Day 31: 39

 This is actually the night before but it counts.  Jake and Aaron took me out to dinner (to the Olive Garden..we decided we won't be going back.  The food isn't as good as it used to be, it is really expensive, the service was not great, it is loud, they rush you, and they didn't give us our Andies Candies that are supposed to come with the receipt) and gave me my gifts.  I got just what I wanted: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in hardback.  I have it in paperback but needed the hardback to complete my collection.  They have new covers and I have been worried I may not be able to get the old version...but I did!  Plus I got a bonus gift: a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble!

My guys are the best. :)

  And here are the moments that followed....These are blurry but too good not to post...

                                                 Life is good when your family is crazy.
Oh..here are the only pictures that we took on my actual birthday:

My chorister in Primary brought me a lemon raspberry cupcake. It was delicious.

  I knew what we were having for dinner when Mom asked me for one of my salad dressing recipes and my (really the Pioneer Women's-the only one I use) recipe for fruit pizza. :)

And here is an unattractive picture of me.  The first one of me at 39.  I am about to start looking really different in my pictures...

Day 30: My Birthday Buddy is Turning One

Saturday was a busy day.  It started off with Parker's 1st birthday party (he wouldn't be one until the next day...also my birthday!...but Saturday worked better for the party)!

 This boy is always smiling and is so sweet!  I am so glad I get to share my birthday with this precious boy!  I am so glad to be your Aunt sweet little Parker!

And family parties means cousin.

Day 29: Smarty Pants and Other Friday Stuff.

 This is one happy kiddo! On Friday morning we were discussing what time that day we thought Jake would get the email letting him know whether or not he got into STEM Camp. I was actually filling in a calendar for the summer and wrote in STEM Camp and Jake said I shouldn't since we didn't know if he got in yet. A couple minutes later he was working on Algebra and using his Kindle as a calculator when he excitedly said, "It just came!  The email just came!" and he read it to find that he was accepted!!!!  AWESOME!!!!  There is a waiting list but he is not on it.  :)

He immediately called Aaron, the grandparents, and Aunt Sheila.  Aunt Sheila didn't recognize his voice and thought it was someone trying impersonate my cousin "Big Jake" so she told him to get a job and hung up on him.  It was hysterical!  We called back on my phone (a number she recognized) and we all laughed about it together as she congratulated Jake. :)

Here are  couple more of him as he was reading the email...

 They asked for teachers references so they could check the applicants GPA. We gave them my email and phone number and explained that we homeschooled and that if they needed some one unrelated we could have one of his teachers from co-op give a reference  I never heard from them so I am assuming they read his awesome essay and decided that was all they needed. I keep hearing that homeschoolers are being recruited by colleges (because homeschoolers are awesome) and I am sure the same can be said for STEM Camps. They saw he was homeschooled, read his essay and knew he was a smarty pants. :)

 We headed over the library to sign up for the summer reading program and met some homeschooling friends there. The kiddos hung out while I chatted with their mom about how to document and count credits for high school. Her oldest is Jake's age (but born in September so he is a year behind Jake in school because of the cut off date...Jake made it in by 2 days.  He is always the youngest) and will be able to start counting high school credits next school year which is a

 little overwhelming when you start the process.  Our library has a teen room equipped with a Wii (sad but that is the only thing that draws some kids to the library...we don't spend as much time there in the summer since it is over run by kids that aren't at the library to check out books...) that the boys had fun playing while we talked.  Once Jake has read 10 hours he will earn the owl t-shirt in this picture.  He also got a free book that he is reading and there will be a book club and the author of the book is going to be part of the discussion via Skype. 

We went to Barnes & Noble after that because I know they have a kids summer reading program and we wanted to check and see if they had a teen program.  They don't. :(  We looked around and actually left with out buying anything...which took great restraint (and meant carrying books around, contemplating buying them, then putting them back...there is a little bit of satisfaction in doing that to be honest).   I saw this lovely copy of Little Women (one of my favorite books) and showed it to Jake.  He thought it was nice also and said, "Don't you already have that book?", to which I replied, "Yes.  Two of them actually" (plus I have it on my Kindle app on my smart phone).  But that seems completely besides the point to me. 

   We went to the gym after all that, which if quit impressive I think.  It is hard to be motivated to go in the morning...it is extremely difficult to go in the afternoon!  I feel like your body should know what a hard choice you made to still work out even though the day is half over and it should automatically burn more calories because of it...as a reward...

After working out we were both stretching on either side of the car so I of course took a picture....that was slightly staged since I had to get my phone ready after noticing I could see Jake and myself.  It still counts though.

Fridays are good.  Especially when you get an email about STEM Camp. :)

Day 28: Some Days Pretty Doesn't Happen...

                                   Let me be honest...More times than not it doesn't happen.

