Monkeys in the Sun

Kaylie and Little Avery in their matching dresses.


One Eyed Packarooster - the day before his 10th birthday

SBK wanted to surf so bad but her mean mommy wouldn't take her down to the beach, so she made do with the puddle in the driveway. My girl rocks!

Flowers & Love

Today Mark brought me a dozen gorgeous white roses - the same flowers that we had at our wedding and it got me thinking of our wedding and our vows. Just thought I'd post them because they make me happy.

Mark:
"I take you, Leslie, to be my wife,
My partner in life and my true love.
I promise to love you unconditionally,
To be your best friend,
To respect and support you,
To be patient with you,
To work together to achieve our goals
And to dance with you when we are 100.
With this ring, I marry you
I am honored to be your husband."

Leslie:
"I take you Mark, to be my husband, my partner in life, and my true love.
I promise to trust you and respect you
Laugh with you and cry with you
I will support you, and love you unconditionally as we continue our life together.
I promise you my friendship, my heart, and my love from this day forward.
With this ring, I marry you
I am honored to be your wife"

Lovely.

We've decided to keep her

You may have been one of the lucky ones that did not get a phone call from me last Thursday. But if you were not so lucky and you received my tearful, "Kaylie's gone mad - I think we're going to have to send her to boarding pre-school" call - then I thank you. Although nobody had any real answers on how to make it through the day with this edgy child, we did survive and I'm pleased to announce that we have decided to let Kaylie stay in the family. By the way, when I called my dear, OLDER sister for motherly advice - all she did was laugh. In fact, I believe her comment was, "Thank God it's not just my kids!"

Kaylie must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Or maybe the wrong side of the room... she was cranky from the minute the sun came up.

A little history: nearly every morning, Kaylie comes down stairs and asks for hot chocolate. Nearly every morning we say yes and she curls up on the couch with her blanket and "cocoa chocolate". Then my charming child finishes her drink and hucks the cup under the couch. (Honestly - we didn't know this for the longest time. Where are all the @&# cups going?!?! I think it may have been Mike that looked under the couch one day and found them. The old hot chocolate cups, the stinky chunky milk cups, a kids plate... it was all there. Seriously, this is why I could never have worked as a house keeper. It just doesn't cross my mind that there might be dirty dishes UNDER THE COUCH!!!

But back to the point... Thursday morning, Kaylie had her cup of HC and I reminded her that if she didn't bring her cup into the kitchen and put it in the sink when she's done then she won't get HC the next day. She gives me the "OK Mommy!" and trots off to the living room. I gave her a minute (she does drink like a true Hughes) and go check on her. Her cup, of course, was upside down on (not under) the couch. I asked her to take it to the kitchen and she growled (really - a growl!) at me as she picked up the cup. Apparently this was NOT the wisest time to inform her that she wouldn't be having her beloved HC the next day, because my dear, sweet, loving child then looked me in the eye and threw her cup right at my head. Luckily I'm tall and she's only three - she missed.

And it was all down hill from there...

After too much time and too many tears (both mine and hers) battling this child, and with Malia and Josh literally hiding from her in the basement, I realized that we needed a serious change of scenery. I packed up all the kids and headed to the park. I figured that either a) she would run hard and work out all of her aggressions or b) the other moms at the playground would intervene if I tried to kill her.

I honestly saw her worst behavior that day. It was downright ugly and horrific like something off The Super Nanny where one might watch and think, "That poor dysfunctional family - get that kid some meds!" (What kind of mom does this make me?) But... we have managed to make up and for some reason, she's been a perfect angel of a child for two days now. We are all getting along beautifully, she's listening & following rules & being polite and nice. I think we'll keep her after all. (And no, she has not had any more hot chocolate as she is on hot chocolate restriction until next Wednesday.)

Wish us luck with this girl... we're gonna need it!

