42

My sweet husband turned 42 today.

Emily just came up and asked if she could help me write the blog. I said sure. So this is what she said as I typed:
My Dad is awesome. He likes to watch Walking Dead. hehehe, I'm just joking. We had steaks for dinner. (Would that be okay or no? Do you not want me to write that?) hehehehe What the heck? hehehehe

Okay, that didn't last long. She's off to play with Noah.

Back to my sweet husband...

While David was at work, the kids and I made him a cake.


Luckily, it called for 3 eggs, so each kid could dump one in.


They were so eager to help. I thought they just wanted to do something nice for their Dad. But, I think they just wanted to lick the spatulas, beater and bowl.


Then, it came time to decorate it. Emily made a comment that this must be a special cake since it has 2 layers. I think I'm guilty of just using the easy 13x9 too often. The kids all put on sprinkles. And I swear Noah's toe only went into the frosting once!


And they picked out the candles. David is 24 apparently. He'll like that.


We were going to go out to eat, but with David having to work and what not, we just decided to stay home. I got David the thickest ribeye from Safeway. It was a thing of beauty. I made baked potatoes, salad and some sourdough bread. It was delicious and much better than anything we'd get at a restaurant.

The kids couldn't wait for him to open gifts. Emily wrapped all his presents for him.


I got him a new collection of ringer tees from Old Navy. His summertime staple but in a size smaller since he's lost so much weight.


Then, e went to the pool like we do every night and tried to get Noah to do a swim lesson. He was terrified at first. He went from his floaties to the noodle pretzel. Then, he took that off and I don't know what happened. He was doing great. No fear what so ever. That can be good and bad.





We came home and had cake. The kids put in the candles.


I snapped a few pictures.


And I told the kids to smile nice. This is their response. Um, no thanks.


We sang happy birthday.


And they all made a wish and blew out the candles.


It was a quiet, relaxing evening at home with the family. And that's just what David likes best. We truly are so lucky to have him as a dad and husband. Happy Birthday babe.

Noodle Pretzel

By the end of last summer, Noah could swim 10-15 feet without floaties. This summer, he is terrified at the idea of even taking them off. To help him get used to swimming again with no floaties, we gave him the pool noodle. Then, David got clever and tied it around him and he's closely supervised. So far so good.

Lazy Days

We have plenty on our agenda this summer. Piano lessons on Monday. Movies on Wednesday's. Friday playing tennis and swimming. But in between those moments, we have lots of down time. I'm making the kids do worksheets to keep their brains sharp. Emily loves them for the most part. Ben agonizes over them and it takes him 2 hours to complete a sheet. He's smart as a whip and could finish it in 2 minutes, but he'd rather watch Finding Bigfoot.

Sometimes we get bored and dress up Noah in Hello Kitty which is always amusing.


My Mom has also moved out. She's back in Phoenix at my sister's house helping her out right now. She comes to everyones rescue when needed. It was nice having her here and I know my sister needs her help now.

I stripped her bed and got it ready for Pam who is coming to visit tomorrow. Emily and Noah took it upon themselves to do some gymnastics on the bed. It was really cute. They've all been playing well together and not fighting much. I haven't even started drinking yet. I may just make it through the summer.

Friday Fun Day

Sometimes I feel like staying home with three kids is hard. Really hard. I start recalculating our expenses to see if I can afford a nanny. Then, I realize I am the nanny and decide I better do something to tire these kids out.

Enter Friday Fun Day. My friend Dakri and I are still trying to get in 3 workouts a week with the kids out of school. We decided to incorporate them in our Friday tennis. We brought rackets for everyone, basketballs, hula hoops, etc and let the kids loose. Yes, that's Noah climbing the fence. Whatever works.  Emily made 5 baskets!

Ben and Josh threw some squish ball back and forth.

The boys practiced basketball.  Well, I think Noah just complained about not being able to dribble.

We also all played tennis at some point. I brought my iphone and docking station and put on some music. It was a nice Friday morning.

