The last week

I'm blogging out of order. Oh well.

Our last week in AR was great. Well, all the weeks were great! I did not do all the things I wanted to do, but we did enough.

We celebrated my Dad's birthday. Delicious chocolate cake. Yummy! and presents. It was a good time for all.

Did i mention the yummy chocolate cake?!!

We went to the fun park with the merry go round. The kids played on it for most of our time there. Even Rylee had a marvelous time on it. Watching her stagger around after getting off was a hoot.

Callie really liked these monkey bars. But she needed help to get up on them.

Marian had her own way of using the monkey bars. That's my girl!

We also went to the end of summer program at the library. Delaney pitched a fit over a Care Bears book that another girl had. She sulked for most of the hour and was finally mollified with this sticker book.

Rylee loved this book. It had sparkelies on it, She sat under the table reading it. so cute!

Joshua's Stonehenge replica won first prize. He made it with Styrofoam that he spray painted gray and tooth-picked together. He did a good job.

The kids found this little turtle trying to snack on the blackberry bush. Brave little turtle.

We also went bowling with our friends. Funny thing- I'm not sure the guy who owns the place likes kids. He was not enthusiastic when we came in and was downright rude when Callie asked for the metal frame to roll the ball down. He didn't want to get it out, so I took Callie to bowl without it. She hucked the ball high in the air and it hit with a mighty thunk. Then it sloooooooowly rolled, ever so slowly, down to the end, where it stopped. The guy had to come out to get it, and he brought out the metal frame. heh heh heh.

Joshua kicked butt and got the highest score out of everyone. A good time was had by all. even those who didn't want to be there.

New Do for Delaney

Delaney got a haircut. It was more extreme than I intended. I wanted something short enough she couldn't twist it around her finger while sucking her thumb. We're gearing up to break the thumb-sucking habit and were hoping that a haircut might help. Delaney said she wanted it as short as Joshua's hair. I did not. I had a vision in my head of a cute pageboy or bowl cut. I thought maybe an Alice-from-Twilight would be cute too. But it didn't come out like I imagined it at all.

Looking cute! Yep, coming along nicely. Delaney is thrilled.

Delaney was very patient. She was so good.

I thought this was a cute length. I should have said to stop here. Oops.

More short and more layered than I expected. It makes Rylee look different. A lot different! I'm still not sure I like it.

Moving on

Grandpa is the best! He distracted the kids with a ride in the truck while I loaded up the van. I managed to squeeze nearly everything in. There was a pile of items that I couldn't fit, but I think I got all the important stuff!

Then it was time to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa. We had such a great time with them. We are blessed to have family we like to be with (on both sides of the family). Driving away was sad for me. the kids were sad till they remembered we were going to spend time with their cousins.

7 hours of driving with the kids was more fun than than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. I was able to find the world's slowest McDonalds, which worked out well, since they also had a playground. The kids had a good time playing despite the sweltering heat.

It was good to stop and get out of the car.

Yeah, good times.

We got to Andy and Kera's about 3:30 and the kids were delighted to check out the backyard. The trampoline was a great energy-burner.

Marian and Katie made brownies together. I love that the kids get along well with their cousins.

While the batter was tasty, the brownies were even yummier.

They had a lot of fun on the swing set as well. I loved the fenced in backyard. I could just let Rylee out and she'd knock on the door when she wanted back in. Nice!

Today we went to a fun pool. The water was wonderful and the children were so happy. The slide was their favorite thing. Joshua, Marian, and Callie went down it over and over. Rylee really really wanted to go on the slide, but I did not let her.

Joshua experimented with how slowly he could go down the slide. Apparently veeeery slowly.

The kiddie pool was awesome! Rylee loved it. so did the bigger kids, actually.

And Delaney is my funny girl! Hooray for good times with family!

Slacker

I am a slacker. I cannot seem to get myself together. I have 500 things I should be doing. These are the same 500 things I should have been doing a week ago. And I am running out of time. We have a house in New Orleans and a move-in date and I need to start my southward trek in 2 days. 2 days people! And its not even a real 2 days. I really only have one day. I should be in bed right now, but I'm not. Tomorrow I have a playdate (which I SHOULD have scheduled last week, and I darn well AM going to because it's with my friend, too) and I have a not-date to go see the new Harry Potter movie (which was scheduled last week and I AM going to because it will be my only chance to see it in the theater). Tomorrow I also have to run some laundry and sort through a ton of things so I can figure out how to stuff all my stuff into my 5 suitcases and figure out where to stuff the stuff that's not going to fit in them. Then I have to figure out how to smash it all into the van. I have some concerns about the possibility of it all going in. I am suppose to drive away Thursday morning. I also have some concerns about that happening as well.

