Welcome, Summer!

Angela painting the paint bottles. I tell ya, you turn around for ONE MINUTE...

Memorial Day weekend was great for us. Micah had an off Friday that I spent having fun in Orlando while he stayed with the kids. I drove up Thursday night and went to the temple, stayed in a hotel and then returned to do some more temple work Friday morning. It was the first time I'd been to the Orlando temple and the first time I'd participated in temple work in about 8 months. It's tough to figure out a way to go more regularly. With the 90 minute drive each way, we would need someone to babysit the kids for almost 6 hours if Micah and I tried to go together. Anyhow, glad I got to go. My hotel was awesome and had the greatest included breakfast I've ever had. Unfortunately, I woke up at 4 am and couldn't fall back asleep with the strange absence of a 4-year-old foot/knee/elbow in the butt/back/face.

After the temple, I did a little shopping and then checked out Epcot at Disneyworld. I didn't think it was that great, but I hardly went on any rides because the lines were so long. Epcot seems to be mostly about spending a ton of money on foods from various countries, but I am anti-buying-overpriced-food-at-Disney, so I didn't enjoy that. I did happen to hit the tail end of the International Flower and Garden Festival, so that was neat- tons of topiaries sculpted like various disney characters and displays on various types of butterflies and flowers. Then I tried out the coaster at Animal Kingdom- Everest- and it was pretty crazy and did me on for the day, so instead of staying for the nighttime show, I drove home before the kids went to bed Friday. Disney is officially not that fun alone. Maybe I should have gone to Ikea instead!

 On memorial day, we met up in Orlando with some friends who were in FL for memorial day weekend. We knew them from Atlanta-we had been swapping babysitting from the time Natalie was 9 months old. Unfortunately, Natalie was a little odd that day and didn't play with the other kids that much.

We spent the day hanging out at the pool together. It was really nice to catch up and revel together in the joy of having husbands no longer in grad school.

That evening we popped into Magic Kingdom before heading home. We had planned to just do a couple of rides, but lines were surprisingly short so we spent a few hours doing the kids' favorites, since we can't go back until August with our passes black-out dates.

This is Natalie washing dishes and it is literally the best thing ever.

In spite of our challenges, out garden is mildly productive. The melons didn't make it, but the tomato worms are gone now- whether it's too hot for them, or the wasps and other bugs that have come out for the hot season have eaten them all, I'm not sure. Just grateful to enjoy a bunch like this every few days! I've made salsa and pasta with them, but mostly I eat a lot of em just like this.

School is out now, which means that there are lots of fun cheap or free activities for us to do with the kids, like going to the beach, programs at the library, free kids movies at the local theater, even a program for kids to bowl free at the local bowling alley. The only downside is that we have to compete with lots of older kids and everywhere we go seems busy with families trying to stay busy.

I'm beginning a Zumba group at church. My first class went well, but was sparsely attended because of girls' camp. Hopefully I can get more ladies out to join me so I can be in practice next time I have an opportunity to audition for an open position at the gym! 

Tidbits

Sharing a drink. Ah, how sweet

Love me some help in the kitchen. 

Natalie graduated from Joy school last week. On to pre-k in the fall!

Sunday afternoon

Natalie randomly put out the yoga mat and tried getting Angela into the happy baby pose

In other news, our garden has been under attack from....

raccoon/squirrels

Tomato worms

And some kind of stinkbug/beetle thing.

I've sprayed and sprayed to no avail. I even set the chickens loose in the garden so that they would eat some of the bugs and instead they ate all the pepper and bean plants, the only ones NOT yet affected by bugs. Thanks a lot.

Hang in there, little guy! Our one and only canteloupe.

I mowed and trimmed the yard and did a bit of pruning Saturday. The vines are growing back where we decimated the jungle at the back of our property, so we'd better get a handle on that before the evil vines take over this tree that the girls like to climb.

Our chickens have been doing great. The surprise easter egger that lays green eggs (we thought he was a rhode island red) has been more productive than anticipated. They are supposed to lay 3-4 eggs a week, but we have had one every single day for the last 6 days. Hopefully she can keep up that momentum- if we can get 6 a week from each, that will definitely keep our egg carton full!

