J3 Sunday Shenanigans: June 2017

Joey has joined in our family love of the video game Mario Kart. He carries around the Mario and Luigi figures all day long. He likes to call Luigi "Papa". I guess the mustache and blue eyes remind him of his Papa Wanner.

We planted the window boxes with impatiens this year. Now that we know shade loving flowers are what this spot needs, we're experimenting with different varieties until we find something we love. The begonias last year were nice but didn't give as much bloom and color as we wanted. So far the impatiens are doing very well. Now we just need to find a trailing flower or vine that loves shade too. Any suggestions?

Mommy talked Daddy into buying an annual pass for Rigby Lake. We have to go to the lake at least six times to pay for the pass. With temps above 85 and no air conditioning, we love just skipping over for an hour or two after dinner. It wears out the kids and cools us off before bed time. Win-Win! Plus the lake is surrounded by a one mile paved path. We've been preparing for our bike trip later in the month by taking the kids around the path a few times a week.

Now we need to get more toys for digging in sand. Joey is always wandering off to steal toys that belong other families.

Daddy caught us playing Duck-Duck-Goose on the tramp. It's not very often that Mommy takes the time to play with all the kids. This was really a fun night for us and we're so glad Daddy could sneak a few pictures so we have proof that Mommy does more than just cook, clean, and run errands.

Annie went in for her VCUG test. She was a little nervous, but did so great during the procedure. We found out that she has reflux into her kidneys - when it is time to empty her bladder, some of the urine flows backward up into her kidneys. This is what has been causing all her urinary tract infections. There is a constant cycle of urine going up and down from kidney to bladder and back again. We are waiting on the urologist here in Idaho Falls to find out what we need to do next. Until then we're trying to be extra diligent about keeping Annie clean and having her go to the bathroom frequently to help keep her bladder as empty as possible. Depending on the severity of her reflux we will either need to have surgery to improve her urine flow or put her on a low dose antibiotic and see if she outgrows this condition.

Annie was so brave and cooperative during the testing. Mommy told her she could choose a treat from anywhere. Annie chose Applebee's. She ordered a strawberry milkshake and french fries. Mommy even let her play on the little table top computer. Anything for our brave girl!

Hooray for another night at the lake! The cool, wet sand and refreshing water feel so good on summer nights.

Annie is the only one brave enough to swim out to the floating water slide. She has to convince Daddy to swim out with her. And we're all tickled when Daddy goes down the slide too.

How cute are those two holding hands?

Go Daddy! Go Annie!

It's lovely to be at the beach when it's nearly deserted. We've learned that Saturdays are way too crazy. We prefer weeknights.

Joey is enjoying our prep for the biking and camping trip. He's helping Mommy find the gear and loves to get into Daddy's bike tools.

I love seeing these two become buddies. Joey loves to be with others, while Tommy prefers to have alone time. So when they both want to be together - and they're getting along, it's a sweet time.

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home...glad as I can be. Daddy is so great about playing with the kids when he gets home from work. They boys love to jump and wrestle with Daddy. Mommy loves a little rest from chasing two crazy boys.

You can tell how much they love Daddy!

Mommy comes in at a close second.

A family Daddy was assigned to home teach had a daughter get married. We attended the reception as a family. It was a really fun party for kids. Lots of little treats and fun music. Annie loved the cotton candy in individual bags.

But the main attraction was the photo booth!

We're pretty sure the photo below will be our Christmas card picture this year. Ha!

Joey was a little concerned by our craziness, and Lily is getting old enough to feel self conscious about how she looks and acts in public - but the rest of us got wild! Annie and Tommy kept wanting to do more pictures, but there was a long line most of the night. Annie spent most of the party touching and playing with all the costume props near the booth. The sparkles, feathers, and silly things were too tempting to resist. Once the party died down, we let them try again. Unfortunately they weren't quite sure what do with themselves so daddy had to come to the rescue. Actually, Tommy was waving his sword like crazy, but his timing was always off with the camera so you can't see the sword. And he was so intent on looking like a tough guy, that we couldn't get him to smile.

After a night of partying, we had stake conference. The kids were grumpy and didn't do very well. Daddy was assigned to serve as an usher. Each time he was within eyesight, Joey freaked out and wanted to be with him. Once the congregation was settled, we ended up sitting in a classroom that broadcast the speakers over the sound system. We spread out and just let the kids play. Two hours is such a long time to sit still and be quiet. We're amazed more families didn't join us.

After conference we found Lily's silly selfie on Daddy's phone. Obviously the girls weren't paying attention to conference at all. Parent fail! At least they were quiet and we got to hear some of conference this time.

Nothing like Sunday dinner in the shade - with lots of ice cream for dessert - and a shoulder rub from Annie.

Lily was having a more solitary day and it was making Annie crazy. The note below is the result of having one child who is an introvert and needs alone time but another child who is an extrovert and needs constant interaction with people. Annie kept trying to get Lily to play with her and it just upset Lily. After giving her big sister a breather, Annie wrote this note and slid it under their bedroom door.

