WE HAVE DANCE PARTIES…

… Mostly when Daddy is at work because he thinks we’re all crazy. But we jam to a little Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Black Eyed Peas, just to name a few. The girls love to sing along to the chorus loudly and out of tune. And Landen loves to dance like a crazy man. They have so much fun with it. Nothing better then hearing your 6-yr-old singing, “if you like it then you better put a ring on it.”

Landen doing the HAKA (or so it seems.)

Afterwards Landen took a break and looked at some Library books that we picked up. He noticed some balloons in one of the books (balloons + Landen = OBSESSED).  He made it seem like he wanted me to somehow get the balloons out of the book so he could hold them. I’m pretty awesome, but not that awesome.

 

Mia’s turn…

 

 

 Mia and Landen have become quite the pair. They love to play and aggravate each other. It’s definitely a love hate relationship. Mia likes to bug him, and he hates it. She is quite a sweet big sister though. It doesn’t help that Landen has seriously SERIOUSLY entered the “terrible 2’s”. Terrible 2’s + NOT TALKING = one crazy mom. I just wish he would at least try. He just likes to point and grunt or say “isss” which means “this”. But he does have such a cute little personality. He gets WAY excited over everything. During nursery he says hi and bye to EVERYONE who enters and leaves. His favorite phrase is “whooooaaaaaa” even if it’s just a cracker he’s eating. He just gets super happy and enthusiastic. It’s very contagious to be around. He definitely knows how to brighten a room. Here’s a little bit of the kids outside playing.

  
Lastly, here’s what happens when you have 2 sisters. A little of your manhood is taken from you. Good thing this kid’s no sissy… so I guess he has a little bit of manhood to spare. (Sidenote: This was all Kalea’s doing. Yes, sweet, innocent, creative Kalea.)

HOT AS THE DICKENS

The heat has been pretty unbearable this week unless  you’re around water. The high has been in the mid-90’s and just disgusting when you mix in the humidity. Luckily we have are wicked awesomely sweet baby pool to make it a little easier on everyone. Landen love the pool and tries to dive in all the time with his clothes on. He’s really enjoying splashing everyone in the face too. Especially to Mia who screams about water in her eyes. So now whenever Landen gets water in his eyes, he screams “Eyes!”.  Here are a few pictures that I was just playing around with. Hope everyone else is staying out of this heat!
 

      

 

 

Landen loves his hat. I bought it for him last year but his head was a little small. (The kids have peanut heads, they get that from me.) He just looks so stinkin cute with it on. He makes me smile.

    

I’M DONE!!

By done I mean exhausted. Last week was our last week of day camps for Kalea and Mia. I’m talking up and moving and out of the house by 8:30 every morning. Talk about exhausting. We did those for 2 weeks straight after Kalea’s last day of school. I’m worn out. Luckily we don’t have any more until late July, and then again in August. Cause Mama needs a BREAK!!  Hopefully for the next couple of weeks will be nothing but reading times at B&N, pools, and much more relaxing times then before. I do have to say I’m pretty excited that we are leaving for the beach in 2 weeks. We’ll be there for 5 days. BLISS. The kids are all super excited too. As soon as we get back, my sis-in-law and her kids will be in NC for almost ALL of July. They’re going to be so sick of us by the end of the trip. Well, that’s the goal at least. My brother Luke shows up the last week, so I have less time for him to get tired of me, but I know I can do it.

