My kids LOVE to wrestle and climb -- on people, furniture, vehicles, toys, eachother -- here are some climbing pictures!

So really there is no story here, no clever words to leave you laughing, it's basically just what you might find us doing on a random Tuesday night, or a fun Saturday morning that I thought it important to record, lest we want to remember it someday.

It is kind of funny though :)

Family Night

We have a really hard time with Family Home Evening. I think we've had a formal (meaning ANY kind of planning to it) FHE maybe a dozen times in our entire marriage. It's a little ridiculous, but we are working on it, and we are two weeks strong of doing something as a family on Monday night. That being said, last monday was definitely impromptu. We were hanging out waiting for bed time (don't judge me) and found that posing for silly pictures was kind of fun!

The box on Colby's head started it all. He loves to put random objects on his head and say, "hat!", this deceptively makes him sound like he has a limited vocabulary, which he does not-- but all the same, it's hillarious!

So I grabbed my camera, determined to catch the hat on camera, and Jackson decided to get in on the photographic action.

Then they totally started hamming it up!


This was them doing flips off the couch... I know, you can't actually see them doing the flips, but I have a really cheap camera that takes 1/2 an hour to take a picture, so this is as much flip as we'll get until I get something nicer.

At this point Jackson started taking pictures, and this was the first (of probably 20) that didn't include his finger (you know, finger over the lens) and that wasn't black.

This was, I am proud to say, his first, "hold the camera out--self portrait".

And the box came back

And this was the end, just before bed, Jackson and I stuck our feet up and took a picture... oh the imagination of a four year old!

TV in Time out?

Jackson was sent to Time out a couple weeks ago and we noticed it was really quiet, so Fred went looking for Colby. He was hiding on the other side of the couch -- the one away from the kitchen where we had been-- with Jackson watching TV. So funny!

Fourth of July

So, we went to Ann Morrison for 4th of July. A growing repertoire of great memories including fireworks in the sky and great company made this patriotic holiday my favorite of the year. I love sitting around talking and playing (one of the great memories includes someone playing guitar and everyone singing while waiting... I'm just sayin') So I have been excited about the 4th for quite some time now, and it really was as fun as I had built it up to be! My kids are in that fun place where everything is fun with them, and Drew and Clara were awesome company!

In case your first question is, "Why is Fred making that face?" My answer to you is, I can never answer that question, although I ask it all the time. I can say that I think he was posing the "I'm really enjoying these fireworks, and I have no idea someone is taking a picture of me!" While Colby and I apparently didn't get the memo that this was supposed to be our pose.

Just for the record, I think this may be my favorite family picture ever!

Then we went home and Fred lit our fireworks.

The kids thought these were fantastic and had a blast watching!

Colby was not as impressed with the loud ones-- Fred insisted on getting Picolo Petes.

The kids had lots of fun playing with sparklers although, just when I thought Colby had gotten the hang of the sparklers, he touched the flame and said "Hot!" He didn't have any interest in the sparklers after that, which was fine, because we were out! They had fun while it lasted though!

Jack was a natural and enjoyed every moment of the sparklers!

Parades, Candy, and kids -- oh my!

One of my favorite things about summer is watching parades with my crazy cute kiddos! I love sitting on the curb, waiting for the action to start, and seeing how excited the boys get!

We usually have some sort of food while waiting for the parade to start and this one was no exception-- the amazing donut shop (there are almost no donut shops in Boise) on state and 13th was right up the street from the parade so we walked down and got donuts, then enjoyed them durring our wait!

At this one we had a picnic and enjoyed the beautiful weather and fun people there!

At the fourth of July parade, unfortunately we sat next to these kids who thought it was hillarious to scream "Feed the children!" or "We are SO hungry, please feed us!" at every person who came by with candy-- it was so annoying to us, but the floats all thought it was hillarious and threw a ton of candy at them, yuck. Now that I'm done with my rant, it was really fun!

today Jack has been making me laugh so hard! I gave him a bunch of nilla wafers this morning and his problem solving skills--related to the nilla wafers-- have been quite impressive! first, he took them out of the bag and put them in his train. The problem with the train is the high rollover rate. So, after picking up the wafers 4 or 5 times, he decided to find another venue. He found colby's little shopping cart and put the wafers in there. the problem here was the big gaps in the cart let all the wafers fall out as he walked! Next was the little toy helicopter with a hole in the top and open sides. the helicopter has a string that you use to pull it around. Now, amazingly enough he actually got them to stay in the helicopter in the first place. as he ran pulling the string, however, they flew out of the sides. It was so funny watching the frustration on his face turn to determination and finally victory as he decided that he wouldn't run with it anymore, so now jack, the helicopter and the nilla wafers are all sitting under the barstools in my dining room all in their proper spots with no nilla wafers on the ground!