Slip'n Slide ALYSSA

WARNING:  Slip'n Slide photo overload...

Check out that face!  We had a good laugh

Slip'n Slide HOLLY

Slip'n Slide QYNTN

Slip'n Slide TIAGO

Slip'n Slide REYN

Off To a Good Start

The kids may not think so, but I think our summer is off to a good start.  This morning we didn't have to ask any of them to clean their rooms, get dressed, read scriptures, etc.  They were motivated to do all of that all by themselves because of the electronics rules we have in place.  The only downside was that some of them got up at the crack of dawn to get everything done so they could play.  Tiago was playing video games by 8:40 in the morning. We only let him play for 2 hours, but we are going to have to tweak the rules a bit.

Also, we completed another little project for grandpa.  We made a planter box and planted squash, strawberries, and tomatoes.

We didn't do much to celebrate Memorial day, but we did sit down as a family and watch "Taking Chance,"  an excellent movie and very appropriate for the holiday.

And I haven't even raised my voice at the kids!  We are off to a great start.

A Summer Job

Our little entrepreneurs are at it again.  The girls have been begging me to help them find a job for the summer.  They want more money!!!  So I showed Alyssa a list of jobs 11 year olds can do and together the girls decided to start a dog walking business.  They made a flyer.  They mapped out a dog walking route.  They put flyers on the doors of the homes along the route.  Now we just have to wait and see if they get any calls.  This could get interesting.  

Well, it is 5 days later and they haven't had a single phone call.  I feel bad for them, but it might be for the best.

Nobody ever called, but grandpa let them recycle his aluminum cans and they made $10.  That made them happy, at least for one afternoon.

Summertime at the Fullers

When I was growing up my summers were spent laying around the house watching Disney Channel all day.  Now kids just seem to want to play video games or be on their phones all day.  I don't want that for my kids, so Ben and I came up with a list of things that the kids must do before they are allowed to use electronics each day...

 We'll see how it goes...

Night Crawlers

On the first night of summer the kiddies said to me, let's catch night crawlers.  And so we did.

Home School Graduates!

When we moved out of our house mid April we decided not to enroll the girls in a new public school for the last 6 weeks.  Instead, we did home school.  We read the first book in the Fablehaven series, we took a field trip to California, the girls did Duolingo to keep up with their Spanish, and Prodigy for math, they had to write on a specific topic each day, and they were required to read from the Book of Mormon every day. Alyssa also had cooking lessons while Holly did swimming.   It wasn't super intense, but we did it.

Alyssa made her favorite peach pie

On The last day of school the girls wanted to go back the Cherry Hill to see their friends and get their yearbooks.  Their teachers gave them each a special award...

Now on to 6th grade!

Ben decorated the house all cool, created a graduation gauntlet, which has become a tradition, and bought them some treats to celebrate!  He's great!

Date Night

Ben and I don't do date night nearly as often as we should.  I would like to have weekly dates but finances have always been an issue.  Now that our kids are older and we don't have to pay a babysitter we might be able to pull it off.

Last week though, we actually scheduled a date.  I wanted to try extra hard to look cute for it.   I did lots of research on make-up, watched a tutorial on hair, bought foundation and concealer, since I didn't own any, and tried to doll myself up.  But it didn't go so well.  I don't know if make-up is my thing.  It makes me look weird.  I wanted my skin to look flawless, but honestly, it took a whole lot of time to apply the stuff, and it really didn't make much of a difference.  The shade didn't seem quite right either.  Of course, I bought the stuff at the grocery store, that could be part of the problem.  My hair was a disaster too.  I tried curling it with a flat iron and the result was pretty awful.  I am definitely hair challenged.  It didn't turn out anything like the video, thus the ponytail.

The good news is that Ben thinks I am gorgeous either way.   I am lucky I have a sweet husband who loves me flaws and all.

Good Times!

The kids found the Halloween costumes/wigs
at grandma's house

Poor kid.  Look what his sisters do to him.

They also found grandma's craft dresser.
Holly knitted this sock

Video booth props at Ben's cousin's
wedding reception

All smiles playing "Toilet Trouble" 

And we made it up Adam's Canyon!

Kidney Transplant

My mom was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when I was 7 years old.  It has been a rough road for her ever since.  36 years of illness takes it's toll on the body.  About 18 months ago my mom's kidneys began to fail and she had to start dialysis, which she absolutely hated!  When my sister, Tara, volunteered to donate one of her kidneys for a kidney transplant, my mom was ecstatic.

Last night of dialysis

Well, Tuesday was the big day.  Everyone had high hopes that things would go smoothly,.  We also had our concerns.  Mom had been so feeble for so long that I wondered if she would even survive the surgery.

Turns out our concerns were warranted. The surgery ended up being very difficult. There were several complications.  My mom's previous appendectomy made it impossible to reach the place where they had intended to connect the kidney.  In moving around the organs to get to the right spot, her colon tore and had to be repaired.  Then the veins, where they were trying to connect the new kidney, were basically falling apart.  Mom lost a lot of blood, so they had to give her a few units.  The doctors finally got it all connected and working properly, but the surgery took hours longer than anticipated.  When I arrived at the waiting room I could tell my dad was extremely worried.  We were all nervous. Instead of being taken to a surgical recovery room, mom went to the ICU.  Not how we had hoped things would go.

ICU

The next morning she seemed alright, but when they tried to get her up walking she may have had a minor stroke.  She couldn't stand, and became confused, unable to remember where she was, how to read, who people were.  We became very nervous again.  She was taken for some tests but because she was so restless they were not able to get the images they wanted.  However, she slowly started to improve.  On Friday evening she was moved out of the ICU, yay!

Tara, on the other hand, did great.  What an incredible sacrifice she made for our mom! Thank you Tara!

Grandma, We Love You!

It's become a tradition.  My mom loves to have flowers planted the day before Mother's Day.  It was our families privilege to do the flower beds this year.

Lucky to be a Mom!

I love my sweet kids!  This morning Qyntn snuck into my bedroom, kissed me on the arm and wished me a happy Mother's Day. Just thinking about it puts a huge smile on my face.  For years I wondered if I would ever have any kids, and now I have been blessed with 6.  I am lucky to be a Mom/step mom!

Q bought me some cars to play with him

Holly and Alyssa painted
This MOM craft for me

 Alyssa made me a delicious strawberry pie
And they got me the hat!