Sawyer gets a hair cut!

Seth was dropping hints that it was time for Sawyer to get his hair cut.  I did not want to get rid of those curls!  I was in love with them.  They were getting long and he was looking like a little girl.  I just didn't want to admit it.  One afternoon, I took the children to the park.  We were the only ones there.  It was great.  It was hot! Oh my, it was hot.  But we all played.  I was like a little kid again, chasing them around the park, having slide races, doing the monkey bars! Ha! Well, not really doing the monkey bars.  I really need to work on my upper body strength!  They loved it.  Seriously, kids just want you to play with them.  They don't want you to watch them play, they want you to join in.  I don't do this enough!

Seth calls me and says, "meet me at Buzz Cuts and let's get the boy's hair cut." 
"The boy's?  As in Sawyer's hair?" 
"yes, It's time, sweetheart!"

So we met him at Buzz Cuts, all hot and sweaty.  Sawyer sat up on the car and pretended to drive the car the entire time, while I watched curls hit the floor.  I looked over at Seth and he had a huge grin on his face.  I could only imagine his thoughts, "now, there's my boy!"  Sawyer did great!  He did not cry at all.
I didn't take one single picture.
But these are some I took the next morning at breakfast and he was such a clown.

 
I think he is going to be Seth's little clone.

Summer Days

Random pictures that were taken the rest of July:

 

 Is it possible?  Could I have him potty trained by the time he is two?  I love his tan line. I love his curls. I love him.  This was a quiet moment with just Sawyer and I, on the deck.  Gotta love those moments.

During that quiet moment, I admired the beautiful view that I get to enjoy every day.  It has come so far.  Just a couple of years ago, there were so many sticks to pick up and stumps to grind from the logging that took place.  Seth promised me that everything would be green one day and it is.  He worked so hard to make it look beautiful.

There is a lot of grass to be cut in the summer months.  I love watching our boys watch their daddy.  They want to do everything that he does. 

On a lot of the summer days, imagination was needed to pass the time.

 They made a train by tying all the winter scarves to riding toys.  They just couldn't keep the caboose from tipping over.  (notice how the picture is blurry?  That would be the humidity that hit the camera, as soon as the lens was removed.)

 Swimming is what we did most days.  We have such a good friend, Lisa, who has this great pool in her backyard.  She is one of those friends who just invites everyone to her house and stays so calm while all of these kids are taking over her pool and her house. 
Puddle Jumpers are the best thing ever!  Praise to the one who invented them!

 Sawyer dancing with Logan, Lisa's son.

 Landon and Lily jumped from the side of the pool forever!  Landon was a little fish by the end of the summer.  He was jumping from the side of the pool and going down the slide. 

 When they were tired of swimming, they would just go inside and start dancing.

My children think "Mrs. Lisa's" house is the best thing ever!   

 

 Landon still won't get on daddy's big dirt bike.  He says, "he needs a small one to ride!"

 Laurel and Savannah love riding with their daddy!

Summer is almost over!  Boo! :(    This is blog is almost caught up! Yay! :)

Count how many times I use the word POOPY

Landon got his first sword!  I told you, I'm a little slow with this, being a boy mom, thing.  Most boys probably got that, hmmm... when they were born, or soon after.  Maybe it's because we aren't Star Wars loving parents, or maybe because he has two older sisters and we never had to worry about teaching them how to fight with a sword.  So all of this to tell you, he got his first sword from my good friend, Dana.  You see, "Mrs. Dana" is like his second mom, and she told him that if he would go poopy on the potty she would buy him a sword.

Months went by, no poopy on the potty.  He had a major hang up about sitting on that potty.  You remember the little guy just turned four, so it's time now!  And I was losing my patience and cool with him.  It just wasn't good for either one of us.  When my sister Audra was here, she told us that she had used a treasure box with her boys.  The treasure box was filled with toys.  So I went to the basement and found this old looking suitcase that I could put toys in.

He carried this around with him and talked about pooping in the potty, but would keep having accidents or would ask for a pull-up to poop in.  ( I know a lot of poopy talk in this post.  And I also know that poopy is not even a word, but that is what we say in this house.) 
So long story short, one Saturday he came in from playing outside and I knew that he had pooped in his underwear.  I went a little coo-coo!  I started raising my voice.  Okay, yelling, "Landon, I'm tired of this!  You are four years old now!  I want you to sit on that potty while I go clean this mess up!  You sit there and you finish pooping!"  Do you know that little stinker, the name fit at the moment, for real, looked at me and said, "okaaaaaaay, I'll go poopy on the potty!"  Now, let's make sure you understand, this boy has been terrified to sit on the potty!  Has never pooped on the potty!  And all of a sudden, he just looks at me and says, "okaaaaaay......"  I looked at him and said, "you do that! I will be back in a minute." 

