A mumbled jumbled mess

The title fits the blog post, my life, and my brain. My to do list and my want to do list are not aligning, at all. I feel an internal war all day long every day. I'm a make a list and do it kind of girl. I'm having a hard time balancing my children and my need to dos and wants to do. Lately, all to dos have gone out the window and we've been doing the "FUN TO DO" list. It's working well for me. I decided a few days ago that I'll just let that "need to do" list build and build and I can work on it while Kevin and Julia are in school in the fall. 

In the mean time Kevin has been working on his dirt biking skills

Cody and I spent a very short evening out at bike week,

while the big kids were playing with the neighbors, Lacey and I enjoyed popsicles on the deck.

Kevin and his friend caught a salamander. 

Elena helped me with some Primary planning. Apparently it was quite boring on her end. 

We spent a morning at the beach baby free. 

I lost my chair to the princess, the boys swam to the floating dock,

the Big Princess and I built a sand castle,

Kevin has been helping run the fort, he loves getting the girls breakfast while I finish up exercising. He has been such a big helper. He loves to play play play, he loves that he only has to do quiet time instead of naps (resulting in sleep 20% of the time.) He hates doing chores every day and does NOT "get" why he has to do any. He LOOOOOOOVES telling jokes, playing outside, helping Dad, and making projects. Today he collected a huge pile of branches from the woods to make a snake cage. He would like to catch a big snake and keep it as a pet. YUCK! He loves the beach, ice cream sandwiches, poptarts, and the great outdoors. He is so dang excited to start kindergarten and we are super happy that he got the kindergarten teacher we had been hoping for!!! Kevin also started swimming lessons today and he loved interacting with other kids his age. This kid loves friends and anytime we run into someone or spend any amount of time near another human being (like at the beach today) Kevin will surely talk their ear off, informing them of his life plans. Which right now are going to Idaho. He can hardly wait. He has a backpack already packed for camping and when we go to the store he asks if we can buy our snacks for the camping trip. He also wants a second swimming suit to take to Idaho, so when we go to the water park and to Island Park he will have some choices!  Love this boy!

we snacked on licorice on the lifeguard chair.

Julia girl had her 4 year old physical. Her and I went alone as she has been very leery of doctors ever since the surgery on her finger She did awesome and is right on track. She was 32 lbs putting her in the 25%. right on track from all of her other appointments and she was 39.5 inches putting her at the 50% also on track. When Cody's parents came we had taken out the kids' booster seats to make more room in the back seat of the car for an adult body and had yet to put them back in. When the Doc. asked Julia about her booster seat and Julia told her the deal, I left the doctors office with oodles of papers and information, and literature about car seats, booster seats, and the law. (This will be important further on in your reading!)  Julia started swimming lessons today. She is having a hard time adjusting to the fact that the lessons are held in the lake and although she loved her lesson today she had a hard time paying attention to the teacher rather then all the other fun kids playing around her.

Lacey baby ventured into the water,

and Elena was as good as gold while we were gone and slept.

That night Dad was still gone for bike week so the kids and i decided we weren't waiting around for him any longer to have some fun so we had a bonfire and s'mores with the neighbor kids.

Elena keeps growing and growing and moved up to some 6 month clothes, including this cute dress. She is giggling and cooing. She is eating close to 6 oz at every feeding. She is laid back and easy going and is so great about waiting her turn. On June 12, she rolled on to her belly from her back for the first time. She has also been hit with her first cold. She is so dang congested it is awful. We are going through swing batteries like crazy, she loves a good swing. She is noticing toys and has hit and and grabbed her toys a few times in her bouncy seat. I love snuggling with her and holding her even though she has made my back a bit sore. Being the only baby in our Branch, she gets passed around quite a bit. This is a picture of Sam holding her. He was so sweet with her, I had to have a picture.

Church wears my girls out big time. Lacey is finally going to nursery without any tears. I think her being able to communicate so well has really helped. We can talk and explain things and she understands much better. She is a ham and talks up a storm, she is a joke teller, a teaser, and a pest to her big sister. She threw her bottle on the ground on Sunday night and it broke into a bunch of pieces. She has since then been bottle free. Again, her understanding was key in such an easy transition. I told her that she broke her bottle and so she doesn't get one anymore. She was bummed but she says, "Lacey broke Lacey's water bottle."

We've spent some time facetimeing with my little sister, Jordin. She is getting so grown up. She's so excited to start middle school and I have tons of fun talking to her. I hear she is becoming quite the babysitter and I'm bummed we aren't reaping that reward!

Julia and I went grocery shopping at 6 on saturday morning, we got there too early and the store wasn't open yet. Each time I go to the store I have to look the opposite direction of the hanging baskets, but with nothing else to do, Julia and I picked out this gorgeous basket.

We also picked up flowers to fill this fun planter that I made. I love it and it gives our flower bed the flare it was needing.

Yesterday was a doozy of a day. I blame the first half of the awfulness on Cody. He was going to Connecticut for work and should have arrived between 9:30 and 10 in the morning. I called a few times, texted a few times, and then started to get annoyed. Then around 12:30 I started to panic. Then a few minutes after I got a phone call from Massachusetts on our house phone and I kid you not, I thought I was answering a call from a hospital. I was panicked and dreading to answer it. Thankfully it was a wrong number. About one Cody finally called and his battery had died on his phone. WTH...not ok! To say I flipped would be an understatement. To say I was mad would be an even bigger of an understatement. I was so grateful to hear his beautiful voice and said a million prayers of thanks that he was ok. Despite having talked to him, I was a wreck the whole day. Mid afternoon we decided we needed to get out of the house. We decided to go get Italian ice from the gas station (YUM!) As the kids were getting in the car I realized I needed to put their booster seats back in the car and went to get them from the garage. I took one step into the garage and fell. Like, not a little fall, but the feet fly out from under you, flat on your back kind of fall. It had been raining and I had stepped in a puddle in the garage thinking it was water, when it was actually hydraulic fluid that had leaked out of Cody's Skid Steer. My arm is bruised pretty good, I hit my neck and my ribs, and landed on my side bruising the side of my leg. I ran in cleaned up, put the booster seats in and we were on our way. We got our yummy treat, it was soothing for all of our souls and we were headed back home when I  look in my rear view mirror to see that I'm being pulled over. (SO thankful I had put the boosters back in the car!) I was pulled over for no front license plate and was asked to get it on or report it missing TODAY! That night my sweet neighbor, Karen, watched the kids so Cody and I could go out. it was much needed after not having had any time together for awhile. And I think Cody understands how important it is that his phone NOT die when he is on his bike and I think I understand how healing a turtle cheesecake shared with the hubby can be!

Lacey baby needs to be potty trained...any takers? I want her to wait until September. 

and don't you even worry, Elena has spent her fair share of time sun bathing at the beach. Baby swimming suits are such a waste, but aren't they so adorable!!!!

We are so blessed to live in beautiful New Hampshire, not only is the area beautiful, our neighbors are fabulous, and our branch family is more than we could have ever asked for. We are thankful for Cody's job every second of every day, as it has provided all of these neat opportunities.