Tidbits to Remember

Joshua: Joshua was so excited about Jm's surprise birthday party. He wanted everything to be perfect. As Jm was walking in the door, he realized that no one had hid the donuts. So, he sneakily did it right as Jon Mark was walking into the room. He's also quite the athlete these days. To earn another donut, he ran a mile in 100 degree weather, he along with Sawyer, Luke, and Barrett.

Mercedes: I already posted quite a bit about Mercedes in the previous post. She had a 9th birthday party. She's been hard on herself about her emotions. I try to explain to her that her emotions are big, but when controlled, she will be a force to be reckoned with. She's a self-reflective girl who repents really well. She's sweet and responsible, quite the rule keeper still.

Luke: He likes that he has big muscles. The other day in church his shirt was buttoned wrong. Jon Mark had to unbutton it to fix it. I leaned over and whispered, "Careful or the girls will see your muscles." Then, he smiled wryly and said, "I don't mind if the girls see my muscles." He's a good boy. The other day a kid from school called to talk to him on the phone. The kid kept using the Lord's name in vain. Luke, very kindly said, "please don't say that. Say, oh my goodness instead." The kid said he'd try not to but then he did it again. Still, nicely, Luke said, "you have a habit of saying that. You need to say oh my goodness instead." He is a leader and the other kids follow him. He helped Hannah today to learn her letters. He was patient with her. He was sad that Barrett couldn't play today because Sawyer was sick. We went and played at Vanessa's instead and that was fun.

Hannah: She likes to draw and she likes to jump on the trampoline. She draws me pictures a lot, just like how she used to give me shiny pebbles to let me know she was thinking of me. Today, I told her that she couldn't let her little cousins touch the new flower garland I made for their room. She said, "Jaz will listen to me. Lily might listen to me. I will try my hardest to get Evelyn to listen to me. I will say, do not touch this, my mom said we cannot touch this. But, she will probably not listen to me. I don't really know. John will not touch it because it is girly and he hates girly."

Caleb: He asks to fight with Jon Mark the moment JM gets home from work. He has to clear the whole floor first, and is a little OCD about it. He sure loves his dad time. He doesn't say "what... the... heck..." anymore. That's sad to me. It was so cute! He is very serious a lot of time and wants to be the boss of everyone. He likes to play rough. He doesn't like being called the bad guy. Sometimes Hannah will say, "you're bad" when he makes a mistake. He cries and says, "I am NOT bad Hannah!" He also says he's not a good guy because he is Caleb, or Cub depending on his mood. :)

Our Summer Month of June

I bought a water bottle with a lid specifically to prevent me from accidentally swallowing a fly. Our kids are always leaving the door open and flies come in. Well, as fate would have it, I left the lid off of my water bottle for about ten minutes the other day. A fly flew in and I didn't know it. I took a gulp, wondered what squishy thing was in my mouth. I chomped on it, fished the wing out from between my teeth before I realized what it was. I then spent a good deal of time almost vomiting in the sink. Jon Mark was laughing hysterically the whole time. The irony, I'm sure, is funny. 

  Here is what is left of the fly. Do you see it's guts coming out? Yeah, that was in my teeth. I have been traumatized.

Mercedes and Jm had a good time at the Father Daughter dance at the church. There was a dance contest and lots of laughter.

Jm and I had the opportunity of meeting with some of Jon Mark's old missionary friends. They were a lot of fun to get to know, so were their wives and kids. Jon Mark was quite popular on his mission, or so I was told. He took pictures of the friend's pictures.

Here is Mercedes in her gymnastics class. She is getting better and better. She and Hannah both love going to gymnastics. Today Mercedes was practicing her hand stands and handstand roll.

Oh, you know, just one of a hundred pictures I took trying to get all 5 kids to cooperate.

My niece Daisy was born to Nick and Bethany.

Joshua makes great cards! :)

A card I wrote for Hannah to Jm for Father's Day.

We threw a surprise party for Jon Mark's birthday. The kids were busy all day with decorating and preparations. They had so much fun planning it. We put paper down on the table so the guests could write Jon Mark a message. Mercedes took a long time writing a special note and drawing a special picture for him. She wanted a picture of it before I tossed it. You can't really see it though. Mercedes thought of the idea to throw him a party. She is a very thoughtful girl who feels all emotions in a BIG way.

We get creative on hot summer days. We filled up a small pool with toys and water and the kids jumped on the trampoline with water and ice. We've had a fun summer full of cousin play dates.

Mercedes was spoiled for her birthday. We had a good time bonding together with pedicures. She also got a cousin sleepover and party with no boys.

Hannah spent a lot of the pedicure feeling bored. I think she enjoyed it, but she kept asking when it was time to go home.

Mercedes got this beautiful tutu and these pretty ballet shoes. Like I said, she was spoiled. :)

I don't have many pictures of Joshua. He hides from the camera, unless he is wanting to annoy his sister. It was our 13th wedding anniversary this month. The kids wanted to try on my wedding tiara. They also insisted that I wear it the rest of the night. We celebrated with take out dinner and a family movie "Lost in Space". JM and I had gone on a date earlier and celebrated as well.

I feel like this picture needs a caption. I'm not sure what, but it's perfect for a caption. I was watching the movie and didn't know that the kids were taking my picture.

Luke won a spot in a race at speed camp. He always works so hard and the coaches like him. He was competing against much older boys, so he didn't win, but just being selected to participate made his day.

This is the Peterson's cousin Alivia who is best friends with Mercedes. She bought her a bff necklace.

A family that works out together, stays together. We prioritize exercise. My kids can all (except Cub) run at least a mile, Joshua more. Even Hannah can run a mile.

"Not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once, as I ever was". I was showing the girls how to do a leap, it was a video that I did a screen shot of. My leg isn't entirely straight, which back in the day I could do an inverted split, but it was fun showing the girls that at 36 years old, I'm not horrible. :)

We went pottery painting as a girl's night. I painted this plate. This picture is before it has been glazed.

Mercedes LOVES babies. This is baby Daisy.

Lindsay took our family picture. I'll post the originals soon enough.

My dad is great! I love that he lives close enough to come help me on a moments notice. Here he is trying to fix my garbage disposal. Prayer is what fixed it. :)

This is the girl's room. I made this garland out of felt with Lindsay's help. It took forever and someday I hope my girls know how much love went into their room.