On Thursday, we had a pretty good rain storm, without thunder, so the kids wet outside to play! At first it was Thomas running up and down the rain filled gutters, then Mattie joined him. Aimee came out for a few minutes and rode the scooter around, which Andrew just commented about how that was dangrous because she was barefooted. That's exactly how Andrew split his toe open last year, which gave him a bunch of stiches!!!

Anyway, Aimee didn't stay out long because she was in her swim suit and got cold. It was a cool rain, must have had a cold front??? I don't know, I haven't watched the weather lately! Thomas and Mattie stayed out probaby 30-45 minutes just having the time of their lives! Thomas just rain back and forth in the gutters, but Mattie broke out in song and dance.

First, Mattie started singing in the gutter, but then she moved up onto the man hole cover across the street in my neighbor's yard. That's where she performed this video clip! She's quite the performer!

June Highlights

It's the end of June already! Wow, time flies! Here are some of the highlights from the month:

We got invited to our friends, the Sanders, for a bbq and swim. Thomas decided that he didn't like his floaties anymore! He just likes to jump in over and over again. Buddy Sanders is Edd's running partner right now. The Sanders have 3 girls, Shantel (15), who Mattie hung out with all night, Mickel (12) and Cierra (8). We had a great time! The best part was the waterslide! Thomas tried the slide, but he didn't like!

Thomas jumping into the pool to Edd!

Andrew going down the slide head first!

Mattie dancing with Shantel!

Another highlight was when Riley, our neighbor came over to play! He will be turning 2 in July. He lives two doors down. Thomas and Riley are cute together! Usually we are at his house because Riley has a swimming pool. One day, Thomas got it into his head that he wanted to "go wimwim at Wiley's house!" He kept saying it over and over and over!!! I did get him distracted and we moved onto something else. So one morning Riley and his mom, Diana came over just to say hi, but Riley had so much fun playing with Thomas that he didn't want to go. He ended up getting carried home kicking and crying! I'm glad that Thomas has such a cute friend! Another day, Riley's mom invited us to come swimming at their house. Of course, Thomas didn't want his floaties and just jumped in over and over again. He made it look so fun that Riley, who'd been scared of the water since he fell into his pool about a month ago, decided to jump in and be like Thomas! By the end of the day, Riley was jumping in almost as fast as Thomas!

Thomas and Riley

One Saturday, we decided to do a bunch of yard work. We ended up cutting down a small tree, which Edd had just finished doing in this picture! We also yanked out a bunch of plants that we didn't like from the landscaping from the owners before us. The yard looks so much better now, except for the flower bed below the master window, which has become Andrew's mud pit. We need to get some flowers there soon. But first we'll have to let everything dry out from all the water and the rain we've had the last few days. Aimee planned out a new flower arrangement for me. She really likes gardening!

Edd and his hatchet!

Thomas got special sister treament one day when Bethany decided to make him a BIG slide with her mattress. Thomas loved it! He'd climb up as soon as his feet hit the floor! The other kids were sad because B would only let Thomas use the slide because he's still little!

Thomas and the BIG SLIDE!

Andrew and his Bear den went to Twilight Camp, which was a 3 day cub scout camp. The camp was held in the afternoon Tues - Thurs. I volunteered to organize the carpooling since I'm one of the Bear leaders, but wasn't going to camp. I was a little stressed, but it worked out ok. I only had to drive on the way home on the last day, which I was glad about. The day before I was supposed to drive, my check engine light came on. I decided I'd better get it taken care of right away since I didn't want the van to break down on me while I had a bunch of people with me.

Andrew at Twilight Camp's closing ceremony.

At the end of the month, Edd was able to attend the Prince Family reunion up in St George, Utah! He had a good time hanging out with his family and relatives that were able to attend! Edd was able to go repelling with Uncle Brent and some of the cousins. Edd also was treated to a tour of the area where Gma & Gpa Prince and their ancestors grew up in Southern Utah.

Dallan (Edd's bro), Edd, Joe (another bro), Grandma Prince, Grandpa Prince, Paula (Edd's sis), Leon (Edd's dad)

The last week of the month was Girl's Camp! Bethany was pretty excited! This is a picture of Bethany, with her friend Cheney on the left, getting their gear ready to load up. The girls were at camp Tues-Fri. When I picked Bethany up on Friday, she said that her favorite part was climbing the rock wall and then doing the zipline to get down!

Bethany and her friend, Cheney, all ready to go!

The day that Bethany left for Girl's Camp, Grandma and Grandpa Cutler flew in from SLC for a visit. Grandma came to have her foot fixed by our friend, who is a foot doctor. We have been having fun with them here!

