Tornadoes, the Zoo, a baby shower, new dresses and some other stuff

 The pictures this week are pretty scattered:

Doug saw this tornado about 2 miles from his work.  He said it didn't last very long, so he wasn't worried.  He just finished his 3 week audit, so now we wait to see how they did.  It was a long a stressful time with Doug staying up late to get his emails and other things done.

Kaylee quite proud of her cape and my shoes.

 I made a baby shower cake for a friend.  It was the first time I had made one of the these bows, I think it turned out pretty well.

 The girls wore these dresses for the first time today.  I bought them 2 years ago, while we were still in Vernal.  I knew they would fit eventually.  They looked very pretty today.

Kaylee was very good to let me take her picture.

 Jenna, not so much.

 But she gave me a smile later.

 Jenna/Kaylee

 Pretty hair.

 Getting silly and not following mom's instructions to stand up.

 After taking a bunch of grumpy pictures of Jenna and I told her we were done and starting putting the camera away.  Then she perked up and gave me a nice smile.  She likes to wait until the last minute on things.  You can kind of see some red on the side of Jenna's mouth.  She fell down the basement stairs this week.  It looks like she permanently has ketchup on her face.  She also fell off the couch yesterday and got a fat lip, poor girl.

 I was playing with my hair the other day.

 Thursday was a melt down day.  The kids were bickering all day, I was tired, then Jenna tipped over a whole pitcher of Kool-aid.  Quiet time was a relief, but the craziness started up again in the afternoon and the girls poured a ton of water all over the floor during their bath.  Sigh.  These days are hard on me, but I try and enjoy the good times and get past the bad as quickly as possible.

 We made a trip to the zoo on Friday.   We had wanted to go earlier in the week, but it was rainy.  It was a bit hot, but not too bad.  The snow leopards were out and prowling, it was pretty cool.

 I rented a wagon and that was definitely the way to go with the girls now.  They just want to be in and out and this way they could do it themselves.  The stroller would have been too hard and too big. Enjoy that popcorn girls!

 We saw a lot of shows this trip, the sea-lion, the elephant, and the wildlife one.  They showed an opossum, an alligator, a small sand snake, and a very large boa constrictor.  The girls crashed on the way home, and thankfully transferred to their cribs ok.

Hogwarts week 6

I didn't take many pictures of our activities this week.  This one is the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment.  I only bought a 1 liter bottle, I think a 2 liter would have erupted more.

We also delivered crayons and coloring books to the local ER, adopted a tree, went on a math scavenger hunt (this really saved me- it kept Damon and Tyler busy for a good 30 minutes running around the house counting things), designed our own postcards, decorated a window, and read under a tree while drinking lemonade.

We also played splash tag.  It was a fun family activity - I just wish the kids wouldn't whine or cry when they got hit or got wet - it's how the game works people, get over it.  So you just play tag and the person who is 'it' tags the next person by hitting them with the wet sponge or one of the those water balls.  We were all pretty wet by the end.  

2 more weeks of Hogwarts summer school.

Week in review

Saturday was Colorado Cares day.  Our ward volunteered at a local community garden and also gathering food and making sack lunches for a homeless organization.  

 I did a big shopping trip to the grocery store on Saturday while Doug and the boys helped at the garden.  I got a car cart for the girls - they did very well driving. Chris wanted to drive as well, and was very whinny for most of the time.  I succumbed and bribed him with a doughnut and that helped.  So I didn't have a huge list, but I ended up getting quite of few pantry stuff because of some good sales.  Well, by the end of the store I couldn't fit one more thing in my cart.  I was trying to stuff yogurt cartons in the cracks :).  It was pretty funny.  I ended up with two shopping carts once it was bagged, over $200 worth of food and we go through it so fast.  I'm nervous for when my boys are teenagers. Yikes! It's amazing how tired I get just grocery shopping; pushing those big heavy carts, then unloading, then putting it all away, phew.

 New hair-do

 We go on lots of walks - keeps us sane and gets some energy out.

 This summer we have participated in a group called S.O.S (summer of service)  Every Tuesday they have a service project that is very family friendly.  We were only able to participate twice this year, but I hope to be able to do more next year.  This was the final activity: giving some treats and thank you notes to the fire department and then getting a tour.

 We got to see the helicopter too.

A few other things

Doug took the boys to Jump City yesterday.  We went once before and they have been asking to go again.  We probably won't go again for awhile, it's pretty pricey for just one hour of jumping. 

 Doug said they had a cool projector thing shining on the floor, they were trying to pop balloons electronically.

 Ice cream afterwards

 During the week we played with marbles and went to a new splash park in Erie.

 One thing that frustrates me right now with the girls is how they eat.  They beg for food all the time, but then when it's time for a meal they refuse to eat. (not all the time, but often enough that it drives me bonkers.) I try to not let them snack too much, but they still don't like to eat at meal times.  One day I was upstairs sewing and Chris called to me saying something about the girls and bread.  I didn't think much of it, if they got out a piece of bread that would be ok.  I came downstairs to a half of loaf of bread ripped up or smashed.  This picture is after I cleaned up quite a bit.  I didn't get too mad surprisingly - it was my own fault for not coming down earlier, and hey if they were hungry at least they chose something that was relatively good for them.

Fun being a girl

I remembered to take some pictures of the girls this week in some of their different outfits.

This is how their hair looks 75% of the time.  The only time it looks good is on a morning that they take a bath and it only lasts until nap time.

Having snack outside. 

 Ready for church.

They are letting me do their hair again which is nice. 

 Kaylee

 Jenna

 So I bought a new dress online, which is a little bit risky, but I just thought it was so cute.  I probably should have bought a size smaller, but I just took in a seam in the shoulder and it fits fine.  Kind of fun to wear something new and get dressed up.

 As a funny side note, this necklace is the belt from my 70's costume that I wore for Halloween last year.  But hey, I think it looks cute :)

Hogwarts week 5

This week we took a fun group picture, decorated picture frames, made a boat with natural materials (the avocado shell I thought was a stroke of genius), made a Disney treat, and a few others I didn't take pictures of.  We played a games called Knock Knock Your Socks Off.  You try and take everyone's socks off and the last person with a sock on wins.  Well, my boys don't know how to control themselves and we didn't even get to finish one game before most got hurt and Damon had a bloody lip, sigh.