Last (last) weekend's happenings!

*It took me so long to actually post this that I had to amend the title.

On Friday, August 13th we celebrated Branden's 38th birthday. It was a casual but fun family night. The kids and I grabbed some Super Mex take out and headed up to the pool to swim and cool off. Branden met us there after work.

Then we came home for some peach pie (he's not a cake guy) and a few presents.

Singing Happy Birthday to Branden - watch Annabelle's hand at the end of the video. so sweet.

Another Happy birthday try with a few extra wishes from Jack


On Saturday night we had date night!!!
Yea for us, because we never go out. Thanks to my Mom who was willing to watch the kids and because she knows how to catheterize Annabelle we were actually able to leave BEFORE the kids went to bed - whoo hoo! She said everything went smoothly - what a blessing.

We met up with this fun couple at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy perform. Branden and I saw them years ago (pre kids) so it was great to see them again.
Thanks Rand & Allison for planning a fun night out and for being such gracious hosts.
We enjoyed your company and of course the tasty sangria and yummy cupcakes!

Check out this awesome balloon ride they have available. We didn't ride it but it sure was cool to look at.

On Sunday we spent the afternoon with the Sirignano's. Great afternoon of eating and laughing. pending time with family

It was wonderful to spend some quality time with Brent before he went in for his surgery on Tuesday (8/17). I am pleased to report that his surgery appears to have gone very well according to the doctor. The Dr. said that his new bone flap seems to be fitting well and he was already released from the hospital to recover at home and he went without a pic line (yeah!).
This was super GREAT news to get!

It was a fun GREEN day!

We started off the morning with some St. Patrick's Day themed breakfast

Jack thought breakfast was pretty cool!


Although, I was unable to turn Annabelle's milk green (mommy's milk only comes in one color). I did give her a GREEN sippy cup to try. The cup is literally twice the size of her whole hand so she isn't doing very well with it yet, but, she likes to play with it.


Jack really enjoys doing any art project that involves glue. Seriously, who doesn't?

The boys had fun gathering their "supplies" from the backyard. They actually cut he grass with their scissors - so cute!

Benjamin was VERY proud of his pile of greenness! Here is the finished product ~ a super cute shamrock made of natural materials (grass, leaves, dirt and I think a bug or two)


Annabelle was having a blast playing on the floor


Looking oh so cute!

After a fun morning at home Jack went onto school from 12:30 - 3:30. When Ben, Annabelle and I picked him up he was super excited to learn that we were headed over to our friend Miss Cathy's house to play. FYI - she doesn't go by Miss Cathy, Miss and Mr. is how we encourage (strongly) the children to address adults.



A little splashing in the water to stay cool

Click HERE if you want to see what Annabelle got to do after her fun, GREEN day in the sun.

My Crafty Friends are having a Craft Fair Today!

A few of my super crafty good friends are hosting a Spring Craft Fair today. If you are local to the Long Beach / Los Alamitos area you should definitely stop by and do a little shopping.

You can check out two of their blogs to get a sneak peek at some of what they are selling.

Here's Andrea's blog from Baby Taylored

Here's Laura's Blog from Crooked Moon

BOYS!! 12/21

We had our first all boy play date and it was super fun! It was spontaneous and low stress - just like I like it.
It was a nice small group that played well together. Thanks for coming over Quinn and Lucas and for bringing your mom's for me to visit with.
Lets do it again soon!

2nd Annual Christmas Brunch with Friends

It was a beautiful, sunny day with good friends. We sat outside and enjoyed the great food and drinks while trying to keep all of our kids from hurting each other - ahh so relaxing (ha ha)

John and Lisa - our gracious hosts

Elmo & Tara

Matthew, Janine & little Issabella

It was so nice that Theresa's mom was able to join Dan & Theresa this year. I really enjoyed chatting with her. We hope she has a safe trip back to Utah.

Yeah, we actually got a family picture.

Unfortunately, Annabelle slept through most of the party

The kids all watched in amazement as Theresa "made" snow for them

What fun! The kids were super cute.

We ended the morning with a small gift exchange for the kids.

It was once again a GREAT way to start off Christmas week.
We hope that your Christmas was super special we hope to see each of you more in the new year!

We are SO loved!

When Annabelle was in the hospital after she was born one of the Dr.'s asked if we were taking care of ourselves when not at the hospital. She asked specifically if we were eating okay under the circumstances. I shared with her that our friends and family had been bringing us meals. Her response was "you know, food is love", "They love you enough to ensure that you and your children are well fed". She was so right! Thank you everyone who signed up to bring us a meal. I can't even express how absolutely grateful we are to you. The meals were truly fabulous. The desserts - OMG I can't even put into words.

Thank you for feeding us - thank you for loving us!

Quick note to friends and family

Thank you for all of the calls, texts and e-mails - they have been so encouraging and full of love. We appreciate each and every one of them.

We are sorry that we haven't been answering any of them since we got home on Wednesday night. We hope too (at some point) but are trying to adjust to life at home right now. Life with three little ones with extremely different personalities and needs is very new to us. This is going to be a time of learning and adjusting for the entire Summers Family. As you all know that on top of taking care of the kids we are trying to get our house back in shape - moping, dusting and laundry (it's never ending!) and being away from the house for 2 full weeks certainly can create a back log of mail and bills to sort through. It's all good though - truly!! WE ARE SO GRATEFUL AND HAPPY TO BE HOME!!

So please know that we are getting your messages and are not ignoring you on purpose :-) We love them and each of you!

Get together with old friends

On Monday morning the boys and I met up with Laura and her girls and Sherisse and Bradley for a little playdate. We haven't all been together for a play date in a while so this was extra special. As the kids have gotten older, their schedules have gotten busier, Laura and I have added to our families and Sherisse and Bradley have moved out of the local area it's become harder to get together like we did in the early day's of motherhood.

Laura, Sherisse and I met in a Baby Dance class (2005) when the kids were just about 6 weeks old. We became instant friends and spent most of the kids first year together on stroller walks, park and beach playdates and just experiencing the world with our new little ones. On Monday, It was amazing to watch the kids play together now and to see their younger sibling bigger than these three were when they met just 4 short years ago. Most of my pictures from that first year are inaccessible right now (due to the bedroom project) but I will add them (as a cute comparison) once I can get to those disks.

The kids enjoyed playing dress up inside for a while then we all headed outside for a bit of splashing in the pool. It was a very nice morning and we look forward to doing it again soon. Thank you again Laura for your hospitality!

It truly doesn't get much cuter than this!
They stopped chasing each other to pose for this adorable picture.

PS - this was costume change #20 or so for Jack. He LOVES all of Finn's dress up clothes.

After swimming, the kids enjoyed some yummy peach muffins (made by Laura), orange wedges, edamame, organic crackers and of course some pirate booty!

Fun in the Sun with the Beard's

SATURDAY, JULY 18th
at Auntie Shannon's House

We were really thankful when Shannon invited us over to play. It was going to be another HOT Saturday and I needed to get the kids out of the house so that Branden could continue working on the house projects. The kids played nicely inside for about an hour then we moved outside for a bit of FUN IN THE SUN!!

Shannon was SO GREAT with the kids. My boys were a bit apprehensive at first until Auntie Shannon offered to slide them down the slip in slide. Boy did she get her work out for the day. Their happy faces and the GREAT naps we got later that day say it all.

Thank you Shannon for your hospitality and your help with the boys - we had a great time!

The joys of brotherhood!

Just check out those HAPPY, SMILING faces!!

The kids got SUPER wet and were having a blast!

After our fun outside the kids decided to do a little break dancing.

The kids really had a GREAT time playing together!