I hope one day they will learn to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of each other - and laugh about the moments like this when they don't understand each other.

We have been enjoying some amazing summer storms. We decided to join Daddy for lunch and some walking on campus and were met with a downpour. Daddy got totally soaked walking to meet us. We were all dripping wet. So we spread out some of the sopping the clothes and shoes, ate a picnic lunch on the carpet of the BYU-Idaho Center, and did a few laps around the indoor track until the storm passed. Joey impressed us all with his speed.

Lily and Annie had some special requests from customers. The boys love it when customers order cakes, because they get to enjoy the leftover frosting.

It's a good thing these two are so cute. Some days, their cuteness is the only thing that keeps them alive.

Well maybe cuteness and naps keep them alive.

We've had some amazing rounds of Hot Lava this summer. I love it when friends play with us too. Our furniture is probably taking a beating, but the kids are happy and being active.

Tommy is getting more motivated to learn his letters in preparation for preschool. Each day we spend at least 10 minutes doing letter puzzles, songs, or practicing writing. Tommy is starting to catch on but it feels like we have so far to go.

Painting rocks is a new trend in our area. Children and adults paint rocks and hide them in parks and other public places. Mommy had the kids paint a few rocks each and then hide them around town. It was a lot of fun. We haven't found any rocks yet, but we try to keep our eyes open.

The third weekend in June is Stampede Days in Rigby. There is a rodeo, parade, and a few other events. our favorite is the parade and small fair in the city park.

After filling two plastic grocery sacks with candy, toys, and toothbrushes (we seriously have two year's worth of brushes now), we went to the park for Mommy's outdoor Zumba class and the fair.

Daddy tried to keep all four kids entertained while Mommy exercised. It is tough keeping track of all four kids on your own in the middle of a county fair.

Later we were able to divide and conquer. Tommy and Lily did pony rides while Annie and Joey stayed with Daddy.

Tommy was so brave. He looked cool as a cucumber on the pony. Annie used some of her business money to get her face painted. She waited a long time in line for a cat nose and a few whiskers. Next year we will just paint the kids faces before we get to the park and save ourselves a lot of time and money. Either that or open our own face painting booth.

We sure love seeing out kids have fun!

After the parade and fair we came home to attend our neighbor's birthday party. Greyson is 3 years old and he loves horses. His mom and dad brought over two of their older more gentle horses for the kids to ride. Joey missed out on the pony rides that morning. He made up for it at the birthday party. He did five rides and happily yelled "horsey! horsey!" every second he was on horseback. Now we know what to do for his birthday party in August. Our neighbors graciously offered to host horse rides for Joey's party. He is going to be one happy little 2 year old.

After the horse rides, we did a pinata, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream. The favorite present was this stuffed horse. It is big enough to ride. The boys wanted to play with it all afternoon.

June 18th was Fathers' Day. The kids built a big blanket for for Daddy in the morning. We had some nice family snuggles and a big waffle breakfast before church on Sunday.

After church we had grilled steak and corn on the cob with lemon blueberry cake for dessert. Tommy was upset that all the fruits were mixed together in a salad, so he separated out the fruits he liked.

No one complained about the corn or the cake. Yum!

We Halls take cake VERY seriously!

After dinner we played hard in the backyard. Some friends even came to join in the fun. Uncle Brady took lots of fun pictures of the kids with his new camera. This year Daddy asked for trees as his Fathers' Day gift. We chose an Autumn Blaze Maple and a Patmore Ash. Daddy planted them on the west side of our house. We are excited to watch them grow.

They are so little now. What a difference 5-10 years will make.

Annie was really excited about the trees.

Tommy is still working on his letters. Sometimes the whole family joins in to help him. Slowly but surely he is starting to get it. Go Tommy Go!
What do you do on a hot summer day when you don't want to play outside? Make peanut butter play dough of course.

Joey was especially excited about the play dough. He was tickled to discover that it tastes good and he can eat it.

We got a surprise package in the mail from Puna with summer sun hats inside. Joey and Tommy were so thrilled with their hats, they wore them all evening long. We decided to do family home evening outside. We toasted marshmallows and did our lesson in the little yellow play house. Tons of fun!

All the kids are getting good at waiting for ashes and toasting their marshmallows to a golden brown, except for Joey. He prefers his mallows fresh from the bag.

We had so much fun doing FHE outside, we decided it would be a good night to camp out in the backyard and practice for our summer biking trip.

It was hard to fall asleep with so much daylight outside, but after a lot of snuggles, stories, and singing, we all slept just fine. Here's hoping our camping trip goes just as well.

Summer isn't even half over and we're already having grumpy days and bored days. I limit the kids screen time so they are always complaining about how bored they are. On a cooler morning, I packed everyone up and made them go to the park for some play time. They complained at first, but then we had a lot of fun and I saw their smiles come back.

One day the heat was so intense, Joey passed out in front of our master bedroom air conditioning unit, on top of my pile of clean laundry. He stayed there with his fingers laced together for two hours. Poor little guy needed a good, cool nap. He must have fallen asleep thanking Heaven for our air conditioning unit.