June 2016

Half of our summer is over, waaaah! We had a laid back, yet busy June. We swim every day, usually several times per day. We go to movies on Mondays with friends, and we also have gymnastics Monday nights. We usually play with our preschool friends on Tuesdays and we play the rest of the week by ear, we go to the gym in the mornings at least twice, but otherwise we spend it either going somewhere, or going nowhere, or playing with friends or playing at home (okay okay, or we watch the ipad)!

Actually June started with Ella's (eek first!) dentist visit. Yikes..But luckily both mouths looked great, and I prepaid for our next checkup so I will keep up the twice yearly visits...at least this year! I can't believe I have slacked so much! The day before, Eva found a wiggly tooth in the car, and by the end of our car ride, she determined that two were wiggly. I think I was about as excited as she was, I practically pulled the car over just so I could check for myself.

Here we are, ready for the movies! Ella insisted she needed her robe to keep warm. It was only 110 out, so that makes sense. "I'll wear my robe, and 'den' I won't get cold"

They are just so good at playing. Here they set up a whole little Barbie town.

We went to a Native American history museum called the Heart Museum because they had a free admission day, so I wanted to check it out to see if it was worth it to go back and pay. We won't be going back, glad it was free! The girls did have fun making paper bracelets at the end though.

 We told the girls we'd get ice cream on the way home, and Ella fell asleep in the car. She didn't even wake up when Eli got her out of the carseat, or even when she got back into the car seat when we were done, she was out!

Eva hit the jackpot, this place had two flavors of her favorite topping (these weird rubbery balls that 'pop' when you bite them...sort of like gushers, but weirder)

One of our hot topics, always, is bugs. I hear shrieks and screams as if an arm is being sawed off, and I run in to find a teeny tiny bug here or there. One time it was on Ella's leg, and she was screaming, 'an amulet an amulet' before Eva heroically sucked it up with a dust buster (that thing is a life saver in more ways than one!)


The girls looove to dance.





Eva made me promise not to move anything, as it each had it's own particular spot. If you look closely, you do actually see there is order to this chaos - everything has it's own little 'room' or section.

I found some questions on line that I started asking the girls, so we videotaped their responses. This is something we will have to keep up with!




We had a nice evening so we went to the park. Eli took some slow motion videos. Eva is starting to be able to do the monkey bars, a little bit.





Carol sent the girls some Baby Alives, oh the pure joy of it all! Eva's baby is usually Lily or Layla, Ella's is usually named Grape or Mint. (and for the record, to show our consistency, our fish, formerly Crystal,, then Diamond, is now called Goldie or Ginger, depending on the day).


Grandpa Forsyth's birthday was coming up, so we decided to celebrate the babies' birthdays on Grandpa's birthday. We made rainbow cupcakes, and they turned out awesome! 

After the party, I resumed my bread making and packing because we were going camping as soon as Eli got home from work. Since it was Father's Day weekend, I made his favorite Avanti's gondola copy cat bread/sandwiches. Eli doesn't ask for gifts, so I think 7 hours of my time making bread shows how much we love him:) 

Camping was so much fun. It was 118 degrees in Phoenix that weekend, so it was nice to get away where it was cooler (probably still 95 degrees during the day). Unfortunately there is a fire ban, so we couldn't have campfires. We could however cook with controlled fire on a propane grill. But, it was FREEZING at night. To the point where after the first night I thought we'd leave at the end of the day Saturday so we wouldn't have to endure the frozen tundra again (luckily it was probably 10-15 degrees warmer Saturday night). Friday night was so miserable though, Ella kept waking up crying because she was cold, she just moves so much so she couldn't keep her covers on, and ended up with me on my single air mattress, but because she was beng sio difficult in one of her inconsolable crying fits, I could hardly get the blankets around us properly so the whole night I was just adjusting us and then worrying about Eva too. But Saturday night was much better, I set Ella up in my bed from the beginning and it was already going to be warmer, so it worked out really well. 

We went up with 3 other families, four of our kids are entering Kindergarten next year! 

It was Cami's birthday, actually that was the reason we were camping, because she told her mom (Angie) that she wanted to go camping with friends for her birthday. 

 When you're camping, you get a little 'country'. We rode in the back of the truck (on some dirt roads) up a mile or two to the rim (and probably went five miles per hour tops, so stop worrying).

                                                   
                                                       Ella is a dirt MAGNET!

We found an awesome spot overlooking the rim, and as soon as we parked we saw a still smoking fire in a fire pit. It was so annoying, first, everyone knows how to properly put out a fire when you're allowed to have a fire, and second there is a fire ban so there shouldn't be a fire at all. So we had a bunch of water to put it out, and basically, we prevented a forest fire. You're welcome Arizona.

One of our friends had a dirt bike (or whatever these are called) and he told Eva she could be his pit crew :)

Happy Father's Day to the guy who is the type of partner I always dreamed of having children with. He loves us and provides for our family, and he's also our carpenter, painter, chef, chauffeur on road trips, adventurer, hiking guide, gardener, fixer of everything, story teller and not very comfortable looking pillow. We are so lucky to have you Eli! We just got back from an awesome camping trip here and everyone was wiped out!

Our girls are mermaids...and I am so excited, at Target, I found monofins for them ON SALE. I bought them for Christmas. It's basically a fin that both feet fit into, so they'll kick like a mermaid. We will also get them mermaid tails to fit over it, which they can technically wear in the pool but it'll probably be more of a dress up thing because they probably won't really be able to swim too successfully, so I'd have to hold them the whole time. I could probably do it though, I wonder if I should get one for myself...?




Some fun and games outside.

I'm going green! and a little red...neck...I suppose since I'm hanging my laundry on our pool fence...at least it's not in the front yard! Eli doesn't approve of me setting up a laundry line across the yard so I've found a good substitute. I used to dry Eva's diapers this way. Since I started drying outside, I have only used our dryer twice and it's been about a month. And, they dry so fast, it's crazy! As long as it's daytime and sunny (which is always), it takes under an hour, actually probably less time than the dryer! I'm interested to see if I notice much difference in our electric bill.

 This slide was at a friend's birthday party. They had so much fun! It was soo hot out, but between the pool and all the water on this thing, they didn't notice the heat.

this picture reminds me that I did attempt to fry an egg on the hottest day, and it doesn't work. It just eventually becomes hard and dehydrated.

Pam left her spinning appetizer tray at our house, and it because a carousel ride for the girls' toys.

Ella has taken an interest in picking up Jinxy as much as possible. Jinxy surely loves this.

(before Ella's little show, did you catch Eva say, "I'm the fanciest girl in to-own")





 And we had rain! I mean, I never saw it, but there were a few damp spots. This, however, is not a rain puddle, it's a puddle from someone's leaky tail pipe or something. But, the sky was cloudy, the girls sensed rain, and were thrilled to see a puddle to jump in :) Poor, poor desert girls.

That's it for June! I write this from my couch as I hear fireworks outside for the 4th :) We watched them last night and we were out late, so we are laying low tonight. Happy Independence Day!