Summer Vacation- Day 14 "Franco!"

We have Franco for the rest of the week!  He came over last night while the kids were in bed, so I figured it would have been a surprise to the kids to see him in the morning (they weren't expecting him).  Unfortunately, Brennan and I were the ones who were surprised when at 5:45am we heard the back door shut.  Brennan and I looked at each other, wondering if someone had broken into our house.  It turned out to be Hailey taking Franco outside to go potty.  She apparently heard everything last night, so she knew Franco was here.  She then went and woke up Jacob and James to share the good news.  Brennan wasn't very excited about that.  

Everyone was in dog heaven!  We love having Franco.  James has learned to be more gentle with him and I don't have to worry about the two attacking each other anymore.  I do however have to worry about James eating dog food.  I swear, that boy will eat dog food and boogers, but not potatoes.  Oh no, those are disgusting.  

Happy kids.  

Jacob likes to lead Franco around by showing him his finger.  I think Franco thinks it's a treat.  

Little Miss Sunshine is enjoying her new bed in her own room.  We were lucky to get a white headboard and baseboard from a friend for $75 and it's in great condition. Then we got the rest from IKEA.  Hailey says that she feels like a princess.  

She picked out this pink colored lamp, for $5, and it turns her entire room pink.  You can see the glow from the hallway.  

She also got a super cool pink chair for her desk.  She is loving all her new stuff.  

Here is the reason I went to IKEA in the first place.  We desperately needed some book shelves for all of the kids books.  While I was looking at bedding, I saw these duvet covers for $9 each.  That was a hard price to beat and now the boys have matching bedding (or bedding at all since James only had the down comforter).  Jacob picked out the Minecraft poster from Target and I'm feeling confident in our days work.  It always amazes me when a room comes together.  

We went to a new park today up in the Highlands.  Hailey kept saying how it was the coolest park.  I'm glad because the other parks we've been going to are getting boring for them.  

James kept following Jacob around, trying to do everything that his big brother was doing.  Jacob can be a really good brother, when he tries to be.  Jacob would show James how to do lots of cool stuff and then he would help James when he noticed he needed it.  

I asked James while I pushed the kids on the tire swing if he was getting tired.  Jacob laughed and said, "Haha, you just asked if James was getting "tired"!"  This cracked me up.  He is a sharp boy, when he wants to be :)

We are very lucky that Franco's family let us use their pool while they are away on vacation.  They have the greatest backyard on earth.  

Later, we went boating with the Daynes family who just got a boat.  Hailey went first on the tube with the other girls.  She loved it until it started getting a little bumpy, then she wanted to come in.  

Jacob was waiting for Hailey to be done so he could have his turn.  He really loved it too, but after about 5 or 10 minutes he was done.  This was a good test for us because we realized that maybe this isn't the summer to get a boat.  

I went out and stayed out for the remainder of the time.  I'm the one in the middle.  It was a lot of fun and it totally makes me want to get a boat.

The kids had a blast.  

Fred actually let James drive the boat.  At one point James cranked the engine and we took off flying.  Then once we slowed down, he started pulling cookies in the water.  

The kids went to bed past 10 and they were exhausted.  Franco got to sleep in Hailey's room for the first time.  What a great way to end a good day.