We are CrAzY for monsoons!

I don't know what it is about the rain, but we Arizonans go berserk (I never knew that was how that word was spelled!!!) any time we get a little weather goin' on!!

On Thursday afternoon, we absolutely got DUMPED on for like 45 minutes!!! Pouring rain, thunder, the whole shebang! Up to this point, we've had a few threatening clouds and little teases of rain but nothing substantial.The boys were still in their swimsuits from swimming lessons earlier that day so I let them run willy-nilly in the backyard. Brooklyn had just taken a shower and I wouldn't let her go run in the rain so she just pouted at me. I did coax a small smile out of her. ;)The funny thing is the neighbor boys ran out to jump on the trampoline in the rain and I could hear other squeals of delight from other kiddos enjoying the rain just the same as we were!! Monsoon season is one of the things I most look forward to during summertime here in Arizona and it's obvious I'm not alone in that!

That's why we had 'em!!

Saturday morning slavery, er..... I mean...... CHORES! ;)

Matt pulled the boys outside for a little yard work. Blake got his very first opportunity to mow the back lawn and I dare say he actually enjoyed himself!!

I love this picture and his sweet smiling face.
You can see the parts he missed, but he was so stinkin' proud of himself for mowing the yard!Gavin was the little sweeper dude.Prest just supervised from his usual cool spot. ;)

I asked Brooklyn to fold a load of her clothes that had just come out of the dryer and she did it so willingly! Maybe I should assign her this as a permanent task??{I will not refold the clothes, I *WILL* not refold the clothes, I will NOT refold the clothes!}

Such a good way to start off a Saturday morning with everybody helping around the house! Reminds me of a song I once knew -- "When we're helping we're happy and we sing as we go..."

What else is there to even do these days?

When it's 109* outside???Play at the pool, of course!! This is where we spent Friday morn -->

Gavin refers to it as the dumping cup pool. Blake calls it mini-Sunsplash. We've never even taken the kids to Sunsplash but they've seen it as we drive by on the US60. They can call it whatever they want because it sure costs a heckuva lot less than admission to Sunsplash!!! Can't beat under 5 bucks for me and the kids to get in for hours of fun! We are frequent visitors. :)

Love this boy and all his cuteness!Carson and GavinBrooklyn's first jump off a diving board!Blake, Alyssa, BrooklynGetting dumped on... staying cool!

I love playing at the pool all morning because this is the end result!!!!!

Baby it's HOT outside!!!

Although we're having scorching temps during the day, the evenings are still managing to cool off a bit, so I'm encouraging the kids to play outside after dinner. Plus it helps that our backyard is completely shaded after 5pm! We bust out the water table, fill that up, turn on the hose, sprinklers, eat popsicles like crazy (Preston calls them "pockles" and thinks he needs one ANYtime we go out back), whatever helps keep us cool and the kids run the rest of their energy out before bedtime.

I just went and looked back and realized that I never blogged about that water table!!! We got it back at the beginning of June and it's been a big hit!! Preston loves SITTING in it. Here are some pics of the first time we used it. He splashed to his little hearts content!Well last week, he was sitting in his water table, as usual, when he had a visitor. A nosy bumblebee decided to join Preston in the water and I guess Preston just wanted to play!! Welp, he grabbed the bee and of course got stung. Poor fella!!!

Showing me his owieThe culprit++++++

I can't believe we only have 5 weeks left of summer before the twins go back to school!!! We're not done playing!!!!!!!! I've decided that we need a fun {INDOOR} outing a week on top of our regularly scheduled activities in order to finish off summer break with a bang. Today we went to BounceU. The kids have been BEGGING to go to the "bouncy house" for awhile so I took them on a whim this morning. This is by far one of their favorite places to go!Preston was a lot uneasy about being inside the inflatable bouncers and he'd only crawl. He much preferred to play with the balloons on steady ground. But by the end, he was walking around in them and climbing through the obstacle course like a pro!! Mommy got a good workout too!Since we were all sweaty and had to get into a sweltering car, I decided a little trip to Swirl It for some froyo would help cool us off. ;) Yummalicious!

Can You Can?

Saturday, I made my first attempt at canning tomatoes. We had pulled 131 tomatoes from the garden and had to do something with them.I was a little intimidated by this task and was pretty sure I should have had someone more experienced coaching me for fear all my work would go to waste because I did something wrong.

I picked these tools of the trade up at good ole WalMart and went to work.My stove top sure got a workout!!Blanched and peeledJars filledInto their bath!I used our camp stove outside since you're not supposed to can on our glass top stove.The end result!!! Looks kinda gross, but I think it's right...

I wish I could say the effort was worth it, but it took a few hours just to get these 4 measly quarts to the processing stage so I don't know that I'll do it again. Maybe. I'd like to try seasoned tomato sauce or salsa. Wonder what I will can next?? I do need to get a pressure canner so I can can my own meats and fruits. Matt asked me if I wanted to wear my pioneer bonnet while I was doing all this. I should have!!! I'm feeling more provident already! ;)