Mid-July

Our car was way past due for a wash so the kids helped us wash both cars one day.

We've had some rainstorms this summer.  We love playing in the warm rain!

Some days I am not able to get Brynn to take a nap.  A lot of those days, something like this ends up happening:

Or this:

Or this:

Sweet, sleepy girl!

We don't always have to go somewhere to have fun.  Horsey rides to bed.

And how many people can fit on a trike?

Brynn found the Sharpie marker earlier this day.  Notice the drawing she did on her leg.

The kids chose to wash the car and have a water fight for Bucket List Week 7.  Since we had just barely washed both cars, we changed it a bit and ended up just having a water day outside.  We got out the slip-n-slide and the water balloons.  And when those things come out, neighborhood kids come around.  The more the merrier, I say!

from back: Bailey Boynton, Elise Jones, Molly, Jade Boynton

from front: Stockton, Bailey, Rhys Howard, Hazel Howard, Elise, Molly, Jade

Water balloon canon!

Watching it fly!

I signed all my kids up for swim lessons this year.  It was nice for Stocky and Brynn to get to do something, rather than just watching Molly. 

I'm still undecided with Molly if swimming lessons are really worth it.  She already loves the water and I could probably teach her all the basic strokes.  But she enjoys being part of a class so we continue to do it.

 

For Stockton, though, it's another story.  It was so worth it!  He was always so nervous of water and would barely get in.  But that first day he got in and his teacher said to put his face in, and he did!  Just like that!  I guess all it took was a stranger telling him to do it.  He was great the whole two weeks and on the very last day he even went down the slide by himself and jumped off the diving board twice.  He's been so very brave in the water since then...needless to say, we'll keep signing him up!

 

Brynn was too young to be in a class by herself but I knew she would have a hard time sitting at the pool everyday watching Molly and Stockton but not being able to get in.  So we did a mommy-and-me class together and that was lots of fun for her.  She learned about floating on her belly and back, kicking her feet, and ice-cream-scoop-arms.  On Thursdays they let the baby class just go on the slide or play in the shallow end.  Brynn chose to go down the slide over and over and over again.  It was definitely her favorite part of the whole two weeks.
  
 

And Bucket List Week 8 is one without pictures: we hauled the queen-sized mattress downstairs for a family movie night and sleep-over.  We rented Megamind from Redbox, popped some popcorn, and had a grand ol' time!  Brynn slept in her room but Molly and Stockton laid out their sleeping bags by the mattress.  Justin and I slept comfortably in our own bed, although not in it's regular spot.  Always a successful family activity!