Summer Daze

We are midway through our third week of Summer Vacation and it's almost over! "Back-to-school Night is tomorrow night and the first day of school is MONDAY! The boys are getting a bit excited already. They are still at that age where school is "fun". Jesse isn't totally thrilled but he is looking forward to seeing his pals and of course utilizing the "computer lab" at school again. Joshua will be joining Jesse at Foulks Ranch Elementry and he is looking forward to making new friends and thrilled to finally have arrived at his permenant school. Poor puppy was tossed around between THREE different schools for kindergarten! He weathered it all fairly well but still, three schools in your first year of school is a bit of a bummer. I do not know how parents handle three months of summer vacation! It's been three weeks for me and I'm more than ready for the kids to go back. I guess part of it is the stress of trying to get us settled in our new home while entertaining the rugrats. I can't wait until the house is quiet with the boys in school and Alita down for a nap. Maybe I can FINALLY get back to the many, many boxes I haven't touched since school let out.

The boys have been enjoying the pool of course. We had a bit of an alge problem a couple of weeks ago but that's gone now. The pool is a bit cooler than it was in Phoenix since the weather is not quite as hot here but the boys are adjusting. We went to the community pool complex last week with friends. Jesse found the "big slide" and spent literally the entire afternoon standing in line and then enjoying the 40-second thrill of twisting and turning down a big waterside. I wish I had a camera that day to capture the look of sheer joy on Jesse's face when he splashed down in the pool at the bottom. Joshua was 3 inches too short for the big water slide but still enjoyed the smaller slides, wading pools with water guns where he could shoot his friends.

This week the boys are attending Vacation Bible School at a local Church. The theme is "Pirate Tales" and both Jesse and Josh are LOVING IT! They come home singing new songs, reciting Bible verses, of course with lots of arts and crafts and tales of the cool field games they played. Our sweet 17-year old neighbor, Chelsi, accompanies Jesse to make sure he gets the most out of the experience. Note on Chelsi: she babysits the kids often and has proved to be a total gem. Not only is she great with kids in general she has a 15-year old brother with autism so she really understands and does very well with Jesse. How lucky are we that this girl lives just two doors down?!?!?!?!

Alita seems ready for her brothers to be gone for part of the day again so she can play with her dollies in peace. Yes, Alita has begun playing with dolls. She likes to hug them and they give them to someone else for a hug. I have yet to get a picture of John hugging dollies but if I get the chance I will share with you Daddy hugging a doll to make his little girl happy. Lita's other favorite toy lately is little set of play kitchen condiments that Great Aunt Pam gave her. She is ADORABLE carrying around her little bottles of ketchup, olive oil and grape jelly. They have magnetic lids for her to take on and off. I gave Lita part of a shelf in our new kitchen to keep her "condiments" and she loves to put them away and arrange them just how she wants them. I'm holding myself back from running out and buying her a little play kitchen. She's really not ready for that. Maybe Christmas...........Finally, Miss Alita LOVES throwing balls!! She has a pretty good arm for a 14 month old girl too. She likes to throw balls to Joshua especially. Josh is a good big brother and tosses them back gently.

Enjoy some of the latest of our Summer Fun pictures................................