Last Days of Summer

I have a love hate relationship with all the girls' little toys, especially the Barbie toys.  On the one hand they are so cute when they're playing nicely with them.  The little voices and the elaborate games as they take their Barbies on vacations and sleepovers and to school and church and the park and any other thing they can think up.  

HOWEVER, the opposite happens equally often which is fighting.  SO MUCH FIGHTING over who gets which pieces and who is in charge not to mention the days when honestly no one is playing with any of it, they are just making sure that no one else gets to play with it and that MAKES ME CRAZY!!!!!

Lately we've had more of the "make me crazy days" than we've had the playing nicely days so we made a decision to pack it all up for awhile.  I feel like I literally cannot break up another fight and I'm tired to my very core of cleaning up all this stuff so it is time for a break.

The girls were not happy about this and didn't know what to do with themselves for about an hour and then surprise surprise the found some things to do that didn't cause so much fighting.

And to my complete amazement these 2 even played nicely together for over an hour.  WINNING!!!

This girl loves her kitty!

Love this little girl's determination.

We spent a little bit of time over at Ryan and Katie's house this August helping them replace some trim before they got their house repainted.

We also enjoyed Roberts puppies whenever we got a chance.

After about a 2 week break from the Barbies we tried giving them back a few pieces at a time.  This eliminated the mess of all the little piece and made it easier to put it back away whenever it started causing too much fighting.

I love that Sadie is still willing to pretend with her little sisters.  It's their favorite thing in the world

 when she plays with them.

Hazel attended a tea party with her sweet friend Everly the last week of August.

Caldera Springs - 2022

A few weeks ago I found out that some friends from school were going to be up in Sun River the same week we were and that they were going to the Dixie Chicks concert.  It's been a really long time since I've been to a country concert and although The Chicks weren't quite what I remembered them to be it was still a fun time out with some girlfriends.

Kristin, Ashley, Sara, Karen, Lisa, and Me

PLAYGROUND

Brandon moved things around so that his Prineville day for work was the day we headed up to Caldera.  This allowed him to transport bikes and strollers which normally are not an option.  The kids loved riding around the neighborhood and to the park.

POOL TIME

We spent a lot of time at the pool.  The kids never seem to tire of swimming.

Miss Hadley

It sure wears them out though.

It will probably be a long time before these kiddos realize what great Aunts and Uncles they have.  We're so thankful that they get to grow up with and make memories with so many people who love them so much.

Auntie Kendy

Best spot in the house is wherever Grammy is.

Uncle Robert took the boys fishing one morning.

Auntie Katie brought a ton of craft supplies for the kids and spent the longest time braiding all the girls' hair.

COUSIN TIME

Mr. Mason

BOWLING

We drove into Bend one morning for a family bowling tournament.  A little crazy but most had fun!

ICE CREAM

TORTILLA SLAPPING CONTEST

Apparently there's this thing people do called a tortilla slapping contest.  You basically play rock paper scissors with a mouth full of water and the looser gets to slap the winner with a tortilla and they have to try not to spit out the water laughing.  Whoever spits their water first looses.  

BASEBALL

THE LAKE

Everyone loves getting out on the lake.  The older kids paddle board and kayak and the younger ones enjoy the canoes.  Seniorita Philips even taught Hazel to paddle board.  She got tired but she did pretty well all in all.

Pic Collage from Kendra

Tommy is 4 months younger than the twins although I think they seem even closer in age since the twins were preemies.  Fun to see how they've grown these past 3 years.

Swimming Lessons

Cooper, Hazel, and Evie took swimming lessons this summer.  Cooper didn't really need them but it always takes me awhile to feel totally confident in their ability to swim summer to summer as we just don't get to spend as much time in the pool as we'd like to.  Anyway so he did great, Evie gained a lot of confidence going under water and with some basic skills, and Hazel complained the entire time that although she was in level 2 they were only teaching her level 1 things.  Nearly ever day she'd tell me "I can swim, they just won't let me."  I believed her not at all because this is typically of Hazel.  However, I still wished they'd pushed her a little bit harder.  

Anyway, so at the end of the lessons they told me that she should repeat level 2 because they didn't get to all the skills.  Apparently this was because they don't move forward until the whole class is ready.  At this point I thought well maybe she had a valid complaint after all, but swimming lessons were over so there was nothing to be done about it.  

Fast forward to the next day in Caldera (we drove straight from swimming lessons to our family vacation in Caldera Springs) and Brandon lets her swim without her puddle jumper.  I was not comfortable with this so we went back and forth letting her in and out of it as we were able to carefully monitor her but by golly she knew how to swim and by day 3 she was a little fish not wearing it at all.  I tell you what of all of our kids she has to be the most determined and she now can claim the spot of earliest swimmer.  Way to Go HAZEL!!!