Summer of Fun, Week of June 24.

Our week got off to a somewhat slow start.  On Monday, I hit my toe on our coffee table and seriously thought I had broken that thing.  To the point that I had to call Ben at work and ask him to come home for lunch.  I couldn't move...it was crazy!!  After lots of medicine and a little rest, I was able to regain mobility but that sucker is still a little sore.  Needless to say, Monday was pretty much a bust.  We did get in lots of at-home playtime, though, and that's always a good thing (every once in a while!).  Emmy even helped Buddy find a few things to play with.  She's becoming quite the helper. :)

Tuesday was low-key as well.  We met Tyler for lunch at (where else?) Johnny's.

After lunch, Babe helped me make cookies to take out to Campmeeting.  We made my favorite M&M cookies from scratch.  Had is a girl after my own heart and absolutely LOVES to eat the dough.  She kept asking me, though, when the dough was going to "get in those little squares."  I guess it's obvious we eat a lot of Break and Bakes around here.  :)

Harris spent his time building Legos.  That boy is a Lego fanatic!

And Thatch and Emmy entertained themselves.  He must have looked hungry to her.

 We made yet another visit to the pediatrician's office on Tuesday as well.  Harris had his seven-year well-check and Emmy went in for her 18-month visit.  Both were declared healthy!  Harris weighed in at 50 lbs and was 47.75 inches tall (44% for both) and Emmy was a whopping 21 lbs 11 oz (11 %) and 30.75 inches tall (18%).  While dragging four kids to a doctor's visit definitely isn't my favorite thing in the world, I am so thankful for my (mostly) well-behaved kiddos.  I'm pretty proud of those guys!

As a teenager, one of my very favorite summertime traditions was attending Campmeeting with my youth group during the summer.  While we don't make it out for the entire week anymore, we typically try to get out to the campground at least once during the church-wide event.  Even though we don't attend church there, it's always fun to catch up with people who were such an important part of my past.  Ben and I thoroughly enjoyed the speaker and the kiddos had a good time participating in the children's activities.  Since Thatchy-Buddy needed to nurse during the service, he hung with us for the duration of the evening.  I'm pretty sure Ben enjoyed the extra cuddle time.

On Wednesday morning, we headed to SkyZone with a group from our children's ministry.  It was our first visit but hopefully not our last!  I spent the morning chasing Emmy (I didn't think it was worth it to pay for her to jump) and conversing with some of the other parents on the trip while Harris and Hadley had a blast jumping around with their friends.

This is a terrible picture but it was one of their favorite SkyZone features:  the trampoline walls.  They also enjoyed jumping into the "pit," playing dodgeball, and attempting to dunk basketballs on the trampoline court.  I seriously want to go back for an adult night sometime soon.  The kids got to jump for an hour and a half and eat pizza for lunch in the "SkyLounge."  It really was a fun outing!

I kept Emmy contained with food.  It works every time.  Thatch enjoyed some lovin' from the other parents on the trip.  Seriously:  he is SUCH a sweet baby!

Even though we met the group at SkyZone, Harris and Hadley wanted to ride the church bus back to Archer HS with their friends.  I totally let them.

After the SkyZone outing, our Children's Pastor, Ms. Lauren, had a few girls over to her house for a sleepover.  Babe was stoked!

The girls and Ms. Lauren watched movies, had a high-heel fashion show, painted fingernails and toenails, ate popcorn, fixed hair...you name it, they did it.

I am so, so incredibly thankful for this group of girls Hadley is growing up with and for Ms. Lauren and her willingness to pour into my sweet baby.  I know how important it is for kids to have multiple, trustworthy adults in their lives and I'm thrilled that Babe is building a relationship with Ms. Lauren now!

While Babe was away, Harris and I built Legos and played with the babies.  We also had the Lockharts and our good friend Brad over for dinner.  Good times!

On Thursday morning, Harris, Emmy, Thatch, and me met Ms. Lauren and the girls at her neighborhood pool.  We were joined by the rest of the girls' families (and our good friends) and had a great time splashing around the pool.

Well, this guy didn't get too splash around much.  He didn't seem to mind, though.

After some good, long naps on Thursday afternoon, we drove up to Jefferson to have dinner with my BWF, Jennifer, and her family and play on their inflatable water slide.  Ben wore his speedo in hopes of getting in on the water action but the slide was a bit to small.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of him in his little, red weenie bikini.  I did snap a few shots of the kids, though, having a blast on the slide.

They also had fun running around the yard, jumping off swings, playing with Tripp and Maddie's toys, and eating dinner.  I'm pretty sure Harris said he wanted to move "next to Ms. Jennifer."  She sure does know how to have a good time!

On Friday morning, after the big kids played a little "beauty parlor" using Emmy as their hair model, we headed out to Target so Harris could spend the gift cards he received for his birthday.  Believe or not, he picked a new Star Wars Lego set.  :)

We finished up our morning outing with lunch at Johnny's and then came home to rest up for the evening's activities.  We got together with a few of our friends and pooled our money to rent the Collins Hill Aquatic Center for a couple of hours on Friday night.  It was AWESOME.

I didn't get too many pictures (I was too busy having fun!) but we had eleven families join us and we had the entire pool to ourselves!

I didn't get a picture of the two big slides but Emmy had a BLAST riding down in my lap.  (Because there were so few people, the lifeguards allowed us to ride down the slides with small children in our laps.)  Seriously, we would reach the bottom and she would say, "More! More!" and point and/or walk right back to the stairs.  It was so much fun.

We took a few minutes out of the night to celebrate Raven's birthday with some cupcakes, too.  And I'm pretty sure Tyler ended up winning the annual Donaldson doggie paddle race.

The pool rental has definitely earned a permanent spot on the Summer of Fun calendar!

Because our evenings were so full this week, we missed Game Night and Movie Night!  The kids didn't seem to mind, though...we were so busy having tons of fun!  We did make up the Movie Night on Saturday morning by taking the family to see Monsters University.  What a great movie!

Harris liked it better than Monsters, Inc. and Hadley has decided that she'd like to marry Mike Wazowski.  That girl's imagination gets me every time. :)

It was a great family outing and such a fun way to end a slow-to-start, busy-to-end week.

And now Summer of Fun is halfway over!!!!!!!!  Bring it on, July...we're ready to go out swinging!