The Week of F-U-N!

 We began our week - Sunday - with church. Of course! And Sunday night was an exciting night. We had our AWANA awards night. All the children are rewarded for their hard work. And of course, since I am the director of our Trek club (6-8th grade), I did not have time to get ANY pictures of our children with their awards. BUT they were very excited and I am so proud of all of them. Maddie earned the highest awards for her grade and in her club, along with her friend Rebecca. They are both in Trek. Robert earned two of the three highest awards in his club, T&T. Lindsay and Beatrice both earned the highest awards they could earn in their club and level (Sparkies). Kristinie the Great also earned her book award in Cubbies. The total verse count, roughly, that everyone learned this year is somewhere around 400-500! Yes, you read that right! And that is not including the sixty or so verses they each learned for school. Well, Beatrice was probably more like 40 for school. God has blessed us with industrious and hard working children. They don't just do their basic verses, they do their reviews, and extra credit. In Lindsay's case, she did extra extra credit! And Robert set a goal of completing an adventure (which is 7 sections with approximately 5-10 verses) a week. And he finished his book in eight weeks! Most kids finish them sometime in March or April. And Maddie finished her book by February or March (I can't remember which) and she decided to do her challenge sections which are very difficult. And she completed them! I am really proud of them.

Here is my sister-in-law (Chris' wife) and their grandson, Aiden. He earned a participation award because he started kind of late in the year. He is in Cubbies with Rachel, John, and Beaker.

Here is John, Rachel, and Erin.

After AWANA, two of Maddies' friends came and spent the night. She was so excited! And so was everyone else. We have known them since they were babies. On Monday, they went back to their friends' house to swim and I took Beatrice and Kristinie the Great to a place called Power of Play. I used to call it Power of Bacteria because they place was so dirty and nasty! I am no germophobe - we have the 5 minute rule in our house! But the place was a dump. I was pleasantly surprised to find it had been renovated and it was great! Clean, bright, open, and lots of fun stuff to go on. Here are Beaker and Beatrice on the play jungle.

Beatrice

Kristinie the Great

See saw - I thought these were safety hazards! 

Here is Beaker playing doctor. I think I got fifty shots and my blood pressure taken a million and one times!! I guess I am healthy.

Dr. Beatrice looking all serious!

Monday evening, we watched our grandnephew Aiden. He is 4, six months older than Kristinie the Great. He loves superheros and he was playing batman. Kristinie the Great was supposed to be Starfire but she wasn't getting the whole concept. She kept going in the batcave the wrong way and doing the wrong thing. Aiden was a tad bit frustrated with her! We were enjoying the comic routine. It was sort of like Abbot and Costello - but not.

While the little kids played on the playground, we played badminton with our neighbors, Sidney and Logan. They are Lindsay and Bea's ages.

Here is what happens when your kids get your camera! Lindsay!

Aiden!

Good buddies! The first thing Aiden does is run and jump in Roberts' arms when he sees him. He doesn't care about anyone else. It is so cute.

Fun on the slide with Starfire.

Being the ever industrious person that I am, I was inspired by my sister-friend and made Bea and Kristinie the Great a similar dress. Pay no attention to the grumpy little girl on the right. She just woke up from her nap. And then, while Rachel and John visited, I made Rachel a dress to match. I put it on her and she was so excited, she hugged herself!!! HA HA HA!!

Thursday was knitting and crocheting and we had a great time sitting around and not knitting and crocheting but talking! After dinner that night, we went to Mayfaire Town Centre and walked around. It's an open air mall, sort of. We ended up at Atlanta Bread Company. Did you know, I could eat there every single day and never get tired of their California sandwich? After 8:00pm, their pastries are half price. Mr. Handsome treated us to some delicious pastries! They don't have a huge selection but they had things we liked, so no one's complaining.

Friday was our fun in the sun day. It's the day we head to Landfall pool to swim. As soon as Beaker found out, she ran to dress herself. And this is what happens when a 3 year old dresses herself. In case you are unsure of what you are actually seeing, she put her board shorts UNDER her bathing suit. YES! You read that correctly. She put her board shorts UNDER her bathing suit. We were cracking up. 

