Home Alone

Lisa left on Wednesday to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Beckstead during Grandpa's surgery. Us kids had our first chance at being home alone. Andrew would be at home at night and in the morning, but the rest of the time we were alone. Sarah and Rachel had some fun activities planned, though.  On Wednesday, the boys each created a suncatcher with some help from Rachel.  Sarah ended up being the photographer most of the time.

Josh and part of Jared :)

Rachel and Brandon (Jared is cut off again in this one; he seems to do that a lot.)

There were only two suction cups, so Jared and Josh suspended their sun catchers from the window while Brandon used his as a magnet.

All of the helpers

Josh's suncatcher consisted of a sun, moon, and stars.

Jared wanted to decorate the three cats, but he used blue and orange in honor of the Boise State Broncos.

At first, Brandon thought the butterfly was too girly, but we convinced him that by using boy colors, it could be a boy butterfly.

After the suncatchers, Brandon, Josh, and Jared were eager for more fun, so they looked at Rachel's list of fun activities. Everyone agreed on dodgeball with the stuffed soccer balls, so the kids headed outside.

From the start, Brandon and Rachel were highly competetive and mostly targeted each other when they got the ball.

Run, Jared, run!

Look out; Josh has the ball.

Jared did get to the ball occasionally, but definitely less than he would have liked.

Although the boys would have rather been out playing, they were glad to catch their breath on the bench.

Rachel and Brandon ended up winning (shocker there).

After the game, everyone was in the mood for lemonade.  Rachel went in to make some and the boys immediately hit the shade.

Wiped Out

Chef Rachel

The boys were really hot so they decided to take off their shirts.  Luckily, they had muscle shirts on underneath.

Sip, sip.

Sarah managed to make it into some of the pictures.

Toast!

On Thursday, Andrew had a two-hour lunch break, so we walked to the park for a picnic.  The boys had the most fun when Andrew threw them the foxtail, but they also enjoyed another game of dodgeball.

Sarah's favorite picture; she managed to capture all of the boys as well as the foxtail.

Josh catching the foxtail

Jared - "Caught it!"

Winding up

Andrew with all of the boys (and the foxtail)

Sarah got out most of the time during dodgeball, but the boys had a blast!

Run for your lives!

Pegged him!

Friday was the day that Lisa came home.  Brandon and Rachel spent the morning playing "Just Dance 2".  They had quite the moves!

Arms

This one was a duet, with Brandon doing the boy part and Rachel doing the girl part.

Do the swim.

Rachel did best on the moves that involved your hips. :)

Finally, on Friday afternoon, Lisa came home.  We had had a lot of fun while she was gone, but everyone was overly eager to have her back.

Lisa standing in front of her Welcome signs.

We hope that everyone has had a great summer!  The kids start school the day after Labor Day, and although we've had a fun break, everyone is ready to go back to school and see their friends again.  We'll see you all soon!

-Sarah and Rachel