Our pastor and his wife went out of town for a a few days together. They asked us to watch their oldest son, Carl, for one night and then take him to soccer camp the next morning. His grandma, who lives with them, would watch him and his three siblings the rest of the week. We had so much fun with Carl that I asked if we could have him the rest of the time his parents were out of town. Thankfully for us, they said yes! He had soccer camp every day, but the kids still had plenty of time for some fun...

The played Camper, their new favorite game and Carl and his sister Kirra taught us a few months ago.

They showed Carl Huckleberry.

The girls were thrilled that Joey finally had someone else to wrestle with since they don't love when he attacks them and throws them on the couch.

Carl seemed fine with it! 

The Meisters came over one evening and all the kids did some night swimming. 

One night at dinner, Carl said, "You guys are making me feel so special, it feels like it's my birthday!" At that point I was felt like saying, "You say sweet things like that, and you can stay here for a month!"

We had such a fun time with Carl that I told his parents we'd love to have him again sometime. The good news is that it's their 25th wedding anniversary in September so we'll get Carl and his older sister Kirra for a few days. When I told Carl that he could come again, he gave me a big hug. He's the sweetest! 

Saturday was a very special day in the Lanzone house. Andy has been making a video game, Huckleberry Fields Forever, since February 2010. Eleven and a half years later, it's finally done! Saturday was the big reveal for the kids. They have played parts of it before, but this was the time they played the game from the beginning. They loved it!

The girls played together on the big TV, 

and Joey played in the study.

They could have all played together, but we knew Joey would fly through the game much faster than the girls.

There were a lot of fun "Easter eggs" that Andy added to the game, like pictures of Dave and Mike Logan (his best friends from childhood) in the clothing store.

It's crazy to think that Andy has been working on this game for over a decade. Now he is finishing up some details, adding some things here and there, and meeting with a lawyer to get everything ready to have it available on Steam. 

This year was our church's ninth year of VBS, and my eighth year leading it. We had ten kids move away from the church right before VBS this year (two families of five kids each), so it was definitely a smaller year for us, but after not having VBS at all last year, the kids seemed very happy to be back.

One thing I love about our VBS is that as soon as kids graduate from being in VBS, they become helpers. They make the best helpers because they are so familiar with the VBS routine. This was Joey's first year helping, and he made an amazing group leader. I put him with our youngest group, and he rocked it. He definitely has a gift with little ones.

Ellie was very happy to be back at VBS!

And this was Hannah's last year. I'm already figuring out how she can help next year. I'm thinking she'll be with Andy and the preschoolers. He always needs solid helpers.

As usual, Hannah, Ellie and Chloe helped with the songs at the beginning. They put so much work into it for 2-3 weeks before VBS starts. 

I'm so thankful they enjoy doing it so much. It would be really lame with just me up there!

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the whole preschool group, but here's one of my favorites (I actually call him my boyfriend because we have a little crush on each other) pounding his Froot Loop necklace at craft time.

I'm so thankful that VBS went so smoothly this year. It seems to get a little easier every year which is wonderful considering the fact that I don't think my kids will let me quit anytime soon! 

 

This camera dump starts back in April. I took the girls clothes shopping at Old Navy. As we were leaving the fitting room, I had to laugh at how the girls left the clothes that they tried on. Can you guess whose pile is whose? 

My mom's birthday is April 20th, and she happened to find out that one of her favorite authors, Eric Metaxas, was going to be in town giving a talk at a local church on her birthday. My dad was in Indiana so she asked if I would go with her. 

We had such a great time! My mom's book club has read 2-3 of Eric Metaxas' books so she was very excited to meet him.

The next night, my mom came over to our house for her birthday dinner. We played one of her favorite games, Balderdash. A couple of days later my mom flew to Indiana for five weeks to help out my sister when she had her fifth baby.

We have a free streaming service called Tubi. On Saturday mornings Ellie has been watching old "Bewitched" episodes. She really liked the pretty pink nightgown that Samantha wears, so Andy found her one on Amazon that looked just like it.

It looks like Joey is taller in this picture, but when we got the level out, Bubba is still a hair taller. Joey is just shy of 5'11''. He's grown six inches this past year! 

Now that it's summer, it was time for one of my favorite summer chores. The kids weren't as thrilled as I was!

Look at that beautiful summer sky! 

Joey has played basketball for And1 for the past five years. He just finished his last season with them. Now he's playing with a team called PBC in Rancho Bernardo. We really liked And1, but we're hoping PBC will be a better fit.

For Father's Day, Andy requested cinnamon rolls again. 

We were really excited to give him one gift in particular...

He loved his new socks!

When the Spears were in town visiting, their son Tucker talked constantly about his favorite video game, Breath of the Wild. Joey had played the game before, but hearing Tucker talking about it renewed his interest. He got really into the game again. He was way overdue for something new over his bed, so Andy took a landscape from Breath of the Wild and made it into this series of canvases. We love how it turned out! 

Ellie loves the new blanket that Nana and Bubba got her for her birthday. It's definitely been warm around here, but she still loves to snuggle under it.

 

Andy signed the girls up for an And1 basketball camp together. They had never done an And1 camp before, and they really enjoyed it. This was them on "Neon Day" and "Team Day."

 

Joey took these pictures while he was wrestling with our neighbor Lucas. Not having a brother, Joey tries to wrestle a lot with his sisters. They do not appreciate it. So then Joey brings Lucas over to get some wrestling out of his system. It's funny how that's such a boy thing. Lucas loves it! 

A couple of days later, Ellie's half birthday festivities continued. 

We had Nana and Bubba over for her family birthday dinner. 

She was very excited to open her presents.

Her faces reminded me of Hannah's famous faces.

Ellie loved these pajamas from the Gallos.

Ellie also followed in Hannah's footsteps by requesting a Butterfinger Lush for her birthday dessert.

Monday was her actual half birthday.

She had gotten a couple of Target gift cards for her birthday, so she used those to buy the doll. Then she picked out the Lego set as her present.

She went to Rubios with a friend a couple of months ago for the first time and LOVED it. She couldn't wait to pick it for her birthday dinner.

Nine and a half!

During dinner, she lost a tooth! We came home, had ice cream, and watched Survivor. What a fun day!