The water was very cold because it had rained quite a bit. 

Beatrice underwater! This is our olympus tough camera. And I can honestly say it is TOUGH! I love this thing. AND it takes great photos!

Lindsay

Fight for the ladder.

Erin and Rachel

Lindsay and Maddie

Saturday was a banner day for our Beatrice. She got an early birthday present. Mr. Handsome took her to pick out a bike! She is rather self conscious riding it but she really loves it. It is, of course, pink.

Kristinie the Great didn't want me to forget about her.

For dinner, Robert decided to set the table in a special way. Here is his handiwork. 

That is our week. It flew by and we have one whole week of summer behind us already. We did have quite a few sleepovers last week, too. I will try to remember. Beatrice spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's. I already mentioned Maddies' friends coming over. There was one more but I can't remember. This will be the summer of the sleepover. OH - and I started working on the Fourth of July banners! Right now, they look like referee shirts - blue and red - but after I add the stars, they will look fabulous. I was thinking that these banners remind me a bit of Richard Simmons because the fabric is so him! Shiny and crazy and just plain fun. I might need to incorporate feathers into my next set. I also made an easy french bread recipe, which you can find here: http://www.dealstomeals.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-post_09.html  I made 15 pounds of mashed potatoes and froze them, as well as black beans and froze them. In hindsight, I should have used seasonings when I cooked them. They are rather bland and hopefully, they will taste good when I use them. 

The Week in Review - As we begin our summer!

I am in a really bad mood right now. Nope, it's not because my brothers were stupit (note the spelling), though that does foster a lot of irritation in my heart. But I do forgive them because I know I irritate them too. It's because my sewing machine is broken. I am really, really sad about this but I can't be too sad because I did get one of my sister-friends' dresses done for her daughter - as you will see below. I am praying it is an OE (Operator Error) and tomorrow when I am in a better mood - I will take a look at it and see what I can make of it all. Anyway, we celebrated Memorial Day at my parents. Here are Kristinie the Fearless and Lindsay the chicken hearted deciding whether to get in the water. Kristinie the Fearless had no qualms. Lindsay, on the other hand, was not convinced.

I think Beaker is flaunting her fearlessness here. She is about 15' above the water when she climbs on this railing. 

THE BOY having a ball - as usual! He is jumping from the boat launch, which is all it's good for right now. It works well as a boat launch, but people keep stealing Oz's propellors off his boat! Renecks! Go figure! So he has to leave his boat on his trailer parked in his driveway. It stinks for us kids - and him - because when we want to use it, we have to go find him, get him to meet us at the boat ramp he uses, then he has to come back and get us. You get the idea. Big pain in the neck! So, we just swim off the pier.

Kristinie the Fearless and Aiden the Daring getting ready to swim. He was so excited! 

Here they are - in the water. This made all the older kids feel a bit foolish so of course.......

They had to join the fracas.

Beatrice, who is in the back, is still unsure but finally gets brave and joins the fun.

My sister-in-law Jackie and my parents' dog Dagmar, who thinks it's a cat. 

We celebrated my birthday at Dorothy and Oz's house. And a friend of my sister-in-law Erin's was there. Her little girl's birthday was the day after Memorial Day so we celebrated it together! That was fun!

Lindsay spent two nights with Oz and Dorothy. Of course, she had a great time. On Tuesday we found out the girls' glasses came in. Here is Beatrice with her new glasses. Did they really make a difference? YES! They did! In fact, I was AMAZED! She was doing pretty well reading so I didn't give it much thought, except that she had to really practice a lot! When she got her glasses it was like a light switch went on. She is reading everything - really well, too!! :) 

OH, they are getting along now but you just don't know what happened AFTER I snapped this cute photo of two smiling ponytailed girls!! :) I can't remember either but there was a lot of screaming and fussing going on. Because, in our house, we are like the Duggars. Every fifteen minutes, there is some crisis that demands a scream or seventy.

