catch up time

I cannot believe it is the middle of August. It is sad to see the summer winding down I am not quite ready to send my kids back to school but such is life I guess. Abby and Lizza finally got to take their swimming lessons they have been asking about all summer. I did private lessons for them and it was awesome. They learned so much and it was fun to just be in the pool alone with Kortney (the teacher). Meg felt like she was the experienced one because she had already taken her lessons. She kept standing by the edge of the pool cheering them on or trying to tell them what to do. When it was diving board time she coaxed liz out of the pool telling it yeah come on, it's okay, you just do this. She was fun to watch as well. Both girls were really proud of themselves when we finished. Next up Soccer, here we come! We went for a long weekend down to Pocatello to see my family. Mands flew in from Texas, Matt flew in from California (minus his family), and Josh and Natalie shuttled Mandy and Matt up from Utah. IT was so fun to get together. My brother Matt is a Chiropractor and he was busy all weekend treating patients. If he wasn't he was working on one of us (his family for free). Thanks Matt. I can't forget Mandy she graciously brought her otoscope and checked my ears what would I do without you guys. We hit up the all important Chubbuck day Parade (Chubbuck is a "suburb" of Pocatllo) with cousins Mitchell and McKenna. Always a good time to be had at the Chubbuck days. There was a float for this dinner and theater place which is doing wizard of Oz right now. The people were all dress like the characters of the play. So the wicked witch came up to Meg, who really wasn't paying attention, and touched her and did you wicked laugh right in Megs face. It scared her to death. The rest of the parade Meg was lukewarm. I felt so bad for her. I wasn't really paying attention either or I would have shielded that. She woke up that night and said she was afraid of the witch and has mentioned it a few times since then. She is still on a kick of not wanting to go to the bathroom alone. Now she says there could be a witch in there. Super, just what I needed.

Next Mandy, Daren, and I went on a mountain bike ride up City Creek in Pocatello. It was really fun. Then we brought our kids back later and did a family hike up there. They had a good time and the trail was fun for kids. It was shaded most of the time and there were little coves of trees we could duck into and be right by the stream. The kids had a great time.

Lastly a picture of some of us. Me, my dad, Matt, Megan, Mandy, my mom, Josh, and Natalie on the driveway.

Okay my Dad loves wildlife and is fascinated with birds but when they start getting into his stuff that's a whole different story. He gets so mad at the squirrels that steel his bird seed and the deer that get into his garden and fruit trees. He spends a considerable amount of time thinking of ways to stop them. At one point he would use a sling shot and shoot marbles at the squirrels that was disturbing to my children but he still tried. He has put this ugly plastic orange fencing around his garden to keep the deer out but to no avail. He had just complained to me that they ate all his squash this year. He was contemplating having Josh (my brother) bring up one of his paint guns and he would shoot paint pellets at the deer, nice. So as we were leaving for the hike we caught them red handed in the trees there were 4 deer just walking around looking for some food.

Once we got home and started to put the pieces back together Max is right back at it. Why do I even bother? he is stuck underneath the baby gate. He does fine on the stairs It was up because I was cleaning the turtle tank and we all know that Max and access to the turtle don't mix.

boys!?

I love Max lets just get that out there, however I am in for some tough years. I am sure it will all even out once Abby hits 12/13 but for now Max takes the cake. I am also more acutely aware that the Lord gives you only as much as you can handle, hence the 3 girls. I thought (before I had kids of course) that I could totally have a brood of all boys. I have 4 brothers and most of the kids I babysat were boys, but man was I wrong. This kid is just everywhere, it's fun but it's killing me! Just tonight he kept climbing up onto our bricks by the fireplace and jumping. The last time he climbed onto a small suitcase/box I have sitting on one corner and fell off onto the ground. He is just crazy! Tonight while I was cooking our fries to go with our hamburgers he kept telling me hot. It is a cause he has picked up the last few weeks. He warns me all day about the hot oven and hot microwave. So I turn around to get stuff from the fridge he had pulled open the "hot" oven and was standing there pointing at it saying hot, hot, hot. Now while I will admit smart boy lets just review. Abby will be 8 next month(a whole different topic) and she will not open the oven for me out of fear because it is "hot". Max is 1 and already pulls the thing open while it is on! Do they even make child safety oven locks? I'm sure he is not the first to come up with this brilliant idea.

This past weekend we worked really hard in the yard. They kids stayed outside and sort of helped for most of the afternoon, but by 5:00 they were tired of it. So the girls went in and after a while Max was totally red and need some cooling off. So I sent him inside too. I will be the first to admit not smart. But on the one hand he does have 3 older bossy sisters whom I spend all day saying "he's alright put him down", "leave him alone", "let him do it", "HE'S ALRIGHT!" So with the charge to watch Max I felt fairly confident that he would be okay. Daren and I were checking in on them all periodically. Well we apparently went to long between checks (20 mins tops). Here is the result.

The good news is that now I can blame my messy house on Max and not my lack of ability of motivation.

Most Saturdays the girls get up and watch a few cartoons before life gets rolling for the day here at the Wallace's. So this last Saturday the girls were watching their coveted shows Daren was biking, Max as we've all seen running wild, I made Abby and Lizza's beds and put all the cloths away that were on the floor. It may not sound like a lot but seriously Lizza changes at least 5 times a day and for some reason cannot remember to put her cloths where they belong. Anyway I put a heart on their door that said something like this room was touched with love pass it on. So Abby later that day covered my room with sticky notes.

The first one says "your fashionable," the next, "your a queen," etc. I love that girl. She even got Lizza to write one. She was sneaky about the whole thing. It was fun. .

Lastly for the update we had our good friends the Collins family drive thru like a hurricane. They came from Las Vegas had lunch with us and went on their merry way to Black Butte in Oregon. IT was so fun to see them and talk with them. They claim they are stopping by on their way home. My kids don't' fully believe them because they were supposed to spend the night this time around and that didn't happen and we were supposed to go to Roaring Springs (a water park). So if they do I will get better pictures for those of you who know who I am talking about.

Aside from that I will just say I cannot believe it is already August. It makes me so sad to think we only have 3 weeks left of summer before I send my kids off to school. Abby and Lizza with be gone all day and it will be long. I never got used to it last year, it seems. Usually by 3:00 I start checking the clock thinking shouldn't she be home by now. She didn't get home until 4:00.

There are nice times have less kids at home I will readily admit but I still miss them during the day.