Catching Up. . .Part 1

So I made the kids a book from Walgreens with their Branson Vacation in it.  They absolutely loved it.  So I set out to make them a book about their summer vacation. . .I forgot that I never get to sit down and turn on the computer :).  Hence it's taken me a LONG time to get what I have so far.  I've been getting some calls asking when I would update the blog. . .so here you go!  The "Book" as it is now!

When I got back from Branson I ended up with Strep.  I told the kids if they left me alone to suffer  I would die their hair blue and pink! :)  They played Rock-Star all day!  I got to be serenaded by the most "beautiful" music.  But hey, I got to lay down!

My beautiful Ballerina did her 2013 Recital to This Little Light of Mine.  Thanks to a good friend from High School I found a Christian Dance Studio.  I'm in LOVE with it.  I can't tell you how impressed I've been!  Frequently I will walk in and find her dance teachers in prayer together.  What a blessing!

We are BEYOND lucky to have the Blevins in our life!  

 I finally got around to doing Super Hero Week.  The kids had a BLAST!  I even gave the baby puffy paint and let him create his own cape (I just got bandannas from the dollar store and I pin them to their shirts-can't beat the price :) )

 I'm not joking y'all these were freaking good snacks!  I got it all from Aldi so for $5 they "Cooked" for an hour. I just heated the milk chocolate in the microwave and they dipped the pretzels in it.  I bought one of those 4 packs of 4th of July Sprinkles and I mixed 2 on each plate.  They then rolled it in the sugar.  I apprehensively tried one and I must admit, these Captain America Snacks will forever be our 4th of July Snack!!!  The kids were so proud to make them all on their own!

LOOK AT JACK-JACK'S FACE!!!

We did our traditional 4th of July Celebration at Castle Grandmas House.  Unfortunately we cannot shoot off Fireworks in St. P so we always go to St. Ch to shoot them off.  Sadly Grandma and Granddad were in CA visiting Uncle Kris and Aunt Yelena.  Going to all of those Wineries!  They facetimed us though and were able to see the  kids shoot off some fireworks.  Of course Zachary told on us to Granddad "Gwanddad, Daddy shot a firework up and guess what.  It landed on your roof!"  Traitor. We were thankful for the "Staycation!"

Mike bought the kids Poppers

Every year Mike buys Day Parachutes and Night Parachutes.  Zach caught his every time.  Loren tried so hard!

Jax may make some of the BEST facial exressions on the planet.  Mike and I bought 5 boxes (each with 50) of Poppers.  We had an all-out war with them!  Jackson really got into it and LOVED it!!  Also, one of Mom's neighbors actually owns a firework stand and he lights off this crazy display every year.  Jax went NUTSO over the "Pretty Booms!"

And would it be 4th of July without "Farting" the smoke Bombs or stomping out the "Poot (poop)" Snakes.  Look at those older two.  They are so proud of their "Fart Guns."  Sigh. . .I'm 12 I thought it was funny too.  Especially when I lit the snakes and Jax started yelling "POOT MOMMY. IT POOT!" Oh and I gave Loren and I matching Manicures.  She painted my nails (and fingers :) ).  I love having a girl!

Mike brought the grill out front and we grilled Hamburgers, Corn, Asparagus and Zucchini.  It was awesome!

Every year we do Jumping Pictures.  I don't know why.  We started it a few years back and the kids LOVE doing them!

We also buy strobe lights and the kids do wicked dances to them.  If I can figure out how to load video I will upload one of their dances.  This year I accidentally bought some boxes of crackling strobe lights.  I go "Kids, go up there and dance."  I lit it and it started sparking everywhere and those kids RAN for the hills while Mike and I fell on the ground laughing.  I didn't do it on purpose. . .but again, I'm 12 and it was hilarious!

Well hopefully the video uploads.  Here goes nothing!

Sorry it is sideways!

The best laid plans

Well, on Saturday my good friend Andrea called me and said, "I got a free vacation to Branson so pack you and your older 2's bags, we are going. . .TONIGHT."  So, I packed a suitcase and we left for Branson at 4:00 pm!  It was so . . . .random.

 So on the way we had fun at the rest-stop.  Andrea surprised the kids with matching flip flops.  It was hilarious to watch my children wear them.  This is the first pair they have ever had!  I love this picture of the kids.  It SO describes our children.  Celia the ever loving serious little "Mommy", Zach the imp and a half, Lorén the model in her lovely pose, Charlie the imp arm farting!  Love them to pieces!

