Our Summer ... So Far

On Sunday after church, we went to see the Mormon Battalion Museum.

The girls sat in a covered wagon. Charlee said it was like the one from Little house on the Prairie.

 They started the presentation with a group of talking pictures... very cool.

 In the general store, Jaxson was dressed up as a soldier along with a very embarrassed teenager we did not know. His siblings were taking pictures of him and posting them on facebook.

 After the presentation was over, we all panned for gold.

 We went to Vista for a great firework show on the 4th.

 Emery is a hoot. She loves me:)

 Jax loved his glow sticks.

 On 7/11 we went with the cousins to get a free slurpee at 7 eleven.

Check out the girls and Brian boogie boarding. Oaklee totally biffs it:)

Oaklee's Backstroke

First Swim Meet

Charlee and Oaklee had their first swim meet tonight. They both swam great! Oaklee won 1 first, 2 second, and a fourth. Charlee won 2 seconds, 1 third, and 1 fourth. It was so fun. On the way home, the girls and I stopped by Wal-Mart to buy buns because I really wanted a Crabby Patty for dinner. We went into their version of a "man cave" to see what we could get Brian for Father's Day. We ended up buying him a new recliner. Since I sprained my ankle a few days ago, we needed help to get it to the car. This nice Wal-Mart worker with dread locks, a 5 o'clock shadow, and many great tattoos helped us to the car. While I put the seats in the van down so it would fit, a pole fell out of our car. The worker picked it up and gave it to Oaklee. She said, "Thank you, interesting man." The guy did not say anything, but I cried laughing the entire way home.

Happy Birthday, Froggy!

This is Froggy.

(she took this pic herself)

He comes everywhere with our family.

This morning, Oaklee woke Brian early to invite him to Froggy's birthday party at 1:00.
Later she came in and said that Dad, Charlee, Jaxson, and Oaklee were going to his party. I asked why I was not invited. She told me, "You were invited while you were sleeping. You have not RSVP'd yet".

So at 1:00, we all went to Froggy's party. We opened presents from Jaxson and Charlee. Oaklee made Froggy a ring, necklace, and bracelet. I told her that I thought Froggy was a boy and she replied, "Froggy is a boy who likes jewelry." Okay... The bag containing Froggy's jewelry said "To: Froggy  Love: Momy"

Next we played "tadpole, tadpole, froggy" Oaklee's version of "duck duck goose". Then Froggy blew out a yellow candle in a cookie because one of his favorite colors is yellow.

Then Charlee dressed up like a clown to make balloon animals and hats for the party guests. All of this was planned by our sweet 1st grader, mind you.

Then the door bell rang because Oaklee had invited my mom to Froggy's party. Grandma brought a gift for Froggy, too.

I looked at Brian and asked when we turned into the kind of parents who had a full blown party for a stuffed frog. Awesome!

What can you do? Oaklee was happy... and so were we:)

Oaklee came into my bedroom tonight wearing only a green, plastic hula skirt. I asked her if she was naked under and she said, "Nope, I am camoflaged" She was wearing bright green panties under it. Then she started to scratch and said, "I am glad we don't live in Hawaii. These skirts are itchy." Oh, it gets better. Then she took off her skirt and laid it over the crate that is Froggy's house and said, "Look, Mom. I made Froggy's house into a hut!"

Funny Kids

I'm Back!
Oaklee:" Dad, can you please help me teach Froggy how to spell his name. He keeps writing Forgy instead of Froggy"

Oaklee came into my room after bedtime and said, "Mom, I have 2 questions and a statement for you."

Jaxson started to play t-ball. He got hit with the ball and his coach came over laughing and told us that Jaxson said, "Coach Tom, that ball hit me in the wiener." Classy!

Charlee: "Mom, I have bad gas. Can I have a Gas X Strip?"

Jaxson: "I got really strong because I drink lots of water and only one coke a day."

Jaxson: "Mom, it was cold in the shave at school today."

Oaklee: "Who wants an ice cube? I do!"

Charlee hid Grandpa's remote and played the cold and hot game for him to find it.  Poor Grandpa!

Charlee came up with 10 pranks to play on Grandma Randee on April Fools Day.
examples: dump a box of cereal into her bed, short sheeted her bed, turned off her water and electric, put saran wrap on the toilet so she would pee on herself... you get the drift. When Grandma came over to toilet paper our house to get her back we went out and sprayed her with the hose:) Awesome Day!!

Summer Stories- By Oaklee

I found these funny stories Oaklee wrote over the summer.

