It's been a hard days night

So it's that time of year again. Gearing up for the heat, having the kids home, time to sleep in, etc, etc... We have 4 more minimum days (early dismissal, half-days- whatever you want to call them) left and it will officially be summer break. Last year I wasn't really looking forward to the break, but this year I am. We have some fun thing planned that I'm looking forward to.

First off, I participated in a little summer boredom buster group. I signed up for 2 (Bud & Emma) and then had to come of up with a simple summer project. There were 19 kids signed up (2 of them are my 2) so I made 19 of 2 different "kits". I made a colored pasta necklace kit and a play dough kit:

Then on Friday I took my kids over Becky's house and got to take one of each of the kits for each of my kids. Here's they are and they should help keep the kids occupied during some of the down time throughout the summer.

This week I also got Bud and Emma signed up for swimming lessons. Neither of them know how to swim. They have both done parent-tot and that's it. So, I signed them up for 2 sessions and I hope by the end of it they will no longer be afraid of the water!!

I'm also looking forward to our family reunion to Durango, CO. It's coming up quick and I need to start thinking about the meal I'm in charge of. Neither N8 or I (or the kids!) have ever been to Colorado so it should a lot of fun. We're all staying in a lodge together so hopefully we'll have lots of game playing and visiting.

This weekend I got to work on a couple of vinyl projects. First I did 2 signs for Megan. A FHE sign and a sign for her family.

I also made a frame for each the the great teachers Bud and Emma had this year. I couldn't have asked for better. And you can't get a better quote than Dr Seuss!

Since we are now on Lost hiatus I have to get my fix somehow. I was perusing blogs and found this funny one listed on Megan's sidebar (thanks Megan!!) http://springfieldpunx.blogspot.com/ .

Now I will be the first to admit that I am not a Simpson's fan. I just never got into it. But these are pretty funny.

Here's Hurley:

Ben Linus (the beat up version!):

Charlie:

And John Locke:This will have to do until they decide to start the next season. They really left us hanging. I was really diggin' the Sawyer & Juliet thing, so we'll have to see what really happens there. I was also hoping to find out a little more about Richard. His character is intriguing to me. But now there's "So you think you can dance" to tide me over throughout the summer! Or maybe I'll have to read....we'll see
Any suggestions?

On Saturday I made some brownies. After dinner Mo ate one and this is what happened!

Who knew that you could have brownie stream down your nose mixed with your snot!!
You never know what will happen next when you have kids! On Saturday night we decided to rent a movie for us to watch with the kids. We rented the Spiderwick Chronicles. We had not seen it and redbox had it. We also rented Mall Cop. Both N8 and I had watched it on the airplane but without sound. We thought it was funny without sound so it should be good with sound right? Well, I got to watch about the first 15 minutes of Spiderwick and none of Mall Cop.
About 15 minutes in N8, Bud Emma and I were intrigued and didn't quite know what was going on yet. Then we saw Mo come out from behind the couch holding a ziploc baggie he had somehow gotten out of my bag that had Tylenol PM and IBprophrin. I had taken this on our Washington DC trip and hadn't gone through it yet, but it was zipped and hung up by our door. As soon as we saw him N8 and I jumped up. I grabbed him and swept his mouth. I found no pills, but there was a blue residue inside his mouth which was obviously from a Tylenol PM. We called poison control and since we didn't know if or how many pills he had taken I headed off to the ER. The hooked him up to monitors and drew some blood. As it turns out his blood came back negative for any Tylenol PM or IBprophrin. When I got home I found a pill stuck to the carpet. Mo must of put one in his mouth and spit it back out!! Needless to say, all pills are out of my purse/bag/anywhere he can reach with a stool/chair or side table!!

Through my new windows that is!!! They're in and they look great. They showed up a little late (10:30) to install, but they were all in and the installers were on their way by 6pm. Our large front window and our slider make the biggest difference. Here's hoping to a kinder, gentler electric bill this summer!!

I took a few before and after shots.
Here's the slider before:

in the middle:

and after:

Here are the kitchen windows before:

and after:

And the front window before:

and after:

Plus I had to try and keep the kids away especially when they took out the old slider. Craziness ensued!! This is what happens when Mo gets ahold of Legos!!

and Emma's room got turned upside down too!

I'm glad to have it done!!

Well, we have made it home from our trip to Washington DC. We left on Wednesday and got back home last night (Tuesday) and feel like we ran the entire time!!! We got to spend some great time with N8's family, go to his brother Aaron's wedding and see a lot of really neat things while we were at it. We took a TON of pictures so this will just be a smidgen of them!!

On Thursday we started out our trip by heading over to Sears and getting a group picture of all of the Kimbler Clan. We were all together so it was a great opportunity to get it done. Then we grabbed lunch and headed into DC to start our site seeing!! But first we had to find parking. We found that this was one of the hardest tasks of the entire trip!! Once the 3 vehicles that we had in the group all found parking in various locations, we headed to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It was super crowded, but we got to see some pretty neat things:

On Friday we decided to take the Metro downtown. This in and of itself was an adventure. Getting our entire group all together and figuring out how much and what stops was pretty interesting. The kids loved riding the "train" though!!

We eventually made it to the Smithsoniam National Zoo!! Zoo's are always a hit with kids!! It was HOT and STICKY! I am so used to a dry heat! But it was fun to see all of the animals and be together.

That night was the wedding dinner. This was the first time both families got together. It was nice to meet everyone and it was also nice to sit down in air conditioning!!


Saturday was the big day! Aaron and Erika got married. It was neat getting to go to the Washington DC temple for the first time. It is huge!! Erika's grandfather was the sealer which also made it extra special (he's a sealer in Canada and got special permission from the 1st presidency to do the sealing!!). Erika looked beautiful and so did the rest of the wedding party.

That night was the reception in Gainsville,VA. It was decorated beautifully!! I loved the centerpieces! And of course decorating the car was a fun experince! Erika's family was totally prepared, it was great.

On Sunday we attended sacrament meeting in Mannasas, VA and then had a picnic at the hotel. Then we got back onto the metro. This time was not quite as pleasant!! It was SUPER crowded!! But we made it and were able to walk to many of the monuments around the National Mall (not to be confused with a shopping mall!!).

Monday was our last day and we kept it full like the rest. Justin and Kirsten took off that morning to head back to AZ so our group was a little smaller. In the morning we went to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Musuem (by Dullas Airport). It was cool to see all of the airplanes up close!! The coolest was seeing the space shuttle.


That afternoon we headed back downtown and went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We got to see the star spangled banner, C-3PO, Dorothy's ruby red slippers and Senfield Puffy Shirt!! Pretty cool stuff. Then we headed over to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independace, Bill of Rights and Constitution. The pictures aren't the best because no flash photo's are allowed, but cool just the same!!

Tuesday we started out trek home and here we are. I know kind of a mega post here, but it was all one trip so I thought it needed one post!!