Summer!!

The kids and I are LOVING summer.  We've been doing lots of fun things together and the house has actually been staying clean ... which makes for a happy mommy.  Every morning the kids get their chores done so we can do something fun in the afternoon.  Brooke has to: get dressed, brush teeth, comb hair, take gummy vitamins, pick up her toys, put away her clothes, put away her shoes, no 'pee pee' accidents, 3 pgs in her Kindergarten activity work book, and she has to be in bed by 9pm and STAY in bed.  Jace has to: get dressed, brush teeth, take vitamins, 3-5 servings of fruit/veggies, make bed, pick up his toys, put away his clothes and shoes, take out all the trash, do 5 pg in his 2nd grade activity work book or 20 min. of reading, and he has to also be in bed by 9pm. If they don't get one of their chores done then it gets circled and they owe me another chore (washing baseboards, cleaning bathrooms, picking up Ty's toys, vacuuming, etc..) in order to get it signed off.  On Saturday if all of their circles are marked off then they get to pick a ticket out of the reward jar.  They LOVE this.  Last week Brooke got "Have a Friend Over" and Jace got "Get an Ice Cream Cone".  We have all sorts of things in there ... like Free trip to Peter Piper Pizza, Special date with dad, 30 min of Free sprinkler time, Trip to the dollar store, Free Open swim Ticket, etc ...  

We went through the toys in the toy room and re-organized.  We also set up tents for Jace and Brooke that is "their space".  They are safe from each other there.  Only they are allowed to go in their tents.  It's their special space just for them.  They decorated and filled them with all sorts of toys and what not.  They made a little space to sleep or rest too.  They like having their own special area just for them.  Brooke's is full of her babies and her diary and jewelry box.  Jace's has all of his jets, helicopters, darts, coins, and boy stuff.

We also signed up for the Summer Movie Fun through Harkins Theater.  Every Monday we get to go to a kids movie.  So far we've seen Horton Hears a Who and Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.  Rio is up next tomorrow.  We also been going to 3 hours of open swim at least once a week if not more with friends and on Fridays our Church has been doing a summer school activity for kids 0-7 where they do singing, dancing, crafts, and games.

Recently there was an accident with the car so we are down to one again.  Hopefully it's a quick fix.  More on this later ...  Anyway, when we can't go anywhere we have been doing fun activities at home like redoing the big paintings in the toy room, making our own play dough, and baking treats together.  I LOVE SUMMER!!  I love being on our own schedule not dictated by school hours.  Ty likes to get up between 5:30 - 6:30am so sometimes we go jogging together and stop at the park.  He loves the swings and it's the only time cool enough to play at the park.  Anytime after 9am it's too hot to do anything outside besides swimming.  Even at the pool they have to constantly pour buckets of water on the ground around the pool to prevent people from burning their feet.  This Arizona heat is something else for sure.

Play dough day!!

Our tents...

Painting in the back yard.

Painting with mommy.

Ty Ty's toy ground.  Big brothers and sisters are the best.
  They help me get my toys out all the time and unlike mommy they get out all of my toys at once.  

Early morning jog/walk to the park.  This time daddy came too!

I have 2 teeth now!

Swinging is SO fun!!

Daddy taught me how to climb a big rock!

Jace took me down the slide lots.  I liked it!.