My photography classes are going well. I’m definitely the “dumb one” in the class who asks all the stupid questions. But I know I’m not the only one thinking them I’m just the only who has the cojones to ask them. I don’t mind being the dumb one. I’m used to it by now. I say a lot of dumb stuff. I usually like to do it to Christian just see if he thinks I’m REALLY that dumb of if he can tell when I’m faking it. Sometimes I’m faking it… but not all the time. Probably the funniest thing I’ve ever thought (not once, but twice) was when we were driving by a gas station. The price of the gas was at $2.56. So I freaked for a second and said, “Babe! Gas is almost at $3!!” He looked at me a little confused and said we still had .50 cents to go. And I started laughing hysterically and said, “I got time and money confused.” Seriously. Not kidding you. I know, I know. Dumb. However, I did it a second time a few weeks later. Same scenario, except I stopped myself half way through saying “ Gas is almost….” Christian just looked at me baffled. And I sat there dying laughing.  Oh well, if you can’t laugh at yourself, then well, my self-esteem would be really low.  He thought I was joking, I wasn’t. 
Christian however, has a way of making the slightly dumb things I say sound extremely dumb. We were driving to the beach and we were talking about making a side trip to the aquarium. Well, Christian wasn’t even sure where it was and I said, “It’s like the National Aquarium or something.” (Yes, I thought the Wilmington Aquarium was a NATIONAL aquarium.) All Christian did was look at me and say “INTERNATIONAL”.  More laughing. Really? just because I said national you decided to trump me by saying International?! 
The other day Mia came out of the downstairs bathroom and her face looked a little discolored. 
Mia- Mommy, I have to tell you the truth. I put on your lipstick in the bathroom.
Me- Mia, that wasn’t lipstick, it was concealer. It’s for when Mommy has pimples.
Mia- I had pickles today too so I needed to use it.
Me- Oh, ok. That makes perfect sense.

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

Happy Father’s Day to 4 of my favorite dad’s. Thank you for leading, guiding and directing our families. Thank you for being worthy priesthood holders. Thank you for being a great example to not only myself and my children, but also those you come in contact with. We love you! *Our Daddy Simpson*

*Grandpa Alo*

*Grandpa Simpson*

*Grandpa Allen*

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER

JOKE TIME:

Kalea: Can I have some flamingo?
Christian: Kalea, it’s a MANGO.
Kalea: Ohhh, mango.
(couple of minutes later)
Kalea: Can I have some more flamingo?

Christian likes to call me napkin.
Background: Landen likes to wipe his hands on me constantly. Whether it be food particles, dirt, sand, grass… doesn’t matter. If it’s stuck on his hands, he wipes it on me.
Landen was eating some toast today and took his toast off of the paper towel, balled it up, and threw it away.
Christian’s commentary: “He doesn’t need 2 napkins.”
Someone thinks he’s a comedian.

So Kalea is officially done with her first year of school. Goodbye Kindergarten, HELLO summer vacation. Kalea is pretty excited by this. I on the other hand have to find things for the next 3 months that will consume her active mind. Isn’t that what teachers are for? Just kidding. She was initially pretty sad to leave her teacher, Mrs. Miller who she ADORED. She would leave each day from class to go to her bus and half way down the hall way she’d run back up and give Mrs. Miller an extra hug.

Kalea had her Kindergarten Graduation and we were thoroughly entertained. Christian took off work, and we all went and listened to these cutie pies sing songs and were handed a diploma for finishing up a successful year. Yes, I almost cried. I’m such a sap. But it was so sweet to see how proud all these sweet children were of themselves. Luckily I held it in for fear of ridicule from Christian. Here’s
our little graduate.

*We’re so proud of how well Kalea has done this year. She really has loved school, loved reading, and loved learning.* 

Now that the Summer heat has arrived, it’s time for a pool. One nice thing about our neighborhood is that there is no HOA. However, it would be well worth it if our neighborhood had a POOL . Christian took the girls last Saturday to pick out a wading pool. He brought home a beast. It’s 1/2 the size of our brick patio and the kids (and I) love it.

Oh, that reminds me…
So the other day Christian and I were looking at old pictures of me from high school. I, like most girls, thought I was super cute in high school. Christian however had a different opinion of my pictures.  His one comment that stood out, “Ugh, you got prettier as you got older.”  Thanks, I think. You’re not so bad yourself.

