"Happy Birthday to Me"

Today I am "32" years old...wow, time sure does fly by. It has been a great day full of phone calls, cards, emails, surprise visits and fun with my family. Thanks for making it a fantastic birthday. I love you all.

Alexa's New "Do"

Alexa decided she wanted to have shorter hair and bangs. I have cut her hair since she was a little girl so I was game to cut it short if she was sure. I wasn't too excited about bangs and I think she agreed. We looked back at some of her pictures and I showed her how short she has had her hair in the past and she decided to go for it without the bangs. She looks pretty cute...at least in my opinion.

Play Date

We took another trip to the zoo this time with some friends. We had a great time... I adore everyone of these ladies and their kids. Some of the older kids sat in the splash zone at the dolphin show and Alexa was chosen to go up and help the trainer...she got splashed.

The mommies recruited some of the older kids to take pictures of us. We were standing in a nook by the Kodiak bears and some other zoo patrons thought for sure the kids were taking pictures of the bears...surprise!! Just a bunch of silly, but good looking, mommies. Dayton and Mackenzie didn't get to take the mommy pictures so these are the photos they did take .

Mackenzie started to not feel so well just before lunch and stayed pretty lethargic the rest of the day. She doesn't do so well in the sunshine sometimes. We would stop to see some of the animals and I would turn around and find Mackenzie on a bench somewhere lying down. The other kids found any opportunity they could to get wet...who knew a misting sprinkler could bring such enjoyment.

Mackenzie was able to hold a butterfly...Dayton was so close. The butterfly had a leg on Dayton's finger but not all the way. He was pretty bummed. Alexa held several but she was never close by me when I had the camera out.

All in all a great day at the zoo. Fun, friends, laughter, and lots of memories.

Water Heater

So on Monday morning I came downstairs and went into our bathroom and the floor was wet. I asked the kids if they had noticed and they said they thought I had mopped the floor. Ya, since when do I mop by dumping a bucket of water onto the floor. Well after investigating the toilet and the sink...I looked up at the ceiling. YEP...it was wet. I ran upstairs and found the tray surrounding the water heater full of water. Now What??? I called Nathan, who was in a meeting and not answering his phone, left several messages and then a page. He called back and had me turn off the water to the whole house. To make a long story short....we get a new bathroom...in addition to a new water heater.

My dad refers to his bad luck as the "Dayton curse." After the experiences we have had the first half of this year...I am starting to believe in the "Dayton curse" and speculate as to whether it has been passed on to me.

Father's Day

The kids were soooo excited for Father's Day. The plan was to make breakfast for Daddy and bring it to him while he was still in bed. Mackenzie and Dayton were up by 7am and then we woke up Alexa. Earlier in the week we had made cards that look like dress shirts with ties. We made the pancakes and then the kids flew up the stairs to "surprise" Nathan, who was dead asleep. He had the hardest time prying open his eyes as the kids are singing "Happy Father's Day." He needed some toothpicks to keep his eyes open. The kids piled into the bed and told him to read their card first. He read mine first, I don't think intentionally, and Alexa, Mackenzie and Dayton leaned into him so they could all read it. After Nathan read all the cards the kids I headed back down stairs to eat our pancakes. Mackenzie was sad for Daddy because he had to eat all by himself. Dayton can hardly wait to be a daddy so he can have breakfast in bed. I think Nathan had a good day. He is a great dad and the kids love him. We appreciate everything he does for us in so many ways.

Yummy candy bars were the favor given to the dads at church. Super cute labels...

Awards and Artwork

All the kids came home on the last day of school with ribbons, awards, and artwork. Alexa and Mackenzie had perfect attendance this year....who knew. Dayton received a diploma so we put a graduation cap on his head just for fun....he thinks it looks stupid, for the record.

We are very proud of our kids and all of their accomplishments.

1st Week of Summer Break

For those who don't know, I LOVE having my kids home and summer break can not come soon enough. We have had a great time this past week.

#1. The day after school was out we went to our backyard neighbors house for bagels and monster cookies. It was a lot of fun and yummy to boot. Then later in the day the kids played in the water outside and made a "water slide" with our neighbors on the lawn. Just soaking wet grass...tons of fun, yes the grass came back and really dirty kids when the fun was done.

#2. Last Saturday we drove to Louisville, Kentucky to go to Six Flags. We had a great time, eventually. It was 90 degrees with 100% humidity and it was nasty hot. I have a whole new appreciation for my parents taking us to amusement parks. We rode the Himalaya first and all of the kids LOVED it. Things were looking up. Next we got in line to ride the Rainbow. In the middle of the ride Alexa and Mackenzie looked a little green. Mackenzie flew out of her seat as soon as the ride was over and lost her lunch in the bushes. She was not too thrilled to ride anything else for a while so the bench was a great resting spot for a time. Dayton was our trooper. He rode everything and wanted to do it again. He and I rode the boat and then all of us rode the tin Lizzy cars and the road runner. Then we went back to the car for some food and our water stuff. We had a great time in the water park. Everybody loved the water rides and it was quite refreshing after the hot humid first part of our day. We have a better strategy for the next time we go down there. As we made our way home we were detoured due to massive flooding. The highway we were supposed to come home on was covered in water so our return trip was a little longer than planned but the kids were troopers.

#3. We went to the Children's Museum and saw the new animation and comic book exhibits. The real bat mobile was there and very cool. On our way to see the dinosaurs we met up with a museum volunteer who was showing sea stuff. Then kids got to touch and hold puffer fish, star fish, sea worm colonies, shells, fish teeth, sponges, and tons of other stuff. It was fascinating and I was reminded once again why I love that place.

#4. We went swimming with the Norton's. We love to be in the water. We have a big blow up dragon that the kids love. Last year it got a small hole in it that we patched and it still holds air. It can fit 2 kids on it but the greater the weight the faster it looses the air. I was a little shocked by the number of kids our kids did not know who continuously were jumping on our dinosaur and pushing our kids off. Finally, I got in the water and took the kids for rides and kindly told the other kids to get off.

#5. We picked strawberries. 27 and 1/2 pounds to be exact. The kids were great and did an awesome job picking. We arrived at the strawberry patch in the pouring rain and miraculously it stopped when we got out to pick. It was overcast and kind of cool, for Indiana in the summer. We picked for an hour and now have a freezer full of YUMMY strawberry jam to enjoy all year long. The kids helped "destemify" the strawberries and put them in the machine to grate them up for the jam. They scooped sugar and opened packets of pectin. It sure goes a lot faster with help. NO little red hen story here, everybody helped to make the jam and everybody gets to enjoy it.

#6. We made a cake...our dear friends, the Morrisons, might be moving before we get back from our vacation to Utah so we had a going away party for them. I found the idea online and it turned out so good....I was thrilled. I know I am tooting my own horn but this was a proud moment for me. It tasted great too...it is a hamburger, in case you can't tell...made all of yummy cake, cookies, candy and frosting.

#7. Dayton played hairdresser with Mackenzie. It was quite the do and they insisted I take a picture. I think he used every kind of accessory in her hair that we own.

We have been busy but loving every minute of it. More adventures to come and soon.....