{Man Cub}

The term "man cub" is a normal phrase with my family. We say it in reference to a boy usually young in age and small in stature but not short on testosterone. With the number of kids in my family there is no shortage of evidence that little boys and little girls are different right from the get go. When Wyatt was tiny, probably just able to sit up he was put on the floor with his cousin Tivi, who is only two weeks older than him. There was an array of toys to play with including blocks, cars, babies and other random things. Tivi was playing with the baby, loving on it giving it slobbery kisses, basically honing her mama skills at a young age. Wyatt was playing with the other toys for a while but then decided as young babies do that he wanted what someone else had. So he took the baby that Tivi was loving on and immediately started pounding it into the ground and thinking it was the funniest thing ever. Boys and girls are different, plain and simple!! Well while I was in Idaho visiting family I saw another example of little boys being little boys. Meet Teancum, my older brother's youngest child. If there ever was a child who exhibited more "man cub" like tendencies it would be this one. I found him outside playing with a stick as if it were a gun. Now to clarify my brother and his wife did not sit down and teach this little guy what a gun was or how to old one or anything of that nature. My brother does own guns and shoots them and so just in watching his daddy he has learned what a gun is. Teancum was off on a hunt and when I stopped him and asked him to show me his gun this is what I got. So adorable I think, not because I think young children running around pointing pretend guns at things is cute, but because I love seeing these little beings acting and behaving as little boys. So I couldn't resist capturing a Man Cub in training. These little boys of ours come hard wired to become men and the drive to build and fix and protect is second nature to them. I love his little face and how he holds the stick and how serious he feels about his little gun!! What a cherub!!

{Sometimes....}

......when life seems too hard to handle and you want to give up, try looking at it from a different perspective. It might just make things look better!!!

{We're Expecting...}

....Four beautiful baby BIRDS!! A very fanatic mother bird built her nest in one of our flower baskets and while the kids and I were in Idaho her little babies hatched. I say the mama is fanatic because if you come within two feet of that basket, say to water the flowers that are in the basket she will dive bomb you without hesitating for a second. Then she will bark at you (literally) until you are a safe distance from her babies and she feels like she doesn't have to stand guard. I don't blame the poor thing, I would be the same way with my own four little babies if I felt they were in danger. My Dad calls that the Mama Bear coming out in me. Isn't it funny how Heavenly Father pretty much made mamas the same? We'll sacrifice life and limb to protect those that we worked so hard to get here in one piece. Ok, except for those odd animals that will eat their young, I'm not really talking about them!! Anyways, the kids were asking if we get to take these babies with us when we move in a YEAR. I had to explain that they would be all grown up by then and we wouldn't be taking them with us. They were kinda bummed about that. It has been fun to have these little babies around our place.

{Over the river and through the woods}

...to Grandmother's house we go!! We just got back from a week at Grandma's house. It is our annual trek to Idaho where the kids run the 40 acres. They get down right dirty everyday and are happy as can be. We also got to see Ryan's Dad and Step mom for dinner one night. Don brought hot dogs and a delicious Effie's burger to the park and the kids played and we enjoyed a good dinner. We also got to feed the ducks along the dikes. We then celebrated Don's birthday with some yummy ice cream!! Thanks for having us for dinner Don!! (I of course forgot to take my camera). My mom had a sleep over with all the grand kids one night and she had s'mores on tap for dessert. We didn't have an open fire so we improvised and did them over the grill. It worked great and the clean up was a cinch!! After the s'mores the kids had to show off their mad tramp skills. In fact, since almost half the tramp springs are gone to stay on the tramp you have to have skills. Yes I am fully aware of the goof balls that I do claim as children!





On our last day in Idaho we took to the river to cool off. The kids LOVED it!! We were there for almost four hours and they weren't ready to leave. They got sand in places I don't think we know about. The beach we went to was clean and not too crowded and we had a ball. We went along with some of our cousins and my sis and sister in law, plus my niece. Great company, great beach, that pretty much equals a great day!! We miss our family in Idaho already and are so glad we are close enough to go see them often. This is the last summer we get to do this, so we took full advantage!! Hope your summer is going great, ours sure is!!

{The 4th}

We got to spend our 4th of July (really the 3rd) with good friends, good food and good fireworks!! Our neighbors the Miller's had us over for a yummy BBQ and a little slip and slide for the kids. We had so much fun. The kids were especially looking forward to Nate's firework show. The sparklers and the black cats were the kids' favorite. Sunday night we watched the televised firework show in New York and we caught a few of the fireworks being let off around our house. Boy two nights in a row of being up past 10pm has taken a toll on the kids, but it was a lot of fun anyways. We hope you all had a great 4th of July celebrating this great country we are blessed to live in!!

{Slip-n-Slide}

Last summer when we had our hot streak we searched high and low for a slip-n-slide. We honestly checked every store that would have sold the things and could not for the life of us find one. So this year even though the weather hasn't gotten that hot we hit up Target early to be sure we got one this year. We did have a somewhat warm (it is all relative, 68 degrees was our high) day and the kids busted it out and broke it in. It was a lot of fun and I loved some of the action shots I was able to get. The facial expressions are priceless!! Wyatt just liked to walk up and down the slide and drink from the spray. The other kids though were in competition with one another and boy it was intense. This next week we have on tap a few scorchers...actually 90's and above so I am sure that we will be getting more use out of our beloved slip-n-slide.

{Out of the mouths of Girls}

Over the past few months we have been mentally keeping track of a few of the funny things that our kids have been saying. Mostly it's just the girls and mainly Lauryn. Sometimes the things they say are funny but sometimes they are more on the morbid, what did you just say side. Here...be the judge for yourself.

"Wyatt, don't go in the street. Do you want to get dead?" --Lauryn

One night when the girls wouldn't go to bed. "I can't go to sleep its scary." (Aimee responds with a "just go to bed"). "NO, seriously, it's pooky and cary." (spooky and scary) -- Lauryn

"Mom, Meysa's being mean to me again. Can't you make her just grounded?" --Lauryn (again)

As we were sitting a stoplight a group of boy (3 total) tweens walked in front of the car. From the back of the car in a dreamy voice (think twilight dreamy) we hear..."I'm gonna fall in love with one of those boys." --Lauryn (who else)


And just so you don't think that Lauryn is the only one that talks around here, someone else in the family had a notable quote.


Ryan had just gotten an handheld miter box with saw and was putting it together. "Dad this is really cool." (Ryan responds with "yes, it is but be careful the saw is very sharp"). "OOH, this would be perfect for cutting off heads!!" --Meysa

See what I mean about morbid!!! Hope you had a good laugh. The girls are always ready to supply with laughs.