SHUT THE DOOR!

I'm so sick of telling the kids to shut the door this summer! So I devised a plan. We got a swing hing and replaced one of the hings on the front door. It won't close the door completely so it latches but it will gently swing the door closed. It's enough to keep $50 worth of air conditioning floating out the door every afternoon and the hair on the top of my head from being pulled out. (I'm exaggerating but you get the idea.)

Just an observation...

Have you ever noticed that a girl rarely has Jr. attached to her name? I've seen Robert Downey, Jr., Dale Earnhardt, Jr. but rarely if ever a girl? There's no Evelyn Wells, Jr. or Susan B. Anthony Jr. Weird. If you think of anybody, let me know.

Happy Birthday Juliet...

Because I have awesome friends, Juliet had a birthday party today! Juliet has a friend in sunbeams that almost has the same birthday. Her Mom, Val, asked if I wanted to do a party together! I agreed and it was fantastic.

Juliet wanted a pinata for her birthday and Maxine wanted to do paper mache this summer so we killed 2 birds with one stone. (You can say it, the princess head is a little creepy. It's more motivation to smash it.)

Here's Val concentrating madly on the cake!


There was water and slides and general birthday happiness. Maxine and Jack even said they had a great time.

The best part, in my opinion, was when Val's older daughter put the smashed pinata head on her own head and started doing funny things for the kids like cartwheels and somersaults.

Happy Birthday Julie!

Sleeping outside...

I remember sleeping out on the trampoline all the time as a kid! I thought it was great fun, especially when my Mom would forget to turn off the sprinklers. So the kids asked if they could sleep outside and I said sure! Around dusk, Maxine started to get scared and didn't think it was a good idea anymore. I assured her that she didn't have to but Jack and Juliet were still enthusiastic about the idea.

Around 10 o'clock, Jack and Juliet started to get scared and Maxine had braved up by then. So I said I'd sleep out on the trampoline with them. Big mistake. I must be getting older because I'd wake up constantly and my shoulders would hurt or my tailbone was asleep. Looking over at the kids, they were all asleep like logs. Around midnight, the wind kicked up so the sound of my neighbor's wind chimes and sliding garbage cans kept me up the rest of the night. At 5:30 Maxine got up to use the bathroom and the other two woke up. By this time it was getting light out and the kids weren't afraid anymore. I said, "You guys can do whatever you want but I'm going inside to my bed." I slept inside until 8 o'clock but felt like I was dead all day long. The kids weren't much better. By midday, it looked like a crime scene at our house, bodies lying everywhere. We still had fun. :)

My theory about Fast Sunday...

I am fairly certain that during Fast Sunday I do not consume less calories, but rather divert calories to a different part of the day. :)

Straight from the UK...

Tonight...The Stig rides a bike...

His identity will never be revealed...

(If you don't get it, then you just don't get it.)

Summer fun...

Yea! Summer's here and we've been doing our share of lazing around. But there are a few things we've done so far!

Maxine decided she wanted to make a solar oven. She'd seen one on PBS and took off with the idea in her head. She made one and we tested the temperature of water in the oven and a control water on the ground next to the oven. It was in the morning and her plans are slightly flawed but her water in the oven was 10 degrees hotter than the control. I have plans to make a different solar oven tomorrow or Friday and cooking dinner in it. :) Pictures to follow.

And Jack learned to ride his bike today! There's a girl across the street that learned to ride her bike last week. I guess Jack decided he'd waited long enough. (For some reason, there's no audio from my crummy camera phone video.) :)

We also have plans to pull taffy this summer and do a book discussion as well as swimming. Are you doing anything fun and interesting this summer?