and the daily swimming has began! ( or is it begun? )

Thank goodness for meme & papa's pool because it's like a built in babysitter.... being I am a single parent 80% of the time I need all the help I can get. Robert is on his 29th day in a row of straight work and I see no time off ( except maybe a couple ½ days ) in the future. It's getting rough. We are very lucky it's there for him, don't get me wrong - but well..................

So we went to TJ's house on Friday night because the kids didn't nap that day so they needed a different environment ( and mommy needed a drink ) It actually worked out quite nicely, TJ's house is very close to my work, so I went straight there and had the house to myself for nearly 2 hours before he got there with all of the kids. I sat there drinking a glass of wine, with my feet up, under a ceiling fan, watching TV, IN SILENCE!! What a concept.

Saturday we swam all day and walked with meme & papa down to Mayfair park to see the fireworks show at 9:00 Saturday night. It was a beautiful night out and the kids loved the walk and the bleachers way more than they loved the actual fireworks... go figure? I forgot my camera though, I could have gotten some great pictures.

Sunday we went to Elijah's 8th birthday party in the morning. The morning had been HORRIBLE and I'm surprised my children made it to lunch.... so I talked Kyla into staying behind at meme's house. I knew there was no way I could handle all 3 kids by myself at the park with people I didn't know. Turns out it was a great decision because Jack was extremely defiant. He threw himself on the floor 3 times, and completely ran away from me once. Kade even asked: "how you are going to get him mom?" I thought for a second and nearly said - "I'm considering letting him go." haha - KIDDING. After 2 hours of that and the heat, we went ahead and left and went back in the pool to cool our moods down - it helped for awhile.

I must add through all of the VERY difficult weekend moments, Jack is 99% potty trained, and only wears a diaper for night time sleeping. When these last few run out though, I don't plan on buying anymore. YAY!!! Also - Kyla now writes her own books and activity pads. She doesn't merely read them anymore, she is now creating them too. I'm sooooo proud of her. ( and she gets more and more beautiful every time I look at my oldest baby who I can't believe is getting so big )

TJ told the kids if they were good he would light off one firework....

Gavin's first fireworks (o:

I don't know what this smile thing is that he's doing lately!

Riding Aiden's bike with no training wheels... we finally took her's off her bike and she doesn't want to get off of it (o:

The boys playing in the hot sun at the birthday party!

Jack LOVES the water. Look at his face. This picture makes me so very happy.