Summer is in Full Swing!

I wanted to post a couple pics of the kids so far this summer..I can't believe how big they are getting! The first pic is one Steve took yesterday of the kids..turned out ok since it is so hard to get them all smiling at once!


The rest are of Scotty at his swim lesson "graduation". They showed off all the skills they learned. There is nothing here to do except swim, so they gotta be good at it!

Getting a deep breath!





Dove for all the rings!

Happy Birthday to Us!!

Yes, he has food hanging off his mouth on purpose!

So birthdays are so uneventful as I get older and since I was hitting the big 3-3 and Steve is 34 this week, we weren't doing much.. but our wonderful friends took us out to celebrate anyways!

We went to this great restaurant in Deep Ellum/Dallas called Monica's which was fantastic. The best part about it was the crazy live music. Of course, everyone let on to the server about the birthdays and so when the band ("Chilo and his Latin sounds") starts rolling with the music, the guitarist pulls me out of my seat and hands me a tambourine..classic..what am I supposed to do with that?! We make it up to the stage with other fellow birthday people and they are all three sheets to the wind. I started trying to hide behind the bass player..mind you, the tambourine still in hand..The song was literally 10 minutes long and as all the younger, less clothed girls and guys started a conga line, I headed back to hide under the table. Good Times.


Why does he always have to be goofy?
Getting up on stage
Hiding....
Feeling mortified!!


Can't quit laughing..
Still laughing!

Jeff's due in December..


Then we headed on to a comedy club called Ad Libs which is all improvisational comedy. It was so funny and we had such a great time...so thank you to our friends for planning it and celebrating with us! (even if we are getting old)

Day at the Lake

My parents took us out for a day at the lake for my dad's bday/ father's day. They are moving out there soon and wanted to have some fun with the kids and check out the new digs. We had so much fun!! We took out a pontoon boat and then also my dad's friend came with his boat to pull tubes etc. Despite getting a little rain now and then, it was great. The lake is so beautiful. It is called Cypress Springs and is out an hour and a half or so but it is nice to get out of all the mainstream lakes. This area seems like the place to retire for sure!





Abbey and her cousin on the tube!

We had a nice little party for my dad and I can't believe he is 65 WOW!




We all got some sun but I got a little too much! I was hurting pretty bad when we got home and I realized weird parts of my body for burned like my knees, the top of my hands, the top of my feet?? Whatever, I just needed a tan so I can suffer through the burn. It was a nice way to break in the summer..Good Times. Thanks to my wonderful parents for the fun day.

Airlines Gotta Make A Buck Somewhere...

My sister in law sent this to me. So Hilarious! This will be us next month when we go on our vacation! Yikes!

School's Out for Summer!!

Always fun to start summer off with a bang. I took Spence to the after hours clinic for kids last night to confirm what I already thought was double ear infections! He has had the nice cold I gave him to deal with and the doctor said his ear was so bad that it looked like an adult ear infection because it was so red and had lots of puss. He said usually people with ear infections this bad come in crying in pain. Of course, Spence was not himself but he must be one tough kid because he's been happy on and off despite it. So I am taking the time to update my blog since we are home from church today!


We had a good week. Abbey had her first piano recital in which she did so great!! She memorized her songs which was a huge feat for her. She played 2 songs and she has really taken to it which is fun for me since I played when I was younger also.




Scotty's last day of school was last week but I hadn't posted yet on it. They did a nice presentation. He sang some fun songs and got a "diploma" for finishing his year of preschool. He has done so well and grown leaps and bounds. I am so proud of him and all he has learned!



Abbey's last day was Thursday. They did a nice program at school also and she got the award for "Awesome Attitude." I was so amazed at all she had accomplished this year. She ended up with all A's which I am so not taking credit for..she just has worked hard all year and I am so proud of her!



