Thursday June 30

I went to the gym this morning.

When I got back, Brent had made an appointment with Dr. Allie to get Ports elbow checked out.

I had also gotten a sweet call from Heather, who was concerned that I hadn't blogged last night.....she is so sweet.

So great to know we are loved.

She offered to take the girls while we took Port to the dr.

So I hurried and jumped in the shower.

But when I got out, Brent he re-located Porters elbow.

So I cancelled the dr. appointment.

But Heather still let us take the girlies over to the Young house.

They look forward to seeing the Young girls anytime they can!

We hung out there for a little bit, then took the little ones to Lowes for some stuff to get our to-do list done.

I have been wanting to get things stained in the back.....chairs, playhouse, garden boxes, deck.

So we bought some stain and a few other things.

The little ones were screaming and fighting like cats and dogs.

So Brent took Elsie with him to get a few other things and to check out.

I took Porter outside to hang out in the car.

But we found the cool riding lawn mowers, and that kept us pretty busy until Dad was done.

Elsie was happy as a clam without the boy around.

Brent said she was being all friendly and making all sorts of friends while we were gone.

Not at all the case when the two were together.

Port had fun thinking he was driving all the riding lawn mowers.

He started counting them....I didn't even know he could count.

He only went to 4, but that is more than I knew about.

So I started working on going higher.

But that kid sure is stubborn.

He kept saying, "No, back to one again."

Little bum.

Anyway....so it worked out good to keep them separate.

*****

The older girls had a blast at the Young house.

Heather let them borrow her video camera....and they made some fun videos.

They played something like "Americas most talented kids".

I hope to get to see some of their videos.

I am sure they were pretty awesome!

Thanks Heather for taking the girls.

*****

I got a lot of staining done, and Brent got a lot of fix-it jobs done.

I think we will try and paint the playhouse tomorrow, and I will finish staining the chairs.

Wednesday June 29

Sorry the post is late....I had it all typed out yesterday and then it wouldn't let me post it.

When I got on today, it was all erased....so here we go again.

******

Madi got to go to her good friends birthday party today.

They took her to the movies....so we were Madi-less for a long time today.

We missed her, but I am glad she got to have fun.

Cassi felt bad that she didn't get to do anything fun.

But she was happy when I asked her if she wanted to make us dinner.

She was a great little helper.

Well, I guess I was actually the helper.

She did most of it on her own.

Great work Cass.

*****

Poor little Port is hurting today.

His arm/elbow is hurting him.

I think it may be something called Nursemaids elbow.

Cassi used to get it when she was little.

It happened most often when we would put floaties on her to go swimming.

Port has, on and off, had a hurt elbow and it seems to get better.

Stuff like jumping on the tramp with the girls, holding his hand.

Anyway....I think the other day swimming, it got popped out.

And yesterday when I was helping him in the house, I had my hand on his wrist, and picked him up over the step....and that is when he started holding it to his side.

Poor guy.

He wore it in a sling all day.

*****

*update* we had an appointment to get it checked out, but Brent was able to pop in back into place.

He is using it with no problem now.

I wonder if his joint there just isn't as tight, so it pops out easier....same with Cassi's.

weird.

Anyway, all is good now.

Tuesday June 28

I think we are starting to figure out what our summer will be like.

Maybe.

The girls woke up and were in a very helpful mood.

They did their chores, then asked if they could run on the treadmill.

For some reason they are on a exercise kick right now....

I told them it would be better if they would just take a run around the block.

They didn't like the idea.

So I told them to wait until I got back from the gym, and I would go run with them.

So I got home and we headed out.

Madi wanted to just start going and see where we ended up.

I told her we could kinda do that, but needed to make it a round trip too.

They didn't want to just run.

So I started giving them other things to do.

I told them to run to the first corner with high knees up.

Then they did it kicking their bums.

Lets see.....then we did the sidewards running.

And they did 4 lunges, then walked 4 steps, then 4 lunges, and again for another stretch of the road.

Then they ran backwards.

They were having a lot of fun, but boy was it HOT!!!!

We stopped at the park on the way home, but they just sat and panted :)

So we went home and got them lots to drink and they took it easy for a while.

 Then, once I laid Porter down for his nap, the girls all decided to go out into the clubhouse.

These girls sure have big plans for this clubhouse.

Stuff like: 

*a door

*glass windows

*a ceiling fan

*there was talk of a couch

*bookshelves

*painting the insides

*curtains

*a TV to watch movies

*Cass suggested they put their money together and buy a laptop

I told them we could do some of those things.....but not all of them.

