't even make it to the internet the next day. I'm sure that since she was a purebred lab, they snatched her up from the shelter and found her a good home. That's how we got her in the first place. She was found RUNNING alongside the road and a lab rescue picked her up and my friend adopted her. Anyway, we all miss her but we don't miss the constant dog hair, dog poop and yelling at everyone to close the door already!

The first day of Brittney's summer vacation, I went on a girls only weekend to Las Vegas. My longtime friend Amy told me to buy an airline ticket and the rest would be taken care of thanks to her mom's love of gambling. Let me just tell you, it was a heavenly trip. We got to catch up on gossip, nap, eat, drink, gamble, enjoy a Kenny Chesney concert, see Wayne Brady live, eat a cheeseburger in paradise, drink a margarita in margaritaville and shop. No butts to wipe and no one else to worry about but ourselves. It was a great way to start the summer out!

We went on our second annual Bayhouse trip with friends....

This was our view every night. The boys loved to count as the sun disappeared into the water. I wish I was back there right now for this view alone.


We had a great time until day 4 of the 6 day trip. Jace ended up throwing a fit b/c his darling big sister was aggravating him and he threw his head forward hitting his gum on the wooden arm of a futon. This caused him to bend his tooth backwards. He was screaming so much and was in so much pain...I called my dentist. They told me to push it back into place and that's pretty much all they could do. When I "snapped" it back into place, he immediately felt better b/c all of the pressure was relieved. But after a few days, we noticed that it was extremely loose and becoming discolored.

...............This was right after it happened.

So we made an appointment at the pedidontist that I worked for in high school. He determined with an x-ray that Jace had indeed cracked his tooth up in the gum on one side. The other tooth was also broken in the gum but it was done before this trauma. He could tell this because it had already tried to heal itself. He told us that we needed to extract both of his front teeth (or else wait a couple of months for them to fall out on their own) and we had the choice of leaving him toothless or ordering him a kiddie partial. Well, figuring that he will not be getting any permanent teeth until he's around 7 or 8, I couldn't fathom the thought of him being toothless for 3 or 4 years. So he just received his "partial" last week and is adjusting nicely.

..................This is after the "extraction" which he THOROUGHLY enjoyed. (I'm sure now he will be scarred for life when he has to go to the dentist.)

Can you tell he wasn't really into posing for the camera with his teeth? We had to pull his lip up to get a good view.

The bayhouse turned into an expensive trip after all of that, but it was worth every penny. The boys went fishing for the first time (Jace went "shishing"). They caught a "shish"...ok, so maybe it was a fake fish (a lure to be exact). But they thought it was the greatest thing to cast the rod and reel and catch a fish. Brittney got to bond with her BFFs for the entire week and we went to the beach countless times. Jace is still not very fond of the beach...I'm not sure he ever will be.

Brittney went to her YMCA camp for the 3rd year in a row. This year her cousins, McKenna and Marshall went with her. They enjoyed having each other there.

My mom had foot surgery during the month of July so she was out for 4 weeks. During her absence Steve was Mr. Mom for a month. Wow, what a change it was having Steve enforce boot camp rules. I must admit though, some of the changes have been wonderful. For example, the boys used to snack whenever and wherever they wanted throughout our house. Steve enforced the rule of eating only at the table or bar countertop. He noticed that they snacked less and the mess wasn't as bad in the house at the end of the day. We were having to vacuum daily in order to clean up all of the crumbs. Also, he got them to play independently. I don't know if it's b/c they know their limits with different people in their lives or what, but he could tell them to go and watch a movie in their playroom instead of hogging up the TV in the living room ... and they would! They like for me to RIGHT there with them...all of the time.

We bought season passes to Splashtown for the summer. We've definitely gotten our money's worth out of these passes. Brittney has thoroughly enjoyed taking a friend along and having a little more independence while I was in the baby pool area with the boys. We have some friends who always like to join us!


As far as the painting goes....we've done the half bath, Brittney's room, a long hallway, rotunda and kitchen. There's LOT more to go.

Brittney even participated with her room. For some reason she had lots of energy to help when it was all about her. She hasn't volunteered so easily when I ask her lately to help in the living room and dining room.

We enjoyed 4th of July with friends in the neighborhood next to us. We watched fireworks over the lake. Jace and Cade were not too fond of them when we were so close. They insisted that they cover their ears and also that WE cover their ears.



But now it's back to school time. We finished up school clothes shopping today, met the teacher and confirmed who's in who's class. Monday is the big day around here. Brittney starts 5th grade and Jace and Cade will start a new preschool. It's an exciting day to look forward to.

Bye Summer!