Not sure how I am feeling about summer upon us..Love the swimming, not having to get up every day so early and cart my kids to school etc, but our first day out of school was supposed to be bliss with everyone sleeping in until at least 8 right? Wrong! I am awakened at 7 am with Scotty screaming at Abbey and her crying because he hit her in the back. Apparently, she had taken the pillow he was sleeping on (they fell asleep in her bed the night before) Neither went back to sleep and they actually woke the baby too! Fun start to the day.

But we have had some fun stuff too! My friend Nikki hosted a end of school year bash at her house with a bunch of friends..so we swam, ate and let the kids go crazy! There must have been at least 15 kids in that pool.. After they wore themselves out, we left to come home, only to find Steve had taken the rest of his day off! The stars aligned for me so I got some much needed errands done.



That night, we also took the kids to Frisco Grooves which is a free concert at a park where different groups play music and the kids run amuck. A lady named Teri Hendrix played and she was great; Kind of folk, country music, I guess. Between the Copelands, Barlows, Wardell's, Us, Sivley's and Crane's, we must have encompassed half the kids there! The kids had a great time dancing up by the stage. They looked like groupies up there! I got laughing pretty hard at the kids going crazy.

We took some fun pics which I will post later since I forgot my camera! Thank goodness my friend Anne brought one.

All in all, a good weekend but I am wiped out! So, I guess summer break really isn't a "break" for mom's at all but regardless we had a great week!

Muddling Along!

I found this article in LDS living magazine and it just made me laugh because it is the story of my life..all of our lives I am sure. Wanted to share it so that we all know we are doing the best we can even if it doesn't feel like it!

I put my favorite quotes from the article in italics:

Muddling Along
by Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard
Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Have you ever had one of those days where you wish you’d stayed in bed? I remember a day like that.

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The dishwasher had malfunctioned, flooding our house all night as we slept. We didn’t know until one of our sleepy-eyed children came into our bedroom early in the morning and said, “Mom and Dad! It’s raining in the basement!”
The room that was hardest hit was the storage room where we’d recently carefully stacked and dated our pride and joy, a two-year supply of food. In a mad dash to save anything we could, every member of our family hauled each bucket and box out into the back yard to dry out. It took hours.

Just when we finished, we heard a clap of thunder, looked up, and felt several drops splash in our eyes. Then the heavens were opened and the few drops immediately became a downpour. We regrouped and quickly hauled our soggy mess into the garage.

When we finally got every box and bucket into the garage, my son came running to me in tears, informing me his pet rabbit was dead. After finally getting the children off to school, my daughter called from campus saying she couldn’t remember where she’d parked the car at BYU. Then my other first-grader had an accident that required a change of clothing. You get the picture.

“I can’t handle any more,” I said to my husband.

“You don’t have to handle it,” my husband replied. “There’s no rule book somewhere that says you have to go through life handling everything. Just muddle, Jan. I’ve been muddling for years and no one can tell the difference.”
Muddle, I thought. I think I can muddle.

Now every time I’m feeling overwhelmed, I remember my husband’s timely advice. Frankly, I’ve been muddling ever since and so far no one can tell the difference, just like he promised.

I remember a day when I walked into the kitchen to find my young son surrounded by the large white buckets where I stored our flour, sugar, and pasta. He was busy scooping— sugar into the flour—rice into the sugar—pasta into the rice. The whole kitchen looked like a white billowing cloud except for my son’s innocent grin and two large blue eyes staring up at me. “Look, Mom. I’m the bread maker!” my young son said as he looked up at me.

Suddenly it dawned on me that whenever I made bread I pulled out all the white buckets and started scooping. He was trying to be like me.

My feelings of frustration melted into love. I was so proud of him for trying. As we got busy cleaning the kitchen, I realized God loves us like that. No matter how big the mess or mistake we’ve made, God provides us with a Savior to help us clean it up. That is the essence of muddling.

Muddling is not mediocrity. Muddling allows us to stop keeping up appearances or worrying that we’ll never measure up. Muddling is accepting our humanness and inadequacies. Muddling is realizing there are some messes only Christ can clean up. And muddling is seeing our worth through God’s eyes and never giving up hope that things will work out.

Hope you liked it!