Grice Journal: The Month of July

I'm so ashamed with how far behind I let myself get in blogging! It's just horrendous how lazy I've been! I've avoided it like the plague...

I have a copious amount of photos for the month of July- 107, to be exact.

July was so busy that most of the time I hardly knew whether I was on my head or my feet. We slogged through it and lived to tell the tale, though! 😅

When you run out of toilet paper...

The boys went all out with fireworks this year. They bought some big ones!

Mom's birthday cake, peanut butter mocha.

Everyone came over to help us celebrate our wonderful, beautiful, talented mom!

Firework displays!

We gathered out on the steps to watch the boys shoot off more fireworks.

Mom and Dad went to visit Nate and Gin in TN for a couple days. While they were gone, we stayed super busy! The first night, we were invited to Zooks' to watch more fireworks.

Since Mom was gone and Abi couldn't help me (I don't remember why), Anna and Meredith came with me to help an elderly relative of ours with her gardens.

Dead heading her lilies

We had a lot of fun!

She was so appreciative of our help that she gave us extra money to go out to eat. She wanted us to try her favorite restaurant in Woodbine, but when we looked it up later on my phone, we discovered it was a restaurant and bar. Uh, no thanks. So, I took them to Pizza Ranch in Missouri Valley. It was their first time there and they loved it!

Later that day, we taped off the kitchen in preparation for painting it.

Sam... 😐

Goodbye, red kitchen! We had to prime everything first so as to be able to get a good coat of the finish paint.

Everything was a wreck! It felt like we'd never be able to get the kitchen orderly again!

This is the best cleaner ever! Hands down. It works wonders on grease.

I've been wearing this dress for 11 years! It's my go-to painting dress now.

The primed walls looked awful!

At one point, KK and I were both jammed in this little corner.😂

The finish coat!

I was disappointed in the paint color. It was supposed to be more grey, but it turned out way more blue than I'd wanted. That's ok, though. Our kitchen is so cheery now!

We couldn't miss Atlantic's annual 4th of July firework show!

The boys brought their own fireworks along to shoot off while we waited.

Poor little Laina was scared of the loud ones.

The kitchen looked so spruce that the dining room looked incredibly dingy by contrast. Abi and I ran up to Walmart and got some cheap Glidden paint to hit the dining room with.

I also painted the ceilings in the kitchen, entry and dining room. As you can see, they definitely needed it!

All finished!

Touching up some forgotten areas 😄

Josh put up the rest of the trim in the kitchen. It looks amazing!!!

Nate and Gin wanted Mom and Dad to be with them when they found out their baby's gender. It's boy! We also found out in July that Ryan and Kels are having a boy too!

Fun with Fantons 😃

Our microwave died suddenly one fateful day... I discovered this note on it...

Our pretty garden shed

When you leave your phone laying around...

KK put gravel on the dirt floor of the lawn mower shed.

Taking a walk on a gorgeous summer evening...

Kelsey's sisters were having a sisters' night at Ry's house so Ry and Doughy came over to our house to spend the night with the guys. They spent some of the evening exploding different things. Boys will be boys.

Doughy got to watch "tractors" all evening. He was thrilled!

Tired little guy

Chai lattes at Sweet Joy with the gang

Dork. He's pretending to be Mom.

Snapping green beans is so fun when done with a group!

A surreptitious picture of Joseph being cute during a Sunday afternoon Care Center visit.

Relaxing on a Sunday evening

Mom did an amazing job with her flowers this year!

Mom and I took the littles swimming one hot afternoon.

Grandma got them chocolate ice cream afterwards!

I think they all fell asleep on the way home. 😴

While we were swimming, Abi went over to Chupps' to help with a load of sweet corn.

Mabel needed to go to Galaxy store so she invited Mom and us, and the Fanton girls. I think Valeria had work that day so she couldn't go along. Anyway, we stopped in at a coffee shop in Clarinda called The Garrison House. All of us got frappiccinos except Mom. Yum!

Galaxy store was having a customer appreciation day in honor of being open for ten years (I think. I can't remember exactly). Mom and Mabel wanted to sample some of the food being served. Since none of us girls were really hungry, we crammed on this porch swing and just relaxed.

I sanded an old desk that I'd found in our shed. Of course, I chose the hottest days of the year in which to do it!

"Just gimme the food, please!"

Someone put a nylon on her head.

😂

Grace's birthday cake

Aunt Carol got this neat candle... but we couldn't get it to stop playing music! They smashed it and everything, till finally one of the boys thought to disconnect the wires... 😂 Santa Saurus lives! (Inside joke.)

Since the big boys were going camping again, the younger boys thought it only fair that they should camp as well. Here, Sam is preparing his all natural tent a couple days before their camp out in our backyard.

Abi likes to take occasional creeper pictures of Mom and I as we clean... 😠

This house is over 5000 square feet. It's huge!

After a rather uncomfortable orthodontist appointment (they needed to grind the contact cement stuff from between my teeth), I decided I deserved a caramel mocha from McDonalds.

Lois Ann came home after nearly six months of serving as a maid in Mozambique!

Sam decided one day that he wanted to take Abi and I out for lunch. 😍

Ok, remember that desk that I was sanding? Here, I'm staining it an antique blue.

I love how it turned out!

This is Ryan. Look below at the picture of Doughy. Don't they look so alike!?

I help Kels every Friday, sometimes going over and helping her or taking the littles to our house for the day. This particular Friday, I was helping her clean house. Joseph wanted to help so badly!