Where'd June Go?

Wendy with her twinners, Simon and Luke. 

The day after we got home from Seattle a couple few weeks ago, my sister, Wendy, and her family of 11 visited us for a half way stopping point on their way to Seattle to see Brian and Marissa.  They stayed one day and one night.  The kids didn't mess around waiting to play.  They always jump right in where they left off.

Ezra and Landon

Andy with the twin that looks like Wendy and Wendy with the twin that looks like Andy.

Zoe taking a bath with the twins, who are just about as big as her.

Wendy and my boys combined minus 4.  That's a lot of boys!  Zach, Brian, Ezra, Sam, Spencer, Landon

Cute, sweet little Ellie.  She is a few weeks older than Jiles.  They look a lot alike.

 A couple of days after Wendy and company left, Zoe girl had a birthday!

She is the big 2!

And what a cutie she is!

We spent the day playing around and what not.  It was cool and a little rainy.  I spent a few hours that day painting.  I was painting a gift that was meant for both she and Kate.  Kate's birthday is the day after Zoe's.  I'll tell you in a little bit what it was.

I made her super simple (meaning totally plain) cupcakes.

The kids opted to not have frosting, since Kate's birthday was the next day and we'd definitely be having frosting then.

Zoe in front of her gifts as she is telling her baby to look at the camera and smile.  Babies and balls are like her favoritest things in the world.  Oh yeah, and milk.

My sister, Julie, and her daughters, Aubrey and Karie, arrived at our house late that night.  Julie was bringing Aubrey up to play with us for a while.  My kids were so excited.  They asked about 40 times that day when Aubrey was going to get there.  Julie helped me get ready for Kate's birthday by hanging some simple crepe paper and stuff.

Kate had a good birthday.  She awoke to her favorite cereal - honey bunches of oats - and plenty of milk.  This girl loves cereal.  Her birthday was the same day as the rodeo, which started at 10 and ended around 4 or 5, so she was with friends and playing for 6 or 7 hours of the day.  And she got to ride a horse.

 With some buddies and cousins at the rodeo:

Savannah, Kate, Shirley, Kylee, Rachel, Aubrey, Karie

After the rodeo, Julie and her girls went to our sister Holly's house, who lives a little over an hour away, and we went back home to celebrate Kate's birthday.

She got a lock for her door to keep her brothers from walking in whenever they want.  She's been asking for that for a couple of years now.  

She got a bike.  Her other bike was way too small for her.

Spencer helping Zoe on her bike:

Enjoying her new ride in the late summer sun.

This picture cracks me up.  Spencer took it.  It captures so much of normal life in it: Ezra with his "I didn't do it" face; Jiles crying and saying "Dedah" (Ezra); Zoe shirtless and climbing on/falling off of stuff; stuff everywhere.

We had to call Kate back in off of her bike for one last present before cake and ice cream.  It was what I had been painting the day before, and, like I said, it is for both her and Zoe.

A big dollhouse.

They all, boys included, love it.  They played with it, and nothing else, for like 4 days.

One of Kate's most favorite things ever is Dalmatians.  I made a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting, and then chocolate frosting for the spots.  I was trying to get the spots all Dalmatian spotty, then Weston showed me a faster way by just flicking the spoon down really fast to make it plop on there.  Hahaha.  It sure was yummy tasting.  And we had homemade ice cream made with the Cuisinart ice cream maker I got off of Craigslist 2 days before.

Kate with her new puppy, Spotty.

Another joint gift for the girls was a bunkbed.  Julie brought it up from the IKEA in Utah.  I wanted to paint it white before Weston assembled it.  Julie brought it up on Friday, Kate opened it on Saturday, we rested on Sunday, I painted it on Monday, and for our Monday night family home evening activity, we (Weston and Spencer) assembled it.

I can NOT believe how many boards they fit in that rectangular box.  Seriously.  56 boards.  Both sides, plus edges.  2 coats per side.  I ran out of paint.  We don't exactly live close to a paint store to run get some more, either.  It is totally obvious to see on the bunk bed, now that it is assembled, where I missed.  Unfortunately.  In hindsight, I should have painted the "more important" boards before painting slats the mattress would be covering up anyway.  Oh well.

I worked on taking down her other bed and clearing the room while W & S assembled.

This picture makes me laugh:

Hi.  Can you see where I missed?  Obvious, isn't it?  How did I miss that?  I'll have to get some more paint to finish the job.

Everyone's loving it.  Let's just hope that it holds up to our wild very energetic crew.