Allen Freedom Fest

Every year we hang out with the Garstka's, Turner's and DiSpigno's and enjoy the Allen fireworks.  This year was no different.  The Garstka's are such great hosts.  We enjoyed great food.  Jessica brought homemade cookies and cupcakes.  She is so creative.  She had 4th of July themed icing and sprinkles and let the kids decorate their own cupcakes.  They had so much fun and they were delicious!  I love having a baker in the family... too bad she is a messy baker.  I have to say, she is getting better about cleaning up after herself, though.

It was fun to see Jessie and Jonathan hanging out together during the fireworks.  They've come a long way as brother and sister.  For the most part, they no longer feel the need to kill each other... only bicker back forth once and awhile.

I made everyone dress patriotic.  Fred and Jonathan's scout camp shirt had a flag on the back - I'll have to pick a better shirt for them next year.  I sure do miss those matching Old Navy shirts we used to wear when the kids were little!  I haven't had any takers on those in years!

I hope everyone had a great Independence Day weekend and is enjoying what is left of your summer!

Slow Down

I'm not ready for the first day of August tomorrow.  I'm not ready for school supplies and school clothes.  I'm not ready to start thinking about schedules, lockers and band camp.

I want summer to slow down.  We haven't had enough time at the pool.  Enough bike rides and walks around the duck pond.   Enough trips to the lake.  There are so many adventures left to do.

I sure hope we get all those summer bucket list items checked off before Labor Day.

Water Balloon Fights

One of Jonathan's summer wishes was for a water balloon fight.  He and I sat in the backyard and filled up water balloon after water balloon until we had a sufficient amount.  Sadly, Fred wasn't as excited about the water balloon fight as Jonathan was.  So, all of our water balloons sat in large bowls on the patio in the hot sun for what seemed like forever, before we coaxed Fred outside.  When we grabbed our bowls of water balloons we found that many had gotten so hot that they had spontaneously popped!

Oh well, we had filled so many up that we were still able to have a great time!  Jess chose not to play our games with us.  I guess she is too old for a good water balloon fight.  There was a time when she would let us hit her upside the head with a water balloon or two.  

I Declare A Silly String War

Our summer bucket list included a silly string war.  So, Independence Day weekend we declared a silly string war.  We were a mess and so was our driveway.  Our friend, Abie, got in on the fun, too!

Kids, don't try this at home unless you are ready to clean up a big mess.  And, you must be prepared to clean that mess up quick.  It melts to the pavement on a hot day.

Mountain Bikers Extraordinaire

On July 6th, I was itching for a Fortenberry Family fun day.  I did some research and found a mountain bike trail over by our friend Abie's house.  Jessie is what you would call an "inside pet."  She really doesn't like hard core outdoor fun that involves strenuous exercising. So, we left her at home and loaded up our bikes and headed to Abie's house.

Once we got to Abie's house, we checked out the condition of every one's bikes and then road over to the trail head.  The ride there was a nice leisurely ride.  I remember thinking that I was going to hate it on the way home.  Boy, was I right.  We took the novice trail, since we are what you would call flatlanders.  We stick to the paved bike trails of our neighborhood.  These were trails maintained by DORBA (which is some sort of professional organization ).  We were out of our league, but we had so much fun.  There was this huge drop and then you have to ride out of it.  Abie and I had a hard time navigating, but did pretty well.  Unfortunately, Jonathan wiped out.  Fred watched the three of us, and thought he had analyzed our techniques and knew what not to do.  The next thing I know Fred rode down and straight into a thorn bush.

It was hot and miserable, because we didn't get started early enough.  Isn't that the way it always goes?  I was riding behind Jonathan.  He would brake going downhill and then wouldn't have enough momentum to get himself up the next hill, so he would stop.  I have bruises all over my legs.  My legs kept knocking against my bike when I would have to stop to keep from hitting him or would actually hit him.

It was hard going, but we felt very good about ourselves that we managed to do something so hard.  I was proud of us.  I would like to go back, but I am not taking my son - that is for sure.  He belongs on the paved bike paths for a little while longer.

After we finished, we were exhausted.  My legs were jelly and Abie had a flat tire. And, we still had to ride back to Abie's house - uphill!  I was so sad that we didn't just drive to the trail head.  Next time, I want to be dropped of at the trail head.

Glad To Be Back

After 8 months of being away, I have been called to serve in Young Women's again.  I am so excited... and nervous.  I am serving as a Laurel Advisor, so it is in a different capacity from before and with a different group of girls and with a different presidency.  So, all those changes makes me a little nervous, but I'm so glad to be back.  (The group in the picture is not the Laurel's, but just happened to be a cute group of girls sitting next to me at an activity Wednesday at the mall.)

Forthman Fun

I am so far behind that I guess I will just start with last weekend....

We had fun hanging out at MaMaw and Grady's and visiting while Jeff, Emma and Lainey were in town.

Lainey found that Jonathan was an easy "target" and would play with her almost as much as she wanted.  He
tried to fake a nap once or twice, but she wouldn't have any of that.

My camera battery died before I got any pictures of Jessie and Lainey together.  Jess helped her play dress-up.  MaMaw still has all of Jessie's old dress-up clothes.  Thankfully, my battery didn't die before getting a super-cute picture of MaMaw and Jeff - I think Jeff was going for super-cheesy, but it turned out cute.

Gettin' Caught Up

Fun Youth Activity

It has been so long since I have been on here. I have so much to tell, and so many pictures to post.  I'm not sure when I'm going to get caught up.  We are down to one working laptop, and it is a pain to borrow Fred's.

I promise that I will get a couple of posts under my belt this weekend!