Then, we rewarded ourselves with a few hours at the pool.

It's these moments that I realize I have it pretty darn good.

Open for the Season

The pool at our clubhouse opened Memorial Day, and you know we were there. The best news is it's heated this year! In the six years we've been here, it's usually like icy water until July. It was such a nice treat. The kids had a blast. Unfortunately, Noah has a cold and isn't feeling great, so he sat in the hot tub most the time. It's like a big family seeing all our neighbors again and how their kids have grown over the year. We will be spending many hours here over the next several months. What a great way to kick off the summer.

Do you like Noah's mismatched floaties? It's whatever was leftover without a hole in it from last season.

This year, I'm hoping Noah becomes a swimmer. He could swim across the width of the pool last year with some help from David, so we'll see where he can go this summer.

Zero

Today is a great day! We made our last payment on our van. She's all ours.

She only has 42,000 miles (that's it in 5 years!) and David's has about the same mileage, again in 5 years. There's something to be said about a small town when your work is 7 miles from your house and since stores are not around the corner, I only make 1 trip into town a week. In any case, we paid cash for David's car 5 years ago, so we never had payments on his. We plan to keep these cars for at least another 5 years. I actually told Emiily she might get Daddy's red Honda Civic when she is 16, and she said she rather have my mini van! She'll obviously change her mind by then.

The best news is that we are 100% debt free now. We own our home and our 2 cars. Not a single payment to any bank every month. And I'm thrilled to not see $329.07 come out of my checking again. Not a penny of credit card debt either. We use our credit cards for convenience and the rewards, but pay them off in full every month. I think this is a huge accomplishment. I'm proud of David and I as it's really easy to live beyond our means and rack up debt. But, we both live modestly and only buy things when needed. Then, we can afford great vacations with our family.

It feels great!

Camping

Camping. Just saying the word makes me think of relaxing by a campfire. But, nothing about camping is relaxing. At least not for the parents. The kids don't have a care in the world. David and I came home exhausted.

It starts a week before with preparing the menu. My husband likes stellar food when camping. In fact, I nicknamed him Top Chef. Then, we have grocery shopping and making some food ahead of time, marinading steak for kabobs, making pumpking bread and pasta salad, etc. 24 hours before we leave, I'm packing everything up. Sleeping bags, blankets, gloves, thermals, coats, shorts, sunscreen. It doesn't end. The kids were super excited and sitting in the car waiting to go about 2 hours before we left.

Then, we get to camp and it takes a few hours to set everything up. We got a new tent, and the kids couldn't wait to play in it.

Then it was off to explore the woods with friends.

David's nickname when we are camping is Top Chef. Hot dogs won't do. He makes steak kabobs. I'll take that any day!

We had a group campsite and the kids drove around and around the paved loop on their bikes. I'm not even kidding when I say that Noah did about 100 laps a day.

Ben who just got his training wheels off was still a little rusty on his bike and couldn't start pedaling on his own. After this trip, he's a pro!

David got a new camp lounger chair for an early Father's Day gift.

Noah channeling his inner Hunger Games.

The next day we took a little trip to Sunset Crater. It's a site where lava exploded about 900 years ago.




The Peaks are in the background and still have some snow on them.

Here's the one photo of me just to prove I was there.

Ben and a really cool tree.

Noah looking at a sign and looking confused.

We made smores, but Noah likes plain marshmallows.

The last morning the boys had a breakfast of a whole pack of bacon. They were in heaven!

It was a great weekend spent with friends, but truly it's exhausting. It took 2 hours to break down camp and pack everything up. Then, it took another 2 hours to unpack the car when we got home. I'm still doing laundry 24 hours later. I ask myself why do we do this? And then I look at my photos and see these two of my girl...


...and I realize I'll do anything for my kids. To see them happy and having fun is worth all the work. Don't get me wrong, we have fun too just in between all the work. And we are doing it again in a month!