FREE Movies... and a lot more FUN!!!!

During the Summer the Movie Theater shows a free movie weekly. We've gone a time or two in years past. Well this year they are showing the free movies at thenew nice theater at the Monaco. They are also showing them on Mondays and Wednesdays (at 11:00)!

This past wednesday we went (for our 'school' field trip). Our friend D didn't feel well so he and his grandma stayed home, but we invited our new freinds -here from Germany. We saw Ice Age - the Melt Down. The kids had all seen it at some time before, but I hadn't. It was so funny~!

We bought one lg. bag of popcorn and two bottles of water (and I had one from home in my diaper bag). We asked for extra cups and we just filled all the cups and everyone had their own popcorn cup to eat out of. We did this whole production line with the popcorn. I was sitting at one end of our group and the kids would pass their empty cups down to me and I'd fill them up and pass them back down the line. We went through two bags of popcorn before the movie even started, since you have to get there early to get a seat (and since we needed eight, I wanted to make sure we were there in plenty of time!). The kids made several more runs to refill either popcorn, or water bottles from the water fountain. Of course then they had to take several bathroom breaks! We went through four large bags of popcorn by the end of it... thank goodness for Free Refills!!!

After the movie we walked around Bridge Streeet for a while. We rode the Merry - Go - Round. Liam thought that was a Lot of fun! Hannah and Bob rode in a tea cup so they could spin around, and Marissa rode in a separate tea cup, so she could spin really fast! I could hardly look at her it was making me ill! (I don't do well at spinning round and round and round).

After the Merry - Go -Round the kids wanted to go check on the water fountain. The kids had a great time getting soaked as the water shot up from the ground. I tried to get them to sit out in the sun for a few minutes to dry off a bit before we went back to the car and came home... the water was way too fun and kept drawing them back in. Luckily I had a blanket in the back of the van for them to sit on. I just stripped Liam down, and changed the 20 lb soaking wet diaper.

Later we had popsicles at home then Sariah and Hannah went to our friends to sleep over... they got Birthday cake since it was 'S's birthday. Happy Birthday S!!!

Meanwhile, Amanda has spent every morning this week at Rookie Band Camp. She has been learning how to stand, hold the instrument up for around 8 minutes - without dying! and how to March. Next week on Monday she and Rebekah will be at Band Camp every morning and every evening for about 3 hrs each, getting ready to March at Football games this fall.

Amanda plays the French Horn, however, that is not a Marching instrument, so last week she got the Melaphone (I don't even know how to spell it...), which is supposed to be the smaller marching band equivalent. Well... it is quite a bit different she found out! It is a bit more like a big trumpet. She has to completely learn how to play a new instrument. You play it with your right hand (whereas with the French Horn, is played with the right hand and the left hand goes into the bell of the horn to help hold as well as muffle the sound). The fingering, along with being the opposite hand is also completly different as well. She is doing well, but it has been a long week.

We have had a busy, long week. Bill went to Dallas for 4 days. He got home last night, and leaves tomorrow morning for 8 days for Rome.

Rebekah left last saturday for Virginia for a week. After sitting around and missing flights, etc... due to weather conditions both here and in Atlanta where her conection was at, she finally arrived in Richmond, where her grandparents picked her up. Then Monday they drove her to Southern Virginia University where she has spent the week attending and Especially For Youth, conference. We've missed her, but I'm really glad she has been having a wonderful time. She comes home Sunday.

Summertime, busy busy!

Over the summer Sariah has been 'playing' school with the kids. She set up a whole classroom, she has spent hours on lesson plans and teaching them. She generally teaches several days a week. They have set up a whole classroom in my garage (i've been kicked out for the summer, so the van sits in the driveway). The first week or so they were using make shift desks, my piano bench, Liam's little spiderman table, etc. Then one day Sariah and I were out buying a birthday present for a friend, and at the store we went to they had two school desks they were selling... I had her call dad and see if we could buy them. So we now own two desks, and our friend across the street had one he brought over. We regularly have 4 students Hannah, Marissa, our friend 'Bob', and another freind has her grandson 'D' staying with her for the summer and he comes over for school several days a week as well. Liam flits in and out, and if we have a sleepover we ocassionally have additional students. They have reading books (that Sariah put together about 50 pages, front and back, of stories she found on the internet). Sariah - Mrs. Elilsabeth is the teacher, and Amanda - is the principal.

I have been amazed that they generally spend around 4 hours a day doing school. Three or Four days a week usually. They go outside and play for P.E. or we've gone to the pool, or on 'feild trips'. They've gone to the free movie a time or two with D's grandmother. Last week we went to the Botanical Gardens to see the Dinosaur Uproar display, before they took it down this week. That was a lot of fun. Our friends that moved here from Germany, met up with us there.

