July Schmuly

Our July started out with a bang by celebrating the day of our Independence. We celebrated by grilling out at my parents and then attending our first (and last) Stars game. Let's just say baseball is way too slow moving to keep my kids interested, and they would rather run all around on the steep concrete steps. Me = panicky. Add the ridiculous heat and humidity of the South, AND the fact that the game took forrreeevvveerrr so the fireworks didn't even start until 10:30! 3 whole hours after my kids bed time! It. was. awesome.Who's idea was this again that I fought hard core because I knew it was a bad idea?? Oh wait. Yeah, it was Chase. 

waving

This is at the beginning when everyone was still happy.

The next day (when the kids still woke up at 6am) was Reece's birthday and doctor's appointment. Let's load my already cranky kid up with some shots, shall we? Awesome day #2. Then, those shots gave him a fever and made him relentlessly clingy, cranky, miserable. Awesome day #3, 4, 5, and 6. The first part of July was fun, wasn't it?

Here are some of July's finer moments:

Waiting for Nonni, Papa, and Seth at the airport. 

Cade came out of my room giddy because he put my boots on all by himself. I was laughing more because they almost touch his butt.

I had some scrap paper from cutting coupons, and Cade was dying to cut with the scissors, too. He was more than pleased with himself when he realized he cut an L. I told him L stood for Layton. He was so excited. "Yeah! Like Mommy Layton and Daddy Layton!" and on and on listing everyone we know as a 'Layton' even if their last name is not Layton.

So handsome all ready for church.

Making Family Night treats. Cade LOVED these. He thought eating 'dirt and worms' was the best thing ever. Too bad we aren't making these ever again because he went haywire for hours every time he ate one.

Oh the misery of having to eat a yummy dinner that I really like. It's such torture to have to sit still and focus on eating. Meal time is always a battle.

But not for this kid:

Every time I glance over at this kid while I'm eating, some variation of this is usually what I find. Hysterical.

Crazy.

I love these cute baseball pant jammies. Skinny whinny. 

Found a cute little train for Cade to paint at the Dollar Store. Sticks his tongue out when he's concentrating just like his Mommy. 

The finished product. Too bad the blue and black were already dried out in that cheap Dollar Store paint. He really wanted to paint it to look like Thomas.

Cade decided to clean out Reece's ENTIRE room and closet and throw it in Reece's crib while he was still in it. I was less than amused. It's hard to tell from the picture how much stuff was actually in this crib. 

We are in the process of cheaply trying to update our bathrooms. We are painting, staining the vanity, and spraying all the ugly fixtures this rubbed oil bronze color. So far it all looks good, but we are far from done. We will see how the wear and tear works out on the fixtures. More to come on that later.

And for the part where July hated me- We came home from church one Sunday to a blazing hot house. The temp reached 88 in most of the house (our bedroom was 97!). Needless to say, we slept at Chase's parents that night. And I'm pretty sure we got big time ripped off when the guy came to fix it. I wish I knew everything about fix it stuff so I could call people out on dishonesty. And after much research and many calls, I still can't find out if I was ripped off unless I pay another expert to come look at it and tell me. (So if anyone knows how to tell how much freon my unit holds, please come over and enlighten me! My unit doesn't say on the back like everyone else's.) Then, the air in Chase's car broke. Then, a stupid apple from the neighbors tree got caught in the weed eater and did this:

Please, Wheel of Fortune, call me to be on your show. I'm on the verge of a breakdown.

Thanks for giving me a bad attitude, July.