Any parent looking for at least a good hour of entertainment for their children... I give you the reason I now have a very clean house and tired children...

Granted they do not need to be in their underwear to enjoy it, but for some reason my children find it more fun this way. An air mattress, some music, and lack of clothing = days of fun for my kids!

Well we had our first overnight company for a long weekend here in TX. My parents got here Friday night and left early this morning. It was nice to see them and of course the kids had a lot of fun! We just hung out and of course had a project or two for Papa. We went to home dept and got a board and some rope and before Papa left we had two tree swings, a rope ladder and a rope swing. The kids are having a lot of fun on them.

Thank you Papa for the fun new toys. Mom was trying to figure out some new stuff on her camera so we were playing with color filter and accents so that is why some of the colors look different.

Got to love my children...

My daughter has been a MESS lately. She is not listening and nap time and bed time are a challenge to say the least. Yesterday I ended up cleaning out her room of all toys and basically everything but her bed and dresser. So after her room was cleaned out and I told her that she needed to rest in her bed quietly and wait for me to come and get her she resorted to trying on all her clothes b/c I had not moved the dresser - got to love her - but SERIOUSLY!

She also found my stack of letters to mail and stamps. This is just a small sampling of what all 15 letters looked like...


We headed to the mall this morning to see what it was like and see if I could find a place to get the kids hair cut. They did get hair cuts and as we were walking around there was a man selling remote control airplanes. Eli thought they were pretty cool and watched him for some time. Then he asks if he can have one, which of course I said no. About ten minutes later he looks at me w/a smile and says, "Mom that man was just trying to make some money to buy food and pay bills, you should have bought one." He could barely say it w/out laughing b/c he knew he was right, but a little illogical.

So I love my backyard however I have a strong dislike for the hill when it comes to mowing time, seriously there has got to be an easier way to get it mowed than what I am doing now. I know that it does not look very impressive in the picture but...

(maybe I just need to start lifting? I did feel a little better after Brian mowed and said, "You really do have to get your mind right to that hill.")

Anyway, while at Target we came upon the summer clearance 75% off and I decided as much as I dislike the hill I should try to make it useful. Each of the kids got $2 slip and slides and they were so worth the money!! The kids had a blast!

I know that many of you who read this know Chris and Kim Aberle, but there are many who do not as well. I would like to ask you to lift this family up in your prayers as their baby girl is dealing with some serious health issues. Prayer if powerful. Here is her website if you would like to know more! Thank you.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kaiyaaberle

It has been HOT here just like everywhere else right now. However, we did have a picnic lunch at the park and play a while today. There is a great park near our house that is shaded and has some really neat trees. Anyway, while we were eating our lunch two ladies walked be on the trail and Kiley says, "Mommy why she not wearing any pants?" I quickly and quietly told her that she was they were just really little. She responded (louder this time) "No mommy look she only has undies on!" Thank you Lord for ipods - if the lady did heard she made no indication of it. Got to love two year olds.

We had our lunch and then the kids played and Eli wanted to walk the circle trail. Kiley made it about 1/8 of the way before she was "so hot and really really needed you to carry me,"but we made it and my arms got a workout too.

This morning we enjoyed a little family outing to Belton Lake. Central TX is apparently known as hill and lake country and there are hills and lakes everywhere. This one is about 15 min. from our house. They have a great recreational area w/a 'beach' area, hiking trails, biking trails, water slides, boats, horse riding, and playgrounds and shelters everywhere. It is all free to military and civilians can get into everything for $8/car. I really was very impressed with the area. However, as you enter into the area this is what the signs on either side of the road read "DANGER Overhead Artillery Fire Across This Road Proceed At Own Risk" and "Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area" Not two signs that you typically see across from one another...

Brian thought that I needed to take a picture where you could see both signs to prove that they really are right across the road from each other. We were both laughing hysterically and Eli keep wanting to know what was so funny, but I did not want to scare him so I just told him that the sign was funny. (A little ways down the road there was a rectangle arrow sign and Eli starts 'laughing' in the back seat and asks if we saw that funny road sign?!)

Anyway the kids had a lot of fun and so did we. When Brian asks if they had fun when we were leaving they both yelled yes, but then Eli says "It was all fun except the water slides. I do not understand why they had to put so much water at the bottom of it." The slides were 300 ft long and about half way through Eli started screaming - needless to say he only did it once and I did not get a picture. Kiley really wanted to go on the slides, but she was too little. When the man told her she said, "No me can, me really am growing up now! I getting bigger!" Here are a few pictures (I know that the water will gross some of you out, but it was actually pretty clear before the kids got into it and they had a lot of fun and showered right afterward:)

I hope that everyone had a good 4th of July. Now that Brian is working for the DOD and we are living near a military base it has made me more aware of all of the sacrifices so many make for us and our freedoms. THANK YOU!

Brian took the kids and I on base for the first time this weekend and Eli really enjoyed looking at some of the retired equipment that they have displayed in an outdoor 'museum' area. While we were there he asked me to take some pictures because he knew Andrew and Tyse would love seeing it all! He is standing here as I type to make sure that I mention that these pictures are for the Andrew and Tyse to see and that I should probably tell Gina to show Jasper too b/c he loves history stuff. Then he says, "that is kind of history stuff isn't it mom?"

We also got to spend a couple of days with Brian's brother at his house. The kids had a lot of fun swimming in their pool, shooting off fire works, and playing with cousins.