Where to begin...

Not that something exciting has happened or bad, I just haven't written in a while. The first part of this post is called "Fun With Creepy Crawlies". We talked about bugs and did some "bug" projects. The first was these cool "bug glasses". You'll notice that George had to take off his Harry Potter glasses in order to put on the bug ones.

Next we got some worms and checked them out up close. Our cute neighbors came over to help out with the project. I think I could have gotten a good two hours of entertainment out of those 20 worms.

This is Edvin, the youngest of the Khripchenko bunch. George loves to chase him around and shoot him. Then Edvin plays dead. Edvin also enjoys a good shouting match with Phin.
This is Julia, our great babysitter. It's wonderful having her right next door to watch the boys whenever. The boys love her and she's making bank on us since we use her at least once a week. I don't know what I am going to do when school starts.
Phin was very cautious and careful with the worms.

George was a little more -- expressive -- with the worms. He kept holding them up and saying "ooooooo" over and over again.

We've had all kinds of activities these past few weeks. Adam's Mom and Dad came over during the 24th of July and we went to the boat races. Basically, it's NASCAR on water. And from what we hear, the Saturday evening crowd has NASCAR written all over them. We enjoyed the more "tame" trials and Adam, his parents and the older boys got to tour the pits. Sorry, no pictures of the boats, just this cute little ditty of our favorite older couple.

We also did some "garage sale"ing and I picked up some new winter hats for the family.

Spencer, as you can see, is not impressed. But the older boys were happy with their new duds. Too bad it was 98 degrees outside or I think George would have kept his on. The visit with Mom and Dad was great. After the boat races me and the boys went to the stake 24th of July celebration. Big thanks to the Erickson's for taking care of Spencer while I went around with George and Phin (forgot the stroller). Next was Art in the Park. Note to self, leave the menfolk at home and just go with Mama. We had a great time, but didn't get to see half of what was there. Dad declared it a great success, mainly because Mama didn't buy anything. Adam spent the time calling realtors to see if anyone was available to take us house hunting, while the boys played in the dirt around a tree. Poor kids.

We did get to go house hunting and our finds are in another post to come. Too bad we didn't find anything really promising when Mom and Dad were here. We have found some things since, but like I said, for another post.

On Monday my friends from Seattle (actually, they are from Salt Lake, but live in Seattle now) passed through and we had a great afternoon and evening together. Their son Scott was my new best friend instantly. It's nice when kids are fooled into thinking I'm a nice lady. KC and Jessica, we are excited to see you next weekend!!

Tuesday we had our new friends the Homers over for dinner and Adam and Brandon planned the Elder's quorum activity to be held this Friday. I'll let you know how it goes. Should be a lot of fun. On Thursday we tried to beat the heat at the river, really the only time you can go to the river because it is so COLD. But when it's 104 and there is no shade in sight, it's easy to take a dip in the chilly waters.

Yes, this is Spencer. The only hat anyone had on them was for a 3-year-old girl. But it kept the sign out of his eyes. That's my great friend Ramie (the one who surrogate mothered for me at the stake activity on the 24h of July). She is so good with my kids and has the patience of a saint. God bless you Raime!
George and Phin spent as much time on the "beach" as they did in the water. It was basically a mud pit, but they had a ball. After, we all had to take a bath and I caught this cute one on my camera phone.

Does it get any cuter than this? When things get tough and I want to run away (not far, just to the library for some peace and quiet) I look at this picture and remember what a blessing each and everyone of my children is. I wouldn't trade any of them for anything.

Later that night we went to Harry Potter, leaving Phin and Spencer with a babysitter and taking George with us. He was so excited. We enjoyed the movie, but I was a little worried that George would get scared during the cave scene, when the dead guys start crowding the island. It was Adam and a friend that went with us that got the most scared. Adam jumped out of his seat and clung onto George, who was cool as a cucumber. No nightmares or anything. We are definitely ready for number 7 and I have a mind to re-read the book just to be sure I'm ready.

Anyway, the August post is coming soon, just to get you all up to date. Here's some teaser titles so you know what you have to look forward to:

House Hunting

Trains

Couponing

More Love and Logic

As my friend Michelle says -- Peace out!