For our summer homework, the kids each had to do 1 page of math and read 1 book and write a story. These are 2 of my favorites.

(I told her to remember her punctuation in that dog one. She went a lottle overboard with the periods.)

NICE!! All on her own:)

It is official... I have tuned into my MOM!!!

Oaklee wanted to be a turtle for Halloween.

Why can't this child be something I can buy at Party City???

I found Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but my little lady only wanted to be a turtle.

My mom used to make us anything we wanted to be. I am so glad that I am turning into my mom:)

I used felt for the front...

I used ribbon to attach a bowl that I painted like a turtle shell.

She wants to have green hair and a green face on Halloween.

My silly little Oaklee:)

(Jaxson is a "Parate" and Charlee is this spider witch)

When we were in the doctor's office on Saturday, Oaklee said,"Mom, this room is beautiful. I think it was painted by Bob Ross" :)

Our Little Sand Paper Girl:(

She may not look like it, but Oaklee is sick:(

I took her to the doctor on Tuesday with a sore throat and a fever. I thought she had strep, but the culture came back negative.

I took her today for her well check and the doctor said that the rash she developed Tuesday night was

Scarlet Fever!!

Yeah, I didn't know what it was, I just knew it was not good.

Turns out it is basically strep throat with a rash. If you don't treat it quickly, it can go to the heart and kill you!! Yeah, I am so thankful that we live in an age where we have antibiotics and good doctors to help my cutie patootie.

If you look close, you can see the rash all over her torso. It feels like sandpaper and she itches it like crazy. She should be non-infectious by Saturday morning.

Oh, and she was 41 inches tall and weighed 41 pounds:)

She was in the 38% for weight and the 2.5% for height.

She is short and sassy.

We love our little disease carrying girl.

"Don't Have a Cow, Man" -Bart Simpson

My girls were in the bath today for over 2 hours... what can I say, it is hot and the bath is like a very small pool in air conditioning. I noticed Brian's shampoo bottle empty on the floor and the following conversation took place... enjoy:) Oh, and for about a year, my kids have lovingly called Brian Dido instead of Dad... Don't ask, I don't get it either.

Mom: If you guys used all of Dad's shampoo again, he is going to have a cow.
Charlee: What is a cow?
Oaklee: You know Charlee, a cow... Mooooo.
C: How can Dido have a cow. Only girls can have babies.
O: Cows aren't babies, Charlee.
M: Dad is not really going to have a cow.
C: How does he have a cow then?
M: Never mind!!
Jaxson: (leaving the room in a tiny voice) Mom, is Dido really going to have a cow?

This conversation made me think that I am old... another generation... all in all, pretty lame:)

The Beach 2010

This is the ONLY picture we got ON the beach this year.

It rained a few days and was in the low 60's most of the time... AWESOME for an Arizonian coming from 112 degrees... BAD for going to the beach. I loved it! My dad had the kids and their cousins shuck corn. It still amazes me how many phrases my brothers can come up with from the word "shuck".

Here we are preparing tin foil dinners... in our sweatshirts:)

Heaven forbid the kids don't watch a movie for a whole week. Kids came in off the street to get a fix... just kidding, these are some of my cousin's kids:)

This is how we celebrated the 4th of July...

We were going to go see fireworks until Jax threw up everywhere.

This is how HE spent the 4th of July:(

Grandpa took all of the kids to the store. He was very excited about his leash idea.

He also thought it would be fun to ride the coaster train. It would have been AWESOME for the kids if Brian had gotten the times right. We had to wait more than an hour on the platform for a $5, 5 minute ride to the next stop. They thought it was great, so I guess that is all that matters.

Fun vacation.

Let's go back... "I am melting" as Oaklee would say.

We Moved!!

We moved to our new house on Saturday! Whoo Hoo! Yeah, now we need to unpack everything... not such a big whoo hoo and no exclamation point:) I was a little surprised to see my bedroom TV buckled in in my back seat:) Oh boys... It took 6 men to carry our big screen (AKA "Steevie the TV"... they named my TV). Two men actually carried the 62 inch monster and the other 4 walked with it "just in case". Men are so silly. I told them that the only piece of furniture that I cared about was my dining room table... it got thrown in the back of John's truck. I will give it to them that the back of the truck was the safest place for my table, but I thought the men's mentality was pretty funny.

When my mom came to visit, she asked Oaklee how many bathrooms the house had. Oaklee made a puzzled face, turned, and ran. She was back a minute later, winded, and yelled "3"! She is pretty cute!

