Good bye, So long, Farewell.....

Today we said goodbye to the Sears stove, which has been sitting in our garage for two weeks.

We also said goodbye to Christopher's Red Rocket.

Chris didn't realize how attached he had become to it, and was surprised that he got a little emotional is it drove away out of site. But, he is consoled by the fact that it is going to a good home, the guy is a Volvo nut.

Wednesday, the whole family went to a WAVA back to school bash. It was at a bowling alley.

We had a great time. I haven't been bowling in ages, and the kids had never been. The place we went to is fairly new and was really nice.

Even Myles got in on the action. Sorry the pictures are so dark, hopefully you can make out who is who in the pictures.

The girls' school books still have not arrived, but luckily a lot of the school work is online, so we've been doing what we can. So far so good.

Well, we are off to look for a new stove, again.

Wish us luck this time :)

Fabulous Weekend Stay at Ben & Stacey's

A big thanks to our wonderful hosts, BenStacey, as Myles calls them. Where to begin?

We left Friday morning, shooting for nine but our actual departure time was ten. We had a fun, short drive which consisted of Pringles, red vines, water and seeing our State capitol building from a distance. We spent most of our time just hanging out and visiting, which was absolutely wonderful. The kids got to go swimming twice and were in heaven. Myles actually went on the big potty several times. He actually asked to go potty and did it! Yeah Myles! I think there was something magical about Ben and Stacey's bathroom because he doesn't want to have anything to with ours at home. Perhaps it was the fan that he kept called "mocycle". He also was seen trying to feed their TV. I think because it is so big and the people looked huge that he felt they might be in need of some nourishment.
Great family, great food, what more could we ask for?

We drove back yesterday and after a couple of minutes in the car, Myles was asking where BenStacey was and wanted to go back. We hated to leave, but vow to be back again and soon :)

Here are some pictures from our visit this weekend.

Aeva plays on the laptop.

Time for a swim.

Just lounging around.

They got us a cake in celebration of our visit. It's a joke,

so don't try and get saying on it.

Here Myles is with Stacey's kitty.

He was absolutely in love with it.

My swimming butterfly.

I know I promised a picture of our new addition, but unfortunately we have not had a very good week trying to get the stove installed. Sears has absolutely been horrible to deal with and so, we are returning it. The stove has been sitting out in our garage for a week now. We are hereby boycotting Sears. Our mission this week is to find a new stove.

Wishing you all a cheery week.

In case

you don't have enough entertainment in your life, let me share some of my daily entertainment.

Oh, what do you do with a pen in your hand?

This is what Myles likes to do....

This week Myles got stung by a bee. How did this happen you ask? Well, he likes to imitate Rhaevyn. Rhaevyn catches grasshoppers, and Myles tries to catch bees. Just to prove what a loving mom I am....

He came in crying and pointing to his finger. I looked at it, saw it wasn't bleeding and told him he was fine, to get up and go back outside to play. It's a good thing Chris came in when he did to explain that Myles had been stung by a bee. Poor Myles' pointer finger swelled up like a balloon. You may think he learned his lesson, but no. He was back out trying to catch bees again the next day.

We have been hiding out in the house the past few days. It was up to 105. My thermometer outside exploded due to the heat, and it is stuck at 110. Thankfully, today it is much cooler, overcast, sprinkling with a good breeze. I think our heatwave has come to an end.

We are getting a new addition to our family tomorrow. A new stove! After 12 years, ours has called it quits, or rather we are kind of calling it quits because of the price it would be to fix it. I will have to post pictures of our new one next time. It will be nice to not smell gas, have a timer that works and have all four burners working properly instead when they feel like working.

I'll end with Myles giving me a workout.

May you all have a lovely week.

Daddy Took Us to the Zoo!

Yesterday, Christopher's company picnic was held at the zoo.
We haven't gone to one of his picnics in some time, as they haven't been too great.
The last time we went to one it was at Vancouver Lake. There were two small barbecues being used to barbecue food for at least 150 people. Let's just say that we stood in line for an hour and a half and the line didn't move an inch.
When we heard that the picnic this year was going to be at the zoo, we decided to go.
We arrived at 3:00 pm and stayed until 7:00 pm. It was really a lot of fun. The food was great, and it was nice to meet people that Chris works with.
Here are some pictures I was able to get before the batteries died in the camera.
Myles loved looking at all the "a-mals", but especially loved anything to do with fish.

Sea Lions

Penguins

This is what the kids thought of the lovely fish smell in the penguin house

Rhaevyn's videotaking talent displayed :)

Cute little Sea Otter.

Our favorite part of the zoo was a trail we took as we were on our way to the exit of the zoo. It was the Pacific NW trail. It was nice and cool with waterfalls and lots of green vegetation.
Sorry we don't have pictures of it.

This week, Myles has discovered that he really likes his baseball and bat. Although, sometimes we use a bouncy ball for him to hit.

The girls have really been into putting puzzles together.



This is one of their finished products.

Our school books are about to be sent off soon. We keep checking the school website each day to see the progress of the order/shipment. It's almost time for Christmas in August!

Wishing you all a joyful week.

Off to the Fair

Friday we went to the Clark County Fair. Chris took the day off. It was free before 11am. We barely made it with 15 minutes to spare. Fortunately, I remembered to bring the camera. Unfortunately, Chris hadn't stuck the memory stick back in after he used it last. So, no pictures of the kids with all the animals. We saw sheep and all different breeds of rabbits, chickens, pigeons, goats cows and llamas. Myles especially liked one La Mancha goat and a couple of baby goats. We could barely pull him away to go look at the cows. As I watched the kids get all excited about the animals my thoughts turned to happy memories when I was a little girl playing with my lamb, chasing the baby goats, drinking fresh goat's milk, feeding the chickens, watching the pig get butchered, and I thought to myself "that would be fun to live on lots of land and the kids could have some goats and chickens." Ah, but I quickly came back to reality and whipped out my antibacterial hand wash.
We all had a very wonderful time, but were ready to head home after two hours.

Rhaevyn is still catching grasshoppers, but this week branched out to a baby Preying Mantis and three tiny tree frogs.
She just let the preying mantis go this morning on my zucchini plant.

She also made three cakes and icing this week. She had me videotape her like she had her own cooking show. It was so cute!

By the way, I now have zucchinis and tomatoes. This is quite amazing, as I usually kill plants no matter my good intentions.

Myles has been busy helping Chris in the garage this past week. Yesterday, while us girls were at the garage sale, he helped Chris test wires with the test light. Chris said he was very helpful and did a good job with the testing.

I didn't make much at the garage sale yesterday, but I got a free push mower which made up for it. The girls and their friend Corbin did a lemonade stand and had a pretty good turn out with that.
I can't believe August is upon us. The girls should be getting their school books soon, and then we'll be starting school. Wow, it feels like we just finished and summer just started.

Warm wishes to all of you for a superb week ahead!

Myles says "hello" to what he calles "bebe mantis."