I do love it when they go out and hang out there.

They took their bean bags out there today and read books for quite a long time.

It was nice.

It is a perfect place.

The big tree shades them from the heat of the sun, and the nice little breeze coming through the windows.

It is a quite a nice little place.

 *****

When Porter woke up, we headed the the store.

Cassi and Madi decided to pool some of their money together and buy Popsicles and water bottles and other drinks to sell.

They are calling their business

M n C company

Your thirst stops here

They are excited to get started.....too bad tomorrow is supposed to be a bit colder.

We will see how it goes.

*****

We got home and headed to the pool with the Young's.

Man, that pool has sure been crowded lately!

Oh well, we still have a fun time.

That kid is quite the little water baby.

He doesn't wait for me to be ready to have him jump in.

Little turkey.

Gotta keep my eye on this one!

Monday June 27

The Holdaway girls left today.

I will definitely miss them....but they were ready to get home to their mom.

They are such great girls!

This isn't a really great picture.....but I had to get what I could with the boy.

He was on his way out of the picture.

Stinker.

We had so much fun with Bay and Morgan.

Brent, and Cassi took the girls and met Steph and Bruce in Burley.

Madi stayed here so she could help watch Porter while Elsie has speech Therapy.

She also had an evaluation today for Ride For Joy.

We are so excited about this!!!

She gets to start the week of her birthday.

It is horse riding as therapy.

We have been on the waiting list for over a year....maybe even 2.

We are so excited to finally have a chance!

We learned that her horses' name is Elle.

I think it is a perfect fit....Elle and Elsie.

We are very excited for her and we have heard such great things that come from this kind of therapy.

*****

When Dad and Cassi got home we headed to the pool.

It was another hot day.

We saw Sister Roll there and Elsie got to do some swimming with her.

I need to be better about taking pictures at the pool.

Porter is a little nut in the pool.

He loves to jump off the side, and plunge in the water.

He bounces back out of the water and spits the water out and does a little scream.

Pretty great.

Anyway.....I will take more picture next time for sure.

The kids just love the water.

*****

Elsie's eye looks a little worse today.

Poor girl.

She is a trooper.....

It isn't as noticeable when she is wearing her glasses.

*****

So I guess it is time to get back to normal.

But I guess we have to figure out what normal is for us at summer time anyway.

Sunday June 26

April and her family left this morning.

They were gonna stay the day and leave tomorrow....but April got a migraine last night and had a rough night....so they decided to make the trip today.

I feel bad April had a bad night.....but I am glad she is doing better now.

Elsie sure had a fun time playing with April.

It was fun to have a short little visit with them.

And we will get to see them again when we get together for Ariel's wedding in August.

******

After the Davidson's headed out, I got to work doing hair for 5 girls to go to church.

Bay and Morgan are so great to have around.

While I was doing one of the girls hair....Elsie was crying and needed something.

And Brent was with Porter.

Sweet Bailey came and helped Elsie, asking her what she needed and doing all she could to help out.

Elsie lovingly calls her Bay-Bay.

It has been so great to have these girls here this week.

Steph raised some pretty darn great kiddos!

*****

We went to church, and had a good day.....

When we got home the girls all helped make dinner.

The girls put the shish-ka-bobs together.

These girls are such great girls!

We have had so much fun.

After dinner we had root beer floats.

Elsie got a little owie today.

Port and her were playing nicely with trucks, and sometimes Porters playing get a little rough.

Well, he swung the truck around and got Elsie in the eye.

Ouch!

It is gonna be quite the little shiner!

*****

Then somehow, the night turned into a water fight.

Not exactly our kind of Sunday afternoon activity.....but sometimes, these kinds of things just happen.

Port sure loves it when he gets a hold of the water.

Balloons got filled and we played some tossing games.

Then I got attacked by Porter.

Brent and Porter were in it together.

But obviously Port doesn't quite know the team concept yet.

He would go after me....but once I got out of reach or in the house, he turned it right on Brent.....funny kid.

Your not safe around him.

*****

Then we got everyone changed.

Stripped the boy down....but he ran out after the hose again.

Trouble.

That is one happy kid!

*****

It is the last night that the Holdaway girls will be here....so we decided to do another marshmallow roast.

Oh, and see that hole in Morgans mouth.....

Yep, she pulled out a tooth this morning.

