Summer activities

Friends and cousins and playmates! We got to spend 3 weeks with Emma and Elliott during their visit with Miss Melissa's family from New Orleans. The kids celebrated Emma's 10th birthday, and thanks to Jamie (a Pinterest queen) the kids made soooooo many crafts including sewing purses and making these Monster's Inc Rice Krispee's treats. 

 Oh boy. Ohhhhh booooooy. So glad I was not outside to witness this.

Good job girls! Graduation from Sporties All-Stars and another metal! Sporties All-Stars, the 6-8 year class, included lacrosse, football, and baseball this year. I thought it all sounded fun, but the girls did not enjoy Sporties this year. I think after four years they've maybe outgrown it. They didn't show any enthusiasm for class each week, which honestly I found a little amusing. It was 45-minutes of physical activity once a week at a park with free snacks. What could be so bad? It's not that they complained about it, but when class was postponed for rain, I'm not going to lie, there were loud cheers. Regardless of the weekly torture (i.e. eating and playing at a park) Kayla endured, she is proud to have earned a metal!

Daddy's mini me

And Tiger's fans!

(Khloe 27 months)

Birthday beauties

Kayla was thrilled to make her first visit to a salon for hair, nails and makeup for Molly's 7th birthday party. The girls got to be pampered and they loved it.

We promised to show this picture at their high school graduation parties

 Kayla and Madison... or Marissa? I still can't tell them apart! Look at that makeup and those glittery nails. (The daughter of Kayla's first grade teacher and one of Kayla's classmates)

 Oh so girly and loving it

Molly is a horse-lover and horse-rider so all her gifts centered around horses.

One thing that came out of Molly's party is that they organized a sleep-over once again at Molly's house in two weeks. They are so excited about it!

They don't stay little, do they?

Silly and beautiful

On our way to the last night of VBS!

Vacation Bible School

Super Heros! That was the theme for this year's VBS. It was a wonderful (crazy, hectic, exhausting) week full of great lessons and ministry to hundreds of kids in pre-school to 5th grade - over 300 kids! Aaron and I carved out time in our schedules to help out too, myself with leading the first grade class (there were over 40 of them!) and Aaron with the security team.

Three and a half hours every night for five nights? I'm exhausted, but glad I could be part of the Super Hero Squad team!

Singing and bible story time in the sanctuary to start the program each night

 The Super Heros and the Villans
(And no, that is not Kristi on the left. Sure does look like it, doesn't it?! Kayla and I couldn't help but stare at her all night because she looks so much like Aunt Kristi. I was kind of expecting her to spontaneously combust into Kristi!)

Part of my first grade super hero recruits

The Super Hero's - Word Woman (See? She looks like Kristi, doesn't she?!), Guardian of Goodness and Titan of Truth!
Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit says the Lord!

Our fearless leaders, AKA wanna-be super heros

There was a competition between the girls and the boys all week to see who would raise the most money. The final tally? The girls brought in $1,200+ and the boys brought in $1,500+! That's amazing!

We made masks, capes, shields, and wrist guards all week long. There were songs, stories, snacks, crafts and recreation time. Kayla and her friend Abby were inseparable, and quite goofy too. Super Hero capes turned into shawls.

 Think these outfits could've been any more planned? They weren't. Think they're minds could be any more similar? They already are. Kayla picked out what she wanted to wear and when she came downstairs to show me her outfit and asked if pink and orange match, I said "sure honey" just wanting to move the process along and get out the door. Apparently Abby had the same exact thought process going on that Kayla did! This just cracked me up! What are the chances?!

A Fair visit

We woke up this morning to something odd. Fall-like weather! I stepped outside and literally said out loud to myself "Happy first day of fall". Yesterday we had the air conditioning on and today we're closing the windows because it's too cold outside. Yes, cold. We actually left the house with pants, long sleeve shirts and jackets. Ewwww, I don't like the word jacket. By mid-morning it had finally reached 60. Not "in the 60's". Just 60. At least the sun was shining!

This weather could only possibly ever be good for one activity. And that is the annual 4-H Fair. It is, without a doubt, always the hottest most humid summer weather during the Fair. We sweat, we're hot, every particle of dust sticks to us. It's not attractive. We've even gone in our bathing suits just so we can take breaks to run through the splash pad while at the county park. 

