Party at the Lacey's!

We're in Drummond, Montana visiting Tammy's parents for a family reunion. All of Tammy's siblings are here, along with their kids. There are 27 of us. Here's a quick picture of all of the kids:

We're spread out in tents, trailers, and various rooms in the house. The kids are having a great time, and so far we've been able to keep up with them. Tammy's having fun with her sisters:

and Sophia is meeting her cousins:

So far, we've ridden in the boat (Steven wakeboarded!), roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, played all kinds of games, changed 657 dirty diapers, and eaten 7 million calories. It's the perfect 4th of July vacation!

Our Little Vacuum Cleaner

Our little Sophia turned 9 months old this week. How the time flies! She is having so much fun trying to keep up with everyone. She is very independent now. She loves to explore the house. We no longer need to vacuum or sweep the floor because she takes care of it for us! Just kidding--we sweep a couple of times a day, but she still manages to find something to put into her mouth.

Sophie has also started "singing." Her favorite songs are Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam and The Wheels on the Bus. She even likes to dance along when she sings--it elicits more of a reaction from her adoring fans. Jabbering is also a favorite pasttime. She can say her own little versions of "Da-Da," "Ra-Ra" (Rachel), "bbbbbb" (bottle.) The last couple of days she has learned to shake her head "No!"

Here's a picture of one of her favorite places to play--under her bouncy chair!

Finally, Sophia is trying to learn to stand up with the help of furniture. As a result, she has little bruises all over her forehead from falling into chairs and walls. Her latest bruise coordinates with her purple pants she's wearing today.

We're all happy that stranger anxiety and separation anxiety haven't set in, yet. Steve and I were even able to go out to dinner and to see Ocean's 13 last night while Sophia and the other kids stayed home with our friend, Barb Davis. Thanks Barb!

Ben's Birthday!

Today is Ben's 9th birthday. Happy Birthday Ben!

Since it is Sunday, we celebrated his birthday yesterday. It started off with breakfast in bed:

French toast, of course. Breakfast in bed is a funny tradition at our house, since the kids always wake up before the parents. So it involves sending the birthday kid back to bed while we make breakfast. But they love it, so we keep the tradition. All meals served on birthdays are done on the "red dishes."

Ben's birthday party was a skating party at Auburn Skate Connection. It was loud, noisy, and hot, but we didn't have to plan anything so it was great. Ben and his friends had a great time:

Tammy made Ben's cake. She went for a simple design that would appeal to a bunch of 9-year olds: Cake with candy on top.

It looks like Ben is having a great birthday weekend. We love having Ben in our family, there's nothing better in the whole world than a happy Ben.

Steven's year-end concert

Steven finished his first year of band this week, with a concert on Monday night. This was their second concert, they had one earlier in the year. It was a pleasure to see how much they've improved! Wow!

Steven plays the trombone, and his teacher decided to feature the trombone section with a special number. All 6 of them came to the front of the stage and played this song:


After Steven's 5th grade class performed, we stayed for the 6th and 7th grade bands. We're looking forward to next year when the band practices together every day.

Afterwards, we went to Ben & Jerry's (or, as Ben says, Me and Jerry's) for ice cream.
Great job, Steven. You did a great job this year!

Good-bye Grandma and Grandpa! And Grandma!

Grandma, Grandpa and Mom (that's grandma to the kids) left yesterday to head up to Vancouver. Grandma's having surgery on her back. We loved having them here, and we'll miss them while we wait for the next time we see them. Grandma, you're in our prayers during your surgery.

We did snap a quick 4-generation photo for Sophia. She really took to my Mom. And now she really misses everyone.

Warning to Snakes Everywhere: Stay Away from the Summers!

So every summer I find a couple of snakes in the back yard. With my lawnmower. Aside from the mess that follows, they freak me out. I don't know why- I grew up in rural Idaho, after all. I had friends who brought rattle snake meat as part of their school lunch. But I've never been able to handle the thought of holding one of the critters in my hands. Oooh- I've got the creepies already.

(No, this isn't Tammy writing this. It's brave old Dad).

So the other day the kids found a snake wandering around our backyard. Instead of chopping it up with the lawnmower, I let the kids play with it. For hours. and hours. It kept looking at me with "please kill me" eyes. By the end, the poor thing was barely moving.

But I had a plan- that evening, we let it go back into the weeds behind the house. That way, it could warn all of the other reptiles in the area that this is one house. We'll see how well it works as the temperature rises. My thermometer says it reached 92 degrees today!

I'm back from Camp Auburn!

Camp Auburn was awesome! I had a great time at Camp Auburn. Camp Auburn is a camp that is like a scout camp that everybody from 5th grade attends in the Auburn School District. (If they have permission from their parents). (Here's a newsreport from the Auburn Reporter.)

(Mom and Dad will post pictures when the film gets developed. They wouldn't let me take the digital camera!)

What we do there is we do things like boating. We also do campfire at night. It is really cool because we sing songs so we can have dinner. There are people called hoppers who have to eat really fast because like every minute he/she has to go get food for everyone. The bad part is we have to learn manners. AHHHHHHH!!!. A good part is we can bring a gallon sized bag of candy. We also get to build a fire, roast hotdogs, go on a hike, build a shelter,and make rope. We get three huge meals a day and get letters, pennants (flag-like awards), and lots of dessert.

There are also points so we can get a really special pennant called honor cabin for a boy cabin and a girl cabin. Some things aren't so cool like we have to clean our cabins and our showers and bathrooms

There are also special people from high school called rovers and counselors. The counselors are high school students who act like adults for your cabin. The rovers are people from high school who encourage you to scream out as loud as you can so you lose your voice on the first day. They can be really annoying and really fun. The camp fire is hosted by the rover (yes the really annoying ones) where you do skits and sing. I had a really really fun time at camp and I will never forget it.

Written by and a witness to Camp Auburn,

STEVEN SUMMERS