So school is out and we are all enjoying the freedom of summer break. We have been staying up LATE and sleeping IN even longer. We have been spending more time together as a family here at home and going more places. I am loving it.  Each day we seem to find something fun and sometimes not so fun things to do - like chores.

Family outing to Pops where I guzzled an Orange Cream...

- The sprinkler is in full swing as I am trying to get some grass to grow. I might just need to buy some sod at the rate it has been raining lately though. The H's have enjoyed their sprinkler sessions.

- The John Deer gator is still a huge hit and entertains them for long periods of time. They love to be in the backyard riding it, playing on the swing set, sandbox and make-shift fort/house area.

- I have been tending to my garden and yard work and have begun yet another purging of too many things phase. I love those drop off boxes where you can leave all your stuffs for other people to enjoy.

- We are enjoying having more play dates now that more time allows.

- Hunter talks Brady into taking him to the office and to go look for trains more often now. They now use the scanner to hear when one is coming. It is quite common for them to go sit by the train track with a beverage and some popcorn chicken from Sonic and then explore until the train comes. At night, it is cool to see the man turn on his light inside so we can see him. I think they like to see people frantically waving at them too!

- I have been cooking more. Summer isn't exactly the season to heat up your oven but I seem to like to cook more in the summer.

- We started going to the library on Tuesdays to checkout books. Hunter loves getting his own stash of books to read. I signed them up for the summer reading program. I can tell Hailey has improved her reading skills and has learned many more words. 

- Brady and I both have iPads now and I have become super nerdy. I take it to church and have the scriptures on it for classes. I love to take it to bed and play with it before I nod off. Hailey begs to use it too. I bought her a few fun and educational apps with my gift card. This type of technology is so handy and amazing to me still. It is funny to me to see my children correctly know how to swipe their fingers on the iphone or iPad to play an app or the fact they know terms like app and download, etc. Hunter is especially taking after his father. He has some serious knowledge already about real tools and enjoys taking apart things like Brady. The other day they took apart a laptop for fun and the screen has now become Hunter's iPad. He carries it around so proudly. I drew him an apple on the back to make it more official.

- Music camp starts next week and Hailey is really looking forward to going each day. This will be her first camp of any sort. 

- Private swim lessons started today for Miss H. I hope she obtains more skills than I have at swimming. She worked on learning to relax in the water and float today. I thought she did well.

- Hailey is losing teeth fast it seems. She came to us this afternoon with a paper towel and told us she was going to pull out her 5th wiggly tooth. She did and didn't even flinch. I never would have done that. Yuck. She likes them out but LOVES the Tooth Fairy to come more!

- We pulled out the ice cream maker and made homemade ice cream and I introduced them to Magic Shell. Hailey is in love with the stuff. Hunter opted for none.

- Hunter is still happy go lucky and fun to be around. He seems to have gained a few inches in the past few months height wise. He hasn't wanted to eat much in the last two weeks and that was disturbing me a little. He normally eats all meals and snacks a bunch believe it or not with his small frame. His appetite is returning back to normal.

- I am trying to get skinny again and rock a pair of jeans like I used too :) My food allergies have become worse.

- A brand new white Toyota Tundra appeared in our driveway 2 weeks ago. I am happy we all have a safe new ride now.  Thanks Smokey and sorry your employee didn't like it. We do!

- Hunter is into Toy Story and is fascinated with robots lately. Buzz Lightyear is his favorite character right now.  I spied some $9 character pajamas and had to get them for him because he needed pj's and they were just too darn cute. He insists on wearing them each night.  Can't wait to take them to the latest movie! Daddy took him to the store and browsed the gigantic selection of Toy Story toys. He now owns a Buzz Lightyear. I might just start calling Brady a Sugar Daddy! Hailey got in on the mix and wanted 3 of the smaller character toys.

- Rented movies from redbox for the 2nd time ever. I was pretty tickled with myself. Should do that more.

- I painted a wood nick knack shelf for Hailey and had Brady stick it on the wall for me. She had all these cute little "treasures" piling up on her dresser driving me nuts. Now they have a home and it is now a fun place for her to put all her important little things. I would have liked this as a child.

- The no toys in the living room rule gets broken more often now that school is out and I am mostly okay with that :) They have had some pretty good play sessions. For a couple of days the kitchen chairs were transformed into a train complete with stuffed animal passengers.

- Somewhere in all this mix - I turned 38.

HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE!