Summer fun

Just when i think I've got my kids figured out, they flip-flop in some other weird direction. For example, every morning for the past year, Kary asks for yogurt for breakfast. Today at 8a.m., she wants noodles. With broccoli. In my sleep deprived pre-tea state, i give her noodles. With broccoli. She eats a bowl and a half of them. With her fingers. Singing 'rock a-bye noodle' the whole time. Such a odd little girl....

Aly is definitely keeping me guessing these days as she is 4 1/2 and not a baby anymore. But is apparently a stocking cap wearing puppy named Sunny. She crawled out of her room wearing a bright pink stocking cap on her head, socks and sandals on her hands. Barking. Are all kids this random or are mine just extra, um, special??

We have been having lots of fun this summer spending time with friends and being outside. Aly got her first bike which was very exciting. She was more excited about the $3 helmet i bought her and that she wore non-stop while we shopped for her bike. I'll post the picture of her asleep in the car after shopping. You can only imagine the looks we got at all of the stores, until we got to Wal-Mart where it seems to be normal for kids to walk around wearing helmets since we didn't get any stare there. Which is saying a lot since not only was Aly helmet-girl, but Kary was singing the best of Abba at the top of her lungs. Yes, Abba. Mama Mia sparked some hidden disco passion in my girls and now are in training for the 2030 auditions of Mama Mia on Broadway.

Anyway, back to our outdoor fun. We got to go fishing with Daddy, Papa and Gramma a few weeks ago. We had lots of fun and Daddy was happy to catch fish for once! (we'd been on a losing streak with fish for awhile now and he was starting to get fisherman's depression. Which can be very bad, with side affects including twitches at every Goldfish Cracker commercial, weeping at every Red Lobster commercial and down-right sobbing while watching Deadliest Catch. Not a pretty thing to witness, let me tell you.) So while Ian was on the road to recovery, I managed to catch a cute li'l fishy too. With a broken pole. The reel snapped while i was reeling it in and i had to use my hands to pull the line in. It was all very dramatic and Discovery channel-ish until we saw the fish was barely 4 inches big. Oh well, any bigger and i probably would've been pulled into the water and eaten by a whale. A fresh water whale, which are the worst kind.

Kary and Aly fished for a bit too, but had more fun 'hiking' with Gramma. While they discovered new territory the highlight was the rusty screwdriver that they brought back for Daddy. What a spoiled guy!

Speaking of that fine specimen of a man, he has been working hard in our yard this summer. The girls' play area was over run by ants so he tore up the old bark and laid fresh sod. And he also planted lots of flowers and plants that the dogs have yet to destroy. All this he's managed to do while working and doing classes online. What a stud!

This past week marked my first official story time at the library as the Children's Librarian. (yes, i like my title!) The girls love that i work at the library now and play librarian a lot. I am really enjoying working there and am so grateful that i can take the girls with me when i need to. but i do enjoy my few hours on Saturday when they stay home with Ian so i can get paperwork done at the library by myself! Ahh.... quiet!

While we have had a great summer so far, some sadness has touched our family. My parents' close friend and neighbor, Jim, had a heart attack last week at the Idaho City rodeo. He was on life support for a week before they took him off and he passed on the 4th of July. He was like a surrogate grandpa to our girls, Aly calls him "my Jim' and he'd always called her 'my girl'. We are very glad to have had him in our lives. I will include a picture of Jim and Judy from last Christmas if i can find one.

On a far happier note, we are counting down until my sis and her kids are coming for a visit! Only 12 more days until all the kids can run wild together and plot to take over the free-world! Every time they get together, I'm amazed at how lucky we are to have happy, healthy, and yes, insanely weird kids! They must get the insanity from their fathers' sides!!!