Having fun

I haven't been very good about taking photos since my kids don't ever look and /or smile at the camera, so I haven't been very good about posting. Here is what we have been up to this weekend.....

Renton River Days Kids Day

inflatable jumpers and slides

baseball throws

face painting

drumming

snacks
and of course, lots of "finks"

Renton River Days Parade

Seafair clowns and pirates (which were a bit scary)

lots and lots of candy

lots and lots of drill teams

tractors

fire engines

Torchlight 8K run

(taken beforehand because we didn't want to bring and lose our camera :)

Jack really, really wanted to come and run the last part of the race with us, but my mom was a little nervous about venturing downtown with her recovering foot. We'll definitely bring him next year. :)

It was a great run and I felt a lot better than I thought I was going to feel. I can't wait to do it again next year!

Before Church pictures (aka before the chaos starts)

I am trying to speak more positively of my children in hopes that their naughtiness will subside. But, in one last burst of needing to get it out......the last few weeks have been doozies: wetting pants when mad at me (L), down at 11 pm, up at 7 am (L), hitting and kicking me (J and L), yelling at me (J), screaming at me (L), throwing food and drink at every meal (L), pickiest eater alive (J), out of sacrament meeting at least 3 times (L), fighting every possible minute besides the minutes they are sleeping (J and L), working 10 hour days (C),the list goes on. Needless to say, I think we're good with 2.

SeaFair Pirates

Every year to begin the SeaFair celebration (Seattle's summer festival), the SeaFair Pirates land at Alki beach in Seattle. We headed over to the celebration (along with the rest of Seattle) to welcome them ashore with some friends. Jack, always anxious for a chance to dress up, went in full costume.

And on the way home, since it was 7/11 (aka free slurpee day :)), we had to stop at a few 7-11s. And even though half the kids were asleep in the car, we picked up a few extras just in case they woke up. Heehee. The cups were really small. :)

And just a few more pictures from my birthday.....

Lindsey sporting the gift Grammy and Papa brought back from Mexico. Check out that belly! She's always commenting that there is a baby in there.

Kacey and Sees Chocolates= love

Gigi, Clint and Jack

My mom had foot surgery and gets to ride around on this sweet scooter for a few weeks. The kids love the thing. Jack was trying to convince me to let him ride it down the driveway. "Mom, it has brakes!"

Thank goodness for HELMETS!

Last night, Jack was riding his bike in front of my parents' house before my birthday dinner. I was the only one watching him zip around and perform all his "tricks" on his bike. All of a sudden, his foot missed the pedal, so he put his foot down on the ground, and he lost control of the bike. I watched in horror as he flipped over the front of his bike and landed on his face and head. Then, the bike flipped over him on the ground. My heart stopped as I ran over to pick him up. Miracuously, he had only a few scratches on his face and a little scratch on his leg. He was upset, but I think it was because he saw me so upset. After examining him and then his helmet, I discovered the helmet had cracked in several places upon impact. We had recently purchased a new helmet from a safely fair and had it fitted on his head. His old helmet would have NOT held up from the impact. I realized a few things last night...1) We are being watched over. I feel like we were truly blessed that Jack was not seriously injured and 2) Helmets (good ones that actually fit correctly on the head) are crucial in keeping our kids safe on bikes! I knew they were important before, but last night was a testimony to me of their upmost importance in protecting our head and brain. I don't even want to think what would have happened if Jack hadn't been wearing his.

Time for a new helmet!!

Thank you for a job well done, helmet!

Yummy creamy cake. Weird expressions on my kids' faces. :(

Posing after the big accident last night. (And yes, Kristy Dorrough, if that shirt looks familiar, it should. We saw it at Old Navy and Jack HAD to have the same shirt as Dallin. :))

Jetty Island

After a crazy week for Clint and myself being driven nearly insane by our 16 year old daughter ( oh, I mean 2 ), we needed some rest and relaxation. We headed to a cool little sandbar about an hour from our house. The weather was gorgeous, the water was warm, and we returned feeling a little more at ease with life.

(And we called Clint's parents on the way home to see if we could drop the kids off for a pre-anniversary dinner. We ate out and took a long walk sans kids. It ended up being a great day!)