Bottle Rockets

Eileen has been talking for months now about building a rocket. We told her that since Grandpa is rocket scientist, he could build one for her, but it would talk a LONG time. She was growing impatient (asking every day if it was done) when Dan came up with an idea. So they went to Lowe's for some parts and spent the afternoon building a bottle rocket. Then for Family Home Evening, we all went outside and fired off the bottle rocket until the air compressor no longer had enough oomph to get it launched. The kids had so much fun launching it and getting wet.

Happy Birthday Anna

Well this has been a crazy week! The grand finale being yesterday which was Anna's birthday. We have spent the week visiting teaching, partying, and exhausting our selves.

Aaron has become very curious lately. He has figured out how to un-screw lids and has taken every opportunity to get into thing and then cover himself in them. Between scrubs, and diaper rash cream (see pic!) he now has the softest skin ever!!!! Soft as his own back side (as Dan said)

I had my first ever Pampered Chef party...one person came.... :) (THANKS DIANNA!) but we still had a fun time making a VERY yummy chocolate and strawberry cake!

Thursday Night, we went down to my parent's house to celebrate Anna's birthday. My dad took off the next day for a reunion and we wanted to celebrate with him before he left. We swam in the pool, grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and had lots of fun. The girls always love getting to see their Grandparent's and their Aunt and Uncle. Anna really got into the whole opeining presents this year. She would open something and then say "Oooohhhh I REALLY like this!!!" She got some really cute clothes from her Great Grandma Penny, a purse from her Aunt and Uncle and Princess sheets and "The Grouchy Ladybug" game from Grandma and Grandpa.

Friday night, Dan and I went to the temple and bumped into an old friend. It was nice to see her and chat with her again. It was also nice to have a night away from the kids :)

Saturday was Anna's birthday and party. We got up in the morning to get some cleaning and chores done. After, some of Anna's friends came over for water fighting, jumping on to the love sac and eating pizza, cake and ice cream. I let Anna pick her own cake mix and she picked pink! Pink cake mix, pink frosting, pink sprinkles, pink ice cream and pink plates and cups. LOL! She has never shown such a pink obsession before, but now it seems to be her favorite color! All the kids seemed to have lots of fun. Anna especially! After the party was over she wanted to play with EVERYTHING!! She got a fun bingo-type game, a tea set, a book, bubbles, finger paints and side walk chalk, and sunglasses and a princess towel. She also got a pair of earrings from Great Grandpa Francone (which she is VERY excited about) and a couple necklaces and bracelets - one set of which came from Grandma and Grandpa Jones. Mommy and Daddy are boring - we just gave her a blanket for her bed. Daddy set up the bunk bed for the girls in their room so Aaron can sleep on the trundle bed after the baby is born. She was less than thrilled until she realized what it was for! Now she loves it! :)

A friend from the ward also dropped off a couple of her old Cabbage Patch Dolls which the girls have been playing with non-stop since then. They are loving diapering and changing their clothes and such.

Sick = Boring...

We had a rather uneventful week. When I got Aaron up from bed Tuesday morning he was wheezing so we took him in to his doctor and they sent us home with our very own nebulizer and some meds. He's still a tad congested, but generally feeling MUCH better and no more wheezing. Well shortly around the time Aaron started getting sick - so did I. So Aaron and I have been stuffy and icky feeling all week. We haven't gotten to see any of our friends or go anywhere (other than the doc's office.) I also had a check up on Wednesday. The girls got to stay at Grandma's and play while I took Aaron with me. Then we all had lunch together.

Eileen and Anna got to spend the night down at Grandma and Grandpa's playing with Aunt Sandi and Uncle Jon. They had a blast!!! They got to go swimming, play with an EZ bake oven, go on walks, watch a movie, sleep in a tent in the living room and play with the dog Mojo. While they partied, Me and my boys went out for dinner at Kenny's Burger Joint and then went to look at new vehicles.

Saturday was chore day and "get ready for Father's Day" day. :) Then for Father's Day, the girls and I got up early to make biscuits for Daddy for breakfast. The girls punched out flamingo, palm tree and butterfly shaped biscuits just for him. Then we went down and had dinner with my parents and Sandi and Jon. Now I just need to sleep for a week.... :)

NIGHT!!!!

School's Out For Summer!!

So what does that mean for a family that has no kids in school???? - Not much.... :P Dan did get 3 days off between the end of School and the start of Summer School - that was nice. :) But now he's back and life is back to the same routine. We did manage to have some fun and get stuff done around the house though. :) Tuesday we went down to my parents house to swim and have dinner. The kids just loved seeing their grandparents, and Sandi and Jon and Mojo. Anna and Eileen just LOVE the pool. They love playing and splashing and swimming around in their tubes. Aaron got put into his little floatie and liked it ok, but it wasn't his favorite thing in the world. I think he would have prefered more freedom, but mommy is still too nervous around pools! After we had hamburgers and hot dogs and played some more!

We also went to the spray ground again this week. We met up with some friends there and had lots of fun splashing around with the Tolberts and the Alcalas. Aaron LOVES the spray ground. He is so funny to watch and to play with.

Saturday was chore day again. The girls had completed all their chores for the week and so were able to do some extra work around the house to earn some money. All 3 kids had lots of fun cleaning and helping out. After earning their money, seperating out tithing and savings, they decided that the wanted to spend some money. So we went to Walmart to look around the toy aisle. Eileen had decided that she wanted a "Littlest Pet Shop" toy and so she looked until she had found one she liked in her price range and very seriously determined that the butterfly one was exactly what she wanted. Anna wandered around looking at things and picking out things that were WAY out of her price range before finally settleing on a "Princess ball" that she has hardly let out of her sight since.

Right before lunch, Aaron got his hair cut. He has been needing a bit of a trim for awhile now, so Dan pulled out the clippers, sat him in his high chair and we buzzed him. Not totally, but since his hair is so fine and so fair it looks like we did. He looks so much nicer now - but older too... :(

Sunday was the normal cranky kids and tired parents! I sat in Nursery with the kids today to help out and Anna and Aaron loved having me in there with them. It is always fun to watch them interact with other kids. Then after church, we enjoyed a yummy dinner and Dan and Anna and Aaron made a YUMMY peach cobbler for us all, and then enjoyed licking the beaters!

Chores????

So we decided to try something new this week. We started Monday night and set it up for Family Home Evening and have been going all week. We have started a system of chores. The girls have a few chores that we expect them to do every day. If they finish those chores, then on Saturday, they have the option of doing extra chores to earn spending money. They can earn up to their age in dollars. So after making sure the girls made their beds and cleaned up their toys each day, we all spent Saturday morning working around the house. We had a list of chores they could help with and how much they were worth. After the morning was over we payed the girls and helped them put their 10th in to tithing and another 10th in to savings and the rest into spending. We gave them 3 little jars each (haha, I'll post pictures once I make them cute!) All in all it's worked so far and the kids are actually excited about doing chores! :P
We also went to the spray ground on Momday with a bunch of people from the ward. The kids had a ball and (despite my best attempts at putting sun screen on them) came home sunburned - except Eileen. We also came home exhausted!!! :) Other than that, we kept busy all week and tired ourselves out in the normal ways!

I have decided that I don't like libraries as much when school is out. Friday we went to the library and it was a ZOO and there wasn't even story time this week...think we may have to make a different day our library day...