Malia & Molly

Malia's friend Molly is moving to Minnesota tomorrow so they had one last play date today. Bye, Molly! Malia will miss you lots!

Making Lisa Proud

My BFF Lisa is the only girl I know who curls her eyelashes several times a day, carries MULTIPLE eyelash curlers with her, can do both eyes at the same time, and has even been known to CWD (curl while driving). I know that Lisa will be proud to see that Kaylie found my eyelash curler and knew exactly what to do with it. I can only assume that since I never use it, Kaylie must have known what it's for by seeing Lisa use hers. (note the shoes that she's wearing... too cute!)

Chelan, Summer 2008

I love my family! We spend a several hot, fun days in Chelan with my sister and her family. We had a great time, lounged at the beach, played in the boat, went wake boarding, swam, ate great food, hit the water slides... Thank you so much, Camerin and Keith! We love you!

We were soooo sad to leave The Quail's Nest!






This was right before Kaylie fell asleep and took a good half hour nap in her life jacket in the middle of the beach. Camerin and I had to fight off all the ducks who were trying to peck my baby girl while she slept. (Or maybe they were trying to eat all the Goldfish crackers the kids dropped in the sand, we couldn't be sure.)

Jill and John Kain
Us!
Keith Lashly - Your Lender for Life
This could be my favorite picture of the weekend
Avery, Austin, Malia, & Josh going for a ride.
Scooter Summer Olympics. After the kids were tucked in and sleeping, we'd hop on their scooters and race around the loop. A hysterically fun time.

Barbie Scooter + John + Speed bump = injury. Luckily Camerin brought some Sponge Bob band aids.

Even though there is no head in the picture, I swear this is me wake boarding. My old body was sore for d a y s !!

Keith & Austin Driving the boat. After Austin got a concussion on day 1 of wake boarding, he was bumped to driver instead of boarder.

Hey Austin:

1. What time is it?
2. Have we gone to the hospital?
3. How long have we been here?
4. Where are the girls?
5. Is this worse than last time?

We love you, Austie and are so glad you didn't get hurt worse!

It just wouldnt be summer vacation with the Lashley's if one of the kids didn't get hurt. (Knock on wood, but we just may make it though a summer without stitches this year!)

A day at the waterslides

John, Keith, Mark & Josh - the sliding men of 2008

"The Mushroom" was Kaylie's 2nd favorite part of the waterslides - only behind the hot tub. We learned that there are sliders and non-sliders. SBK is a non-slider.


My poor burning scalp - I bought this sweet hat to keep my scorched head covered. Have I ever told you how much I looove the Variety Store in Chelan? Love it!

Sweet Avery
Sweet Austin
Sweet Malia
And Sweet Josh

The girls got airbrush tattoos as the water park. These are Malia's dolphins

Avery's red devil
And Kaylie's black shark. No sweet little flowers or butterflies for our edgy girl! Jill taught her to flex her bicep and say, "Talk to the shark!"

Chelan

Kaylie in her new goggles

Malia and Avery reading Archie & Veronica comics

Josh monkeying around


I just think this is the saddest little pout. Mark took this picture right after Kaylie fell and scraped her knees for the 147th time this summer. The poor girl has been in band aids for months now.


The Corn Cousins

Austin and Avery minus the sibling rivalry


The girls were inseparable... from scootering to swimming, to boating, to their secret club house, they were never more than a few feet away from each other. In fact, when we left Chelan on Tuesday, Malia stayed behind with the Lashley's until Saturday. When she got home and I asked her if she missed us, she paused (and was obviously searching for a nice way to say no) and she said, "Mmmm, I think I was having too much fun to miss anyone!" What a great time!

My Boogie Boarding Beach Baby

Marky Mark

Check out Kaylie swimming!!! Our girl who was all but asked not to come back to swimming lessons because she wouldn't get in the water! She paddled around all weekend in her little life jacket and loved it.
But probably not as much as my girl loves a chocolate ice cream cone!