Heelys

Grammy Smith gave Shaylin Heelys for her birthday. Ever since, this is the only view that I have seen of her.

Pierced Ears

This week I was a horrible, mean mom and got Macey’s ears pierced!! I fell in love with the look of earrings on baby girls when I was in Guatemala. I wanted to pierce Shaylin’s ears when she was tiny, but Jason said no. He told me that we had to wait until she was old enough to consent to it. So, when Sawyer was born, I told him that he had to wait until Sawyer was old enough to consent to being circumcised. He got the most pained look on his face and said, "Fine, you can pierce our next girl’s ears whenever you want!"

So I did. Macey was so brave. She only cried for about 10 seconds. I was very relieved, because I was expecting it to be awful. I mean, she cries for longer than that if she drops her bottle. Now she looks absolutely adorable! Even Jason is pleased.

Wii

Jason made a big purchase this week. I finally gave in and let him buy a Nintendo Wii. (I swear, he is worse than a kid!) After going to several stores, he finally found ONE at Walmart. He saw another guy standing by it saying to his son, "They have one. Hurry, let’s go get your mom." Then, when they left, Jason ran over and snatched it. When he was checking out, he saw that guy come back and say, "What the… ? It was just here!" Jason giggled all the way out to the car.

So ever since then, he has been having a ball. The kids love it too. Skyler is so funny when he plays. You should see him boxing. He jumps all over the place and kicks his legs while he is punching. He looks like Elaine dancing on Seinfeld. We can’t watch him without laughing. Shaylin is unstoppable at bowling. She has no technique or strategy. She just chucks the ball (often without even looking) and gets a strike EVERY TIME. It makes Jason furious. We had a big family Wii tournament last night, and I have to admit, it was pretty fun.

Seven

On Saturday, Shaylin turned SEVEN! It was 7-7-07 and she turned 7. Cool, huh? So she had a Seven Party. It started at 7:00, and she invited 7 friends, played 7 games, had 7 treats, sang 7 birthday songs, and opened 7 gifts. She and her friends were so cute. They had a lot of fun.
Skyler and Sawyer gave her a game for her DS called Pet Vet. She is very excited to learn to be a veterinarian. We gave her a trampoline! She has only been asking for one for four years, so she is pretty dang excited. We got her a big, sturdy, square one, and the kids have been having a ball on it!

July Fourth

We had a fun Fourth of July. We went to the city fire works show at the park. We took our camping chairs and a cooler full of sandwiches and watched the show. I think the kids smiled the whole time that we were there! They loved it. Even little Macey was thrilled. She just layed back on my lap eating crackers and watching the fireworks. Sawyer ran around the soft grass doing flips the whole time. It was too dark and too loud for him to bother anyone, so it was perfect.

Survivors

There are so many times throughout the day when I feel like I am inadequate, and I worry that I am messing my children up for life. But occasionally there are magical moments that reassure me that they are strong enough to survive my imperfections. They just might turn out alright in spite of me.

Fathers and Sons

This weekend, Jason took Skyler and Sawyer to the Father's and Sons Campout. This was Sawyer's first. When they pulled up to the campsite and Sawyer saw the tent, the fire, the dirt, the shooting range and the tomahawk throw area, he was speechless. Literally. He was without speech. He was so excited.

Jason said that Sawyer was absolutely hilarious there. He ran around like a crazy man the whole time. He almost fell in the fire 10 times. He never stopped talking. He wouldn’t sit down to eat, so he just ate food off of other people’s plates when they weren’t looking. No one else in their tent could fall asleep, because he rolled around all night on his noisy sleeping bag and squeaky blow-up pillow (that he loves). He loved peeing outside, but he couldn’t poop because he was sure that a bug would land on his bum. And he couldn’t understand why his marshmallows (that he held five feet away from the fire) never got cooked.

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Oh, I wish that I could have been there just to watch.