The Smiths: All Else July

Here's some other fun stuff we did in July!

Lego creations by Halle:

Eve and Halle got to go bowling with our friends the Howes!

And Sophie got to come play at our house - a rare treat to have friends over. :) Especially when you're both missing your same front tooth!

I was super brave and took all 5 kids to Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A by myself. Lots of yummy chicken!

Nothing better on hot summer days than blowing bubbles!

We didn't make it every week, but more often than not, we all went to singing time with Miss Maggie at the library - the kids love it!

We bought way too much sidewalk chalk at Sam's Club (it was on sale and I couldn't resist!) so that means lots of art to create. This is only the first of 4 boxes, I think?

Seth loves bubbles too!

We got a new (to us) piano! A sister in our ward's son was giving theirs away free so Andrew, not too happily, rented a U-haul and enlisted the aid of our ministering brothers to load it up and bring it home. Unfortunately, it tipped completely over on it's face during the 5 minute drive home, breaking many of the keys and strings and simultaneously cracking two legs off the bench :(. So much for free! It's been 10 months now and we still need to get it repaired. But it's a very nice, very old piano!

Abigail and Cora showing off their moves with Abigail's face masks and gloves:

And Mommy's glasses:

We really put our ministering brothers to work in July. One evening, I notice a wet spot on our bedroom carpet. We weren't sure if one of the kids had had an accident, or what? But no matter how many towels I used, it continued to be wet, and to spread! So Andrew shut off the water and we hoped it wasn't a leaking pipe under the foundation! The next day, our ministering brother came over with his dad to help Andrew try to figure out what was going on. Luckily, it turns out it was the ac something or other backing up (it's located on the other side of that wall). They fixed the backup, ripped up the carpets, and set lots of fans out. Way better than having to jack hammer through the foundation in our bedroom!

A couple of days of drying and it was as good as new!

Halle is the ultimate fort builder in our family. She and Eve make all kind of creations in their room!

And sometimes, when they're really, really good, Andrew sets up the tent in the playroom so they can have a 'camp out'. (More often than not, this ends in fighting and tears with everyone being sent back to their own beds.)

Just for fun, we tried making some 'homemade' donuts using refrigerated biscuits. They were pretty yummy!

And very sugary!

I must have been adventurous this particular week, because we also made chocolate bowls using balloons.

When they were dry, we popped the balloons and filled the bowls with chocolate pudding.

And oreos, apparently. Yum!

Some of the bowls were a bit misshapen.....

But still delicious!

Seth just loved the pudding....

Lots of chocolate pudding faces afterwards!

Enjoying otter pops with a friend from church I was babysitting.

Halle is great at climbing up in this tree. I have a lot of pictures of her in this pose. :)

Our neighbor across the street invited Eve and Halle over to jump on the tramp in the sprinklers. Mercy (his grandmother who is raising him) and I sat and chatted while Eve, Halle, and Riley jumped all their energy out before bed.

Seth is very good at going down the slide by himself!

All his sisters enjoy helping him play with the toys!

Eve helping Daddy hang pictures in the guest room:

Whew! July was apparently very busy. Since we'd moved in, Andrew had been asking if he could chop down this 'bush' in the backyard that was just a bunch of dead branches. I asked if we could wait a full year, just to see if it would do anything. Lo and behold, July hit and it came to life! It may be ugly and dead the rest of the year, but in July it shows some beauty!

Abigail wanted to try on one of my Sunday dresses. She insisted that it fit her.

We bought a pool at Walmart, like we've done in other summers, but turns out this one was WAY bigger. Ridiculously big. I blew it up in the sun room and almost just left it like this for them to play in.

But alas, they convinced me to take it outside. It did not go well.

It was so big, it took 25 minutes just to get a couple of inches of water in the bottom. The whole time it was filling, the girls were fighting, yelling, and crying. I'm sure the neighbors loved it. Seth was NOT a fan and would freak out when I tried to put him in. (He loves the bath, so I thought it was carry over to the pool - turns out, no.)

We lasted about 15 minutes before I ordered everyone back inside because of all the anger and tears. And we never used it again. It's now April, and it's still sitting in the backyard (on the bricks, not the grass), mostly deflated and needing to be thrown away. Who knows if we'll try again this summer....?

Eve looking beautiful for church one Sunday! (She does every week, but this week I took a picture.)

Church is exhausting. I feel the same way! Plus, with my calling as Relief Society president in June, I had to attend ward council every Sunday morning so Andrew would get the kids ready by himself. So he's extra tired on Sundays now too.

I can't remember this far after the fact, why we made a cookie ice cream pie, but I guess we did?

It was ok. I love the idea of ice cream cakes/pies, but no matter what I use for the base, it ends up rock hard. Shrug.

And apparently it was in July that we started our front yard project (still on-going). This front area doesn't grow nicely, it's mostly just weeds, so we decided to take it out and put in rocks. Step one - killing what's currently living there! Round up, here we come!

During a break, Cora was giving me "shots" with the tire pump. "This won't hurt, Mom!"

It takes a long time to spray that much grass. We only made it like halfway.

Seth is tired of yard work and wants to go for a bike ride!

Or have lunch. It could go either way. I think this is his first time having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Looks like the jury's still out on whether or not he likes it....