The 4th!

This year was another fun 4th of July! Carter ended up riding on the Football float and throwing candy which he thought was pretty cool! Chad took off early to run in the Freedom Run before the parade!  

 So after a yummy patriotic breakfast me and the girls headed to the finish line to find a spot for the parade. IT. WAS. HOT.

 And there he is! This was his first race and I was so proud of him for doing it! He averaged about 10 min miles which I thought was incredible!

 The Eash's came and joined us for the parade.

 There is Carter with his football float! He thought he was very cool!

 And so did I in my new patriotic shirt!

 After a relaxing afternoon, (Chad actually ended up going into work for the afternoon) we did a BBQ at our house with some friends before heading over to the Annual Unsworth Party! We had goodies and the kids played while the adults chatted until dark.

 About dusk, all the big boys started getting the fireworks ready.

 Here's me and my girls! Love them and this annual party!

 And the little girls getting ready for some fireworks!

 The littlest lady found a comfy (and tasty) spot on Jacks lap and sat there quite contently for a while!

 Here they go! Of course Shelia is in on the action!

 Ry ry's face for most of the fireworks. She didn't complain, but I don't think she loved them either.

 Bri LOVED them and was so excited when she could HOLD a firework.

 Here's mine for posterity.

 Mol wasn't so sure so she stuck with the poppers for a while but eventually tried one

 Ry even did one and loved it!

 And here's Mol with her nervous face on but trying out something new anyway! After one though she didn't want to stop!

 And you know its been a good night when a 2 minute drive home looks like this!

We love our Friends and look forward to this party every year!

Bubble run!

We were invited with the Baugh girls to run the Bubble run!  I wasn't so sure if the kids would like it or not but they ended up having a blast. Here we are all squeeky clean before the race!

 The Bubble gang!

 Each bubble bog had a color. I think red had the most color in it! It was fun going through the huge piles of bubbles. Mollie was slightly scared at first but quickly got over it.

 Carter of course loved it and didn't hold back getting dirty!

 The bubbles didn't burn our eyes until the end! And then it really did!

 The kids loved just playing in the bubble canon at the end.

 We stopped in the last bog for a picture. We were all smiling and I didnt even see it coming!!
 Going, going, ........................................................GONE!

 All in all it was a fun time and we had fun getting dirty (clean).  Check out that cannon!

 I hoped my shirt would stay colored but it all washed out. But here's what it looked like before it came clean! Fun times!

ALL the summer things

Oh summer! We love you. It's so wonderful to get to hang with my kids and see pure joy on their faces when they are having fun. Carter and I have been counting down the days until Cars 3 came out and made a date to go see it! We both loved it!

 Brielle has met a cute little girl next door named Avery. They have become such good friends and spent most of the summer in their swim suits in the pool. On this day, the barbies were invited to a pool party.

 We went to school lunch often and heres a cute picture of Rylee enjoying pizza day! I was glad when friends came and ate lunch with us!

 And then theres the not so fun and glamorous summer days. Yes alot of days looked like this. Half dressed kids, eating cereal from the box as I'm just rolling out of bed. Notice Bri is still in her suit!

 Taking 4 kids to the store in the summer is one of my lesser favorite things to do. But Carter discovered he could give Rylee piggy backs and it helped me SO much. He was excited to get her out of the car and carry her into the store. And she of course loved it! I'll miss that when he's back in school! I love the special bond they have.

 Again a not so glamorous day....the food looks glamorous though! When it's just too hot to cook, we escape to the basement with plates of food like this and put on a show. On this particular day, Chad was working LOTS of overtime hours so it was just me and the kids and it was actually really enjoyable.

 Because we played so hard most days, many of the kids passed out in funny positions like this. Rylee went through a shoe phase and often fell asleep with shoes on her feet and barley hanging on the edge of her bed. This one was a pretty good one. Notice the shoe!

 And we always hit as many splash pads as we can to beat the heat! This one is West Valley is a favorite for all of us because I can bribe kids while I shop to have good behavior so they can go get wet when we are done! It works most every time!

 Oh and Rylee does NOT like splashpads.

 We've had a really fun summer and played very hard! Stay tuned for a few more trips and back to school! As fabulous as summer is, its always a good day when we are back to a schedule and normal bed time!

The Little Mermaid with my little mermaid

Me and Mol dont get many mom dates, but when we do we make sure to do something fun! Her good friend from across the street, Haley, was in the Little Mermaid play so of course we had to go see it! 

 Haley in her outfits during intermission and after the play.

 In the weeks leading up to it there was an Ariel's tea and Haley took Mollie with her to it. She got to meet all the characters and have cookies and color with them. Here she is enchanted by Ariel

 Coloring with Ariel and Enchanted by Eric.

 Scuttle and Ariel's sister.

She had a blast at it and we really enjoyed the play! We are so glad that we got to see Haley perform in it too! She did a great job!

A haircut and a bloody murder scream

It was just another day in the Hymas home. When one of the kids ran in with a wad of hair in their hand and said the dreaded words.......

BRIELLE CUT RYLEES HAIR.........

whhHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTT???!!!!!!

I screamed. Not just the "what" part....like a warrior getting ready to attack scream. It started with a growly sound and escalated quickly to a high pitched awful noise. It was ugly. 

 Then I felt better. And I knew there was nothing I could do. I'm sure the neighbors heard the scream...but I didn't really care.

 We've made it through 4 kids with no haircutting experiences. 4 kids! And here were are on the last one her sister decided to help her out.

 It's bad. There's a big ledge on the back of her head. Every time I look at it my blood boils a little.

 But then I smile. Because it is funny. And now looking back I can laugh a little. ....It still looks pretty bad. And I look forward to the day it will blend a little better!

Yes Brielle is still alive. And truth be told, that warrior scream might have saved her life. I truly felt a little relief of the demands of motherhood. Try it. You'll feel better. And it might save someone's life.

4 Fishies

No we didn't get a bowl of fish. I was blessed with 4 little fishies for kids! Every single one of them LOVES the water. Something they did NOT get from me. I was crazy and signed all 4 of them up at the same time which actually ended up working really well! Ry Ry was stoked to get to swim too with me in the mom and me class. 

It felt weird to leave Bri alone in the pool but she had no reservations whatsoever about being in the water. She by far is the biggest fish of the 4. She LOVES to be in the water.

We took the neighbor girl with us every day (Haley) and she was a big help to me! Carter did incredibly well this year and he can finally swim! He was doing front flips off the diving board by the end of it! He is fearless in the water. I wish he was a little more fearful! And Mollie went great strides as well getting more and more comfortable in the water and trying to swim as well! It was a good time had by all!