Shadow Mountain--if you can't take the heat, get off the mountain!

Well, here it is, the famous Shadow Mountain. Anyone who talks with my kids for more than 5 minutes will know that this is one of their favorite parts of the whole year (Tim respectfully disagrees). They love spending a little one-on-one time with dad. The archery, gold panning, slip n' slide, fort building (pictured above with Carter), and games just add to the whole heavenly experience (again, Tim disagrees slightly). While Tim was away at camp, I spent my nights painting the new bedrooms in the basement, refinishing dressers, scrapbooking, killing ants (they have been rampant in the yard), restaining the back steps, making jam, weeding (lots and lots of weeding). . . and a few other things that just won't come to mind at midnight. I'll be glad to have Tim back home in a week and so will the kids.

Caterpillar Crawl

The mountain is crawling with these lovely fuzzy worms this year. They were dropping out of the trees! I could have done without them, but as you can see, Lady thought they were just about the coolest thing ever! Jace was intrigued as well until one pooped on his hand. He thought the poop was blood and he was screaming up a storm--pain obviously does not play into the process of freaking out.

Slip n' Slide

This is the slip and slide on steroids. The kids/couselors put garbage bags over their swimsuits to increase their speed and splash potential. Tim holds the record for the biggest splash--and has for the last few years--Could a wife be any prouder?

Getting to the Point

Archery is Kenzie and Carter's favorite part of Shadow Mountain. They have actually gotten pretty good at it--Carter popped his first balloon target when he let this arrow go!

Say What You Want. . . I Know I'm a Princess

Lady went to a princess party today. She was beyond thrilled to get special princess hair and makeup. The guest of honor was Cinderella. Laityn informed me that "this Cinderella doesn't live at Disneyland. She lives in a different castle far away." She also decided that the wicked stepsisters don't live in Disneyland "because they're too mean and Disneyland is for nice princesses". I'm not at all biased, but I do think Lady makes one stinkin' cute princess!

Jace has not done anything catastrophic for the last 3 days--wonder of wonders! I better go knock on all kinds of wood or I'll jinx myself for sure!

Creeped Out!

Today was "give the boys a haircut day" at our house. They were looking pretty shaggy since their last cut was in April. I was buzzing the back of Carter's hair when I realized I had shaved off a mole, or so I thought. Carter has many moles on his head, so I wasn't too surprised, although it was odd that he wasn't screaming in pain. I started kind of pulling at the hanging mole when I realized it was NOT a mole. It was a TICK! WOW---my skin was crawling right off my body! I was so creeped out! I tried to maintain some composure so as not to completely frighten my son, but I was not too successful. We brushed most the hair off Carter and ran to my neighbor's house for some tick removal assistance. After much pulling and many tears, we finally removed the tick, head and all. The tick still had a chunk of Carter's head in his mouth---again--SO CREEPY!! I'm pretty sure this tick came courtesy of Tim's summer camp where Carter spent the last few days. Needless to say, we'll be checking everyone for ticks each time they come home from Shadow Mountain. I'm still shuddering everytime I think of myself actually touching that thing----never, never again!

REALLY!!??!!

We spent Father's Day at my mom's. We had spaghetti and meatballs (for the daddies) and then celebrated birthday's for Brit and Bailee. Jace's naughtiness was on top of the conversation. Tim talked to him about doing naughty things. Papa talked to him. Even grandma took a turn. SURELY, the message was getting through--one would think.

We came home and put kids to bed, with an extra warning for Jace about getting into trouble. I was upstairs unloading the dishwasher. Jace came out for a drink, and went back to his room---or so I thought. After the dishes were done, I went to check on him. He was sitting on the bathroom counter, painting his toenails. He had also painted several spots on the counter. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I let dad handle the boy while I got busy with the nail polish remover. I'm pretty sure he's getting a lock on his door--for his safety as well as my sanity!