My How Time Flies

It seems like I just updated my blog.  I was shocked when I looked and saw how long ago it really had been.
We have been crazy busy, just living life.
The weather here is beautiful, and the city is growing on me more and more each day.  I absolutely love how green it is here, and the grass is so soft.  The kids love to go out barefoot, because they can.  The fireflies here are amazing too.  We have woods behind our house and when we go out in the evening and look to the woods, it reminds me of a Disney scene.  Actually, if you've been to DisneyLAND you will know what I mean when I say it reminds me of the bayou scene of Pirates of the Caribbean.  It's pretty quiet and you just see little flashes all over the place.  So neat.
We also discovered these little tiny frogs.  I have never seen anything like it.  They are about the size of our fingertip.
Matt has been trying his hand at gardening.  Because we knew there would be deer in the woods, we didn't want to tear up any of the yard this year, so he planted things in all the flowerbeds, just to see how it goes.  He also planted the vine plants back in the the woods.  The other day, he went out to water those plants and a baby deer went bouncing away.  He was there later too.  He was making his bed in our grass clippings.  Matt must have scared him off though, because we haven't seen him since.  Surprisingly, the deer have only eaten a couple leaves off the grape plants.  The birds are proving to be more of a problem.  As soon as we see any kind of berry, they come by and eat it!  
Moving on!
Last week, we went to a swimming party for the cast of Annie Get Your Gun.  It was fun and so great to see the kids with new friends.  They were sad to see it end.  Someone from the cast is having another party in August, but we won't be here for it.  Boo.  The best thing about these kids is that they keep friending me on facebook.  I love that my kids' friends friend me!  Not that we talk but it's nice to know what kind of kids mine are hanging out with.
Also, last week, we had our end of the year assessments for home schooling.  Here, we either have to do standardized testing, or have a certified teacher look over all our work and determine if the kids are making enough progress.  We went with the teacher and the kids all did great.  It was nice to know that we are doing a good job.  There's always a tiny doubt, when you are schooling where there are no regulations.  So, it was a relief to know that after all these years, I haven't screwed up my kids! In fact, just the opposite!  YAY!!
Finally, this last weekend we had a Mended Little Hearts picnic.  It was so fun, and I absolutely love this group.  I somehow ended up being in charge of the Christmas party, but that's ok.
OHHHH, finally finally....we leave this weekend for a long trip.  We are camping across the country, making the same trip we have made a couple other times, once when Matt and I were first married, and once when we just had 3 boys.  I'm so looking forward to taking all the kids to all the places we have pictures of...Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Yellowstone, etc.  It should be loads of fun!
I hope you are having a great summer!