A whole lot of blah, blah, blah

Once again it is catch up time....Why does every blog post seem to start out that way? I didn't intend to skip out on the whole summer, but it happened and now I will write a post not too full of "blah, blah, blah" because I am well aware that no one really cares. There will be some fun pictures though of what we have been up to over the summer and a little journaling for my sake so that I won't completely forget what went on in our lives during this VERY busy time.

A quick recap on me. I took my boards for dental assisting on May 20th (yes I passed!). That was a Friday. I had exactly two days to enjoy my freedom before beginning my first class on the list of prerequisites that I need to take before I can apply for hygeine school. It was an 8 week online biology course. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined how difficult this class was going to be. The material was not so difficult, it was just incredibly time consuming! It was constant and I felt as though I couldn't take a break. The kids got out of school about a week after I started the class and I was also still working on my internship. Never in my life have I felt to stressed and pressured. And guilty. My children did have to spend some hours "entertaining" themselves so that I could study and I felt a little like I was neglecting them. But it was neccessary and they survived without killing each other although I think their summer was a little boring for them; I wish I could have done something to change that. To make a long story short, I finished the class the first week in July ( it was the longest 8 weeks of my life, but I got an A.) and I have thouroughly enjoyed the break, my next class starts in about 4 weeks.

Without going into a lot of boring detail...I hate summer! It's hot, the kids are BORED, and I am losing my mind. Every year I find myself gainging new respect for my mother. I always assumed she loved having us home with her all day long. I'm sure we drove her crazy just as my children have done to me the last two months. I do feel a little guilty about how excited I am for my children to go back to school. But in the end I have come to some conclusions. First of all, my girls are very social-they love to play with friends and be around people. I have not been able to provide that this summer and that has been difficult for them. Secondly, I have come to realize that I am a much better mom when I have a little time for me and that has been scarce these last couple of months. Thirdly, I am more aware now than ever before that taking 4 kids grocery shopping is an impossible task that I hate and more often than not it leaves me stresses out and in a bad mood. I look forward to doing it with just Devin starting next week. So the count down begins...6 more days of summer. I am looking forward to school starting. And though my kids won't admit it, I believe they are looking forward to it also-they need to have something to fill their days.

Now on with the fun pictures!

JENNA TURNS 5!

First things first...

Jenna turned 5 just after school got out! We had a fun time celebrating with her. She got her very own snow cone machine for her birthday which she loved!

On her birthday we went to a D-backs game! Melia and Taylor had gotten free tickets for being on the Principal's list at school and Jenna was more than happy to go along on her birthday. We had fun, ate LOTS of candy, and then all the kids got bored so we left before the end.

A few days later we had a party at the splash part with all of her friends. We had snowcones for all the kids and cupcakes too.

We also filled water balloons and had a great water balloon fight...unfortunately most of the kids didn't understand that they were supposed to throw that water balloons AT other people. They mostly just threw them on the ground and made mud.

SCHOOL TALENT SHOW

The week before school ended, the kids had a talent show at their school. Taylor participated in a group number with friends. They danced to Rock Around the Clock. It was very cute, but I wasn't able to get very good pictures because no one stood still long enough! Melia did a ribbon twirling routine with two of her friends. It also turned out cute. They both had lots of fun practicing and performing.

Melia with friends Elyza and Layna

Taylor with dance partner Josh

DEVIN'S FIRST HAIR CUT

Devin's hair finally got long enough to need a little trim. Loren helped by attempting to hold Devin still, but it didn't really work as this picture shows....

Taylor was the photographer, thus my head is cut off :)!

FLIP FEST

Melia and Taylor performed in the Flip Fest held at the gym where they go to gymnastics! It was fun to watch them show off what they have been learning as well as watching the other more advanced students. They got medals at the end (something my kids always love!) We are proud of them for working so hard at learing gymnastics they are doing GREAT! (Sorry, no actual pics of their performance since I was filming it.)

You know you gotta stretch first!


Melia and Taylor with their medals