July 7th to 21st

07.09.11  Kirsten's friend had a birthday party at the swimming pool by our house.  I was trying to keep Esther from sitting at the table, but she went over and plopped herself right between her siblings.  Then proceeded to chow down on pizza.  The kids thought she was pretty cute and funny.  Even more so when she burped.  Little girls don't really burp do they?  You would be surprised what noises come out of her.

07.11.12 We have been doing a couple projects in the craft room.  Kirsten wanted to make some clothes for her baby doll.  I helped her as much as she would let me.  She is really enjoying sewing and I am excited to help her.  For the other two it was a free for all as they took things out of boxes and I think Peter took some pictures around the room.

07.13.12  For our Fun Friday this week we decided to beat the heat and go bowling.  The kids had a great time.  I had a terrible time to start with.  It was 4 gutter balls in a row.  I guess the kids thought that was pretty good.  But I finally came back and by the end I was able to hit 9 down at a time.  I think Sonrisa had the best score.  Esther just ran around while we bowled.
Since we had some coupons from Buona Beef for the kids (from the Library program), we decided to go for an early lunch.  The kids enjoyed eating out and I was proud of how good they were.

We began swim lessons this week.  Kirsten and Peter are in the same class.  They have Morgan and Mary Kate as their instructors.  Esther and I just chill out in the baby pool while they swim.  They are doing really good and are learning some really good life skills.

 07.21.12  What do you find when you tear out the U*G*L*Y wood paneling in your family room??  Just a regular unpainted wall!  (We were relieved that we don't have to repair the wall.)  Why did we tear it out (other then it is really ugly)?  Well in order to get the carpet off the stairs we realized it would probably need to be torn out.  Plus since we are painting the kitchen and living room, we knew we would eventually change out the paneling in the family room and paint it too.  That will also help with the transitions.

Later that day, Dave took Kirsten and Peter to the American Ethanol 225 Nascar Truck Race at the Chicagoland Speedway.  It was a pretty warm night, but the kids had a great time.  They got to have chicken fingers, foot long hot dogs and ice cream.  They sat in turn 1 off the race and were able to watch James Buescher win the race.  Then watch fireworks.

June 23rd to July 7th

06.23.12  Dad took the kids to the splash park while Esther napped.  It was a beautiful day and the kids had a great time.  Mom loved the peace and quiet for a couple hours.

Um, yeah this is not good.  The other night I put Esther down to go to bed and plop, she got out of her bed.  Not good, she isn't old enough for this.  I moved her bed down to the lowest notch and now she gets stuck here, trying to get out.  She hasn't climbed out since but is sure trying mom and dad's patience.  Hopefully this is just a phase.  She isn't big enough to have her own bed.

I had some fabric given to me by one of the ladies in the ward.  I was trying to figure out what to do with the pieces.  They are small amounts and so I wasn't sure what to do with them.  Then when the temperatures began to rise and the kids didn't have any pajamas to wear, I figured out what to do with the fabric.  I used one of our craft nights to cut out the fabric and over the last couple weeks I have been slowly putting them together.  Mainly because I haven't had enough time to complete them.  This fabric I had enough to make a top and bottom for Kirsten but not enough for Esther.  So I bought some boys undershirts really cheap and appliqued stars on the shirt for Esther.   I think they look pretty cute.  Although I couldn't really get Esther to pose for me.

June 26 to 28 - Dave took a business trip to Puerto Rico.  The place they were staying was right on the beach.  It had 4 swimming pools and a view of the ocean.  It was pretty neat to have his lunch by the pool and to go out into the ocean.  Too bad it was pretty hot and humid there and the water wasn't really cool and refreshing.  It looked like a nice place to visit.

The kitchen is progressing.  Here is the wood flooring for the kitchen, living room and dining room.  It has to sit in our house and get acclimated to the temperature/humidity so it won't shrink or expand as much when it is put on the floor.  We are getting excited to get the next phase going.  I guess I better get the walls painted.

06.30.12  I helped put together the block party for our neighborhood.  It was a pretty fun night.  Only bad part was the weather.  It had been nice all week until Friday and then the heat and humidity moved in.  It was pretty miserable heat wise.  The neighbor brought over his blow up water slide and the kids played with water balloons and sponges to keep wet.   We had lots of nice food and everyone seemed to have a nice time.  Maybe next year it won't be so HOT!

UGH!  This has been the USUAL temperature all week long.  We have just been miserable.  We have had a stomach bug that left no person untouched in our family.  I am glad we are all feeling better but this heat is unbearable.  After so many days with the A/C on I am afraid to see what the electrical bill will be.  I am pretty sure it won't be cheap.  The poor A/C has been running day and night since it would be around 75 degrees in the morning and go up to the 100's through out the day.  Along with that we have had little to no rain and our yards are suffering.  I hope it cools down soon and we get a break from this heat!

07.04.12  Despite the 100 degree weather we ventured out of our nice cave like home and spent the evening with our ward family at Ty Warner Park.  This is an annual event where we meet and watch fireworks while enjoying our friend from church.  The kids enjoyed way to much candy and cookies.  They had fun with the glow necklaces then oohhed and ahhed when the fireworks began.  Esther was really liking the fireworks which has not been the norm with my kids.  Usually they sit there with their heads buried in my chest covering their ears.  Really loved them.  I didn't enjoying being in the heat and was glad to get back to the cool house and take a shower.  I am a fair weather friend.  It was way to hot for my liking.

07.06.12  Dave took the days following the 4th off and we went on an adventure to St. Joseph, Michigan.  We stopped in Benton Harbor for lunch, then found the Silver Beach County Park.  It was a really nice beach on Lake Michigan.  Only problem was the sand was so hot it burned your feet as you walked across it.  So you tried to stay in the water as much as possible.  They kids swam with dad, played in the sand and found shells in the water.  Esther is like a fish in the water.  She just loved it.  I loved that the beach was shallow enough that she could walk for quite a distance before it got too deep.  Dave and I thought Esther was going to be our kid we had to watch out for but twice in a short period of time Peter walked back to the towels and "got lost".  Thank goodness for a quick thinking sister who followed him the one time and his bright green shirt that made him easy to spot.  We were able to find him quickly and not worry too much about him.  All three loved playing in the sand and building things.  We had a great time together and enjoyed stopping at the DQ for ice cream on the way out of St. Joseph.