So, June, a collection of photos

The first month of summer break is in the books.  By now, we are half-way through our time off from school.  No one is complaining about the lack of bedtimes.  Want to watch a movie at 10pm?  I'll make the popcorn.  

We did lots of stuff.  Here's some pics of what we did so you all can keep up.

Soccer finally ended for Ewan and Cale with a league tourney.  Both their teams made it to the final game and both teams lost and were the runner-up.  What a great season for both.  I love that Ewan's team was coached by an excited 20 year old who had a little brother or cousin on the team.  I also loved that the assistant coach who sometimes ran practice did not speak English and a couple of the kids on the team had to interpret for him.  

Cale's team played hard and lost their final game in double sudden death overtime.  Too exciting to watch.

Where are we going?  I don't know, but the girls are dressed, hair done, looking good with their little animal side-kicks.

There was a week where I took the 3 smalls to a different park each afternoon while the big boys had basketball.  They needed to get out of the house.

Also, some failed geocaching happened.

We came back to karate like the prodigal son.  

Kella did a basketball camp, too.

Full dress rehearsals for dance.

Behind the dancing scene.

This boy still cuddled with me.

More dress rehearsal fun.

Kinley and her backstage mom.

Another park day, this time with friends.

Got to watch some DCI groups with these two, before the storms rolled in and we all made for the shelter of our cars.

Painted some kindness rocks.

Rock by Marcus, plate by Kella.

Sent these boys off to Cub Scout camp.

Spend some time at the pool.

Sent Marcus off to the first of 3 camps he would be attending within 2 weeks.  First basketball, then Boy Scouts and finally soccer.

And, that's that.

A Happy 4th!

Here we are.  Worn out from staying up late many nights in a row.  And, I finally got a few minutes to myself (kind of) where I can upload pictures and do a quick post.  

This year's 4th was me and the 4 youngest kids.  Andy, Marcus and Cale are at Boy Scout camp this week.  Actually, Andy had to leave camp and work a baseball game on the 4th.  Yea for work.  

We started the day with the 4th of July parade.  I love our not-so-small town parade.  We sit right by the library, a whole whopping 10 minute walk from our house.  The kids love going, because they are guaranteed to get a bag full of candy-which they did.  

Kinley had a love-hate relationship with the parade.  She loved to go.  She hated that we stopped walking when we got to our spot.  She loved candy.  She did not love all the candy.  She wanted candy.  She did not want to get out of the wagon to get candy.  Typical Kinley.

Happy Birthday America!

Super-simple wind-sockets to decorate outside.  They looked so pretty in the breezes.  

I made time to snuggle with Mr. Orange.  He's really excited for the 4th of July.

We did go to a free fair at a local church.  They had a couple bounce house things and some carnival games.  The kids all managed to win a little something, which made everyone happy.  It was hot and humid-go July in Indiana-that the kids didn't mind only staying for a little while before we went back home to recover in air-conditioning with popsicles. 

And, my finest work.  A deconstructed s'mores that I found on facebook.  Chocolate bars, sprinkle-dipped marshmallows and cooking for 8 minutes at 450.  Done.  Dip  yourself in some graham crackers and prepare for the sugar rush that will follow.  This was our first course for dinner ("dessert" was hot dogs, pasta salad, etc.).  

So pretty.

Kid-tested and approved.  

Dinner was followed by baths, tv and kids that really didn't care about watching fireworks.  In fact, I put the girlies to bed before the fireworks were over.  (Another great thing about where we live is that we can see most of the fireworks from our house.  As the trees have grown, we can't see them as well outside anymore, but can get a great view from our stairwell inside.  Watching fireworks from indoors-no complaints from me.)  

Just nice and simple.  Love it.