Saturday, July 14, 2012

Daddy, Daddy, Daddy

Jason had been working a long stretch of 7 PM - 8 AM nights and the kids weren't really seeing much of him.  So one afternoon when he woke up the kids bombarded him.
You can't help but love that.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Good Old Fashioned Summer Fun

I LOVE summer and I feeling like it is already slipping away.  For every bit that my kids are making me absolutely crazy, I love having them home.  We have been eating a lot of Popsicles these days.  The kids love those "make your own" popsicle molds.

Hobbes and I joined the kids outside for popsicles.
The boys discovered that the neighbor's tree is great for climbing.
They really had fun testing themselves.
I dare say that was the most fun they had had all day.
Benny was trying to get even higher.
Paisley decided that she wanted in on the action too.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Kid Randoms

I regularly end up with a bunch of pictures that I love but aren't really post worthy in and of themselves, so this is the post where I share all of the randomness.

Tab set up a great tea party for Paisley, Benton and himself to share.  I thought he did a very good job.

One morning Paisley got up, ate breakfast and went in her room to get dressed.  It was a little too quiet so I went in to check on her.  I found her sleeping on her floor.  She had put some socks on but that was all of the progress that she made before falling asleep.
As many of you know Paisley is a bit obsessed with all things girl.  One afternoon she decided that she needed to go through all of the dress up clothes and take inventory of her girly dress up.  She laid out each of her princess dresses and ballet costumes then was lining up her shoes.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Benny's Farm

Benny loves this cow.  His name is Cattle.  Benny has been begging me to help him make a farm for him for months now.  One afternoon I finally sat down to do it with him.  I cut the box open and then his little mind wen to work.  First order of business was that his cow was going to need a pond to drink from.  So he cut that out and glued it down.

Then he needed grass, trees and flowers, a sun and sky.
You can tell he was quite pleased.
He even wrote "Benton's Farm" on the outside.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Lehigh Valley Runners Club: Kid Series

The Lehigh Valley Runners Club holds a kid's series of races.  The kids were excited to run their first race.

We met up with some of our friends at the race.

Benny and Paisley are in the same age group.  Paisley is the one in all pink.  Benton is the one all the way in the left who has his butt in the air tripping over top of the other girl.
They ran 200 meters.
Here is Benny right after he finished, waiting for his ribbon.
Benny and Paisley proudly displaying their ribbons.
Hobbes was hanging out with Grandma.
Tab's race was a 1/2 mile.  Here he is coming in at the end.
I just love the tongue hanging out.  He is totally my kid.

Monday, July 09, 2012

An Angelina Ballerina Birthday

 Paisley recently turned 3.
 
  I always make a special cake and Paisley requested an Angelina Ballerina Cake.
  This is what I came up with.  Not my best cake but Paisley claimed it was the best part of her birthday so I'm all smiles.
Blowing out the candles.
Opening Presents.

Sunday, July 08, 2012

Tab: End of Year Party

Tab's room mom wasn't able to make it to the end of year party, and since we recently became "friends I got put in charge of all of the games and such.  The kids had a blast racing their cups across the floor by blowing them with straws.
Tab and his teacher.  He adores her.  He couldn't be bothered to look up for a picture.
Each of the kids put their hand prints on a square and I put it together into a quilt for Ms. Southern as an end of year present.

The kids loved finding their hand prints.
The whole class.

Saturday, July 07, 2012

Preschool Graduation

We are slowly but surely catching up.... just in time for me to get behind again, I'm sure.

At the end of the school year, Benton graduated from preschool.  My stinking camera was giving me a hard time with the lighting (I was in a bright area and they were in a dark area and I could figure it out) so I didn't get any good pictures of the actual graduation.  So angry...

Alas,  here is a picture of the kids performing one of their favorite songs.  Benny is all of the way over on the right in the white shirt right next to his best friend, George.
 Here is Benny with his four teachers.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE all of them and his school.  Can't wait to send Paisley there!  I am so proud of him.  He was a bit behind when he started the year and he has more than caught up.  Can't believe that I'm going to have two in school!

Friday, July 06, 2012

Tab's Birthday Party

We decided to throw Tab a small birthday party this year.  He of course wanted a Star Wars themed party.  My budget for the entire party was $60 and I am proud to say that I stayed below my budget!  He had three friends and a little brother who were able to make it. 

After the kids had put on their Jedi Robes and selected a light saber, the games/training began.  First was a version of "clean up the back yard".  Each young Jedi had to master his light saber skills by thwarting the other Jedi's attempts to whack the balloon bombs into their section of the deck.
Some dueling may have also occurred. 
Next up was instruction in the proper use of the force and then Agility Training, aka obstacle course.
First each Jedi had to use his hand eye coordination to block the bombs that the other Jedis were throwing at him.
Then he had to run along the rail ties.
And then down the slide.
Then they had to use their balancing skills to skip between the bricks.
They had to whack the storm trooper. (He was originally attached to a punch balloon but they kept popping in the heat.)
Next was a dive through the cube and down the slide on the other side.
They had to jump over the stack of bricks.
And whack the next punch balloon.
Next up was a dive through the tunnels.
Whacking another Storm Trooper.
Run along the rail ties...
And Finish by whacking the last balloon.  The fastest and most agile Jedis won Yoda Kites.
Next up was some time away from the heat for cake and ice cream.  I made an R2-D2 cake.  It was my first time using the color dust to get the silver.  The kids seemed pretty happy with the cake so I was a happy mom.
Blowing out the candles.
Next up was back outside for the Death Star pinata.  Tab has been begging for a pinata for ages, so he was very excited for this part.  I made this also.  It was a balloon, some paper/cardboard and a little bit of your run of the mill flour/water paper mache.  I like to believe he loved it.
 At first we let all of the kids whack the pinata with their light sabers.
 
 They were kind enough to let Paisley in on the fun.
 
 Then we broke out the bat.
 And things really started to get fun.
 Tab was the lucky boy to finish her off.
 Then we went back inside to escape the heat again for present opening.  He was elated to start off with this awesome shirt.
And it just kept on coming with a few sets of Star Wars Legos.
The party was finished off by an appearance of Darth Vader.  They used their newly acquired Jedi Skills to take him down so quickly that I couldn't even get a picture of Jason being mauled by a bunch of 7 year old boys.  He said one swift whack at the groin was all he could take.  I'll have to let Luke know that detail for the next time he has to take down a Sith.

Tab decided to take on the roll of Darth Vader as we waited for parents to pick up kids.  Tab has some sort of strange fascination with the Bad Guys. (Transformers- he prefers the decepticons, Star Wars- Darth Vader, Savage Opress, Asajj Ventress, Darth Maul, etc.)  Should I be worried?