I am so not ready to go! I have not returned my overdue library books; not paid the $6+ fine I owe from a summer of chronically late books (worth every penny!). I have not made it to the post office to mail a box. I have not had time to run off to visit all my favorite thrift stores. I have not spent enough time with my friend Wendy, or my friend Beth. I have not read half the books I wanted to and still have 75 pages to go before I am done with my current library book (Lady Friday by Garth Nix). I have not cleaned up the house like I meant to. I have not finished off the ice cream in the freezer. I never got around to a few art projects with the kids either. We never made it to the pool and only got to the lake once. We still have free stuff coupons from the Library Reading Program that we haven't used. Sigh.

Doesn't that mean that it was a good summer?

There's always one!

I have now posted 4 blogs. Whew! I had a lot of catching up to do.

Here, I talked Miranda into taking a family picture before church. It went..... um, it went.

Camden took the opportunity to walk in front of the camera. Apparently no one was really ready, except for Joshua. However, check out the real smile on Marian's face!

This may be the best picture we got. I have no idea what's up with Delaney though. Marian has an almost smile, and Joshua has a great grin. (He also has high-waters and bed-head, but who's looking?!)

Ha ha ha! Goofy grins by me and Delaney. Dan's wondering what the heck I'm doing. Marian is indifferent. Nope, not the best shot of the day.

Hmm..... If it weren't for Rylee pitching a fit, and Delaney's funny face, we'd have a winner! Wy can't we all be happy at the same time?!

Living History Farm

While in Iowa, we went to Des Moines, to the Living History Farms. It was pretty amazing. It shows how they farmed in the 1700s, 1800s and 1900s. They actually do the farming. I was quite impressed and would have loved to have stayed all day. Alas, it was close to 100 degrees by noon, and we had a lot of tired, grumpy children. Still, it was well worth going!

The inside of the Indian Hut.

Yep, the chickens are always a hit. The girls thoroughly enjoyed catching them. The chickens were surprisingly docile, which was good.

A baby cow in on the other side of the fence. It was so cute!

Marian let Camden pet the chicken. Too cute.

Callie is too cool!

Rylee was still raring to go, and Camden was all tuckered out. I think everyone had a good time before the heat and hunger overcame us.

So we went home and set up the pool. Boiling hot air, ice cold pool water..... hmmmmm.

Did I mention that Dan flew out to spend the weekend with us?! Yep, he did and it was nice to be with him.

Yeah, Marian doesn't like to smile for pictures.

Rylee was obsessed with the "keycaah". I let her out to the porch to play, not realizing that she was terrorizing the poor cat. Maybe the cat was really dumb, I'm not sure. The poor cat would walk away, Rylee would scoop it up and it would eventually flop or wiggle out of her grasping fingers. And she would go after it again. I'm not sure why it didn't run away. I went out to rescue the cat, but.... er, em, I didn't.

I thought the cat was going to get away here. He poked his head through the bars and looked like he might jump. I guess he thought the 12 foot drop was a bit much, because he changed his mind. Unfortunately, Rylee seized the moment and pushed the cat off the deck.... down 12 feet. I think it actually landed on its feet. It gave me a very disgruntled look before sauntering away. Poor cat.

Best Park Ever!

Kristy took us to a fantastic park while we were in Iowa. I wish we had one like it in our backyard! The kids had a wonderful time playing, and so did I.

Monkey Bars are always a hit, but these paled in comparison to the other cool stuff on the playground.

This super-amazing climbing thing was fun. Cousin Isabelle was very good at zipping up to the top. Joshua got up there too.

Check it out! The big kids were all on it and so was Grandma!

Rylee, Camden and Emily thought these were pretty fun to play on! Aunt Miranda was good at swinging them around. Wheee!

And yes, Rylee found stuff to climb up. She does like to climb up things most kids her age won't go near.

Yay Delaney! She didn't get very high, but she sure had a good time. Well, for a bit, then she hollered for help down.

This, THIS, was the best part of the park! Most awesome thing ever! After swinging on it myself, I thought my arms might pop out of their sockets, but it was so fun to hang on and swing around. I loved it! So did the bigger kids.

Then they found a "better" way to do it. Yes, it was Marian who started it, but they loved being able to spin fast while holding on for dear life. Go Miranda!

Rylee preferred more tame swinging.