On Wedensday, after the nursing home, we met Dorothy and Erin at Wendy's for lunch. Here is everyone peering over the wall wondering where on earth our lunch is because it takes forever to order seven kids' meals, all with different toppings and sides, drinks, and three adult meals! We bring fast food restaurants to a grinding halt! It's only fast food if there is one order. After that, it's hurry up and wait.

Here is Beaker trying to reach her clothes. No, she did not feel like finding a chair so she opened Maddies' dresser drawers and used them for stairs. YES! I know it is a serious safety hazard so, now that school is done, we will be rearranging the dresser so the little darling can reach her clothes without climbing on it or into it.

Here is the dress I made for one of my sister-friends. My brother embroidered the name and the one next to the ladybug. It was so easy and cute to make. Here is where I got the pattern from: http://www.themotherhuddle.com/tutorial-front-or-back-tie-pillowcase-dress/ Well, actually, it is a pieced dress and this is not so I had to rethink it but it was simple! And fun to make. It only took a short time to make. As in maybe 1.5 hrs. And I made bloomers (below) Here is an example of the dress from etsy but not the original inspiration because I can't find it: http://pinterest.com/rainbocow/pillowcase-dresses/

On Friday, we kicked off our no more school for the summer by making our annual pilgrimage to Mecca, I mean Britt's Doughnuts! (I hope I don't get threatened by Al Qaeda!) Anyway, they are way better than Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts hands down! We go once in the beginning of summer and will probably go at the end of summer, after the tourists leave. Britt's is right on the boardwalk of Carolina Beach. Well, if you can call it a boardwalk. It's a little piece of land that is about three blocks long with a small amusement park and some shops. They call it a boardwalk but it's a shortwalk really. It's very cute and I like it but it doesn't compare (Oops! There I go - I will stay in the south, thank you!)

On Friday, it's cleaning day, too! And when we got home one of my dearest sister-friends (who also cleans my house every other week thanks to Dorothy) had made me a cake and left me a birthday present - which coincidentally matches my kitchen curtains and walls perfectly!! The cake is homemade. Did I just say that? Yes!! Even the flowers are HOMEMADE! She makes them by hand and the cake is a yellow cake with chocolate swiss buttercream frosting. And it is covered with yellow fondant! YUMMMOOOOO!!!! As Rachel Ray would say. I have been very nice too. When we eat it, everyone gets one flower and I get three! (They don't know I have three but I do! SHHHhhhhh!!!!! Don't tell them! And I am saving the center!) The cake will now live in infamy on my blog! 

Friday night, my nephew and my niece watched four of the children while Lindsay went to spend the night with her best friend. They already decided they are going to college together! (Not my nephew and niece, Lindsay and her best friend) Mr. Handsome and I are so thankful for our nephew and niece. They have a son, Aiden (Aiden the Daring), who loves Robert. In fact, when we dropped them off, he ran around the van, jumped in Roberts' arms, and grabbed him and dragged him inside, forgetting about his girl cousins! Anyway, Mr. Handsome and I went to Brasserie du Soleil. I'm not even going to try to pronounce it because, as I told my friend Scharlotte, all I was getting was Bra of the Sun! She said it sounded like some gentlemen's club! HA!! We were cracking up. But not to worry! It was no, ahem, "gentlemen's club"! It was a lovely restaurant and the food was outstanding. Mostly local, too, which was great! We had some kind of root vegetable soup with sour cream and meatballs. (It was a whole lot more technical but for the sake of my laziness I am just leaving it simple.) It was better than our dinner. In fact, I wish I had ordered three bowls of the soup. Our dinner was great, too, though. Three small hamburgers with roasted vegetables and guyere cheese. And french fries. 

Here are the one year olds' bloomers!! Cute, eh? I left them simple because it's on her bum. 

Saturday we went to a birthday party (cake will be below and birthday girl) and afterwards swimming. Here is Beaker ready to swim! 

