Week of August 19

Monday - 20th
The usual shopping and errands occurred in the morning.  Lydia had really short naps (thanks to the boys waking her up) and I never had any down time during the day.  That's never good.  Once the kids were down for the night I spent the rest of the evening making 4 batches of peach jam.  I found this awesome pectin called "Mrs. Wages Lite" and I was able to use only 5 cups of sugar for 12 cups of chopped peaches and it set up marvelously.  I am delighted.  I love making my own jam.  I can actually taste the fruit.  I love feeding my children preservative free jam with no added colors, chemicals or high fructose corn syrup.  Especially since jam is something that they eat so often.

Yummy Peach jam

Tuesday - 21st
Tuesday is Library and laundry day.  After morning nap I took the kids to our lovely Library.  They played in a room they have open with toys out for kids to enjoy and I went around gathering books and movies and taking care of check out.  I love our library and so do the kids.  The boys spent much of their time riding their bikes today.  I love that I live on a dead end street and don't have to worry about cars.  I check on them every now and then and it's wonderful.  I'm so grateful for summer right now and that my kids can enjoy outside activities like bike riding.  I know that all too soon the rain will begin and bike riding will take a back seat until next year.  The evening was spent working on our hobbies and planning out our morning routine and daily schedule for the upcoming school year.

Wednesday - 22nd
What a fun day we had today!  This morning we joined the ward playgroup at Ibach park and the kids played in the sand,   Daniel of course spent all of his time between the sand and the swings.  Jacob enjoyed playing with his friend Gracie.

Daniel on the swings.  My friend Jessica is pushing him.

Jacob playing in the sand with Gracie

Lydia looking super cute in her shades and hat

After nap time we went over for a play date with their best buds, Alex and Ian.  They have been looking forward to this play date all summer and it didn't disappoint!  They have a fun play structure in their backyard along with a large sand box with lots of trucks, shovels, and sand toys.  Daniel was in heaven.  I had a nice time chatting with Karen and playing with Lydia.

I gave the boys haircuts after dinner and Brent and I accomplished tasks around the house after kids were in bed.  We even folded 4 loads of laundry while watching a show.  This was a great day.

Friday - 24th
Lydia is 8 months old now.  Time is flying by fast and I can't believe how much I love this little girl and what fun she is.

8 months old

8 months and cute as can be

I never get tired of seeing her peek at me then bust out this super big grin and giggle when I look over at her

Brent took off work a few hours early and we took the kids to a Pool.  I didn't get pictures but this was one really cool place.  It's had a really fun kids area that was really shallow, even Lydia could stand up in at one end of it.  They also had a current swirl pool, two slides and more.  We had a GREAT time!

Saturday - 25th
A neighbor on our street won some Nascar tickets when he entered a drawing and then was unable to go.  I took the boys on Saturday to watch the practice runs.  The National Guard was there and had many vehicles the kids could explore and we had a wonderful time.  It was hot but we survived.  Daniel is so into race cars right now and I thought it was neat to take him to see the real thing.  He even got to meet a race car driver and get an autograph!

Watching the race cars

Don't they look cool with their ear protection?

He thought it was really cool that the tire was taller than him.  That was one HUGE vehicle!

Sittin' in a Jeep

A real tank?  So awesome.  They were blown away here.

Peeking out of the tanks side window