We got to the hotel at 10:00.  The kids were so tired!  We got them up to the condo and all I can say is WOAH!  It was amazing!  They had the best time exploring while we unpacked the car.  They jumped on beds, laid claim to rooms and searched every drawer.  It was near midnight before they FINALLY fell asleep.  Andrea and I had a little chuckle as mine cannot sleep without white noise (fans) and hers can't sleep without lights!!!  It was bright and noisy until they zonked (every night).  

The next morning they woke us up at 6:00 am by screaming "cock-a-doodle-doooooo!" off of the balcony!  You've never seen two old ladies jump out of bed so quickly to hush them up!!!  I'm sure the entire complex was so thankful for the awakening!  While Andrea and I "woke up" with some coffee the kids asked to take a bath.  Well . . . They added bubbles.  Lorén exclaimed that this was the best bath she had ever had!!!  I was a bit jealous

Charlie has a "Santa Beard!"

So that day we spent most of the day swimming!  I felt pretty bad that I didn't get sunscreen 100% on each of the kids!  Zach had a burnt shoulder, Charlie and Celia had red under their eyes and Lorén had a red foot.  We decided to take the kids to a real Branson Show!  All of the reviews said kids needed to see the Dixieland Stampede!!!  OH MY GOSH!  That was a HIGHLIGHT of our trip!

Only Zach  knew where we were going the others were clueless!  It was so funny!  Zach kept giving the hints like, "Its a horse and fire."  The poor other kids had NO CLUE what it was!  In the pre-show this kid did all of this juggling.  Well Zach was enthralled by it.  I think he is going to grow up to be a juggler.  

We got to see all of the horses they use in the show.  Charlie said that it smelled a bit like poop and a bit like the zoo!  Oh little city kids. . .

So if you have never been or heard of Dixieland Stampede it's a show that Dolly Parton owns.  The arena is split into a North side and a South side.  There are competitions to honor the age old rivalry between the North and South.  Andrea spoiled the kids and bought them flags to wave every time the word "North" was said!  It's a dinner theater.  During the show you are given the biggest meal in the world!  Plus there was no difference between the adult meal and the kids meal.  They plopped an entire Cornish hen down in front of the kids. Oh ps, there was no silver-wear.  Zach exclaimed, "I AM NOT EATING THAT!"  Charlie however dug right in. . .only he didn't use his hands.  Oh yes, he just leaned over and started taking bites out of the bird!  So then Charlie and Zach were chosen to represent the North in a competition.  At first Zach didn't want to do it as he thought he would have to catch a chicken.  We explained to him that he just had to clap at the chickens like he does to the bunnies in my yard and scare them across a line before the kids representing the south did.  It. Was. Hilarious.  The boys started kicking sand at the chickens.  They were such little IMPS!  The kids representing the south were chasing the chickens and clapping and our boys were just kicking and kicking at those birds!  The audience was ROLLING!  The boys won!  

They started cheering like they won the national championship!  They won medals (that they didn't want to take off the rest of the vacation) and they won a book from Dolly Parton.  There was a nice little note inside saying how brave they were for getting up in front of a bunch of people for the show.  It was nice!  Lorén and Celia decided that they wanted to be Horse Ballerinas after watching the show!  It was cute!

After we got home Andrea had this brilliant idea to have S'Mores at 10:00 pm.  So not only did they have Pepsi at the show (our kids have never had caffeine before) but we gave them pure sugar!  It was a messy disaster. I blame Andrea they didn't get to sleep until 1:00 am!!!

The next day we swam.  And swam and swam.  We went to the pool at the Activity Center first thing in the morning.  Then we went to the indoor pool.  Then we went to the outdoor pool at our Condo!  12 hours of swimming.  Oh my word!  First of all we couldn't believe that the kids lasted that long!  Second, we couldn't believe that the kids could go from the cold pool to the hot-tub to the cold pool over and over!  

We did take a break to do a craft. The boys made birdhouses, Lorén made a jewelry box and Celia made a picture frame.  

This was before Andrea found the glitter.  She was so immature and started a glitter fight.  I would never start a glitter fight.  I would never involve the GIRLS in a glitter fight.  I guess that's what happens when your friend is younger. :)!

We look like bad prom dates.

As I write this it's 3 days later and at least 4 showers later.  Lorén still has glitter in her hair.

We left Tuesday morning.  Needless to say we are tired but we had one of the best vacations we have ever had.  We truly missed Daddy and Jack-jack and were happy to come home to them.  Andrea and I decided that we are going to do this every year! 

I found out today that I have strep.  I am praying that I didn't give it to the Blevins family!  I'd feel just awful if I did.  I was so grumpy on the way home because I was feeling so lousy.  Now I know why!  I think I'm going to go zonk.  Since it's now Wednesday and since I have strep, we are going to do Super Hero week NEXT week.  Flexibility.  That's the lesson the Lord is trying teach me!!