A Full Week!

We enjoyed our trip up to Raleigh for Paco's graduation last weekend. I was happy and proud of Paco, glad for the opportunity to meet his fiance, and of course thrilled that the kids got some cousin time in.

The trip was not without its frustrations, including a near-death experience when a truck almost ran into us and being chewed out by a lady for our kids' disruptive behavior during the convocation ceremony, but hey- we're alive and that grouchy lady can go %($&@%@ *$%@#&U~ Q#$(%&!

That is one heck of a drive to tackle in one day, though. Mothers day was spent listening to this for 10.5 hours...

The stinky girls, as I affectionately call our hens, were glad for our return. They have had lots of free time to forage around the yard and have laid 2 eggs a day every day since we got back.

Tuesday, Natalie's joy school group got to go to the fire station to check out the trucks and meet the firemen. It seemed pretty cool- I would definitely recommend it as a career path to someone not interested in the traditional 4-year-college plan but wanting more stability and family life than an entry-level military career.

Wednesday, we had a tough day at the dentist. Natalie has several cavities (I blame the heinous quantity of jelly beans consumed for potty training) and she was NOT happy about getting x-rays. They took her back without me and I could hear her screaming and crying from the waiting room. When I came back, she was huddled in a ball on the floor bawling with her whole face bright red and her eyes bloodshot. She's gonna have to have a conscious sedation and it's just gonna be a big ordeal. Not looking forward to it. 

Thursday, I took the girls out to a state park at an inlet by the beach. It was a 40 minute drive, so not somewhere I'll take them too often, but we loved it. Spent 4 1/2 hours and still had to drag them away. It was really nice because the water on the lagoon side of the island had shallow, still water where the girls could play without much risk of getting scared (Natalie) or swept out into the ocean (Angela). It was cloudy and we wore sunscreen and I still got burned and the girls got a beautiful tan. Urgh.

This is Angela refusing to leave.

They both got lots of compliments on their elmo suits. I'm in the market for a new swimsuit, I guess I'd better get one that matches theirs!

Micah pressure washed the house today and it looks magnificent. The white parts were all green and yucky with pollen, mold and dust. Now, they pretty much glow. 

What a man

He cleaned one of the paver stones in the area behind our porch and.... dang it. Now we have to clean all of them. I knew they were a bit dirty and moldy. I did NOT realize that, underneath it all, our brown paver stones are actually cream colored.

Blake's Wedding, Angela's Birthday and Garden Produce!

First, some shots from my brother's wedding in Denver last weekend...

First experiencing the snow while waiting at airport pickup while Daddy was struggling to figure out our rental car. It was smart. Waaaaaay too smart for us. It kept making beeping sounds and doing things we didn't understand.  

Natalie enjoyed making snowmen at the reception Friday night....

....at the sealing Saturday morning....

....and at the luncheon Saturday afternoon!

We got to enjoy the mall and our relatives, scored some dairy queen and Angela even got a few gifts for her birthday!

That night, Angela got sick, throwing up every hour between 10pm and 4am. When we left for the airport at 5, we hoped she was over it, but alas, she puked again on the airplane. It was horrible, but the ride was super bumpy so most just shrugged it off to motion sickness and weren's too (visibly) irritated. One guy even saw us afterwards at baggage claim and asked Angela if she was feeling better, "poor, little girl".

Since then, she has been fine, gradually has gotten her appetite back. I'm thinking she might have gotten a bit if food poisoning from our hotel breakfast Saturday, because she hadn't eaten much else all day and it came on and was over so quickly.

We got home Sunday by early afternoon and happily discovered that a second one of our chickens had started laying. Yay! Also, our first few tomatoes were ripe, as well as a couple of blueberries and a handful of beans.

Natalie helped me wrap Angela's birthday presents and decorate her cake

 Angela's birthday dinner was brought to us by the letter "M" and the color orange- Mac and cheese and mango

 She blew out her candles by herself and only wanted to taste the frosting, not the cake!

Presents!

And, her birthday wish came true almost immediately after she wished it :)

Finally....I've started canning Surinam Cherry Jam! And I processed a jar with the last of our pink grapefruit until next season. Lego fireman approves.