SEPTEMBER HAPPENINGS

Ashlynn had her eyebrow super glued. You can't tell very well in this picture. (THAT IS A GOOD THING)The other day Ashlynn fell on the bunk bed and split her eye open. The urgent care wanted to do stitches. They said glue wouldn't hold. I said no WAY glue will hold and I want glue. The eye brow I had a stitch in now has no hair in that spot. It drives me CRAZY. I really didn't want that for her whole eyebrow. J.D. & I took her to the ER. The lady was GREAT. She came in totally confident & said cosmetically this should be glued. She sealed it up & we were off. You can hardly even tell she hurt it. Hopefully when the glue & scab is gone it still looks as good.

J.D. & I went to WICKED last night and it was as AMAZING the second time around as it was the first. J.D. called the morning of the play to tell me this joke. Why don't you want to hang out with twin witches? Because it is too hard to tell which witch is which. HA HA!

J.D finished his 2 week summer camp training YAHOO.



Sadly I think SUMMER is officially OVER! The kids want me to turn on heat. I'm cheap and am going crazy packing and cleaning so I'm warm. I keep telling them to put on more cloths or work harder so they can warm up.
(p.s. the day after I wrote this I turned on heat)
Daxon ran the mile and did AWESOME. 7 minutes and 48 seconds. That would probably KILL me. I was so proud of him. 2 weeks ago he said he wanted to race. I didn't really want to pay 3 dollars for him to run a mile so I said if you will run a mile every day for the next 2 weeks I'll give you the money. Well the eager beaver agreed and in 2 weeks improved his time by a FULL minute. I thought that was AMAZING.
WAY TO GO DAXON!

The other day the school told me to come pick up Britton because he had a fever. As I went to leave they said he can't return for at least 24 hours after his fever has broke. Well he woke up the next morning filling great but it hadn't been 24 hours so he had to stay home. To keep from going stir crazy we headed to the zoo. IT WAS WONDERFUL! I loved how calm it was. Ashlynn & Britton were so fun. I may have to take him out of school to go to the zoo more often. Ashlynn was so cute and in awe with all the animals. The zoo was slow enough that for the first time she was able to not be in a stroller and just wonder SHE LOVED IT!

These videos crack me up. After I stopped recording she took off after the bird again and threw a fit as I pulled her away. I couldn't stop laughing. I love how the only thing Britton wants to do is scare it away. Such a boy thing to do.

SUPER EASY SEWING CRAFT FOR THOSE LONG CAR RIDES & MORE

My friend made one of these a few months ago and I LOVED it. Whenever we are traveling over an hour or so Ashlynn falls asleep and just sweats from the sun beating on her. Other times we try to unroll the window & hurry to stick a blanket in as we roll it up so that whoever will stop complaining that the sun is beating on them. This totally solves the problem.

They block the sun when you are driving. They make it so you don't need to bring along an Extra blanket. Ashlynn loves pulling the one side up over her face to play PEEK-a-BOO. They are also fun to lay out on the floor and let them use it for play time, story time, movie time, nap time or whatever.



I didn't want Britton to think he was left out so I made one for him. He thought it was great.

Another great thing that my friend pointed out is when you need an extra blanket at the park or whatever you can just grab it and WA LA!

All you need is 2 yards of material for both sides and something round to put in the middle. I used a binki thing mam brand.

I had thought flannel would work best however my friend told me cotton is better for the car. Flannel gets to hot. So it kinda defeats the purpose.

You just hang it on the hook in your car. These are located in the middle on mini vans and it works a little better because it makes more of a tent type thing.

This is a side view of how it blocks the sun on the window
Just for fun you can buy these really cute labels at a craft store just to add a little EXTRA love

(Yes you can barf now.)

This is what the package looks like if you decide to buy some.



Ashlynn was playing so cute then I got out the camera & she decided to be done.

ADVENTURES AT THE PHIPPEN'S

First of all I have to say Fall (almost)in Iowa is AMAZING. I LOVE IT!!! The weather is so perfect it just makes ya feel all happy inside. School has started and sadly things are moving so quickly in the morning that I always forget to take pictures of Alyssa & Riley. They are enjoying school however as are Daxon & Britton. I was so excited for them to all be back in school but am missing the noise much more than I thought I would. I am excited for a 4 day weekend to have them around again. I have a hard time with a quiet house. Maybe that is why we have such a LOUD bunch of people around here.

ARROW OF LIGHT

Riley received his arrow of light on Wednesday & advanced into boy scouts. I can't believe how quickly my kids are growing up. It is crazy. Where does the time go.

ADVENTURE LAND

I have to say taking a boy with a broken leg who needs to be pushed in a stroller most the day & a toddler to an amusement park is an ADVENTURE in deed. I can vividly remember thinking that day "this is INSANE". However the mind works in a magnificent way. I look at the pictures and only remember HAPPY- JOYFUL times. After a week has past & I have forgotten why it seemed so hard. It was truly the greatest day EVER!!!!

J.D and the older kids rode on the big rides most the day. J.D. is getting weak in his old age. HA HA he had to search the park for some motion sick medicine. By the end of the day Alyssa was so sick to her stomach that she couldn't even look at the spinning rides. Riley and Daxon could have kept going for days.

Britton was all about the little rides. Breaking his leg has made him very cautious.
This is a good and bad thing. It has created more work for me.

