TNT: August Adventures

August included a few field trips. One was a trip to the "castle park".

For one of our service days we did a spontaneous singing show for the folks at the local retirement center. Luckily, a few of the neighbor kids wanted to come with us. We sang some primary and preschool type songs.

Then Lily and I sang a duet A'Capella. "Walk Tall, You're a Daughter of God". It went amazingly well for being so spontaneous.

One night we went as a family to a big scouting event. The kids had fun doing lots of out door activities and they had some yummy food!

Another fun family activity was weeding the garden. So it probably wasn't as fun as it was stressful having the kids "help", but they did a pretty good job.

We moved Tank into a bigger aquarium so he wouldn't smell as much. It seems to help a lot, but it's a lot harder to clean!

Cedric and Xander love reading Elephant and Piggy books together.

We did some more swimming at the pool too.

Tom and I had been wanting some patio furniture for a while now. We found this set on clearance and went for it! It's fun to have somewhere to sit and eat or hang out when we're outside.

So my cousins Alana, Chandi and I had been talking about getting together for a date night. We finally made it work and had a super fun night! First we went to dinner.

Then we went geocaching. It was our first time and so fun! We found 3 out of the 4 we were looking for.

Grandma Suzy had fallen while hiking and broke her foot. The kids were "taking care of her" one day at the pool.

In mid August we went camping with three of our good friends and their families to Yuba lake. The kids loved camping with their friends.

And so did Tom and I. (We also just bought new camping chairs that we took).

Ironically, right across from where we were camping, my Uncle Burt and Aunt Michelle and some of their family were camping too! It was so fun to run into them and my kids loved stopping by on the way back from the bathrooms and get a treat from Aunt Michelle.

Of course, the kids always love sleeping in tents. And we bring electronics for the early morning.

Their favorite part of the trip was the boat!

Sophie enjoyed riding on the boat with Mom and Dad.

The other three all had fun trying the knee board. Lily and Jeff are quite good at it.

Cedric at least tried to get up this time, but preferred his tummy.

When we got back, we had lunch. Then the older three went back out on the boat. Sophie had so much fun playing on the beach.

I enjoyed a nap and Tom had fun shooting oranges into the water with the sling shot.

The kids loved digging large pits in the mud.

The last day we cleaned up camp. The kids had discovered a giant caterpillar! I've never seen one so big!

Between the four families that went we had a child of almost every age between one and 16. 18 kids in total!

The night we got home, Tom and I decided to play a game with the kids. After we unpacked the van, whoever helped the most got to pick a pin first. They each had a lanyard to put their pins on. Someone noticed it was all Disney themed.

However, it took some coaxing from Tom for the kids to figure out why they were getting the lanyards and pins and where they could use them.

They are so excited to go to Disneyland soon! Sophie is most excited to see Darth Vader.☺

That night we also had fun roasting marshmallows at Aimee and Matt's house. They'd just re-landscaped their yard and it's amazing!

Lily got a letter in the mail with her locker number, combo and class schedule. So one day we went over to the school to try out her locker and find her classrooms.

On Lily's birthday we got our hair done. I got highlights over my dark hair and it's perfect!

Tom was gone for five days with his guy buddies in St. George. I was a little overwhelmed and stressed due to everything that was going on while he was gone I'd often bug him with texts like this...

Monday, August 24th Lily had her first day of school. It was 7th grade orientation, but they count it as their first day. She loves middle school, her classes and has made so many friends!

The next day Jeff and Cedric started school. Jeff is in 4th grade.

Cedric's in 1st grade.

When Lily got her kitten for her birthday, we made her this little house. The litter is in one box...

And her food and bed in the other box. I cut a hole and taped the boxes together.

However, once the kitten learned how to jump out of the box, we cut a door in the side of the box and she found other spots in the garage she likes. She doesn't like to go outside yet, but seems to like the garage (or the house, when we let her in).