Help us help a friend

We have some good friends, Mike and Carrie Butler who are going through a rough time right now. Her brother was just diagnosed with Stage III testicular cancer and is having a difficult time paying his medical bills. In order to help, Carrie has come up with the BRILLIANT idea of hosting picture play dates. She will be photographing children at parks or other beautiful places and will charge just $12 a child. The kids can picnic and play and Carrie will take them aside, one at a time, and snap pictures of them. Her pictures turn out DARLING. If any of you recall, she is the one who took our family pictures this past fall (yes, when we were violently attacked by wasps...not her fault :). After she takes the pictures she will post them to her photo site. You will have access and printing rights and each child will have between 5 and ten pictures. This is a great opportunity to help someone in need AND score some darling photography. If you want to check out a sampling of her work click here:http://www.carriebutlerphotography.myshowit.com/playdatesample
You can also view her blog for more details, just click on "Carrie Butler" on the side bar.

Ouch!

We had just finished up an evening stroll around the block when little Nixin had quite the run in with the cement. He was just standing there, decided to take off- with his legs crossed- and BAM! He has quite the scab on his face to prove it.


I had promised Jack and Chad a haircut that night and Nixin insisted that he needed one too. He didn't think it was fair that all of the boys in our family got to have short summer haircuts but him. He had just fallen and I was full of sympathy for the poor kid, so....


I did it! I cut his hair really short and he LOVES it. I love it too. The morning after the haircut, when we were styling his hair, he was shouting about how "awesome my spikes look!" I did make him promise and cross his heart that he would grow his curls back when school starts up again.

Boys Only

Just before Jack got out of school for the summer, he asked me why we never have invited his school friends over to our house to play. He was right, we never had and I had not ever really thought about doing that before.
So, we planned a school's out for summer party. Jack decided that he wanted the theme of the party to be "No Girls Allowed." His last day of school he took invitations to this buddies in his kindergarten class and then we invited a couple of his favorite friends from our old neck of the woods to come along too. Nixin didn't exactly think it was fair that Jack got to invite friends and he didn't, so I let him pick 3 friends to invite as well.

We played a few games, including a balloon pop race (tie balloons to each persons foot and let them run around stomping each others balloons until they all pop), a getting dressed relay race (run, put on the pile of clothes, take them off and tag your team mate), "Happy Puppy" (say "happy puppy" with marshmallows in your mouth and it sounds funny), and ladder golf.

Blake, Max, Caleb, Cole, Nixin, Jack S., Jack W., Zachary, Brandon, and Dorian

We had pigs in a blanket, Cheetos, fruit kabobs, and brownies for lunch.

I walked into the living room about 20 minutes after the last guest left and my little Nixin was zonked. What a sweet heart!

Father's

There are so many father's who have made an impact on my life. I am grateful for all of them, including my grandpa Bob, Chad's dear grandfather's, Don and Cummings, and of course, Chad's step father, Will. But today I would like to pay a special tribute to the 3 most important father's in my life.

Chad is such a fabulous husband and a wonderful father. His boys love him and cherish their time with him. He works hard to provide a good life for us, and for that I am grateful.

I love my dad, Rob. He is loving and caring and has taken on such a big role as "the parent" in my life. He has been a good example to me. I always have a great time when I am around him. He has made many sacrifices on my behalf and I appreciate them all. Thanks Dad for all that you have done for me!

Chad's dad, Ken, is so much fun to be around. We all love him so much. He has welcomed me into their family and I am thankful to have him in my life. He raised me this wonderful son to have as my husband, and I will forever be in debt to him for that.

Happy Father's Day Dads! We love you.

Beach Day

Today we went with our ward playgroup to a great little beach at Daybreak. Who would have thought that we had this fun place just minutes from our house? They had a great playground that the kids spent a lot of time playing on and then we headed down to the beach. The kids had a blast. You would have thought that the overcast day and kinda chilly temperatures would have intimidated the kids from hopping in the water with their swimming suits on, but no! They loved it. We will definitely be going back there soon.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It has been raining and raining and just look what it is doing to our grass!

Chad

Isn't my husband handsome? I love him.

School's Out For Summer!

Our summer break is officially here! Both Jack and Nixin are out of school unitl after our baby gets here...wow! That sounds so wierd to say it like that. I am really quite excited for the school break. I love having my boys here at home with me. I don't know what I'm going to do next year when Jack is gone all day long! I tried to take pictures of Jack walking home from his last day of kindergarten and he let me take a picture and then said "Okay, that's enough mom." So this is the picture we've got:

Date

Nixin came into my room this morning and laid in bed with me while the two of us tried our best to get moving. We had the following conversation:

Nixin: What day is today?
Erica: Thursday.
Nixin: Does that mean that you have hair today?
Erica: No, Thursday is my day off. We don't have anything that we have to do today.
Nixin: Can we go on a date?
Erica: Sure, what would you like to do for our date?
Nixin: Hmmm...We should go to Target and let me buy a toy with your card.

The funny thing, or totally scary thing, about that is that Nixin loves to swipe my debit card. The last time that I let him do it, he said "Wait mom, I can do it. I know what numbers to push." And he did!!! The little stinker knows my pin #!

So, we went to the store and I let him buy a toy. He chose a police officer set and has been playing it ever since we got home. I love dates with Nixin!

Kindergarten Program

Can you believe that this is Jack's last week of kindergarten??? Wow! He is growing up so fast.
Last week the kindergartners put on their program. It was really cute and Jack sang right along which made Chad and I very happy. Great job Jack!



(Jack is on the back row, 7th child in from the left.)

Fun in the Sun

Chad had plans all day Saturday, so the boys and I decided to have a day of fun in the sun. We did sidewalk chalk, a picnic, played in our new Sponge Bob Square Pants sprinkler, and then jumped on the trampoline. It was a fun day.