Ashlynn was a go getter all day. She LOVED the rides and HATED the lines.

NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON'T.

Britton FINALLY got his cast off. What a GREAT DAY.

Ashlynn is always walking on her tippy toes. I think it is so adorable. So you can imagine my joy when I found this shirt the other day. I was so excited. The best part is they were buy one get one free. How great is that!!!. Some may say GET A LIFE. To that I say I have a great life especially when I find a great deal. I get a HUGE thrill out of buying little girl clothes and finding a bargain. You could say it's a hobby, can that be a hobby? Well it is one of mine.

OFF TO THE CUBS GAME

This was another one of those times when during the game you say this is INSANE!!!! The kids won't sit still, someone has to pee every 10 seconds, Ashlynn is crawling all over like a monkey, you are going to go broke with bribery treats, you and you husband look at each other and wonder WHY ARE WE HERE? Lets go home! But you stick with it. You say to yourselves we can make it through this. Then the end of the game comes the fireworks go off the kids sit quietly in awe and as you look around at your children all you can think about is this is such a great night. The next morning comes and Daxon says. That game last night was so much fun, thanks for taking me.

Your heart fills with joy & all that is remembered is what a wonderful time you had.
The game=FREE our awesome friend gave us tickets

The food=EXPENSIVE with a family of 7

The look on their faces when the fireworks go off=PRICELESS

LET'S DANCE

The other day a few friends and I got together and made tutus for our girls while the boys all went to a cubs game. After we finished we put them on the girls and let them dance around. IT was so much fun. I forgot my camera sad to say. Just imagine 4 little girls dancing around thinking they are the CUTEST thing ever. It was so ADORABLE!

J.D. was out of town so our friends took the boys to the game with them. SUPER NICE. The boys haven't quit talking about the great time they had. The following morning the boys decided they wanted to be dancers as well as baseball fans as they joined Ashlynn in her dancing affair. Alyssa has decided we need to finish her tutu so that her & Ashlynn can be ballerina punk rockers for Halloween.

OH what do you do in the summertime

The pictures on this post are really messed up. I was trying a new idea and it didn't work. I could have fixed it by re-posting everything but I didn't fill like taking the time.


Before Britton broke his leg sitting in Ashlynns sink was a favorite past time. The kids have also really enjoyed the banzi this summer. I like it but it is a lot of work and my lawn has a huge dead spot.

This swing was Ashlynns favorite while we were camping. Anyone could swing in it as long as they held on to her. If it wasn't her turn the screaming was very loud.

The kids have all decided they should get one on one time with dad. The other day J.D. won 2 tickets on the radio to a barnstormers game. Alyssa and him went and had a great time.

Riley & him went fishing. Riley couldn't have been happier. He caught as he puts it "A nice delicious bass."

We have been having the kids help with dishes a little more lately. For some reason the dishes haven't been getting very clean.

Riley and Alyssa were in diving. I was amazed how much they learned in a few short days. Both had a fair share of belly flops however. OUCH!

Lately I think the kids are becoming bored with summer. Daxon has been swinging in a pink swing that is clearly NOT his size. Riley & Riley have been coloring with chalk. Something a week earlier they said was something only babies do.

J.D. was bouncing Britton on the trampoline the other day and poor britton broke his leg. This has been a huge trial for him. He is usually going a million miles an hour. Yesterday J.D. and him went out to eat, hung out at Sheels, (a big sporting store) And went to a big toy store. Britton walked a little but said he thought it was so cool that he got to hang out in a stroller.

We went camping last weekend. I have vowed NEVER to go tent camping again EVER!!!!! The bathrooms had So many bugs you couldn't walk without stepping on one. The humidity makes the wood just damp enough that it is almost impossible to build a decent fire. We woke up to rain the first morning. We left & went to McDonald's came home and went back later in the day. We dried out most our stuff had a fun afternoon until around 11p.m. or so when a HUGE storm blew in. We piled in the car & returned home for a 2nd time. J.D. went up the next day and gathered our stuff. It was a 40 minute drive & in ONE weekend we drove it 6 times. NOT my idea of a great time. NO we are not the roughing it type of people I guess. If I'm trying to look for the pollyanna side of things, the monkey bridge and swings were really fun. The scenery was beautiful & Friday afternoon another family from our ward was there and it was fun to visit with them. They came prepared with a camper that had air conditioning and store bought wood that burns. We roasted smores with them and had a good time.

Alyssa is always putting a Miley Cyrus picture for hers on facebook. Every so often I have changed it to one of her however she always changes it back. The other day her aunt Trisha said she really needed to put one of herself because she was SOOO much cuter than Miley. Since it wasn't her mom that told her to change it she decided it was a good idea. We got out the camera and did a little photo shoot. I kept saying smile and this is all she would do. She would say MOM get back farther I don't want people to see my teeth.

Sunday afternoons around here are usually spent sitting around while Ashlynn entertains. She is at such a fun & sassy age.

NEVER STOP DANCING

I came across this video the other day on the simple marriage website. It made me laugh & smile!

HEAR YE, HEAR YE

Jana you wanted some pictures of Ashlynn so I finally got around to posting a few. I LOVE the first one of her. It was a the 4th of July parade and she was being SOOO funny. So funny that I left early with her because everyone around was trying to give her anything they could to keep her from screaming because she wanted to go out in the street and join the parade.