Crazy!

She said she wanted to take it home before she puts it under her pillow.

*****

We had so much fun with these guys.

I will miss them when they go home.

But we will get to see them in August again.

I hope we can do this again next summer!

Saturday June 25

I should have taken way more pictures than I did today.

But at least I took some.

First of all.....at night Brent and Porter have little talks about what you need to build certain stuff.

Last night they talked about what they would need to build a house.

This morning Porter got up and asked Dad if they could build a big house.

It took a while to figure out what he was saying.....but finally figured it out.

Dad was happy to take the boy out to the garage.

But instead of a big house.....they decided to build a dump truck for the boy.

Porter was a helper for a little while.

Eventually Cassi ended up in the garage.

She decided she wanted to build a puppy house for Elsie's puppy.

Cassi made the plans and drew it all out for dad to make the cuts.

Cassi is a great little student.

She has a great time out there with Dad.

I am sure eventually Porter will be able to focus a little longer and help Dad out more.....

But Cassi sure loved it.

And Elsie loves her puppy house.

It was very sweet of Cassi to make it for her.

The other girls spent some time filling up water balloons.

They were pretty tough to fill, and I don't think much else came of it, except them getting wet filling them.

Oh well, they stayed busy for a while.

*****

We ended up playing games with the girls inside.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of it.

Cause Aarynn would have been included.

Lily and Cassi also spent the whole afternoon selling juice and Popsicles again.

I think they only made $2.00 today.

Still not bad for a good chunk of quiet time.

*****

Then it was time for April and her family to get ready and leave to the wedding that was a 2 hour drive away.

We waited for Port to wake up from his nap and we went swimming.

I wish I had pictures of swimming too.

Oh well.

We invited the Young family to come with us.

The girls......lots of them.....had a lot of fun.

*****

After swimming, we decided to take the kids out to Primos Pizza.

We went with the Young's there too....

I am pretty sure that we got our moneys worth of pizza out of that joint.

*****

Then the Young's invited us to their house for some ice cream sandwiches.

On the way we had to stop off at a certain craft store, Hobby Lobby, to get a special item that Brent needed for the dump truck he and Porter (kinda Porter) are making.

He said that is the one and only time he will need anything from a craft store.

I waited in the car while he ran in.

The kids and I played a fun game....

We blasted the music and we each took turn adding a dance move onto the person before you.

Boy, I wish I had a picture of them dancing!!!!!

I think it would be really fun to do not cramped in the car....but it was a blast.

When Brent came out, he saw me dancing like a maniac in the front seat of the car..... :)

But the kids had fun, and that is what matters!

*****

Then we hung out at the Young's house for a little bit.

We sure are grateful for that family!

Thanks for being such great friends.

You really are our Idaho family!

*****

Now the girls are up in bed watching a movie.....

We threw the king mattress onto the two twin beds pushed together....gave Port one twin and put the other twin on the floor and have another blow up mattress on the floor.

So all 8 girls are fitting in the room.

It works out great!

*****

We aren't sure when the Davidson family will show up tonight....and I hope they have a safe drive home!

*****

I am tired!

*****

Okay....here is the dump truck.

It is still in the works.

But pretty tough lookin' right?

Even if the wheels are from Hobby Lobby :)

Friday June 24

We think Cass is pretty amazing.

She did so awesome!

This morning, she told me she kinda had butterflies in her tummy.

I told her that it wouldn't be any different than getting up in church to bear her testimony.....something that would scare Madi to death, but for Cassi, it seemed to calm her and she decided it wouldn't be that bad.

I took her this morning and didn't get to see her again until the beginning of the performance.

I wondered how it would go.

But that girl had no problem at all getting out there and giving it her all!

We were so proud of her.

She was a natural out there.

She made some fun friends there.....and they all seemed to really love her.

She is a fun one to be around, that's for sure.

Mrs. Potts and Chip

Dad thought it would be a fun thing for Cassi to get some flowers.

I am sure she will be getting lots of flowers form dad in the future!

Cassi, you ROCK!!!!

*******

Then later this afternoon, the Davidson made it here safe and sound.

Little Cassi and Lily decided they wanted to sell some sweet peas from my garden.

Silly girls.

They decided a little later to add Popsicles to their menu.

They made $4....so that's not bad!

Cassi really wants to go to the Dollar store tomorrow.

I told her we would have to think about it.

Then we had to have a shot of all the cousins together.

