So Here's Summer Again.

It is the hottest day of the year, thus far. We celebrated by being outside all day. After I got bored of the fights the kids have out front we headed to the backyard to "swim".





The really just means playing in the wading pool. But we took the large "snap set" pool the evil neighbors left by the dumpster so now we have two. (Not counting the one the 4 geniuses decided to throw bricks in).





One of the pools was set up and full of water so while we waited for the other, much larger one to fill up, there were 10 or 11 kids crammed into the 5' wide 12" deep pool.





I think they were practicing for the clown car at the circus. It was wild.

After we got the pools all filled, totally 3 since we borrowed a pool from one of the kids who was over playing, things got crazier. Yes, the kids spread out over the 3 pools, but that didn't stop the madness.

Instead, the kids ran from pool to pool and made a huge mess of all of them.

And the adults were frying in the 90 degree weather. So I decided to climb in, too. One of these days I will be brave enough to actually swim in the pools with them. The problem is we're right on the busy-ish road. And there's neighbor mommies watching their kids. (I love those mommies. Usually it's okay if 1 or 2 kids are unattended by their moms but when there's 9 extra kids and only 1 extra parent? Seriously?)

But I don't swim in front of the other mommies. And yes, we have the mister, but somehow it's not enough when it's this hot. Or I'm not doing it right. Whatever.

So, it's hot, the kids are crazy, and I am stealing 10 minutes to write this out and have self-therapy before I go make burgers and dogs (again) and take them back out to the (hopefully) cooler outside after dinner.

Nuts.

Priorities

This weekend I have a test, 4 chapters to read, 3 REALLY long, boring scientific sounding sociology articles to read, a website to review, and a 2 page paper to write.

Oh, and a 30 minute discussion group to prepare for my class on Thursday. On ANOTHER really long article.

I had big plans for myself yesterday. But it turns out that being at school and having so much homework every single night (seriously, 2 chapters and at least 1 article every night!) is exhausting. Especially since I have to keep a dictionary by my side and read the articles out loud so I can HOPE to understand what they are saying.

Anyway, I took my test yesterday morning (online) and then prepared to settle in with my highlighter and one of the articles.

But the kids were playing outside. Surely I can read this outside and watch them. And get enough out of it to write a response.

But Alex had a birthday party to go to and we had to get a present.

So I took him to Shopko and had an hour of date with my 8 year old. He's some of the best company one could hope for so I was in NO hurry to get back to my article.

We got home and I put the gift bag together. Okay, back to responsible-ness.

But I bought a People and hadn't finished it. (or really started it)

So People and I went outside to watch the kids.

Then Reader's Digest made an appearance.

Then we had to get the boy to the party so we packed everyone in the van. We dropped him off and took the girls to Wal-Mart of some odds and ends. Then to some store in Pullman, then to ANOTHER store in Pullman, then back to the park to get the kid.

Now it's dinner time. But we have to go back to Wal-Mart. So we went to Sella's (if you ever come visit us, make sure we eat at Sella's. It's SO good).

Back to Wal-Mart, home, let the kids ride bikes for an hour until bedtime.

Wow! I got a sunburn. (minor)

And I'm so sleeeeepyyyyy.

And my article has not yet highlighted itself.

But I had a fantastic sunshiney day with the kids, outside, having fun, drinking lemon juice water (YUM!) and driving those same 8 miles again and again.

What a great freakin' day.

The Sun Made An Appearance

I drank up lots of sunshine today. Too much Vitamin D has made me hurt.

The thing about sunburns is that they can only be felt a little bit until they are all the sudden really bad.

So here's my skin now.

I'm not complaining, btw. I am happy I got a jumpstart on my tanning for the summer. See, I have to burn several times, then peel, and then I get a deep tan that will last until November. I'm the only tan person at Thanksgiving.

What is that up in the sky?

Oh!

It's the sun!

And it's surrounded by blue!! I was forgetting what blue looked like. I only remembered gray.

We took the kids outside today for 4 hours. Awesome goodness of all things holy!- it was great!

There was no screaming or crying or fighting or killing of the siblings/parents/children. How do you argue with that? You don't.

Alex's sense of humor was on point, as well. The kids were riding bikes and playing Batman. Them playing Batman made the bikes transform into cars. As one of the neighbor girls pulled off to the side to stop she announced she was going to get gas. Each of the kids who rode past her while she got gas were told she is getting gas.

When she told Alex she was getting gas he said, "oh, I didn't see you eating any beans!"

That boy, I'll tell you what.

He is SO my kid.