Oaklee just used air quotes! She said that since we go to bed at "7:30" we can watch that show!!!! I died laughing. Where did my little angel learn how to use air quotes?

"I Got Pool Ear!"

So, I learned that Swimmer's Ear really does hurt. Did you know that it means more than just water in your ears? This native Arizonan didn't! Well, I thought my cute Oaklee was being a big wimp all week complaining about her ear hurting. I asked her if it was inside her ear that hurt and she said it was the outside that hurt. I thought she was exaggerating whenever anyone barely touched her ear... nope, turns out her doctor says that it is VERY painful! Oops! Bad Mom! I only took her to the doctor today because with the most pitiful face she came to Brian and I last night at about 11 p.m. and said, "I just can't take this anymore!!!" At Jaxson's swim lessons today, she told everyone that she had, "Pool Ear" and could not get her head wet for 10 days.We got antibiotic drops for her ears, so hopefully my sweet angel will feel better soon:)

Oaklee and Brinlee chillin' by the pool!

I Love Summer!!

Okay, I will update everyone on our summer so far.

It has been so awesome!

On the last day of school, Charlee got awards at the assembly. She also got 2nd place in the 1st and 2nd grade spelling bee. Way to go Charlee! Since Summer has started, there has been many ups and downs. She loves to learn. She has been working on her cursive handwriting. She has been making breakfast for Jax and O every morning while I sleep in:)

Mom, Dad, and Charlee at the spelling bee.

She spelled 4th grade, 3rd quarter words. She is so smart!!

Oaklee performed in the Kindergarten's end of the year program. It was a tribute to America. I almost cried, it was so fabulous. My favorite part was when Oaklee stuck her cute little head through the hole in Mt. Rushmore and had to stand on her tip toes to reach the microphone. This Summer has been a relaxing time for Oaklee. She eats, sleeps, and swims... what a life. She is reading so well and still cracks me up daily.

She was so cute at the presentation.

Jaxson had Preschool Graduation. I am so glad he has another year in preschool... he needs it:) Mostly because of me, so I am trying to make up for it. He wore a sweet little graduation hat and wants to be a builder of Buzz and Woody toys when he grows up. He went to swim lessons for the second session this past week. He kicks like he is riding a bike, but he is getting better, thanks to Aunt Nancy's stellar teaching skills.

Jaxson with Ms. Loreen and Ms. Carolyn at graduation.

Jaxson and Aunt Nancy swimming around:)... kind of??

I have been so busy this summer. Between Swim lessons, school lessons, and packing to move next week, I have been a little crazy. I have enjoyed it so much. I decided at the beginning of the summer that I was going to improve my kid's brains every day:) Each of them has to read a book, do their letters and phonograms, do one or 3 sheets of math, and handwriting. It take me about 1.5 hours to get it done, but it has been so much fun. We do science experiments and I love to watch them grow and learn. I have the time:) It is summer!

Brian went to Scout Camp this week at Lake Powell. I think he is having fun... He gets reception, but I only get to talk to him once a day. I am so glad he will be coming home tonight. I have missed him so much. He is my BFF, after all.

I will do my best to update... we will see:)

5 Year old, Oaklee, surprised us with this during church today...

I love her school!

She said, "Ms. Carol said we are so clever that we don't need to wait until 5th grade to learn it."

Disney on Ice and a New Niece

Nancy and Greg had their new baby girl, Emery Iokina (My brother thinks he is Polynesian). I think she looks just like their first daughter, Quinn. Maybe it is the same "Why are you looking at me" face she is making.

So fun.

We went to Disney on Ice today with the kids.

They LOVED it!!! They clapped and cheered whenever a new character came out.

Two of Brian's brothers and their families came with us (We missed you, Brenda!)

Afton and Brinlee and my mom came too. (Check out Cheesy Charlee!)

The Barry side! POSERS!

We had a very good time watching the kids laugh and be so excited.

This was such a good Christmas gift for our family. Thanks Brian for not objecting too much and thank you, Santa!

Funny kids:

While looking out the car window at the snow, Oaklee and Jaxson had this conversation:

Oaklee: Wow, look at the snow. It is so beautiful!

Jaxson: Yeah, and it is handsome, too!

The kids all took a shower and Jaxson got out first. I told him to hurry and dry off and get his underwear on. He told me that after Charlee and Oaklee got out, they were going to snuggle.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We had so much fun celebrating the new year with the Barry's at the cabin!

The kids toasted this really nasty tasting white grape juice. CHEESE!!

The kids loved blowing the horns.

Here is to a great 2010!