One of the biggest things that I’m having fun with is my ever growing love of photography. I use that term loosely, since I’m still learning and figuring out my camera. I started my classes and have been twice. The teacher is pretty cool, definitely knows what he’s talking about, but is a burn out. He talks super slow probably from smoking that gange (weed) his whole life (pretty sure he was a hippie). I’m really enjoying it, despite the slow speech. I’ve also been busy taking pictures for people just as practice. I was able to do some cute pictures with Alice and her kids for Father’s Day. (She assured me that Cletus never reads my blog, so I’m not spoiling any surprises by posting this. Thanks Cletus.)  Anyways, the pictures turned out really cute and I had fun hanging out with Alice and my nieces and nephew. Here are a few: (oh yea, these were taken at a cute park in Zebulon called Little River… it’s so peaceful and serene.)

{i LOVE this one of Alice. Doesn’t she look gorgeous?!}

  

MEMORIAL WEEKEND

This is my Grandpa. That’s me on my wedding day. My Grandpa and I are a lot alike. Not so much in looks. I have hair. But in personalities… stubborn, hard headed, funny, and probably both a pain in the neck to live with. But I love him, and he loves me. Did I mention I’m his ONLY granddaughter? That makes me special. My Grandpa had a heart attack and had to have quadruple bypass surgery. Scary stuff. He is recovering well and that makes me happy. I love my Grandpa.My Grandpa also is the one who taught me to appreciate Memorial Day and Veterans Day. He served our country in the Air Force and has a deep love for those who have served before and after him.

This Memorial weekend we were so busy. We took advantage of the 3 day weekend to spend it with our children. The girls did a slow and steady job of filling the behavior jar with marbles. They chose to celebrate by inviting their cousin, Mackenzie, over for a sleep over, over. (is that too many overs?) So Kalea called the Truelove’s home and this is how the conversation went:

Eric: Hello
Kalea: I need to talk to Mackenzie
Eric: Is this Kalea?
Kalea: Is Mackenzie there?
Eric: Sure, hold on.
Mackenzie: hello
Kalea: you get to sleep over our house cause we filled our marbles
Mackenzie: ok
the end.

 

So we invited the Truelove family with us to a Mudcat’s baseball game and had a grand old time. The girls were in heaven with their cousins. The night was gorgeous. Very little humidity, great company, and my favorite part was watching Landen’s little face light up over everything. There’s nothing better then watching Christian and Landen enjoy a father and son experience like that.  
We all made it home safely, with Mackenzie in tow. After quickly getting ready for bed the girls laid down to sleep. At one point it was after 10pm (we had church the next morning) I peeked in and they were all 3 laying there with their eyes wide open. Great. I knew Sunday was going to be melt down central. The older girls did ok but Mia didn’t disappoint. She still has a hard time adjusting to Primary and so she was our Primary President’s “special helper” all Sunday.

On Monday, Memorial Day, we thought it would be fun to take the kids to the Zoo. It sounded good in words, but after Saturday and Sunday passed, Monday was looking pretty tiring. But we bucked up and did it. We got the kids up and moving and out the door by 8:15am or so. Landen screamed (almost) the whole way there. And we arrived around 10am. We got started and Landen was cranky, Mia didn’t want to walk a step, and Kalea was a trooper. We enjoyed the Africa side of the Zoo and then headed for the car around 12:30 for lunch. While we were eating… we noticed some really dark clouds… really dark. And lots of them. It poured, naturally. So instead of doing the other half of the Zoo we decided to get milkshakes and head home. It was still a good little trip, but maybe we’ll rethink it next time we want to act like lack of sleep in 2-4 year olds is a good idea. Here are some pictures:

   
Little did I know that it was Orchid fest at the Zoo. I love Orchids. We had a bunch of them at our wedding, loose purple lovely little things. (You’ll notice my Grandpa is wearing one in my wedding picture above.) So I took a bunch of pictures of them cause they were so different and exotic looking.

   

Maybe I’ll frame them. We’ll see.