beach bum'n it...

We made a little impromptu trip to Ocean Shores yesterday...and by impromptu I mean we decided to go at 11 and were on the road by noon.

It was so beautiful and the perfect little Saturday road trip.  Kai loved the beach and dipping his feet in the sand and water.  Kaden wasn't feeling too good so he was less than impressed.  But we did coax a smile or two from him and I can't wait to take him back because he looooves the water.  Eli didn't hesitate to jump right in the tide (note to self...next time you go to the beach remember to bring towels, duh.)

We followed up the beach by a little arcade and bumper boat fun and a stop at the candy store where Isaiah and I may or may not have eaten a LOT of salt water taffy.

By the way, if you would like to die and go to hamburger heaven stop at Lighthouse Drive-In in Aberdeen.

School's Ooouuuuuuuut!!

Even if mother nature hasn’t gotten the memo yet…it’s summer break!!

And guess who is most excited?  Well the kids of course.  Nope!  Meeeeeeeeeeeee!

Wait, you say….doesn’t this mean that you have about a bajillion kids hanging around your house all day?  (I’m a poet and didn’t even know it)

Well yes, but…

1.  I work (ahem..."outside the home" as well) so I’m not around said kids all the live long day.

2.   Older kids are easy peasy.

So why am I sooo freakin’ excited?

Laziness.

No more bedtime hassle

No more schedules

No more “crap, just bring down your school clothes you need for tomorrow because I didn’t get to your laundry yet”

Summer break means…

*Just throw something on the grill sometime before dark.

*oh, you only feel like taking a shower every third day? gross, but go for it!

*What? You stayed up until 2 a.m. texting and now you can't pull yourself out of bed?  What-ever!

They get to be lazy, I get to be lazy…everybody wins!

All this won't get me my very own chapter in The Bad Parent Handbook (not yet anyways) because it's short lived.  Isaiah has a grueling football practice schedule ahead of him and Elijah is off to Montana and will promptly be put to work in the hay field.

Sorry, no pictures...I'm too busy jumping for joy.

Man I love summer!

birthday season...

• Birthday Season [burth-dey see-zuhn]
• noun

1. The thirty-one day period in June and July when all the brothers have a birthday
2. The season directly preceding football season

ELIJAH

6/11 (that's today folks!)

Ya, he's has always been this handsome...

Sooo....happy FOURTEENTH b-day to my smart, witty and all around pretty fantastic offspring.

This is about the time in their lives when you start counting the opposite direction; down. 
The years until they become adults...
And {hopefully} move out.
Well I think hopefully.... on one hand you pray you've do a good enough job that they can become productive members of society but really you just want to bawl your eyes out.
....I'll probably do the latter.

(although I do find the thought of less laundry intriguing)

sun-less Sunday...

Up here in the pacific northwest Mother Nature is rather stingy with the summer weather and this weekend was supposed to be the first really warm weekend this year.  Since we spent most of our beautiful sunny Saturday running errands I had high hopes for today.  Well...it was sort of a bust.  It was *alright* but not what I had hoped for.


But we still would never waste a day without rain.


Sooo, the babies did what they do best...

And the brothers did what they do best...

And even though it wasn't the bright, shiny day I had hoped for it was still pretty fabulous.