SOF 2012, Week Five Recap.

We had a busy week.  Ben was out of town all week, so the kiddos and I had a lot of time to fill.  Thankfully, most everything we've done so far this summer has been free or super duper cheap, so we had a little money left in the budget this month to actually spend!

Harris participated in a Music and Drama camp this week with Quinn at a local church.  He had a BLAST.  His favorite part of camp, by far, was listening to the daily performances by local musicians.  They heard a pianist, a bassist (actually, the guy played the double bass, which, according to Harris, is only the biggest bass in the world!), an electric guitarist, and a small band.  By small band, I mean the bassist, pianist, and electric guitarist played together, but Harris thought it was the most awesome thing in the whole world.  He's easy to please.

So...Harry at Music Camp every morning left just us girls to goof around. 

Per our Monday tradition, we headed to the library for story time.  This week's theme was "space," and Babe had a great time.  We're still reading as many "Magic Tree House" books as we can get our hands on and are absolutely loving it!  Our goal during the summer (and especially during this week when Ben was gone!) is to engage in some kind of morning activity, come home for lunch and rest time, and spend our afternoons doing a couple of workbook pages, playing wii, and enjoying each other's company.  The kids are having tons of fun with the workbook pages.  I love me a good a workbook!!!

On Tuesday, we dropped Harry off at camp and headed to the theater to see "Puss in Boots."  Babe and Payton had a great time watching the movie, eating snacks, getting Twizzlers from DiDi, and dancing in front of the screen once the movie ended.

Wednesday was our big day.  With Harris gone for the morning, I took the girls to Belle Nails (my favorite place ever!) where Hadley and me both got pedicures.  Babe LOVED it.  I'm pretty sure I was a senior (maybe a junior) in high school before I ever even visited a nail salon.  My sweet girl is four.  I'm still not too sure what I think about that.

She had a great time, though, and was very polite.  She chose pink (and glitter!) for both her toes and her fingers.  I can't believe how big she's getting!

As a special treat for the kids, I let them skip "room time" on Wednesday!  We picked up Harris from camp, headed out to Big M for lunch, and then ventured to the mall to see "Madagascar 3."  I figured we all deserved something special after making it half the week on our own! :)

Babe, Emmy, and I laid low on Thursday morning.  After our morning viewing of Pocoyo, we headed to the gym after dropping Harry off and then stuck around the house until it was time to pick him up.

We did run a few errands, including checking out the new store "Five Below."  If you haven't been there, go.  Everything is five dollars or less.  Everything is also brand name.  I feel sorry for the Dollar Tree that shares the same shopping center.  We also headed over to Auntie's to hang with all her dogs for a little bit while she's on vacation.  Good day.

Harris had his last morning of Music Camp today.  Daddy made it home around 9:30 this morning, so we spent the day playing and loving on him!  He had to work this evening (boo!), but Granti, Hadley, Emmy, and me had the honor of attending the Music and Drama Camp Finale Show tonight.  Harris was a lion in the musical version of "Daniel and the Lions' Den."

He sang so well.  He told me the other day that today was "going to be my lucky day" because I was going to get to see him "sing on stage."  He also told me that if there was a singing concert that was also a competition, he would definitely win...as long as they played a song he knew. 

That kid.

I'm very thankful that this kid is so go-with-the-flow.  She's made the Summer of Fun so easy and I absolutely love her for that.

I love my job. :)

Emmy Doe.

Summer of Fun, Week Four.

Summer.  Please slow down.

Please.

Highlights from the week include:

Monday:  Story time at the library.  Also crafts.  And book check-out.  This week, the kids chose as many as "Jack and Annie" books (The Magic Tree House) as they could.  Love those guys.

Tuesday:  A trip to the movies to see Yogi Bear.  Hadley continues to say, "Hey, Boo Boo...let's go steal a pic-a-nic basket" in her best Yogi Bear voice.  Harris liked it, and is continuing to warm up to movies, but did cry just a little bit at the end when he thought the frog turtle was in danger.

Wednesday:  We drove up to Cleveland to visit Babyland General for the morning.  I LOVE that place.  Harris, Hadley, and Auntie do as well.  This year, they added new ceramic Cabbage Patch heads to the lawn.  Because that is awesome and not at all scary.  :)

As always, we started our visit with a seat in the Cabbage Chair.  Red (not his real name) and Rose were lucky enough to make the trip with Harry and Babe this year.  One of the kids' favorite parts of Babyland is signing in and getting visitors' stickers for their babies.  It's the little things, isn't it?!?!?!

Our first stop was the nursery.  We held babies, hugged babies, kissed babies, and took some time to laugh at all of the funny-looking ones.

Emmy even got a little special loving from the "teacher."

Upon exiting the nursery, we entered the Cabbage Patch.  I like this room the best...it's huge, it's the home of the birthing patch, and there are babies EVERYWHERE!  We even moved a few of them around so Rose and Red could "take a ride" on the moving cabbage leaves.

We stayed long enough to witness three births.  The kids loved watching as the babies were "born," but especially enjoyed watching them get their check-up through the nursery window.  There were two girls and one boy born during our visit and Auntie got to help name the little baby boy!  She gave him the first name, "Harris."  Someone else in the crowed picked the middle name, "Joseph."  It was very exciting.

After the baby's check-up, the doctor brought "Harris Joseph" out so the kids could hold him.  As I write this out, I realize how weird it is.  But believe me, it's also tons of fun!

Harris selected a small, stuffed penguin ("Waddles") as his souvenir and Hadley chose a new Cabbage Patch ("Lovie Myrtle") as hers.  We finished the morning with lunch at Wendy's on the way home.

We also had to say goodbye to Tyler and Paige on Wednesday afternoon.  That was not as much fun.  The kids are looking forward to Christmas and their next visit home.

Thursday:  We spent Thursday morning at the fountains (and Mellow Mushroom) with the Boozers and the Lockharts.  A good time was had by all.  And, out of seven non-infant children, we only had two drink spills at lunch.  I'd call that a win. :)



Friday:  On Friday, we cashed in our Groupon (this might be one of the best deals yet!) and headed to Catch Air.  I was prepared for huge crowds (and daycares), but there were probably 15-20 kids there total the entire morning.  The kids had a blast.  I got a little bored...next time I'll bring a book!

And that's how we spent week four.  Ben recently asked me if I was ready to go back to work.  My answer:  "NO!"  I'm sure I say this every summer, but I mean it each time.  We are having a BLAST...and I have no desire to see it come to an end.  Not yet, anyway.

Summer of Fun forever!!!!!!

 

Father's Day.

What fun we had celebrating one of the most fantastic fathers on the planet last weekend!

The kids LOVE to celebrate and enjoy getting involved in anything that involves a surprise.  They had such fun filling out their "Why I Love My Dad" books from Chick-fil-A and creating a very special card for Ben to open.

Unfortunately, the three river birch trees that we picked out for Ben's gift didn't quite get ordered on time (my bad!), so Harris drew the three trees inside the card so that Ben would know exactly what he was getting.  That little boy is so thoughtful.

The big kids also had the great idea to make breakfast for Ben.  I think they helped for about two minutes.  Babe poured the milk in the pancake mix and Harris stuck an Eggo Waffle in the toaster because "that's what Daddy eats for breakfast."

Whatever.

We spent the rest of the day worshiping, indulging in the Fernando's Sunday buffet with Tyler, Paige, Auntie, and DB, napping, and enjoying dinner with the whole family at Granti's house.

There might have also been a little Rock Band action.

The Beatles version.

Thank you, Daddy, for being you. 

Happy Father's Day!