Birthdays, Heatwaves, Crazy Days...

Wow! What a month it's been so far! And it's not even over yet! :D This week was Tim's birthday, even if he chose to pretty much ignore it like always. He never likes to draw any attention to his special day so every year I threaten to bring a cake and a singing line of Whitmer children into his work to surprise him. I don't think it would suprise him, embarrass him might be more like it. I have yet to carry through with my threat, which I think he is pretty happy about. He looked like he was in pain as the kids and I sang to him, but I think secretly he enjoyed it. :) It's no secret, I like to make a big deal about birthdays, so I guess it's good that he married me because if it weren't for me his big day would go by every year and he probably wouldn't even remember! :D He had a long day at work that day so we didn't get any pictures of the birthday boy but I did get a picture of his Birthday Cupcakes and Brownies, which were served with Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream. Yum!!

Here are some fun pictures from the past --

His high school football picture - (I don't have any pictures of him as a little boy besides one that he really doesn't like :) )

Him and me when we were dating -

Him with Jorden and Jillen just before Jayden was born -

Him on his skydiving adventure earlier this year -

Him and the kids on Jillen's birthday last week -

Tim shares his birthday with my cute little niece, Ellee. This year was her 2nd birthday and the kids were pretty bummed that they couldn't be there to celebrate with her, especially after seeing the super cute ladybug cake and cupcakes Brooke made her! I snagged a few pictures off Brooke's blog, but if you want to see the events of the whole day you can head over to her blog, which now features a new background and header. (Did I mention how much fun I'm having with my Photoshop program??? :D ) We did manage to get a little birthday package sent off to her, which she will be SUPER thrilled about!! The girl loves packages that come in the mail! Sadly, this is the wrong time of year to include any candy, but hopefully she won't be too bummed about that since it's filled with lots of other fun stuff. ;)

The cute little birthday girl -

The birthday girl and her momma (Brooke) -

Ellee's birthday package that will be arriving Tuesday on a big brown truck, won't she love that! -

If you've checked the weather report for the Phoenix area you will have noticed that it's been HOT this week! Yesterday was 113 here in Mesa, our hottest day of the year so far. Today, at 2:40, we were at 113 and the temp usually max's out between 3 and 4pm, so it's pretty likely that we could see 114 or ever higher before the day is over. Everyday this week has been 110 or over and let me just say how much we are enjoying that new A/C unit Tim put in! It's actually a little cold in the bedrooms, and that's even with the A/C unit turning on and off all day! Not like it used to be when the unit would come on about 9am and not turn off until midnight, and it was STILL hot in the whole house! And since it's a brand new unit, it shouldn't even break down this summer! Wow, I think that will be the first summer in 6 or 7 years that have had good air ALL SUMMER!! :D Needless to say, the dog's are not too happy outside. Imagine this -- black dogs + 113 degrees = HOT DOGS!! (Ha-Ha!!) So we let them out in the mornings so they can do their 'business' and bark at all the things they need to bark at, then we let them in for the afternoon. As soon as Bambi comes in she goes straight to the air vent closest to the back door and stands over it for a minute or two, then plops down right on top of it! Silly dog! But once she's cooled off she's up and going, doing her regular duties -- sniffing along the floor for any stray crumbs that the kiddies might have dropped, sniffing near the trash can to see if she smells anything interesting, checking all the bedrooms to see where everyone is, checking to see if any of those people have food, walking through the kitchen to seeif anyone is in there making any food, and climbing onto the couch to look out the window, down the street for any potential barking opportunities (ie. people walking or biking down the street, cars, motorcycles, etc.) Boy this dog has a rough life! :D The Stupid Dog, on the other hand, is NOT my favorite thing right now! After building higher fences so that he can't jump out of the backyard, he realized yesterday that with a little extra effort he can easily jump the 4 foot fences we have and escape to freedom! Dang dog!! I guess we will be building a pen for him sometime soon. I hate to have to do that but I cna't have him running free through the neighborhood, and I can't trust him in the house so I guess there's not much other option. We shall see how that goes!

Bambi, parked on the air vent -

With it being so hot the kids have had to find things to do inside the house. They get bored pretty easy and then get a little creative with their activities. Here is the evidence of one activity I must have missed. Good thing they like to document their adventures!

Jayden playing "Roll through the kitchen on the computer chair" -

Coming back, maybe not the best idea to have the bucket covering his eyes! Good thing mom didn't see -

With Jorden gone to scout camp this week it will probably be kinda quiet around here. I might actually miss the sound of teasing and the "Mom!! He's (insert tormenting actions here) me!!"