Mattie and Thomas making cookies with Grandma!

I guess the best part of June was the fact that summer started!!! What a summer it has been!!!

Today I'm going to write about Thomas! He is quite the two year old. Yesterday, I joked that we should've named him Noah because he'd made a big flood with the mop water in my laundry room! He loves rain too, especially to play with it, and he loves animals!

Today he could've been "Thomas the Tiger!" He has a tiger on the shirt he's wearing today. I guess he realizd that it was there because he starting pulling his shirt up over his face and growling. He did this over and over, then went up to Mattie and did it, I guess he was trying to scare Mattie! She wasn't phased by this, so he started putting his hands/claws up by his face and kept growling at her! I was so cute! But of course he was done before I could get my camera.

Other times, Thomas is a choo choo train. The other day, Thomas expanded his train track from just running around the couch over and over to running around the stairs, through the family room, kitchen, music room, and entry over and over again. All the time whistling his little choo choo whistle! Unfortunately, he's got the energy of the energizer bunny! When he was done, he just kept on playing without being a bit worn out!

Thomas likes to do goofy things like fall down. If I can get this video to upload, you can see and example of him falling. He loves to pretend fall down!

Some of the other things that are unique to Thomas right now are whenever he talks about things, he always labels them "BIG!" He likes to see the "big wahwer" (bayou) when we go to feed the turtles. The thunder we heard this week was "big thunder!" He likes to go "wimwim" (swim) in the "big wahwer" (swimming pool). When he wants a drink, he wants it BIG!

One of the things he likes doing is making BIG truck towers, where he stacks up all his trucks on top of each other! He can usually get about 4 trucks stacked up at a time.

Thomas also likes to make BIG messes! Nothing has been as big as the syrup mess though, I think that one is the worst mess yet, but yesterday he took a half full bag of cheetos from the pantry and dumped them on the rug by the couch, plopped down on the floor and proceeded to snack on the cheetos while he watched tv! Unfortunately, he made a nice cheesy mess on my just washed couch cover--which I just washed on MONDAY!!! All before I could get the mess cleaned up. Luckily Grandma took care of that one for me!

Of course Thomas is just as sweet and cute as ever! When Bethany is asked if she thinks any boys are cute, she quickly replies, "Thomas!!" I love how his hair curls right now! Edd wants to cut it again, but I just love the curls! Mabye by the end of the summer I'll be ready to cut his hair again, maybe...

Well, it looks like I successfully uploaded the video, hope you enjoy!

Our trip to Kemah

Last Saturday, after all our work was done, we went on a family adventure to Kemah! Aimee had quite a few "freak out" moments before we left because she didn't want to go. Andrew had gone with a friend the weekend before for a birthday party. So maybe Aimee thought it was just for boys??? After a talk with Mom, she changed her attitude and we were on our way.

Once we got to Kemah, we walked along the boardwalk, then headed to the rides. As we walked past the Merry-Go-Round, one of the girls saw a baby on the ride who they thought looked like Cousin Ben. A few seconds later, we realized it was Cousing Ben along with Dan, Melissa, and George! What a surprise! They had been to NASA and decided to finish the day at Kemah! We talked for a few minutes, then I took my kids to find Edd, who was in line to get ride passes.

We rode the train first, which Thomas loved! He kept saying, "Big Choo Choo" over and over again! Thomas loved the tunnels ("guhgoans") the most I think! After the train, Andrew & Bethany rode the flying carpet ride while I took everyone else on the Merry-Go-Round. Thomas liked this ride for a few minutes until his horse started moving and then the got really freaked out!

We took Thomas on the Submarine ride next and he really freaked out!!! Aimee and Mattie loved it though! I guess Thomas doesnt' like that quick drop feeling! I did coax him onto the airplane ride, which was pretty mild. He actually liked it! I was glad!

Bethany, Andrew & I went on the "Boardwalk Bullet," the new rollercoaster. Bethany hates rollercoasters, but agreed to come with us. She survived the ride, but hasn't converted yet. Edd and Andrew went on it together too! Andrew loved it!

We all went on the big ferris wheel. I don't really care for ferris wheels. I don't like heights and had a bad experience on my first ferris wheel ride. I was ready to sit out with Thomas, but then Thomas decided he wanted to go. It turned out to be ok!

After Edd and Andrew finished their rollercoaster ride, we tried to get a picture with me and all the kids with the water in the background. Thomas was mad because he wanted me to leave him alone so he could look at the "big wahwer." On our way out, we tried to get another picture of the kids by the police car, since we've gotten one there every time we've been to Kemah. The kids were past being done and ready to go home!