So, yes, today - and only today - did we cheer for our surprisingly cool weather. We went to the 4-H Fair in jackets! And pants! And loved it.  No dirt stuck to us. No unfamiliar scents stuck to us. We couldn't get enough of the sun, breeze and beautiful weather, and we did it all outside!! I wasn't sure how we were going to fit in a trip to the Fair with VBS also going on every night this week, but we fit it in!

For an event that chalks itself up to being "homegrown" and "farm raised" and "country", could it get any more expensive? Holy cow! Might as well just planned an overnight vacation with the family! (Also would've been easier on my waistline, but we'll just ignore that minor detail). If all we did was walk in (well, that cost us $10) and just walked through the barns and looked at the animals, than it wouldn't be bad. But who can pass up an elephant ear? Or a bag of cotton candy? And the rides? Kayla knows they exist, so no hiding those from her anymore.

 First stop, checking out the poultry barn. I don't know if Aaron is ready to be lumped into this category yet, but I finally realized this year that I am a true fan of the 4-H Fair. Granted, I've never actually made it over to the livestock barns with the pigs and cows, but still...
I prepped the girls into thinking about what project they are going to submit someday, sewing? Gardening? Baking? Painting? Crafting? Carpentry? The options are endless! Khloe loved the "scarecrow" entries the best. 

 For instance, just look at these roosters! Aren't they beee-u-tiful? I'm pretty sure I've never taken a photo of a rooster before, ever in my whole life, but today they fascinated me. (Must've been the cool weather. My brain wasn't fried this year).

 And isn't this pheasant-like bird stunning? I never knew something like this existed.

 And sometimes just plain ol' ducks are interesting too. I'm sure Khloe got her fingers pecked at least a half dozen times in the poultry barn. Didn't bother her, she laughed. Me? Not so much.

 Isn't this so cute? The crib for baby ducks. Nothing was in there yet.

 Our favorite - holding baby chicks. Khloe loved them a little too hard so I had to let her observe from a distance.

 Kayla got good practice handling baby chicks from the chicks they hatched and raised in their classroom at school, so she was a pro.

Khloe was obsessed with the sleeping baby cow. I couldn't peel her away. I guess it's not every day you get to see a sleeping baby cow up close and in person.

On to the rides!

 Khloe cracked us up today! She is fearless. There wasn't a ride (for the 48" and under crowd) that she wouldn't ride. Trains, cars, horses, airplanes, an octopus, she spent her 20 tickets wisely. (And would've kept going had it not already been 2 hours past her nap time).

She walked into every ride by herself, picked out her ride of choice (No, the purple one! or How 'bout the red one?) and held on just like your supposed to. She smiled so proudly on each ride. I smiled so proudly as she rode each ride. She must've felt so big!

These rides made this 2-year old-adventure-seeker's day!

 Merry-go-round time! For the little, medium and big girls!

 (looking off into the distance at some fast spinning ride)

 Crazy Kayla, surprises us every day. She's waited since she was 3 years old to do this slide and today she had to wait no longer. She did it over and over again! This slide is taller than the barn and silo in the background!

 Then we did my favorite ride, the Tilt-a-Whirl. They might as well name all the rides tilt-a-whirl because that's what they all do anyways. 

Ahhhhhhhhh! The ride started moving! We weren't hanging on yet!

 The girls did this Paratrooper ride (aka tilt-a-whirl, because that's what it does) twice. (They are in the yellow umbrella car). But this ride was different, they did it by themselves. I felt so sad. It first started out that they could only ride the baby rides, and that was cute and fun. Then they could ride some of the big rides but only with an adult, and that was fun too, but they still enjoyed the baby rides too. Now they can ride almost all of the rides by themselves. This is not cute or fun. Next they'll be driving and graduating high school. But today, they rode this ride and the spinning strawberries all by themselves. The spinning strawberries! They've never ridden the spinning strawberries by themselves! Sigh...

 There they are, up on top in the yellow. They screamed and laughed the whole time. Actually we all screamed and laughed so much it hurt our faces the whole time on all the rides.

There you go, a birds eye view from atop the ferris wheel.

Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday and $60. It was a happy day!