A Slow Month Here at the Zoo...I Mean House

By the time we returned from our trip, there wasn't much more to do this summer. It's been a slow month. I'm just fine with that, though.

We had some fun on the 4th watching fireworks. Pretty and Snort were most impressed. The Beast just wanted to know if he could have something to eat. Figures.

I guess there have been a few little highlights here and there.

The Practically Perfect Playdate
I didn't think it was possible to have extra human children in my home and not have the walls fall down. I pictured weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, toys flying into lands so far away that we never see them again, noises that send UFO researchers running to our area to identify them, and a mess that can only be described with a loud and terrified scream. Sounds like the average playdate, right?

I'm pleased to announce that I was pleasantly mistaken. Number One has been wanting to get together with his good friend, J, ever since summer started. These two are just days apart in age and have been friends since pre-school when they were two. J has never been a difficult kid, but sometimes together they could get noisy or rough or exclude the Beast or whatever. It is summer, though, so I agreed that J could come over one afternoon and stay until dinner time.

Oh. My. GOSH!!! What a great day it was. All the kids played nicely together while I made lunch. Seriously. ALL of them. Even Beast and Pretty got to join in. (Thank goodness I have enough swords and light sabers to go around. Those are vital.) They all ate lunch, and not one bit got stuck to my ceilings. After lunch, Pretty took a nap and the Beast played on the computer, probably downloading porn or something. (Just kidding! I have a computer monitor with strict blocks set up). Anyway, Number One and J just played and played and played. There was no arguing, no running in the house, no FBI agents at my door. It was a very peaceful day.

Eventually they decided that it was hot and that they needed to run through the sprinkler. Who can argue with that? I think they washed a corner of my van, too. (Hey! A corner is good. Beggers can't be choosers, people).

J was beyond polite using his yes, ma'am and please and thank you. I called his mom the next day to check on him thinking he might be sick and have died of the plague overnight as that is the only thing that could have explained this amazing behavior. Nope! Alive and well with not even a fever or runny nose.

I'm thinking I'll have to invite J for another playdate soon. There is still almost a whole month before school starts again.





Pretty Turns Two
Pretty turned two last week! I can't even believe she's that old. She is delighted with her two new baby buggies and the babies that go in them. Marlene even made a dress for her and a matching one for her babies. She's very proud to carry her babies everywhere she goes. And I do mean everywhere.

We had a nice small party for her. I got some little inflatable pools and let the kids have at it. The King was in charge of pictures and took mostly video. Due to the fact that I look like a slowly dying beached whale in the videos, I'm unwilling to post them, but I will post the couple decent pictures that are there.

I'm proud of my Pretty girl. She's getting so big, and loves to do everything just like her big brothers do. She loves to run and scream through the house, love on her little brother (a little too much, but who's really counting anyway?), munch on bananas all day long, play with friends, "talk" on the phone, build high towers with the jumbo legos, and cuddle with her daddy. She is the ULTIMATE daddy's girl.




Hey! I'm a Nephite!
The Beast came running out of his room on Sunday looking like this. Apparently he'd learned something about the Nephites and Lamanites at church that day. He promptly informed me that he was a Nephite, so I just had to take a picture. Luckily I took a picture only from the waiste up. It wasn't until after I took the picture that I realized that he was totally naked from there down. You can only imagine where his Nephite head dress came from.



So, there you have it folks. Not too much to add from our neck of the woods. And, honestly, that's a good thing.