Backyard firepits

These have become a tradition now.  Smores by the firepit in the backyard.  Have to post these pics each year.   Along with the tradition, we also notice similarities each year - Rachel doesn't like the smoke, Megan comes for the chocolat, Michael always has a gun of some sort, and they always act out the latest video game they are playing - hence Michael pouncing on Megan pretending to eat her...

Candice around the house

When ever I can't find Candice, I know where to look.  The hammock I got for fathers day last year...  Here she is making the grocery list out back :)

Rachels first girls camp

How old is she now?  12, almost 13!  Where did the time go?  She is already at her first girls camp.  I got to go up and help chaperone overnight for the last night.  Me and a friend got to sleep out in a tent while 20 girls got to sleep inside in air conditioned comfort.  I teased Rachel by calling it "girls hotel" instead of "girls camp".  One of the things the Dads had to do was pick a super hero name for their daughters and give them super powers and their weaknesses.  My name for her was "super friendly happy girl", with the power to make friends easily and help people.  Her weakness was walking up behind her and saying her name, since I do that all the time at home and it scares her.  (I scare her on purpose though :) )  So after hearing that the girls would walk up behind her and whisper her name to try and scare her.  She thought I made her name too long though.  On the last night I got to listen to the girls share their testimonies, which was awesome.  Young women are so important and have such a bright future ahead of them.

Megans actual birthday

So, Megan already had her birthday party with her friends last month, so this was her family birthday on her actual birthday.  She had her list of everything she wanted - cinnamon rolls for breakfast in bed, McDonalds for lunch, ribs mashed potatoes gravy and green been casarole for dinner.  She wanted to go to a special part to play after breakfast, and then go see dispicable me after dinner.  Grandpa had given us some money to get her a bunk bed (which she has wanted for years) so Candice took them out to the park to play for a few hours while it was delivered and set up, so when she came home it was a surprise to see it in her room.  On a side note, it's interesting to see how each child reacts to surprises.  For being our most wild, emotional child, Megan really doesn't like surprises, or at least seems the least emotional when surprised.  She really likes to be in control I guess.  She loved the bunk bed and set all the rules for when her brother and sister could "use it for a little bit".  She even picked out the two presents she wanted - Lego Harry Potter and a pillow pet for her bed.

4th of July

This was the most melow 4th we've had.  None of us felt like fighting the crowds, lighting our own fireworks, or staying out late for some reason, so we lit some sparklers (from last year) on the drive way and played inside.  Megan still has no interest in watching fireworks, or even  holding sparklers.  She actually watched from outside this year (down the street a little).  She has always watched from either inside the car on the driveway (with the doors closed), or from inside the house through the windows.

The new New hairdo

So the last one wasn't quite blonde enough, or edgy enough, so Candice went back for more!  It came out looking really cool.  I took a picture of the back which I thought was the coolest part.

The summer hang out

With summer vacation going full swing now, our house is the kids friends summer hang out.  We've gone from 3 kiddos to usually 6 or more.  Pictured below are Megan, Michael and Rachel, along with Saddie, Emma and Joey.  It's nice that we have the "cool" house.

Megan's Birthday

So, Megan always has her party on her real birthday in July, but everyone is always out of town so no one comes.  This year we had it at the end of school so some of her school friends would actually be able to come.  It worked out really well this time, and we got to meet her "boyfriend" Jaden.  For her party she picked a new "paint your own ceramic" place where you can pick plates, bowls, cups, statues, etc to paint and then they put them in a kilne there and come out looking like professional plates you can eat off of.  We each picked plates - Mine was Captain America's shield, Candices had the colorful design, Michael's was a sniper scope, Rachel's (not pictured) was a cat statue, and Megan picked a giant dog bowl to eat out of!  How appropriate...

End of school

So, the kids are aleady weeks into summer break but I am in catch up mode, so here are some of the end of school year pics we took.

Michael did his "wax musuem" report where he was Buffalo Bill and had to stand like a statue and recite his life story when someone walked up and pressed the button on his hand.  Candice went and played with his button alot.

Rachel's end of year field trip was a 20 mile bike ride about 2 hours south.  Candice went down and rode with Rachel and her friend Saddie.  Rachel is obviously in the "make faces when you are in a picture" stage.

For the last day of school the kids dyed their hair different colors again.  This is now a family tradition since we've been in Minnesota.  I think Michael got a little embarrased in school this year though as he had washed most of it out at school :).