The Last Lazy Days of Summer

The inevitable happened this week. The air conditioner stopped working during the hottest time of the summer. Thankfully, only the upstairs unit stopped working so we can stay cool in the main living areas. I noticed the thermostat was hovering above 87 around Josie's nap time. After she was asleep I played about with the thermostat and checked the outside unit. The upstairs unit was not coming on at all. After some frustrating calls to Justin and speaking to our home insurance company it looked like any relief was 7-10 days out. Our neighbor came by to just check out the unit, if the fix was under $500 we would fork out the money for a small repair. Looks like the damage requires serious repairs or replacement. That means we get to wait for the contracted HVAC guys to come around. Sleeping is another different matter. The older 3 kids are sleeping downstairs, Mia and Phillip on the couch. Everett chose to sleep between the couch and coffee table under a sheet fort. Justin borrowed a portable air conditioning unit from Dr Auxier to cool off just our bedroom. The unit keeps our bedroom at a balmy 84 degrees.  I am not sure Josie will ever be content to sleep in her room again. She LOVES sleeping on the floor in our room, which usually means she ends up in our bed or me on the floor with her. Justin pumped up the fancy camping mat which is a huge improvement. Friday night a lightening storm woke up all the kids around 3 am. Evelyn ended up in my bed, I was on the floor with Josie, Amelia did not go back to sleep, and etc. Let me tell you sleeping a foot away from my comfy bed was pure torture. Each time I moved Josie would start to cry and thrash about, she even banged her tender head against the wall a couple times. I swear the kid's bedrooms on the west side of our house stay around 95+ degrees. We pour sweat just thinking about running upstairs to rummage for clothes and necessaries. Stink. I still cannot wrap my head around why someone would want to live here. I think about the folks who lived here pre-air conditioning days. They were either crazy or loved the heat. Arid-zona. We are staving off the heat eating our favorite meal: ham with cold cantaloupe. Yum! The pool is hovering around 100 degrees, about as relaxing as a hot tub in the summer.

Most of the week we spent going to stores shopping for back-to-school items. All the kids went up a shoe size or two, grew a size in clothes, and damaged the supplies we got last year (like plastic boxes, scissors, etc). I spent a good 40 minutes in Amazon purchasing most of the supplies on Prime Day. I hope that saved us some money. Monday we all packed into the van for a trip to Kohl's. Just as I was unbuckling Josie she slow-motion lava barfed down her dress and covered her car seat! Dagnabit! I just washed her car seat two weeks beforehand. Phillip tossed his cookies into a bag he found in the backseat. Just barely into the house Everett followed suit. Amelia and Evelyn all looked green around the gills! That car ride home was terribly stinky. I used the hose to spray off her seat. I lugged the dirty items to the washer and went to clean off myself. Once back downstairs, I found the boys filling the garage floor with water from the hose. The kids were making water angels and slipping about on the garage. Little stinkers! They almost damaged all my wood photo floors, at least I hope they didn't. Everett was sick over the weekend as well. Josie caught it next. Amelia got a summer cold at the end of this week. Turns out we spent the week dealing with cranky kids who weren't feeling well. Amelia watched all the Harry Potter movies!

Evelyn had her Island Princess Ballet recital on Tuesday. She looked so cute performing her wobbly knees, rainbow hands, and hula moves. Evelyn is by far my most ornery child. She is constantly attacking her siblings for small infractions (like looking at her). She makes the rudest gestures using body parts when she's angry. Today she kicked my back her with heels. I smacked her butt a little too hard. Little sh**! Time out does not phase her. Losing privileges makes her even more angry and out of control. Heaven help me and Heaven help us help her. She attended a fun kindergarten prep class Sister Russo offered. She loved hanging out with Jack each afternoon, learning fun stuff was lovely as well.

We enjoyed a lovely ward pool party at the Koski's daughter's home. Their pool area was so lovely and amazing. A large meandering pool hosted an island, a toddler area, bridge, diving board, deep end, eating area, water falls, and a separate whirlpool! The pool accommodated all who came with ease! We played until well after dark! Popsicles were available for those who wanted some. Josie got her tongue plastered to a popsicle, her tongue instantly froze to her treat. The dry ice worked way too well! I helped her thaw the treat off her tongue before she ripped it off. Amelia and Averie had a really cool game of Mermaid going on. 

I ran out of steam! Our vacation interrupted the crazy pace I set to keep the kids occupied. Once swim team ended (12 July) we stopped doing most of our fun themed days. The kids are tired of playing in water and just want to be lazy. Last week we watched more TV than is healthy while we all were not feeling well. Hoping to get some fun things done this week before school starts. Saturday we spent a good amount of time helping the Hill family move and clean. Brother Hill got a new job out in Missouri. They moved with very little notice. I knew Laurie from my high school days in Fayetteville, NC. Justin went over that morning to help move stuff intended for Desert Industries truck. We all went over after noon, Justin and I helped wash walls and clear out rooms. The kids went swimming while we worked! I found a fun pool toy someone was getting rid of for bulk trash day, a hippo float from Costco. The item was nearly brand new, just needed some more bean bag filling. We came home smelling like sweaty, hot messes. For Primary singing time this week we played Pioneer Sing-O. I loved singing Pioneer songs (mostly solo style) as some of the Sing-o tiles were songs. The kids were crazy happy to use M&Ms for space savers.

Amelia figured out a major holiday secret while reading one of my old blog books from 2010. I wrote an entry about a certain special character who visits our home in December. She sidled up to me with a sneaky look on her face and spelled my name backwards. Well, the cat is out of the bag. I feel quite happy that she did not learn the truth earlier! She was always so skeptical. LOL. Now I have a helper!!