8 is great

This week was ..quiet. Hailey and Shelby are gone. Hailey is responsible for about 50% of the noise in our house and 82.9999% of the drama. I hate to say it but we are all bored.

Who knew? Week one was fine.. But week two is blah. Good thing she calls home. Shelby doesn't call because we are mean parents and haven't bought her a cell phone. Granted, out of all our kids besides Stef, she probably deserves/needs a phone...but hey..can we talk expenses? Another phone isn't high priority right now. She can borrow mine ...when we are in the same time zone. I don't use mine all that much...except to text my best friend. I usually try to call me husband and get his voicemail. He says he tries to call me too...but I'm usually sleeping or it's charging or I forget where I put it.... Funny how I can locate it when my best friend calls.

We haven't been buying cellphones..but we have been buying cars..because after 3 years of no car payments...we decided we should have 2. And because we are now us bank customers of the year.... They even sent me a thank you card the other day...processing all our loans, refi's and credit reports is keeping someone employed and by golly, I'm proud to do that.

But..back to the news. This week mom and dad came to visit us. We had a barbecue, our Chinese restaurant visit and some good old fashioned visiting.

Then they packed it and drove home...the morning of Amanda's birthday. I orchestrated the world's most unplanned party ever. Sent out the invites early and the day of bought all the supplies and just went with it.

It was 90billion degrees and we were at the park... For about an hour they just ran through the park sprinklers, ate watermelon and strawberries, tossed water balloons at each other and had a 3 legged race...

Then while they were slightly heat exhausted, I had her open presents. Kris showed up with the DQ cake (frozen)...and after 5 minutes in the sun he was able to chisel away some cake for everyone..

That brought the party to a close..

Then Amanda and Brooke went swimming with friends and I went home and collapsed..

Another birthday in the books. Of course the big celebration will be next month at the family reunion when she is baptized. She has tried on her beautiful dress for the occasion that grandma Shirley made and is super excited.

I'm looking forward to next month and a little more relaxation...knowing that all of our summer camps and travels have happened....and maybe a little more time at home and less at work.

The end.