Campfire

Last weekend we had a campfire with all the neighbors. Have I mentioned how much we love where we live? We've been here less than 2 months and we're already having fun gatherings. The little girls made s'mores, the big girls visited and the boys played Corn Hole (strange name...it's just bean bag toss). We all had a lot of fun. Here is the whole crew...almost, Cutie Pie was sitting with me. We were a little nervous with her running around the fire.


When we first saw our neighbor setting up the fire pit we had a little discussion about how we needed to get the kids to bed at a decent time because we had church at 9am on Sunday morning. We all were having so much fun that plan flew out the window and the girls didn't get to bed until after 10pm. We were a little tired (and some of us were grumpy) but it was a small price to pay for such a great time!

Word to the wise...

A cautionary tale of why it's not a good idea to buy a swimsuit with pockets...

It all started out as a fun evening at the pool. Ladd came home from work after a long week working lots of long hours and we thought it would be fun to go swimming. We all changed and put on sunscreen, at which point Popcorn asked why it made the sun scream...funny. Anyway, we loaded up our snacks (because someone inevitably gets hungry), drinks, pool noodles, pool toys (for the kiddie pool) and made our way down the street to the pool. I must say I really like not having to clean and take care of a pool in my own back yard but it does become a bit of a trip when you have to carry so much stuff with you.

For illustrative purposes here is Ladd's swimsuit...

You can kind of see the pocket on the bottom right of the picture. He wasn't super excited when he realized I posted a picture of him in his trunks (with the girls) on my Facebook page so you only get to see the suit on the hanger. Think cargo shorts you can swim in.

Anyway, we arrived at the pool and Sweetie immediately jumped in and Popcorn followed in rapid succession. There isn't a life guard on duty so Ladd got in to keep an eye on them while I got Cutie Pie ready. He swam the length of the pool when all of a sudden I saw him hop out and run over to our bags and towels. He was emptying his pockets. I figured he got his keys and wallet wet, not the end of the world.

He came over and told me (yes, you guessed it) that his cell phone was in there too! Oops. Luckily he is due for an upgrade (I still have another year on my contract. How we got on different contract dates even though we're on the same family plan is another long story for another time!).

His phone did turn on again (after a day of drying out). One day the #5 button wasn't working, the next day it was #9. I think today it finally died. He will be getting a new phone soon.

Moral of the story: don't get a swim suit with pockets, and if you do don't put anything in them!

Mars picnic

We went to the Mars Pet care picnic on Saturday and had a lot of fun! This is the first Mars location we've been to that holds an annual picnic (there was a super fun Halloween party in NJ though). The kids loved the inflatables- a bouncy house and obstacle course. There was also a zip line and climbing wall but no one was old enough or brave enough to try those. Maybe next year.

Here is Cutie Pie posing on a basketball. She tried the bouncy house but never actually stood up. She found the balls more entertaining.


There was also some face painting and Sweetie got a Hawaiian flower...

Popcorn chose a lady bug...

Here they are together...

We also had a delicious lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs and fried chicken after which we topped off with Mars ice cream- M&M's, Snickers, and Dove! Good thing the place was big because we needed to walk off all the calories. There was also a character artist and we had a picture drawn of each of the girls...not sure where those went so maybe I can post those later.

Eat More Chickin

We joined the herds of people and went to Chick-fil-A for their Cow Appreciation Day. Sweetie made her own costume* and was excited to get her free meal. The costumes ran the gamut from a couple black dots on a tee shirt to full cow costume (complete with udder) and everything in between. If nothing else it was entertaining to sit there an watch people come and go.

Sweetie and the Chick-fil-A cow...


Because I'm a shutter bug and because she's so cute, here's Cutie Pie enjoying the festivities...

*Since I use this blog as a way to document what goes on I feel the need to explain the costume drama...Originally I was going to help Sweetie make her costume. I had the idea of decorating a white garbage bag but she thought that was incredibly lame. (Funny side note, we saw several kids wearing garbage bag costumes). Anyway, she insisted on wearing a white tee shirt. Okay, fine. The next thing I know she comes down and shows me the giant hole she cut in her cute BRAND NEW white shirt while trying to remove a tag. I was rather annoyed (OK, VERY annoyed) so I told her she was on her own as far as the costume thing was concerned. I realize this is not the ideal reaction a mother should have but it was not an ideal day and I wasn't in an ideal mood. In the end she did a great job making her costume (Ladd was impressed) and I've mourned the loss of a cute shirt. I suppose the free meal makes up for the ruined clothing.

Masked Beauties

We found our local library and they have all sorts of fun summer programs. We haven't made it to story time yet but we saw a magician last week and Popcorn and Sweetie got to make masks at craft time.

Here is Popcorn modeling her colorful feather mask. Someone commented that it looked like a Mardi Gras mask. She was rather proud of herself and wore it around the library as we looked for books.

Here is Sweetie wearing her cow mask. Now you may be wondering why she would make a cow mask....click here for details. Let it be known this is entirely her own idea! *This mask terrifies Cutie Pie*

Modeling their masks together (so the library lady could take a picture of them)...

Cutie Pie didn't get to participate in the mask making fun but here she is modeling Popcorn's new sun glasses and her own new Princess gown (it's just a nightgown but she needed a play dress that fit her). She's back to the funny head tilt and 'cheese' pose.