Making Little Memories

It's Summertime!
Our schedules have shifted a bit, and we're cramming more into our days, so we need to be more creative with our limited free time.  I'm letting the kids stay up 'til 9pm b/c the evening is too short, and I don't want the kids to miss out!  If they sleep in as a result, I'll be happy.  But they still get me up semi-early and sometimes don't take naps.  We had been pretty good about an 8pm bedtime for the boys. 

Today, I had a fun yet short photo shoot for this BEAUTIFUL family.  

 
 then I trimmed the boys' hair on the front yard (b/c we have shade in the front).  Then we went to a birthday party at Planet Jump,

  then I ran 6+ miles while the kids napped. (Actually they rested, took turns having to get up to go potty - a good excuse they figured out.)
Then, this evening, we went to dinner w/ a gift cert

    no nap remember, then drove to Sports Authority to get a pair of running shorts for Steven's 7 mile run (which he did at 9pm.  SEVEN MILES!!! 

   I only did a little over six miles, but my miles were at 2pm, outside, over some bridges, in the BLAZING hot sunshine.)  Dylan is learning how to hula hoop b/c his friend Ella is good at it b/c "she practiced." 

When we got home this evening, we started watching Edward Scissor Hands, which intrigues the kids.  In the commercials, they went potty, we brushed teeth, then we went outside and put our heads down on a beach towel on the driveway.  We looked at the stars.  Dylan noticed it blinking and I told him that sometimes we call that "twinkling."  Then we all sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  Next we decided that some of the clouds looked like a dog-monster either blowing a snow ball, or eating it.  We went back in before the movie came back from commercials. 

Last night while Steven mowed the front lawn, we got out our sidewalk chalk and 3D chalk glasses.  We usually do chalk in the back yard on our cement slab, but we wanted to spread sunshine to our neighbors, like I just noticed that Kelle Hampton did the other day.  (This is sort of ending up like a copy cat post, but hers is MUCH better.)  She lives a little more south in FL, so it's even hotter there.  I didn't take pictures b/c I was all chalky making hop scotch squares, an alphabet yellow brick road, flowers, the sunshine (of course), the kids' names, and a big rainbow.  I did think about getting the camera, but didn't want to mess with a good thing. 

Which reminds me of the night before that.  Steven had cooked chicken on the grill and I cooked the broccoli and rolls.  We were sitting down to eat in the dining room, and Steven noticed that it was snowing outside of our window!  No really, it was snowing cotton balls from the tall tree 2 houses down. 

 
Then, it started raining.  Good luck getting the kids to sit still at their little table to eat their dinner.  Dylan replied, "we can't, it's a party outside!  It's snowing AND raining today!"

 
I thought they looked like the kids from "The Cat and the Hat" thinking
"I sat there with Sally.  We sat there, we two. . .
Too wet to go out . . .
So all we could do was to
sit!
    sit!
        sit!
            sit!
And we did not like it.
Not one little bit" 

  
 After the rain, Dylan noticed a double rainbow!  We only saw one sometimes, like in this picture (sooc).

   So of course we went back outside to take pictures under it.  THEN we came in to color our own rainbows.  It was actually a blank page that Dylan brought home from school.  I copied it real quick, got out the ROY-G-BIV colors out, and we got busy coloring.  Dylan kept asking for help.  He's so worried he'll color outside of the lines yet he wants to color so firmly.

   Isaac isn't worried, doesn't fulcrum his hand, yet stayed in the lines paintbrush style - just free handing long sweeps. His favorite was the green.  He kept going back over it. 

 I was impressed with both. 
So those are some of our summer evening activities when there's not enough time to go swimming. 

  
(Although we had gone swimming before the snow storm while we cooked.)  Bubbles are on my list for another evening.  I think I should do craft Fridays.  Another blogger is doing craft Thursdays w/ her kids.  She painted her picnic table and I had already asked Steven if we could paint our picnic tables!  I love when great minds think alike.  I want a high gloss paint so I can wash it off and it'll really be clean.  It's not a priority now, but I'll do simple crafts with the kids when Malia and Noah are over.  Lately we've been cutting with various scrapbook scissors.  The kids LOVE it, and they even like cleaning up the paper mess and fight over the dust buster for the paper splinters that remain. 

So anyway, I'm loving the summer.  I love the opportunities.  I love popsicles in our 90+ degree pool. 

and marshmallows on the grill right after lunch. 

 I love the sunshine. My hair is getting lighter:) I'm even running mid-day if that's the only chance I'll get to be in the sun. (I only run on the treadmill if it's late at night.) I love looking at my boys and thinking - wow, they're really mine all mine! (And Steven's of course. We make cute silly baby boys.)