a full house

earlier this week

and many other days this summer ...

my house was full of boys.

as in 8 or more boys

at any given time.

it's busy.

but ...

i love it.

and ...

 i am already getting sad thinking about it coming to an end

in just a few short weeks.

the who can stand on the driveway the longest - barefoot - contests

the squirt gun fights

the friends coming over

the laughs

and the boys being boys

all. day. long.

i love it.

good thing i'll have miss ellie to keep me busy ;)

day in pictures - valleyfair edition

 

 

 

 

 

in these last pictures
ben is the one behind the lens -

 

 

 

 

 

 

nice job,
huh?!

two*fer

yesterday morning we woke up to alex coming in our room
to show us the tooth he had just lost.

i knew that he two wiggly teeth -
one VERY wiggly
as in tipped to the side and bent forward wiggly
and then one that was just kind of loose.
well ...
the kind of loose one was the one that fell out!

SO
we left for the day with the one tooth still hanging in there
and i figured it wouldn't be long



he spent a good portion of the morning playing with it
but it just wouldn't come out.
UNTIL ...
amanda told him she would give him a dollar
if he pulled it out

he went to town.

he wiggled
he pulled
he twisted 

and in less than 30 seconds
he had the tooth out

when we got home
he worked on a special envelope
for the tooth fairy 

tooth fairy
are you a boy

tooth fairy
don't forget theres two teeth
i got an extra dollar

he woke up to find his treasure

and
has set his new mission as catching the tooth fairy.

seeing as though he accomplished losing
TWO TEETH
in
ONE DAY
i'd say he's on the right track

size doesn't matter

apparently alex truly believes this



because yesterday we got to valley fair
and realized ...
he was wearing SIZE 2T shorts

late nite snackin'

last night ben went to sleep at a friend's
around 12:30am the phone woke me up
to hear ben's voice
telling me that he couldn't sleep and wanted me to pick him up

the same kid who just spent a week at camp
crazy.

regardless ...
he couldn't sleep
i was wide awake
and
stacey can't turn down anything with oreos in it

SO ...
here we were at 1:30 am



not that i'm trying to encourage
late night sleepover calls
BUT
it was kind of fun to have a little surprise late night snack ;)

slowing it down

this week it hit me
we have THREE weeks until school starts
my house is going to get VERY quiet
and
i am going to be missing the boys a lot!

SO ...
i figured there was no better time than now
to start cramming in some last minute fun.

we started out the week at bunker beach

 

  

we spent a day with friends
swimming and catching up

and we finished the week off at valley fair

 

 

ben even braved the wave pool
and as you can see ... 
they had the place to themselves.
when it's only 67 degrees out
i guess the wave pool loses it's appeal

 

we had a fun week
and
we have more fun planned for next week
INCLUDING
hannah and bobby's wedding!

SO ...
you  may not hear from me
BUT
i'm sure i'll have lots to share when it's all said and done!

til next time

for the past 10 days
we have kept ourselves very busy!

the boys got into the olympics
so we've watched a lot as a family
and then stacey and i have been sitting up watching long after they're asleep ;)

we watched the fab 5



we loved the swimming races -
especially those of michael phelps and missy franklin

and of course -
we watched every match of kerri walsh and misty may

tonight ...
the boys wanted to celebrate the end with an 'olympics party'.
SO ...
we made some 'party snacks'
watched the recaps
the closing ceremony
AND OF COURSE
the spice girls reunion!

the best part ...
tonight like most nights it has made bedtime very easy ;)

  

here's to a great 2012 olympics

it's been fun
we've been entertained
and
the olympics are ending just in time for football to start up
perfect.

life lessons

sometimes ...
playing really hard



makes simple functioning even harder

reminder

last night was one of those nights



where i am reminded

what a great neighborhood we live in

and how thankful i am

for the great neighbors

that we have