 Sometimes I use pretty serving dishes and tablecloths for dinner.  Most times it looks like this.  Served out of the pots it was cooked in. And the only reason we aren't using paper plates (like the apple and crescent rolls are on) is because we were having white chilli which requires a bowl and I didn't have any paper bowls.

And this poor quality photo is of a sweet, puffy bird that was relaxing on the clothes line.  It was there for a long time so I tried to sneak out and take its picture closer but it flew away....This one is from the dinning room, through the window that needs to be cleaned and zoomed in a lot...At least we have a picture of the memory of it. :)

Day 27: Sleepy

 Last night Sadie woke Jake up at 3:30am because she had to go to the bathroom.  He claimed he couldn't fall back to sleep after that and I have to admit I did not believe him.  Until this happened....He was reviewing his geography while I was working on grading some things and putting them in his portfolio.  I realized a lot of time had passed and he was awfully quiet so I looked over and realized he was asleep!  I woke him up and told him to see if he could take a nap...but in his bed instead of at the table.  About 2 hours and 45 minutes later he emerged from his room looking more rested.

On a completely unrelated topic (but it happened the same day so...) I am having fun making different salad dressings lately. 

I  was feeling half adult and half kid today...

And on last little quote from Benjamin Franklin that I kind of like. :)

Day 26: Short shorts

We went though Jake's closet and dresser yesterday and found that 97% of his clothes were too small because for some reason he will not stop growing.  He is probably almost 6 inches taller than last summer and he didn't want to wear short shorts so we set out to buy him some new clothes.  When we walked into the "men's" (I am using that term loosely...) section we realized he would fit right in if he wore his old shorts that are too tight and too short...These are men's clothes...They are shorts that are way too short and when rolled up they have a pattern on the inside that shows...and makes it look even more girly! Luckily they still have the manly, longer, go too cargo shorts that my guys like.  Neither of my guys would be caught dead in these clothes...because they aren't girls!  The manly section of the store is getting smaller while the "metro sexual" section is expanding...

Day 25: Memorial Day

 I didn't take a whole lot of pictures on Memorial but this picture pretty much sums it up.  We ate dinner at Nee and Papa's and Jake thought we should all say something that made America great.  On that list would most definitely be those who died serving their country.  With out them we wouldn't be free.  Everything we all listed came back to freedom.

 I took a picture of the salad I made...it looks very much like the salad I made on Sunday with the exception of there being strawberries rather than raspberries in it. 

Aunt Sheila handed Jake the crescent rolls she made so he could put it on the empty spot on the table.  He thought this was a better place for them.  Right on his plate. :)

I forgot about the salad bowl, but it wouldn't have been big enough for my salad any way so I put my corn in it instead. 

After dinner Aaron and I headed home.  He had work the next day, bright and early. I had neglected to fill my Advair inhaler (and didn't even think about the fact that the pharmacy would be closed on Monday...) so I thought staying away from fireworks smoke (and cigarette smoke) and anything else that might make it hard to breath was a good idea.  Jake went with Nee, Papa, and Aunt Sheila to a free Memorial Day concert followed by fireworks.  After that they swung by the house and Jake loaded up a bag so he could go spend the night at their house. 

I almost forgot that Aaron and Jake had started the day with a bike ride, while I accomplished next too nothing. It was a good day. :)

Day 24: Memorial Day Eve Party

Picture #1:  Berries....on a fruit pizza.  I love berry season...

Picture #2: Harmon+Harmon+Graves+Martin+Harmon=Family

Picture #3:  Jake and Lala a few seconds before they crashed.

On Sunday we had a Memorial Day Eve picnic at the Martin's house and we all had a great time.  Here are lots of pictures with a few words.  See my fancy car in this picture?

This was after the crash.  No one was hurt.  Jaxson jumped off his bike to make sure everyone was okay.

Okay, so that may have been even less words than I planned...We ate, played, and chatted.  The end.

Day 23: A Miracle

I don't EVER remember a day in May with out having to have the AC on. We cheer if we can wait until May 1st to turn it on! We have been so lucky this year.  We have had it on but not the whole time.  On Saturday MAY 23RD (that NEVER happens) we turned off the AC and opened the windows.  It's a miracle!

Day 22: Flower boxes and hitting send

On Friday my mom brought over some plants from her yard for us to put in our flower boxes.  I can't find any flowers I like that grow in the shade.  They all require full sun so we are filling the boxes with greenery.  Of course the flower boxes turned into clearing the ivy from around out tree....

...and planting the daisies Aaron got me for Mother's Day.

We finally had to wrap it up because we had to edit and then send the essay Jake wrote explaining why he wants to go to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) camp.  I accidentally hit send instead of letting Jake do it.  The first thing he has applied for and I hit send instead of him!...Fail.  But he forgave me. :)  Now we wait to see if he is accepted to the camp...We will hear by this Friday....