Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Our Weekend

We had a pretty fun filled weekend!
It started out with the usual cartoons, swim lessons, lunch, and then nap. But as soon as nap was over, we packed up and headed across the Metroplex to see our Ohio friends.

We started out at Chuck E Cheese.  We had some credit there, and all of the kids love it.

Our friends are having work done on their house, so they were staying in a hotel for a few nights.
They invited us to come swim with them.  These sweet babies have known each other their whole life!

Michael and John have known each other for nearly 25 years!  And we only live about an hour away from each other, so we are trying to be better about getting together!

These kids get along great, so it is a win for everyone!

After two hours at Chuck E Cheese, and two hours in the water, we spent a little time in their room playing UNO and watching cartoons.  We took 2 very tired kiddos home.

On Sunday Olivia and I went on a special "back to school" shopping date.  Even though she doesn't really need too many clothes or school supplies, I just felt like it was a right of passage (for her and mama!).  Even though we are homeschooling, I still wanted her to experience some of the same traditions.

She tried one of my sodas a month or so ago and decided she liked it, so she asked to order her first ever soda.  Besides a few sips here and there, neither kid has really had soda and we plan to keep it that way.  But I figured I'd honor her request since it was a special day.  And really... she just wanted the cherries out of it! :)

She wasn't sure she even wanted to go on our little date.  She heard shopping and said, "Can we just skip the shopping part and head straight to the park?"  Clearly this right to passage was more for me than her. ;)  But when she heard cheese curds were involved, so agreed.  Then she said, "What did you expect?  You know I love cheese curds."  LOL!

We went right from our favorite appetizer to our favorite dessert.  So basically we ate a lunch of garbage.  But it was oh so good. :)

I explained to her that kids usually get new clothes around the time school starts.  And that she can choose a few items as her back to school shopping trip.  She has never really picked out her own clothes before.  I buy what is on clearance or at consignments and she tells me she loves it.  So it has worked for us.  She wanted everything in the whole department.  I told her that there was a shirt that said Inventor.  She really wanted that, but it looks like we may have to order.

My only rule was that it had to be fall clothes and not summer, because we already have enough summer clothes.

On our way from the clothes to the school supplies, we stopped in the toy section.  She had money from her birthday.  She chose this Lion Guard set.  We are full on Paw Patrol (Logan) and Lion Guard (both) over here.  This toy has been a hit!

This girl cracks me up.  She grabbed the first thing she found and said, "My very own notebook!" ... while hugging it.  She's only a *tad* dramatic. ;)  She has notebooks and we didn't really need another one. But I told her if she was going to get one, that she might want to get a fun one instead of a plain red one.

We got some glue, large construction paper, tape, another pair of scissors, and some dry erase markers.

Love her!

She chose her pencil box too!

Her picks!  She saw the sweatshirt and said, "It has a hood?! I need this!"
2 leggings, 2 sweatshirts, a hat and a pack of new underwear.

We ended our weekend with a special service at church.

It was a great weekend!

Friday, July 29, 2016

VBS, Take 2

Olivia finally had her last week of VBS. This is the one that we attended last year, and have been registered for since March!
It was the same Submerged theme that has been popular with so many this summer.

For anything that was lacking in decorations at the last VBS was made up for here!

They actually do 2 sessions.  The day time is just for preschool age kids with stay at home parents (because others are in day care).  Then they do an evening session for school age kids and any preschoolers that couldn't make it to the morning sessions.  They had 1150 students between the two!!!

Logan couldn't go this year, but he will be old enough next year.  He loved all of the decorations, and when we entered and excited they had bubbles falling from the sky.  Of course, that was a hit!








It was only for 4 mornings. They did Bible lessons, crafts, snacks, and learned songs.

Then on the last day, we picked her up at the same time, but went into the sanctuary for songs.


Singing and dancing

That wraps up our "camp" weeks.  We have one more week of summer fun next week--packed with play dates--and then we are going to start this Kindergarten business!  Olivia has been begging to start for weeks!

Thursday, July 28, 2016

July Odds and Ends

Magnatiles are still a big hit around here.
Olivia built a present.  She was too quick for me, but the thing in her had was on top and it was the bow.

Then she carefully unwrapped it.

All opened up.  Then she pulled out the "gift" and gave me some great explanation about the gift that was inside.  I love it when they play with open ended toys and use their imagination!

While Olivia was at one of her camps, Logan just sat and played with blocks and trucks quietly for a good amount of time while I got a few things done on the computer.

Olivia wants to help with any and everything she can.  So I let her help bread some pork chops.  Some days I am sad at how big she is getting, but then on the other hand she is becoming more fun to engage and teach and do things with.

He loves his Mama! :)
I recently told Michael that I kind of like that he's on the smaller/shorter side, because it keeps him my baby for a little longer.  He's so cute and kissable and cuddly, and I can still pick him up and squeeze him or carry him around with ease.

Twins

He's my favorite little boy EVER. :)

We are loving Paw Patrol over here.  I know we are a little late to the party.  We don't have cable, and it isn't on any of our streaming devices, but we own a few DVDs and we just checked another one out from the library.

They sure do make the cutest little Rubble and Marshall. :)

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Making Popsicles

Our first set of popsicles were a simple recipe I found on Pinterest.  We always seem to have too much watermelon, so I was looking for a way to use some of it up.
Strawberries

Watermelon

Squeezing a lime

Putting them in the mold

We tried them out the next day.  And I didn't feel a bit bad about letting them eat them since they were just 3 fruits mixed together.  A win in my book!

Our second set were a pineapple whip

Just some pineapple and cream.  Although Olivia wasn't as much of a fan of them as I was.

She's already requested we make some with blueberries.  So that may be in our near future.  As long as we are using simple ingredients, I am all about combating these 100 degree temps with some coolness.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Super Logan

I'm not sure if Logan had a choice whether or not to like superheros, but he seems to have picked up on it on his own.  A few people have insinuated that Michael made him choose Superman as his favorite, but he has done that all on his own.
 He took Olivia's Wonder Woman cape and made me put it on him backwards so that it would be a "superman" cape.  Pretty smart.

Superman wearing a Captain America shirt.

He's fierce

Showing his muscles

The kids kept fighting over the cape, so grandma actually bought him a set of capes from Amazon.  Now he has multiple capes to choose from, and they came with masks!  He is partial to superman, but both he and Olivia take turns playing with all of them.

I sure do love my little super hero.