JULY MOMENTS

JULY RANDOMS

Do you remember that show America's Funniest Home Videos?

Well every episode, they would spend an hour showing hilarious videos, then at the end they would pick out 3 of the funniest videos for the audience to vote on, and the winner would get a prize.  But while they were waiting for the voting results to be tallied, they would always do a quick montage of what they called "honorable mentions" videos.

Here are our Honorable Mentions photos from this month.

Caption them however you like!

$1.00

A couple weeks ago, Brinlee came and asked me if I could tell her more about tithing.

So I did, and we talked about it for a bit.  She has a jar of birthday money sitting in her dresser drawer right now that apparently had been on her mind, because when our conversation was winding down, she said "So.... then.... do I have to do tithing with my money?"

I told her she sure could if she wanted to, but that it was her choice, and that whatever she decided would be totally fine.

Well, yesterday out of nowhere she came downstairs with her jar and said

"Mom, can you help me count how much I can do for tithing, and can you help me get it ready? 

I decided I want to give some."

I don't think I've ever seen her look more proud than she did today handing that envelope over to the bishop.  

And I was pretty proud of her too!  

Oh how I love this amazing, beautiful little tender-hearted lady!

WHEN THE BEE STINGS

Well, poor little McKenna has had a rough little day. As she has been putting it: 

"Awe dangit, I get stinged by a bee! And that is not bwate (great)!"

Luckily we have a budding little herbalist to save the day!

A little background information before we get started.  

It makes this whole thing more epic.

Part 1: Back in June when grandma and grandpa came to visit, Melody found some Plantain and taught Brinlee all about what it looks like, and where you can find it, and some of the cool stuff it does (like helping with the pain and swelling from a bee sting).  And of course, Brinlee, the little sponge, soaked it all up!

Part 2: A few weeks later the girls were outside playing on the back patio, and McKenna's poor little bare foot unfortunately found a bee in the grass.  It stung her right between the toes, and she was SO upset! Poor little sweetie. I mean seriously, just look at that face!

Ouch, ouch, ouch!

Brinlee was pretty upset too.  She doesn't like to see McKenna hurt, and her poor tender heart was just broken. She came to me in tears herself and said "I really wish we had some plantain, that would help McKenna".  So Tim took her outside to find some and helped her put it on the sting.

It took quite a while and lots of cuddles before she would calm down, but McKenna finally did recover. 

She has not put even one bare toe in the grass ever since!

That puts us to today: 

I decided to take the girls for a walk over to the park. It was a gorgeous day, not too hot and a good little breeze blowing.  We ate a picnic lunch, and fed the ducks at the pond, and then we got the old kite out!  The girls had the time of their lives running that thing all around the field... 

until poor McKenna found another bee that is.

Bless her heart, she even had her shoes on this time.  But alas, her sandals weren't enough I suppose.  She had just finished her turn with the kite and was a little ways away from me when I heard her screaming.  By the time I got over to her it had already stung her right on the ankle,

and she was devastated.

I scooped her up and gathered up the kite and started back toward the stroller when I caught sight of Brinlee running herself off into the field.  I hollered at her, and she just kept on going, which of course made me a little irritated.  I had just told her it was time to go, and she could obviously see that we needed to not be dilly-dallying, poor McKenna was hysterical! I got Mckenna all strapped in, and was just getting ready to use my mean mommy voice with Brinlee when all of the sudden, there she was, with a handful of - you guessed it - plantain!  

"Here mom, here! I found the plantain! Quick, get it on the sting, it will help! Oh, poor McKenna, I just can't even imagine! That probably hurts so much!" 

And then she climbed herself right into the stroller and went about trying to comfort her poor little sister.

And I think that's about the time my heart first completely swelled with pride, and then completely melted.  Such a smart, fast thinking little lady, and such a sweetheart!  

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - if only everyone could have such an amazing big sister.

McKenna spent some time on the couch cuddled in a blanket and watching Veggie Tales.  But I'm happy to report she's feeling better now and it seems she'll make a full recovery!

I doubt she'll ever go near a blade of grass ever again though.
Not that I blame her.  This poor angel girl has had quite the run of bad bee luck.
Maybe we should try to help her simply remember her favorite things...
then maybe she won't feel so bad.

At least I got videos of the pre-sting kite flying.  It was darling!

COSI FAMILY DAY

The girls and I have developed quite a list of our favorite outings that we do fairly regularly, 

but it's not every day that we get to have daddy come along!

This calls for a 3D COSI movie, 

and popcorn!

DID SOMEBODY ORDER A POOL DAY?

Yes! We put in that order!  Because nothing says Beat-the-Heat like the 50 cent community rec pool.

Big thumbs up!

Just trying to squeeze in as much Summertime fun as we can!

I cannot believe what a little fish this girl has been this summer! She hits that water and just goes and goes!
I also cannot believe how much water she drinks when she swims... blek!

And then theres this little swimmer.  Her love of the water is still going strong!

Dang cutest little pool pals you've ever seen!