This is a good chunk of the Peterson side grand kids, all right here in my house.

Pretty fun.

*****

Then we did some swimming....of course.

Elsie was having a blast with April.

She didn't let April out of her sight the whole time.

When April first came, Elsie couldn't say her name.

That PR sound together is a hard one.

So she kept saying "Hey, Hey."

We talked her into calling her Ape, then after saying that enough, she was able to say April....well, it is more like Apoe, but that does the trick.

The boys made themselves their own little floating device.

Pretty cute if you ask me!

Thurday June 23

It has been kind of a relaxing day.

Poor Bailey isn't feeling well, and we kinda just hung around today.

But I think the girls were okay with that.

I do think the boy had some fun.

I have had this firehouse for a long time, it was a toy of my families when I was younger.

I inherited it, and the boy has just started to realize it's great potential.

Elsie's PT, Katie, bought these little firetrucks for Porter that she found at an estate sale.

He thinks they are pretty cool, and they just fit perfectly.

He is a happy boy.

On a side note, I am not completely convinced that he doesn't have another ear infection coming on.

We will see.

*****

Later on today, the girls wanted to try out some Minute to Win it games.

I went through the list and found things that I had on hand....or similar things.

The girls had a pretty fun time.

Tomorrow April and her family come to visit.

I hope Bay feels better after a good nights rest.

Cassi also has her performance tomorrow.

I can't wait to see how she does....but I am also a little nervous for her.

But I know she will be awesome!

Wednesday June 22

Man.....it was a hot one today.

I think we got to 95 degrees.

The girls played outside in the clubhouse all morning....we ran a fan out there, so they would be safe from the heat.

It is a in a good place anyway, with a big tree shading them.

They played games and hung out while Cassi was at her theatre/music class.

They also helped me do a little bit of cleaning in the rooms upstairs.

They are good kids.

Cassi came home....very excited and pumped again about her play.

And again, I am so excited to see her perform on Friday!

Then Elsie's PT came over.....and after that, we were ready to head to the pool.

Bay is starting to not feel very well, so we didn't stay too long.

I think Port may have a good chance of learning to swim this summer.

The kid loves the water and isn't afraid of it.

Brent is teaching him to bring his head up out of the water, and how to close his mouth and hold his breathe.

He pops out of the water like a nut, spurting water out and growling like, what he says is, a Dragon.

The kid cracks me up.

Bay played with the big girls most of the time, but the last little bit she took it easy and hung out on the steps with Elsie.

Elsie was loving it.

Bailey is such a great kid!

I could not get a good shot of the girls jumping in.....the camera either took the shot once they were already in the water, or before they had started jumping.....dumb camera!

Anyway, this one cracks me up though!

I laugh everytime I see it.

I think it is gonna cool down a bit....but I am sure we will swim some more.

*******

We had pizza for dinner and decided to make it a movie night so we could all relax.

They got to watch two movies....

Alpha and Omega and Yogi Bear.

Pretty exciting, right?

Now it is bedtime.

More fun ahead for tomorrow.

Tuesday June 21

More sun today on this first day of summer.

And the girls did a lot of playing outside again.

Cassi had theatre/music class again today.

She got her part....she will be Chip, and she couldn't be more excited!

I am so excited to see how she does when they perform on Friday.

She seems to have a knack for memorization....she already knows a lot of her lines.

Pretty cool, I think.

I am pretty sure Steph could have just sent her kids with just swim suits :)

They have spent a lot of time in them.

We went swimming again after dinner tonight.

When we got home they all had root beer floats.

Happy girls.

Morgan and Bailey called home tonight, and poor little Morgie got a little homesick....crying to her Mom and Dad.

I told Steph that I had no idea she was feeling that way.

They have been on the go, having so much fun.

But I know for sure they are definitely worn out!

Don't worry Steph, I am taking good care of them.

And they sure are great kids!

I love having them around.

*****

I put Port to bed and about 10 min. later he was crying....and it was a scared cry.

So I went in and checked on him, and there was a humungo fly in his room.

He was pretty freaked out.

(I told you we were tired, right?)

I smashed the fly and we flushed him, but the boy just wanted his Dad.

Dad was out fixing sprinklers, so Port wanted to wait for him out there.

The sweet boy didn't last very long.

But at least he was with dad, right?

******

We plan on taking it a little easier tomorrow.

Maybe a little cleaning to get ready for our weekend guests.

We may have to swim some more, since tomorrow will be hotter than it was today.