I'm in the laundry room with the water running.  The girls come in screaming, "Landon went poopy on the potty!  He did it!"  I go running to the bathroom, passing Seth and Sawyer kicked back in the recliner eating a bowl of ice cream.  And Landon has POOPED!  Me and the girls are dancing and screaming, "good job!"  It was such a glorious sight to me!  I'm not even exaggerating my emotions.  They were real.  I went to the living room and told Seth he better put that ice cream down and get in there and do a potty dance.  His son had just POOPED!  Seth did as commanded and then Landon got to pick a treat from his treasure box and then we all celebrated with an ice cream party!  And we haven't looked back.  He has not had one accident!

 From Laurel's face, you can tell the girl is a lover, not a fighter!  She was trying her hardest to be a good big sister and play swords with the boys.  She was scared to death! 

Ha! Ha!  I love Landon's face in this picture.  It is so amazing to me how boys just innately know how to do certain things.  It was one, long journey with this dude, but the Claytons got a pay raise this summer all because of Landon!  Whoo Hoo!

Bugs, bugs and more bugs

Boy oh boy, it has been the summer of bugs.  Wasps have taken over the front porch!  Yeah, we have been told to give our daddy a friendly reminder this winter to close up the holes so we don't have to deal with this problem next summer.  Ants, oh my goodness, poor Sawyer has almost been carried away for dinner by these small creatures.  He sees an ant, grabs something and starts pounding that ant to smithereens while he is screaming, "ouch!"

 

I know, mother of the year award, right here!

 

And then you have Laurel, who likes bugs.  She loves to catch them and keep them as her pet.

 

 She is actually feeding this grasshopper a piece of grass.  I saw it with my own eyes.   The grasshopper was chomping on the grass.

 

I have to say, she has a gentle way with bugs.  Who knows, she may grow up and be a veterinarian.

 

Jumping Ramps

I loved my bike growing up.  We would ride our bikes all day long.  We would pretend like they were our cars.  My children are doing the same thing.  They are constantly using their imagine with their bikes.  Right before the sun went down, we were out in the yard playing and I snapped these pictures of their sweaty faces.  Have I told you, "it is hot down here in Alabama!"

Savannah

Laurel

Sawyer
 

Landon

Each one showing their ramp skills!

And then we ended the night looking at this beautiful sunset.

Bike Rides

We also spent a lot of time riding bikes.  It is really fun taking the kids for a bike ride now because everyone can ride, well except for Sawyer.  He has the best seat out of everyone.  The only problem, everyone has a bike except for Seth.  So we technically can't all go.  I'm usually the one who stays behind when Seth is home.

People, there is nothing hotter than a daddy on a pink bike!  And there is nothing cuter than a little boy wearing dirt bike goggles all the way down the road.  I'm pretty impressed with these kids of mine.  When we take them on a bike ride, it usually ends up being 2 miles!

Bubble Art

After all the family left, I had lots of house cleaning and clothes washing to do.  The days seemed to be rainy.  It has rained a lot this summer.  While I washed clothes, the kids did bubble painting.  I got this idea from some ones blog.  I can't remember whose, or I would give them credit.  All you do is put bubbles in a cup, add some food coloring and give the kids a straw.  I promise it will provide lots of entertainment and some pretty cool pictures.  You should try it on a rainy, clothes washing, cleaning house, kind of day!

They all started off with one straw and ended up with multiples.

Independence Day

We stayed around the house all day on the Fourth.  We had been so busy the whole month of June that it felt really good to just relax.  Seth did load the kids up and went to purchase some fireworks.  We never go anywhere to watch the fireworks on the fourth, because we have such a great view from our deck of the firework shows going on around Chelsea.  It is great to be able to watch in your pj's.

So, our sweet Landon was so excited about the fireworks he and his daddy picked out.  He carried that package around all afternoon, waiting for it to get dark enough.  He asked over and over, "when was it going to be time?"

 Waiting on daddy! 

 Ha! Ha!  As soon as Seth set the first one off, Landon took off into the house and hid his face!  We all laughed so hard!

 We thought the show was over and then Seth came up the stairs with sparklers!  The girls thought this was the best and scariest thing they had ever done. 

 There he is!  Landon decided to join us for the sparklers!

 

I really tried hard this Independence Day to educate our children about this holiday.  We love our country and we want our children to grow up being patriotic and not taking their freedoms for granted.