The start of summer...

Summer has officially been on for 3 weeks!  Not going to lie, summer totally terrified me (it still kind of does!).  To have the all of the kids here the whole day everyday is kind of scary!  My kids, or should I say Preston and Abby, like to be busy and on the go.  They get bored easily and they are no fun to deal with when they are.  I got my Summer Fun list ready and on the fridge and printed out calendars to see what is when.  I've got to say that summer so far is kicking my backside.  Thankfully I've been able to keeps the kids busy well enough so far but busy days and 5 kids who need my attention often have made me exhausted!  It just feels like I don't get much of a break but I know that is kind of just part of this mom business.  Here's a little of what summer has been like for each of us...

Steve: Poor guy has actually had a rough go of summer so far.  Starting with his car crash.  After some back and forth with the insurance company he was able to get a rental car for just over a week.  They also settled on an amount they will pay us for the car but of course they are taking their time getting that to us.  We had to return the rental on Thursday so we are down to one car for now, which means we have to drive him to work and pick him up.  Hopefully we can find a good deal on a new vehicle soon!  Also a couple of weeks ago Steve had yet another kidney stone act up.  He ended up having to take painkillers to help with the pain.  He finally made an appointment with his doctor since he still hadn't passed it.  He went to the doctor last Monday and they had him do a CT scan to check his kidney stone.  Turned out he had 4 really big ones waiting to pass.  This meant that last Tuesday he went into the hospital early Tuesday morning to have a minor surgery to have a lithrotripsy where they blast the kidney stones with a laser.  Thankfully it all went well and I got to easily pick him up just before 1pm.  He was tired, drugged up and in a lot of pain.  So lots of sleep and meds for him in the days following.  He has to go back this Wednesday to get the stint removed and he is hoping he will feel better really soon.

Me: Like I said, pretty tired.  Steve has been out of commission quite a bit the past few weeks so I kind of feel like I have been on my own with the kids most of the time.  I am the young women's second counselor and I am going to girls camp at the beginning of August, mostly because no one else in the presidency can go.  So planning and prep has officially started.  I am pretty scared since I have never gone as a leader but I am also getting pretty excited too and Pinterest has been my best friend.

Preston: This kid has been busy!  He finished up soccer with the Blue Bullets.  He showed some real progress and had so much fun having tow of his really good friends on his team.  Plus Steve got to help out a bunch too which was fun for both of them.  Baseball season started in the beginning of June.  He is on the Karate Monkeys (black) and it is the same team and coaches as last year.  They have practiced hard and play awesome.  Preston has struggled with his hitting in the games and has a couple of games where he only struck out.  He was so upset and embarassed after each game that he just cried.  It broke my mama heart.  He's also been busy doing an art class for 4 days (for just an hour and a half each day) and a science camp all about space, for 5 days, 3 hours a day.  He is also working hard on his scout stuff and loves it!

Abby: She also did the art class and a science camp about kitchen chemistry.  She loved both.  Abby also got to do a one day dance camp put on by the high school dance team.  One of my cute young women is on the dance team and was there.  Abby was very brave being on her own for 4 hours and had a lot of fun.  They did a little performance at the end for the parents and it was so darn cute!  She is my adventurous, creative girl that loves anything crafty and getting her hands dirty.  She got a scooter and loves to ride it all the time.

Kaley: Kaley is mostly just along for the ride while we go to and from things like baseball and taking the older kids places.  She is a good sport about it.  We have been working hard on getting her potty trained and I think I can officially say that she is.  We still have some accidents here and there and she wears a pull up when we will be gone for awhile just in case, oh and at night time of course.  She is really good at telling me when she has to go and has been really great through it all.

The Twinners:  They too seem to be just along for the ride.  They don't seem to love the extra time in the car but later nights have meant them sleeping in more which has been nice.  They have been hanging out in their play pen which is turning out to be a great purchase! (add that to the list of things I never knew I needed before I had twins!) and we try to hang out outside often!  I will do more of an update on Riley and Maddie for their birthday post which is next.