AHHHHH Summer...

No more homework, no more books...you know the rest. My kids are hard up for a pool. We have a larger pool, but since Ezra can get out of both doors we're still worried about putting it up. We've thought about play gates and sensors for the doors- but haven't settled on anything great. Not to mention we have a little boy next door that has no qualms about coming into our yard using, getting on, or taking our stuff. Ahhgg, we need a fence- if for nothing else so people can't see me laying out. yuck. My apologies to my neighbors- at least my suit is very modest :)

Big brothers, baby sister

Cagey is so sweet to his little sister. He sings to her when I play primary songs on the piano, but only when he thinks no one is listening. Ezra loves to kiss her little head over and over and always says, "uh, hold this!" I got a bow to stick in Meny's hair for a whole Sunday- woohoo.

ps I forgot to mention her big sister that does everything for her. This morning she changed her diaper and got her dressed for church while I ate breakfast. I could not do it without Tates!

Annoying

These signs are in the parking lot at Tryon Palace in downtown New Bern. It makes me want to vomit- especially since most people coming to see this place (and spend their hard earned money) have more than 2 kids and can't fit their family into a prius. YOU ARE NOT SAVING THE PLANET PRIUS OWNERS!! Get over yourselves. I will drive my gas guzzling SUV until the gov't pries it from my cold dead fingers.

New Bernians, have you been to Persimmons?

After a quick trip to the Tryon Palace gift shop my mom, the kids and I wanted to try out the new restaurant downtown. I'd heard everything was fresh, local and organic. Yummity- we checked the menu and even though the kids weren't overly excited we decided to give it a whirl.

It's really pretty on the outside and right on the Neuse. Besides the over abundance of geriatric patients, the inside is just as nice.

While I'm sure they don't see a whole lot of groups with 4 small children- they did have high chairs and a kid's menu. My kids got burgers, of course, complete with freshly fried yukon gold fries.

















I got a tomato salad with mixed greens and goat cheese (blagh). There was pesto and balsamic drizzled over the top. It was tasty and fresh- I just ate around the goat cheese- that stuff tastes like rotting cardboard.

Ma got the Bern (or Bear?) burger with fresh organic beef, a fried green tomato and grilled red onions. On the side were freshly fried sweet potato fries. I could have rolled around on those fries and been happy for a while. The burger was tasty too- the beef had absolutely no wang. Ya know how ground beef can sometimes taste like a cow patty? Yeah, this was just a fresh beef flavor in a patty.

Ma will probably kill me for this last pic, but I just had to document that she was there. I was there too with Meny in the Moby. I kept dropping food on her little head as she slept- Taylor was so put out with me. She kept saying "MOMMY, be careful", like I was hurting her somehow with my salad.

Shooting and more shooting

This is how we roll. We start our kids shooting young. A brother in our ward was nice enough to take us out shooting yesterday. It was hot, but we had fun. Jeebs and I got to shoot our new glock for the first time. My hands were shaking by the time I stopped shooting it. I could see the fire coming out the end of it every time I pulled the trigger. I like shooting .22's-no kick, not loud, not scary. I'm not into fire power, but I want any intruder to know I will knoCK YO' PUNK A down! If it takes getting used to shooting our 9 mm then so be it. Tates got to shoot Grandpa's lever action .22 rifle and she had a blast. She even hit a few targets. Ezra sat in the car with his hands over his ears saying "no, I don't want it." I shot daddy's .22 and was the first to hit a shotgun shell set up several yards away...so happy.

Fail

I thought I'd be so smart...

1. I need a tan
2. The grass needs watering.
3. The kids love to pay in the sprinkler
4. The kids love to be outside when I'm out there.

I put on my swimsuit and set up my chaise lounge. I set up the sprinkler and it lasted all of a very sporadic hour. Ezra wasn't really into going outside- he kept wanting to go in. Cagey would not come out at all. Kilmeny woke up and was only satisfied to sleep outside for about 10 minutes. I gave up and I have decided that a tan is overrated. (I'll try again tomorrow because I'm determined (or dumb) like that.)

ps Goodbye to all the grandparental units! Back to life, back to reality...blagh. I really wish everybody could have stayed longer...hopefully our house will sell soon and we'll get to move back closer to everybody.

Meny's Blessing Day

We had a nice Sunday and blessed our little meny girl. She looked so cute in her little pink dress and shoes and her daddy gave her a wonderful blessing. As he blessed her to be a peacemaker and a joy to those around her she wailed into the microphone...typical.

Daddy was the shortest in the group and by the time the blessing was finished she had been bounced to a height above his head- this is what he looked like.