August 2 - Tie Dye

Earlier this week we did it - we finally tie dyed tees!  I bought the dyes last summer and gathered white t-shirts and then the bag sat and sat and sat...I knew it would be a long, messy process, and I wanted to do it well so we just didn't do it.  Thankfully a friend invited us to do it with them and we did it!  It was fun and easy.

And although my fingers will probably be green for weeks, totally worth the time :)

 

August 1 - The OC Fair...again!

We had to come back so Daddy could go to the fair, too!

July 31 - Living Room Campout

I don't totally get why it's special but it is because, they say, it's different than normal.

 

July 30 - Loose Tooth

Jill's about to lose her top tooth...such a big step in growing up!



July 29 - The OC Fair!

July 28 - Sprinkler Fun

Summer is...sprinklers at a friend's house.
There's a drought here in California but twice a week you are allowed to water the lawn...and the kids :)

 

July 27 - Movie Night

Summer nights continue with a viewing of Sandlot at the Segerstrom Center.

There was plenty of activity before the movie to entertain us as we waited for sunset.

 

July 26 - Swim Meet Weekend Continued...

This was Jill's first big meet.  She loved it!

 

July 25 - Swim Meet Weekend

Jason swimming the breaststroke

July 24 - Aquarium of the Pacific

[a sick baby kept us at home for a few days and no pics were taken]

Our annual passes to the Aquarium of the Pacific expire next week so we had to head there one more time!

July 21 - Summer Nights

Summer is...cool nights in the backyard, trampoline past bedtime, and late sunsets.

July 20 - Cat sitter

Foster babe has so many of us taking care of him, even the cat keeps an eye on him.

 



July 19 - Playing in the Rain

A rare summer storm in southern California brought puddles and cool, refreshing fun!

 

 

July 17 - The Hotel at CHEA

It's convention weekend and this year I brought the entire family. 

 Staying at a hotel means cable tv, a pool, and happy children.

 

July 16 - Huntington Gardens

Spent some time in the Library doing some research ;)

 Beautiful but hot outside...

My treasure at the end of the rainbow...the misters were a treat on this hot day!

July 15 - Homeschool Convention Time

It's that time of year, to take stock of all the books we have and prepare to buy a bunch more :)

 

July 14 - Swim Ribbons

A couple of girls, a couple of fun meets, a bunch of ribbons!

 

July 13 - VBS

Vacation Bible School at The Village!

 Adam and his buddies...quite a crew :)

July 12 - Celebrating Stephanie!

Stephanie just returned from El Salvador and this is her birthday week - two very good reasons to gather and celebrate with all these amazing people!

July 11 - Jason's Promotion

Jason completed 6th grade this year, and even though we homeschool, we thought it would be valuable to have a ceremony of sorts to honor his accomplishments (and those of his friends). It was a really nice evening and felt very special. 

I am proud of Jason, of who he is, what he has done, and how he has done it.  He is an amazing kid that is somehow growing up into a teen right before my eyes...

July 10 - Swim Meet

My beautiful girl waiting for her race

July 9 - Girl's Day at Disneyland

To celebrate Beth's best friend Victoria's birthday, we all went to Disneyland.  (This day was supposed to happen back in April but the flu delayed us.)  It was a long, wonderful day!  So thankful for these friends...

July 8 - Lagoon!

The Woodbridge Lagoon has been our little paradise for years and apparently still is...I really thought the kids had outgrown this place but they still love it, and we are fortunate to still have friends living in the area.

July 6 - Bonfire Night

Roasted hot dogs for dinner and then s'mores!

 Great way to spend a Monday evening...especially when you spend Monday morning doing some summer school.

July 4 - Happy Fireworks Day!

Happy 4th of July from our kids and their friends!

July 3 - Daddy's Day Off

Took Daddy to the Environmental Nature Center to explore.

And we finished the day with s'mores and sparklers!

A great warm-up for tomorrow :)

 

July 2 - More StarGazing

Venus and Jupiter are less than one lunar diameter apart...from our perspective.  A pretty cool sight for us space geeks.

 

July 1 - Reading Glasses

A visit to the Ophthalmologist put Jason in new glasses and Adam in his first pair.  So thankful that they only need them for reading but no one gets to see how cute they are!

 

June 30 - Birthday flowers...in the rain

Thunderstorms, humidity, and rain...not a typical summer day in California but we'll enjoy the uniqueness of the day. And the rain is watering my birthday Calla lilys quite nicely.

 Beth planted them and her mini roses. They are both beautiful and will hopefully do well in our yard.

June 29 - Happy Birthday Beth!!!

 Happy, happy birthday to Beth!

We started the day with waffles and berries and presents.

 We then headed to the beach with friends.  Daddy showed up at lunch with ice cream because all Beth wanted for her birthday treat was ice cream :)

We finished the day with dinner at Ruby's...and more ice cream!

June 28 - Beth's last day as a 10 year old

It was hot, we didn't want to cook, we headed out to dinner and we let Beth pick where to eat her last meal as a ten year old - Soup Plantation here we come!

 

June 27 - Foster Baby

Took a bunch of 4 month old pics today...

 

June 26 - Swim Meet!

The girls both participated in today's fun meet.

It was Jill's first meet and she did great!

Beth swam a relay and 100 medley for the first time!

 

June 25 - OC Fair is coming...

Summer is...the OC Fair.
Living so close to the OC County Fairgrounds, we enjoy the unique privilege of watching it become the fair piece by piece every summer.