Look at his eyelashes!!!

I KNOW!

It's been a while.  I know, I know.  I'm SUPER excited for this week coming up though!  I thought I would share what we will be doing this week!

SUPER HERO WEEK!!!

Do you remember this that I made last summer?  This will be the first time I can use it. . .and its almost July!

(ps if you want it, save it and print it as a 12X12 at Costco.  Then take it to Office Depot and have them laminate it.  Viola, a dry-erase activity planner!)

So on Make something Monday we are going to make Super Hero Emblems out of felt.  I found the idea here on pinterest.  Then I just did a google search for Super L, Z, and J images. 

Then I decided to do this SUPER-cute idea from pinterest.  It took a lot of cutting gluing and mod-podging to do but the kids will get a kick out of it!

Tuesday we will go to the Library to get Super Hero books.  I already placed 11 of them on reserve.  I need to find a super-heroish girl book. . .not just Wonder Woman. . .Something where a girl has a super-power.  Any ideas would be appreciated!

On Wednesday we have a lunch Date with Mrs. Andrea.  We decided to do a picnic at our favorite park.  So I thought we could bring Captain America Chocolate Covered Pretzels in Super Hero French-fry Boxes.  

Then on Thursday I thought it would be good for the kids to think about and Thank their Real-life heroes.  I thought it would be good to do a mini brainstorming session with each of them using a spider web diagram (See here for an example).  Maybe I'll have them do 2 each.  We shall see!  I thought it would go easier for Zach if I created a template for him.. . .and honestly Loren has better handwriting with lines given to her.  So here's my template that I created:

Finally Friday we will be going to pick Blueberries with Aunt Lisa!  What do Blueberries have to do with Super Heroes?  Well, they are a Super Food right?  Hey it's as stretch but I thought we could do a quick lesson on why they are a good-for-you food.  Guess what. . .I've never been blueberry picking and I'm a little toooooo excited for it!

Pictures of our Super Week to come!

Graphics used came from Tony's Mama Designs.  I tried to link to give credit and I can't find her site anymore.  If anyone can help me, that'd be lovely :)!  

Sue's Retirement Party

First of all I'm so happy and excited to have a computer back!  I love being able to take pictures and share them with family and friends!

So after many faithful years, my mom has retired from Boeing St. Louis!  We are so proud of her!  A few friends decided to throw her a surprise retirement party.  It was such a blast!  I'm so thankful for Caralee and Jayme for helping me put together a fantastic party.

It was the hardest thing in the world to keep it a secret from Mom.  She is such a brilliant and perceptive woman!  It was hilarious when she said to me, "No one is doing anything for my retirement."  I had to tell her, "You TOLD everyone not to do anything so you cant be upset that they didn't!"  She truly thought everyone forgot!  Then on top of everything else, the annual Race for education was rescheduled for Monday.  I REALLY needed to clean my house but had NO time with Mom around!  I couldn't get rid of her ;)!  So that night, Sheri came over with a bottle of wine and a broom and said "How can I help?"  You know they are a true friend when they will clean your commode!  The next morning Andrea showed up with Sangria and a broom and said, "How can I help."  I really have the BEST friends. . .booze and cleaners!  Seriously though, if it weren't for those two and their help, I'm not sure it would have happened!

So fast forward to the day of.  Mom thought she was picking me up for Sisters in Faith Coffee Club.  Belinda made my mom the most adorable banner for her retirement. (Shameless plug, buy your fabulous banners from my pastor's wife here: BC Paper Designs)  Zach and Jax picked out balloons for the mailbox.

Dad had one job: Make sure Mom looks nice or she'll KILL me!  Her first reaction upon realizing what was going on was "OH CRAP!" You see, my mom always dresses to the nines!  Today she dressed down. . .for once!  Dad was laughing because there was NO WAY to get out of it.  I mean imagine if he said, "You gonna wear that?"  Ha!  He was trapped!

Caralee bought mom the FUNNIEST gift.  It's towel for her to use to cover up furniture since she no longer has to dress now that she's retired!!

Caralee also had the BEST idea!  She bought mom a pandora bracelet.  Everyone who came to the retirement party bought her a charm that would remind her of them!  Isn't that the sweetest idea?  We bought her a Chicago Bears Charm from the boys, a Penguin with a Crown from Lorén and a Crown that says Queen from her princess (me) :)!  Mom begged me for a change of clothes before the guests arrived :).  Aunt Jeanie made her the most adorable cake!

Happy Retirement Mom.  We are so proud of you!!!!!