Here is Beatrice and Mr. Handsome!

When we got home from the pool, there was a big envelope for Robert from none other than President Barack Obama. For school, one of his assignments was to write the president. So he wrote Mr. President and told him he was praying for him. Mr. President had someone who has no idea how to write a letter to a kid, write a letter. It began as, "Dear Student". Even our church generates generic form letters that say, "Dear Mr. and Mrs. R. Taylor Blake"! Anyway, his "letter" also said nothing of what was in Robert's letter. Okay, I will stop there because I don't want my blog to be political and then have some secret service guy show up at my door accusing me of saying bad things about the president like some kid in western NC did and was told it was illegal!! Anyway, THE BOY was over the moon about the letter and picture but his and his sisters' favorite part was the photo of the First family's dog!! He is a pretty cute dog. Maybe he could do better.... oops... onto other things... LIKE Robert's camping trip!

Robert went camping. I don't remember when but I want to say around May 19. Here he is with his buds in a boat. This scene brings back fond memories of Fourth of July at my aunt and uncle's house. If you can imagine SIX adults in a small aluminum boat trying to row out onto the lake. Nope? You can't? Of course you can't! They sank it before it left the dock! Fond memories!

Here is THE BOY getting ready to go on the zipline!

And last Sunday night was AWANA's Get Wet Night! The little fella with the red shirt is my grandnephew, Aiden (Aiden the Daring)! He is a cutie and loves John, Rachel, and Kristinie the Great!

Here is Lindsay's and Bea's class. Bea is on the left with her pink rashguard. Lindsay is on the right behind the little Asian fella (Her friend Daniel) and to her right is her best friend.

Beaker having fun in the pool.

What I love about Get Wet Night is not the time Commander Jeff spends getting games ready for us. It is such a great time for a water fight!! My goal in life, every year, is to soak Commander Jeff!! This year, I wore my rain coat so I wouldn't get too wet. That's me in the yellow coat. I am a little camoflaged by our yellow bus but I am there. I was standing by the wading pool with a big bucket and Mr. Jeff had a puny water hose and was going to spray me!! ME!! Can you believe it? Needless to say, I got him good. And I didn't just get him once. I got him two more times after that! Then I went inside because once the Cubbies and Puggles go inside it's bedlam. While I don't mind bedlam, I am realizing that I am too big and too old to get hurt. So I go inside and stay safe!

Here I am with two of my sister-friends. On the left is Tanya, she is our Cubbies and Puggles director. On the right is Jennifer. She is our Sparkies director. 

And here we are at the beach on Friday. Beatrice having fun.

Beaker trying to snorkel.

AND - the birthday party!! It was loads of fun. The little fella on the slide is Kristinie the Great's best friend. It's his little sister's first birthday. 

Beaker sliding down the slide!

THE BOY!

Lindsay!!

The Birthday girl and her Mommy!

And the amazing cakes! The birthday girls' aunts made them. Arent' they cute as a button?! My aim was to stay dry at this party but it was not to be. Beaker had a cup of water and I wasn't paying attention, though Birthday Girls' mommy WAS trying to warn me. I saw Beaker out of the corner of my eye, and not realizing who it was, as she was throwing a cup of water on me, I shoved her back! YES! I am an awful mommy!! I shocked her and myself! She got me good though and was a good sport about me shoving her! This will pretty much be how our summer is. One fun day after another. Unless I can't get my sewing machine fixed. Then it will be one grumpy mommy to contend with day after day after day after day. I am praying it will be a simple fix, though! And hopefully I won't have to rant on my blog anymore about it. There is something about a blog or being able to say what you want and people have to read it that lends itself to two things: Careless abandon and abuse of the person reading it. (Because, really, who wants to read about someone griping about something every single week?! Well, the exception is a broken sewing machine). Or: careful restraint bordering on boredom. I am trying a happy medium so once in a while I may be a runaway train in ranting but I think a broken sewing machine warrants it. Just sayin'!