It was hot day, the kids had a great time getting wet! First in the sprinklers at the corn maze. Then they spent time getting wet at the water tower. Then we went into the childrens Garden where they spent a lot of time getting wet from the giant watering can, the Rocket spray, the dino bones srpitzer, etc. Liam, after seeing all the other kids take off their shoes, wanted his shoes off too. At one point the kids were all running and playing. He noticed a hose rolled up on the spindle thing. I saw him trying to play with it. Then all of the sudden I noticed him getting a little shorter, and shorter... I figured there must be some sort of hole over there on the other side of a planter box. I went over and it was the water hookup like where the water meeter is in my yard, for the hose, and the lid was off of it. I think he started to dunk his feet to wash them off (good thing he'd taken off his new cute little suede tennis shoes!), the he sat down and dangled his feet in the water, then by the time I got over to him, he was squatting/sitting down in the little 'personal - one kid swimming hole'! Of course he was out of it, sensing my frustration before I could get the camera! LOL!!! I did manage to get him washing his feet off again, but not sitting down in the hole.

Liam definitely doesn't understand boundaries at all. This fence isn't here for me to climb over? He climbed right into the stream while chasing butterlies in the butterly house, he wanted to go swimming with the turtles in the big tutle pond, and climbed right on up the rock wall. He tried to climb in the other turtle enclosure, because pettinghte one the worker had out wasn't quit good enough, he wanted to get up close and personal with them! ;-) I was EXHAUSTED by the end of the day and we finally went home!

Grandma D got us all frosty's from Wendys on the way home to cool us down, YUMMY!

What a fun day we had!

More summer

Last week I had two very full days with births one after the other. Two very cute babies later and then I took a day to recover... My kids are awesome! taking care of each other and Liam and the house for me while I had two very long days.

Then we got to have a fun fourth of July with a visit with lots of friends at a Missionary homecoming, then we went to another friend's house and did BBQ and sparklers. Liam loved them! We got to spend time with two sets of twins - two different families - one set just turned 4 and the others are 6 months. It was a lot of people and We all had a great time! It was fun to get to know people a bit better.

On saturday we attended the Baptism of a sweet girl that has become a friend. The girls were called on to participate - "M" asked them last week to help with prayers and a talk. Rebekah gave a really great talk on the Holy Ghost. And the others said prayers in front a pretty large crowd. You might not think of my girls as shy, but they don't like to be in front of a crowd, so they did great and I was proud of them.

I've been eating tomatoes and zucchine, yellow squash and cucumber from my garden. This week we have noticed a couple of cantalope and pumpkins that have begun to grow. My corn has silks on it and is growing cobs. My carrotts look great fron the top... there are definitely too many too close together so I've started pulling a few here and there. The little carrots we've pulled are actually quite tasty and sweet. I can't wait for the others to grow (now that we've given them some room). Now I need some additional recipes for the harvest I'm going to get out of my garden.

Another week gone...

Another week has come and gone, and what do I have to show for it??? Well, I spent a couple of days sewing again... (till 4 in the morning before I sent the girls off to camp). While out making last minute purchases for stuff to send the girls to Young Women's camp with, and Sariah really got into making things for the secret sister stuff. Sariah saw this cute Princess fabric and asked if I could make them each a pair of pj/shorts for camp. I went ahead and got the fabric, there was just over 5 yd's on the bolt so I bought it all, and lucky for me... it was on sale for $1.00 a yd. yippee! So, I began the sewing adventure Monday afternoon, and the girls left at 6 am tuesday morning.

I made the mistake or whatever of opening the door to have the vacuum salesman come in for a free carpet cleaning demonstration. monday evening, and lost several hours of sewing time while the guy showed us what my old (breaking down vacuum) was NOT cleaning out of my carpets!!! UGH!!!!! I am now the proud owner of a Kirby, and I do like it a lot... but not what we had -planned at this time at all!!!!! Liam (and the girls) LOVED the bubbles and the floor cleaning part of it!

Other than that, we had good friends come into town househunting. We have known D since He and Bill were classmates back at West Point many years ago. We spent time visiting when Germany was both of our first duty stations. Then we were lucky enough to be visiting Bills parents the summer he and H got married in the D.C. temple and were able to attend their marriage, then go up to CN for the reception (and waterskiing). They moved into a Ward in Germany with my best freinds for the past couple of years and now are ending up in Huntsville. Other than they found a house to buy in another ward... we are looking forward to getting to know their family when they move in the next couple of weeks.

We have missed the girls while they've been gone at camp, are hoping they are all have fun and having a wonderful experience. It is Sariah's first year. We picked up a freind yesterday to spend a couple of days with the girls while her mom is at camp with our sisters. I've enjoyed some more tomatoes from my garden and have a squash ready to eat - Yummy!

That is our update for now... the girls want me to take them to the pool, so... like Dana, I have to make the ultimate sacrifice and go out in public with my white/glow in the dark -mosquito bitten legs - in a bathing suit, to chase Liam around so he doesn't drown, so the girls can have some summer fun! Anyone want to come play????

19 years ago today...

At about this time 19 years ago, I was in Washington D.C. at the temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Preparing to kneel across the alter and look into the eyes of my sweetheart, and then look into the mirrors as our image went on forever into eternity...

