The Summer is Flying by...

Andrew has been getting REALLY good at Hitting baseballs, and practicing in our back yard has led to many of our baseballs ending up in the neighbors yard...so we decided to build a batting cage. It works really well for now. When he is older we will have to build a bigger one, but for right now it's great!

 The kids have been loving playing in the back yard, swimming in the pool, jumping on the trampoline...just playing together!

 We went to the Zoo with some other Swifts...this kids had a great time!

 We have been eating a lot of Ice cream this summer- Here is a cute picture of my Mallory girl enjoying some at Dairy Queen!

 On the 4th of July we went to the Eatonville parade!! I love that Parade, it's mostly just people driving their cars down the "main" street, but it's so fun!

Grandpa came with us, and kept disappearing and coming back with snacks!

 The weekend of the 4th we had a Swift Family Reunion (-2 on missions) it was great for the kids to be able to spend lots of time with their cousins, we miss lots of them that live so far away!

 Momma Swift treated all of us girls to a pedicure for our birthdays! It was Very relaxing...

 After the Reunion Andrew had two weeks of baseball camp. He was the youngest boy there and had to work really hard to keep up. It was 3 hours a day (with one 5 minute water break) of drills, scrimmages and practice.

 It was Very intense and I was a little worried that he would get discouraged or burnt out--but he LOVED it. By the end of the two weeks he was TONS better, Super excited about his new skills and excited to play more! It was a Great camp, I am excited to do it again next year!

 One day on the way to swimming lessons we stopped at this cute donut shop, it was really interesting, kind of expensive and they were not the best...but it was fun to try something new!

 On Saturday it was our 6 year anniversary, we went out to lunch at BJ's! It was really nice to have some Kid free time to spend together...although we talked about the kids 90% of the time!

 After our Anniversary lunch we had a 3 year olds birthday party to go to! It was at a bouncy house place, and OF COURSE the kids had a BLAST!

I feel like the Summer is FLYING by...I am worried it will be time for school and we wont have fit in all the fun yet--- Got to go!

Summer Time fun!

Last week Grandpa took Buggie, Andrew and Malachi to a Rainer's game!

 It rained on them a little, but they still had a really good time, and you know Grandpa spoiled them with TONS of fun snacks!

 Andrew had a really good time, and when he practiced baseball later that week he had some new moves he had learned by watching the "Pros".

 I know this picture is really blurry but Andrew was super excited to meet the Moose- but he always says "actually it's a guy in a moose costume!" (such a smart kid)

 Mallory started Ballet last week and swimming lessons this week- Don't tell her I said this but she is pretty much a Klutz as a ballerina- however she actually is Amazingly graceful in the water. She was not afraid at all to put her head under and was almost swimming without help after her first session!

I love her teacher! And I love that we are doing private lessons- they were the only ones in the pool and she didn't have to wait for the teacher to help with all the other kids! By the end of the summer you can just call her Dory (I would say Nemo, but lets face it she's Valerie's granddaughter, Dory is more accurate!)

I am way excited for all of our stuff coming up in July!!! We are going to be VERY busy...I will TRY to remember to bring my camera along and take a few pictures!

Schools ALMOST over!!

We have been having so much fun the last few weeks... but my picture taking is kinda hit and miss, so here is what I got!

 Here is Andrew at his "end of the year" choir concert! They sang all weather songs- he wasn't too sure about wearing "church" clothes to school but he felt much better after he got there and saw lots of his friends were dressed up too!

 We also went to a really fun birthday party at Odessy 1! It was for 3 of our friends...we got to play, eat pizza and cake and the kids played the arcade games and won tickets- Lucky ducks!

 On memorial day we went to downtown Tacoma and rode a REAL-LIFE trolley (well kinda) the kids thought it was AMAZING!

 Then we went over to the Glass museum- Mallory said this looked like and Ice cream cone

 While we were there we made REALLY cute hats!

 PS. The glass museum was not very fun and even though we had a coupon it was still expensive.

 This is a shot from one day walking in Wal-Mart- Malachi was making Spencer Giggle...it was SUPER cute!

 While we were at a baseball game someone decided they wanted stuff out of my van- so they smashed my window...the bummer part was that they really didn't get anything, but replacing the window was just as expensive--- maybe I should just leave my doors unlocked?

 This is Andrew with his two T-ball coaches. They play on a REAL team so we went to watch their game...can you tell Andrew is a little bit excited here!!!!

 Since Andrew is WAY into baseball right now we wanted him to be able to go to baseball camp- but it's pretty expensive. So as a teaching tool we decided he needs to earn some of the money. He did a Lemonade stand at our garage sale. He still has a long way to go so if you can think of a job that a 6 year old can do for 25-50 cents let me know and we can set it up!

 It's So funny what Andrew picks up from watching the big boys...after watching his coaches play he had some new moves at his next T-ball game. He was diving for balls and sliding into bases, it's so fun to watch his love for the game grow.

Last, but not least, he is one of Malachi's father's day cards- I think that pretty much sums it up!

Enjoying the good weather!

The Weather had not been too bad latley...

 So Andrew has been playing LOTS of baseball...his regular practices but also we've been going to the park to practice extra too!

 Last week we had a friend over and went for a walk in the woods

 The kids loved to throw rocks in the river and find bugs...

 We had a good time and got some exersize too

 Andrew is a little more brave then I'd like him to be sometimes...I would tell him, "we only do that when Daddy's here because I have Spencer and I cannot jump into the water to save you if you fall!"

I cannot wait until summer when it will be nice all the time and we can play outside all day!

New Paint, before and after!

This is what our house looked like when we first moved in....pealing paint, old windows, and crappy carport!

Since then we've replaced the windows, added a food storage room, walled in 2 doors and a window, put more siding, torn down two sheds and built one,  encased the carport into a garage and added a roofing piece to the faceboard- our house was a mixture of untreaded wood, primer, new paint, old paint, chipped paint and just a mess all over! FINNALY we found somone to paint it for a reasonable price... I LOVE how it turned out! I think it looks 100% better!

Not to mention I love our Toyota Sienna TONS better then the two GHETTO cars we had when we moved in!!!

Take a Break....It's Spring!

The kids were on Spring break this week so we wanted to get out and enjoy their time off...

 I serriously love spending time with my children...Yes, somtimes they drive me crazy, but most of the time they are great to hang out with!

We went on the "Trolly" and saw all the Animals!

It was fun to bring along a few friends- We've been to NW trek Lots, but it's new and interesting when you bring somone who has never been before!

All the kids had a great time together and wore themselves out!

And we had Lunch, luckily it stayed dry for us the whole time!

On another day we went to the Tacoma Children's Musuem...I love this place!

This is a really great Musem, I like how it's "Pay as you will" and they always have lots of helpers around cleaning up all the messes the kids are making!

 

I just got to sit back, feed Spencer and watch them play!

They are also doing a "Eric Carrl" Theme... because I guess the Tacoma Art Musem is doing one too, I kind of want to go check out the Art Musem now!

On Saturday we went to the Daffodil Parade... we bundled up because we new it was probubly going to rain on us a bit....

But oh man it rained and poured and the WIND... we left early- I think we had enough fun!

Andrew boy lost his other tooth- Now he has a big Hole in his face!!!

I am kind of looking forward to the kids going back to school...now I can stay home, fold some laundry and clean my kitchen!