We had a great time though and will have plenty of fun memories!

"BIG HIPPO!!!"

This is what my kitchen looked like when Thomas got done with it last Monday! I had gone into the bedroom while Mattie was finishing her pancakes, which were for breakfast. Edd's mom called while I was back there so I talked to her for a few minutes. When I got done talking to her, I came back out to the kitchen and found this!!!

WHAT A SYRUPISE!!!

Thomas was so excited about his creations!!! He stood on the corner of the rug and pointed to the different puddles and said, "BIG HIPPO!" over and over! He was so excited! I tried to get a picture of him pointing to his puddles but realized that my camera didn't work. So I ran and got Edd's camera. By then the moment had passed, but of course the puddles were still there. So I got this picture.

Unfortunately, I think my camera is dead. So for the time being, Edd is the family photographer. I'll get a new camera someday, but need to figure out which kind I want. HMMMM...so many choices.

So back to the floor...it took me 3 mop jobs Monday to get the floor so we could walk without sticking everywhere. There are a few sticky spots here and there around, but they are hard to find unless you step in them. Slowly, but surely those are getting cleaned up too!

As you can probably guess, Thomas' name right now is Thomas the Terrible or Thomas the Troublemaker! He's at a really fun age right now, the make the biggest mess possible stage!

PICTURE OF THE DAY!

Edd took this picture when we were out fishing for FHE. Pretty cool! He is getting pretty good with his new camera!

Here is the most recent picture of the kids! Aimee, Mattie, Bethany, Thomas, and Andrew. Edd took this a couple weeks ago. We'd gone fishing for FHE and he took this as we were leaving. We didn't catch any fish but we did have a lot of fun!

Oh, this was the night that Bella got in trouble!!! As we were driving to our fishing spot, my cell phone rang. When I answered, it was a kid who said Bella was in his backyard. After I asked where the kid lived, it was the next street over from our house. So when the kid asked what I wanted him to do with Bella, I said to leave her alone and she'd probably go home by herself. I said we'd be gone about an hour and I check on Bella when we got home and if she was still at the house, I'd come get her.

So after we finished fishing, we were on our way to McDonald's for our FHE treat when my phone rang again. This time it was the mom and she wasn't very nice. She asked when we were going to get our cat!!! I told her we on our way home and we'd be back in about 20 minutes. When we got to her house, we dropped Bethany off so she could get Bella.

Bethany got home a few minutes later empty handed!!! When I asked her what happened, she said they couldn't find Bella. It turns out that Bella had been in their backyard the whole time and the mom brought her over a few minutes later. She wasn't very happy. I hope that when she saw me she felt a little bad about being so rude because she knows who I am.

Her walking buddy was in our ward and had introduced me to this lady when we moved in. Well I can't remember this mom's name, but she's talked to me before here and there so I know she knows who I am.

The family was so upset about Bella being in their yard because she was making their dog bark the whole time. They have a Beagle and they like to bark and like to howl too!


BACK TO THE KIDS! I decided to name my blog Momma Mia because Thomas will always say, "MOMMA MEEEUH" when he really wants me! I finally came up with the address as fivelittlemonkies because my kids have always loved jumping on my bed!!! It doesn't matter that we have a trampoline out back, they still love to jump on my bed. Bethany and Andrew don't do it anymore, but Aimee, Mattie and Thomas were just the other day and that's what gave me the idea. I always call them little monkies because they love to goof off and love climbing on things so I thought it was perfect!

I'm trying to figure all this stuff out on my own so it has taken me awhile to get it all together! Hopefully I can get a few more interesting pictures and some fun movie clips on too!

School Is Out!

Our summer started around 12:30 today, when everyone was finally home! School ended at 11:30, but the kids had to ride their busses home. B was the last to get home.

Andrew, Aimee and Bethany all did really well this year and we are celebrating their hard work! Andrew and Bethany both ended up with A's in their hardest subjects for their last 6/9 weeks! We are so proud of them! They worked so hard, Andrew in spelling and Bethany in math!

Aimee and Mattie celebrated by breaking out the glitter and paints we got the other day for art projects. Andrew ended up going to a friend's house for the afternoon and Bethany read and wathced TV.

Mattie's summer started officially on May 23rd so she's had fun relaxing at home and enjoying not having to get up and hurry to eat breakfast and get ready.

I think I'll let everyone sleep in tomorrow, but not too late, we don't want to waste the day away!

Happy Summer!