July is half way through already

No matter how much I try, life still seems to speed by and I don't get very much accomplished. We started the month celebrating Joshua's sixth birthday. Joshua got a new bike, and some fun toys--especially loved the Bakugan's from Grandma & Grandpa Cannon. He also received a check from Grandma & Grandpa Drennan, who are in Russia, and thought that was so fun!!! He got to buy more Bakugan's--he thought picking out his present was so fun that he asked for us to give him a check new year.:) We invited some neighbors over for cake & ice cream and a pinata. Joshua had a light-saber cake(two light-sabers dueling--green for Yoda & red for Darth Sidius(I can't spell it)). It was great fun.

Taylor hasn't been sleeping well all month, I think he had an ear infection & then moved on to teething again. He has been teething since he was 2 1/2 months. Every so often the teeth seem to move a little & bother him. I really wish they would come in so we could get back to sleeping at night. He had his six month check up last week. It's hard to believe he is already that old. He has started green beans now and a tiny bit of apricots mixed with his rice cereal.

One funny thing about Ashlee is that she was saving her money for a new bike because Joshua was getting one & she wanted one. We told her we didn't just buy bikes--only for birthdays or Christmas. So we told her if she saved for half of the bike, we would break the rule & pitch in for the other half. But then last week, Ashlee said, "Well, it's getting close to Christmas and my birthday, so I'm not going to save for a bike anymore, I'll just wait until then." What an intelligent young lady she is! Why pay for it- if you wait a little, mom & dad will!

Lydia has decided that throwing fits should be a multiple times a day event lately. I've decided I don't like the terrible three's at all!!!!! She can also be very sweet though and loves her little brother. She is very good at entertaining him for me. She also has started thinking that she needs to play with friends every day. It is a little harder to coordinate playing for her because she wants to play with five year olds, not three year olds. Some of the other three year olds can't talk as good as she can, so she gets annoyed that they can't pronounce her name correctly. I think she's three going on 14!

Mark is gearing up for another work convention and the start of another catalog season. I am trying to gear up too. We hope to work on the playhouse a little more, take a vacation, and get some new windows on the back side of our house before winter comes again. We'll see how far we get.

We feel so blessed to live where we do. We feel that we live in the best neighborhood in all the world. We are well cared for and our children feel happy and safe as they play. We are grateful for this great country that we live it. God Bless America.

We hope this update finds all our friends healthy and happy.