Four Jingle Bells

 We went back to LeClaire to give our friend Karen Harris a baby shower.  I love this girl!  We hit it off right away and appreciate each other's sarcastic sense of humors.  She might kill me for this picture but she looks so happy!    Sister Cropper was so sweet to let us do the party at her house since we didn't have any house to offer.  It was the ward pool day so it was low key too.  The kids were so happy to be back at the Croppers.  It was great to see our LeClaire friends.  We swam for six hours!  William is adorable in his ladybug we borrowed from our friend. I was so excited when we found out Karen was having a boy because I love this book "Julius, the baby of the world."  And it is from the Lilly series, which is Karen's daughter's name.  So, it fit. I love sharing books! And Karen is a big reader too, so that was great.    William was pretty excited about this muffin.  Then ...

 We were getting summer fever, so I decided we were going to walk to the park because it was such a beautiful day.  Hailey was in a mood.  In an awful mood. She didn't want to get her shoes on. Some fights aren't worth it, so she walked a mile to the park and back in her socks.  Sigh.  The teenage years might kill me.  A beautiful pond at hte park.    The kids hanging out.  Clouding watching.  They all had to throw rocks into this dirty pond.  Then they all had to pose on this rock. I love these lazy summer days without a schedule and just fun.  Buff Spencer.  Brooke is a drama queen. Just ask her, she'll tell you.  Typical Hailey pose.    On the way home, it suddenly got boiling hot. I mean extremely humid and awful.  The kids were not happy because our water was almost gone.  So, we trudged home.  Thankfully I brought the stroller for William.  Brooke ...

 Our neighbors gave Brooke this bike. Just what we need, more kid's bikes!  William would get really mad unless he could ride it.  We made some peanut butter kiss cookies.  William was a fan.  Brooke is still talking about them.  I decided at the end of summer, I am going to take each kid on a date to dinner and school shopping.  Hoping it would make school shopping a little more fun. Hailey and I went to Texas Roadhouse.  Her first experience with those awesome rolls.  It was so fun and it was great to go out with Hailey.  She is turning into a very sweet and polite girl.    Went and got some school clothes and she got some of the colored hair extension things.  I about cried because it has just been weird to see her get bigger and have a style all her own.  But I am so excited for her and all her new adventures!  We went to a church pioneer party.  Blake was studying but we had a great t...

 We went to George Wyth Lake about five minutes from us.  It was a little green but the kids loved it and we made sure they didn't drink any!  It was a boiling hot day so we stayed for 2 hours and then we had to go because it was just too hot!  William loved the sand!  He could have stayed all day.  Brooke too.  Me in my awesome sun hat I got for super cheap. I love it. It makes me feel like I should live on the beach. I wouldn't mind.  This is what we saw on the way home.  What a beautiful area!  The kids were pretty mad when it was time to leave so I stopped and took some pictures so I wouldn't have to hear them be mad at me. I thought these dead trees were pretty awesome.  They were growing on a little island.

 Don't ask me what happened here, but cheerio overload!  The kids took swimming lessons every day for 3 weeks in July.  It was good to have something to plan for and they were very tired by the night time!  Brooke did awesome.  She loves swimming and had a little crush on the boy teacher.  So, that made getting to swimming lessons low hassle.  Spencer did great too! He could already swim ok on his own, but it was good to practice and learn skills.  He likes to have fun in the water.  He made some buddies too.  He even jumped off the diving board twice.    Hailey is an excellent swimmer.  I think it's a sport that would be great for her.   At the end of the class, they got a report card and went to the next level and a gift certficate for Texas Roadhouse. Yum!