I don't know how I got so lucky to have Bill come into my life. I can't imagine my life without him by my side. I look forward to many many more years together, and eternity of togetherness.

Tonight my sweetheart is taking me to the Temple (in Birmingham this time), and we will have the oportunity to kneel across the alter as we do temple work tonight. We will certainly be thinking back to that very special day 19 years ago with sweet rememberance.

I love you sweetheart, forever! Thankyou for taking me to the temple to be sealed for time and all Eternity.

Float like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee!

My garden is growing like gangbusters... I started my garden a bit late, but it is showing great promise. I have had a few tomatoes ripen so far, and they were very tasty. I have tons of green tomatoes that I don't know what I will ever do with them all when they ripen at the same time!!! The beans are growing and the vines are sretching all over the place. I have begun some 'organic' methods of keeping my vines reaching upward. I have thee tall trees in the back against the fence and there are a lot of dry branches, so I've been using them to stake up my garden plants. It might look a bit funny with all these branches sticking up out of my garden, but I am using what I have available and it seems to be helping. The corn is just about to send up tassels, and there are tons of flowers on my zucchine, squash and cucmbers, and a few small little squash beginning to grow. I'm a bit afraid of all the flowers and vines on the pumpkins... they are going to take over my yard, not to mention the garden!!! We certainly wont' have any need to go to a pumpkin patch this year! We may begin to chare admission to the neighborhood to come to our little pumpkin patch...

Yesterday I was out checking on the garden and the bees were busy pollinating and buzzing about... and eventually I began to feel my finger throb and looked at it and it was swollen and bruised. I guess I got stung by a bee. It was my first bee sting ever. I didn't see or feel a bee in my hand, but somehow... I managed to get stung on the inside of my little finger. It is still a bit swollen, and and it feels tight when I bend my finger. Sariah stepped on a bee earlier in the week, and it is still quite swollen and tender, and it is itching like crazy... does anyone have any suggestions? Of course it's friday, and now I'm sure I won't be able to get it seen until monday, if it is still bothering her then.

We have had a busy couple of weeks, and the three older girls are getting ready for grils camp. They will be going next week. It is Sariah's first year at camp, and Probably Rebekah's last year. I won't have three girls at camp again until it is Sariah, Hannah and Marissa. I hope they all have a wonderful experience... I loved girls camp when I was a youth.

I Will Sew No More Forever!!!!!

Just kidding... but I've had about all the sewing I can stand/handle for a little while! I still haven't figured out all the fun parts of my new sewing machine... but me and sewing machine tension are not the best of friends. I don't know why, but I can be sewing along just fine.. I change stitch which is all supposed to be pre-set in the machine... and the tension is all messed up and I have to unpick more than what I don't. It is very frustrating, and I never made it to bed last night and I really didn't have very much to do... but it literally took ALL NIGHT long!!! o.k., so Liam got up twice, and seeing lights on downstairs... thought he had to fully wake up and come down to investigate! Amanda gave up around 1 a.m. and went to bed. Rebekah left us around 11 p.m. but she had to get up early today and go to work.

Anyway, Bill and the girls are leaving this afternoon, so I HAD to get the clothing finished!!! Amanda and I finally finished all of it around 10 a.m. Now if I can get the girls to model the clothes for me to take a picture or two!!!

We have also been doing a little dresser switch-a-roo at our house. We bought a couple of dressers from someone who moved from our ward, and so I've been trying to get the kids dressers cleaned out (clothes that don't fit, or winter clothes) and then switch dressers from one room to another...

I also had a fantastic FIND this week. Driving kids too and fro in the neighborhood this past week, I noticed someone putting out a little tykes playground set. eventually after driving past it on sat a couple of times (but only parts of it were out), then noticing it still sitting out on Sunday as we drove past the street... On Monday we drove past it and it had a for sale sign on it. I made Amanda (my resident chauffer) stop the van and go up to the door and ask how much. She came back to the car and I could hardly believe it! The family really only wanted it to go away, but didn't want to throw it away in the trash... the mom had told her son if he'd haul it out front, she'd give him the money for it. They sold it to me for $20.00!!!!! Sure it is sun faded, but my goodness, it is a $200-$300.00 PLAYGOUND!!!! Liam and the other kids (mine as well as neighborhood kids) are LOVING it!

The other happenings this week have been that Hannah has been going to softball camp, and really enjoying it. Today they were working on learning to 'slide' into base. They got to do a slip and slide with dish soap to help make it even more slippery... they had fun but Hannah was Freezing and she took a long hot shower when she got home. (the water must have been cold, because it is blazing hot outside here in AL!)
Liam was sitting on the potty yesterday, and by chance went pee-pee on the potty! yippeee, perhaps he'll figure out what it is really for now! He LOVES to sit on the potty, but has never actually gone on the potty before. This morning he was wearing training underwear, and I noticed him straining a little, and ran him to the bathroom and he got something in the potty, then he flushed it happily. Of course just after that he pee-pee'd in his pants and on the floor in the front hallway! Oh well... one step forward two steps back.