#38 start of our "staycation" without kiddos

This morning we got up and headed to the ball fields with Grandmommy & Granddaddy to watch Avery's last game!  He did great!!  I love to see his improvement through the course of a season!

Then we headed to Avery's baseball celebration at the coach's house.  The kiddos had a lot of fun!

And then the kiddos headed off to G&G's house by themselves well at least without the mom and dad...per their request...for the next four days!  I have talked to them and they are having a blast already.  

Ryan & I are enjoying a little "staycation" here while the superheroes & princess are away!

That means eating at the Cheesecake Factory for our anniversary!  Well the cheesecake part had to be saved for home because I always get so full there!

Then tomorrow the big plans are cooking and running...does this mean we are getting old ;)...but it sounds so good to do those things without 3 little kiddos to worry about...

Don't worry Grandmommy is keeping a blog {aka writing down everything with pencil and paper :)} of what they are doing while they are away so I will have a full report next week!!!  Until then I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July {I will be spending it down at the grandparents' too with the kiddos}!

#37 G&G come up

Happy Friday!

It was the last day of VBS for Avery.  As a celebration KC Wolf was brought in to talk to the kids.  I was just glad that when we saw him he looked like this...

...because the last time we saw him at the touch a truck and he looked like this...

...Ellie was so scared of the wolf!!  As she was a couple of weeks ago when we saw the "cow" at Chick fil A.  I will just say these scary mascots need to stop showing up in Ellie's life ;).

The church also celebrated with sno cones!  Yummy!

Then the kiddos "choice" for today was actually planned several weeks ago...they wanted to go spend time at Grandmommy &Granddaddy's house by themselves...without mom & dad!  So G & G ;) came up tonight ...we will go to Avery's last baseball game tomorrow... then the plan is for them to go back and stay for several nights before we come get them.  They are very excited about their "vacation"!  

We spent the evening playing outside in the beautiful weather and the kiddos caught lightning bugs with G & G!

#35 & #36 busy summer days

Here's some pictures of what's been happening the last two days...

Swimming!!!

Then a Take a Trip Thursday to Kidscape while Avery was at VBS...

Also, there was a little of...

Vacation Bible School for Avery

Playtime with Bella for Evan & Ellie

And glow sticks in the bathtub!

Finally, happy 9th anniversary to Ryan & I!!!  I can't believe it has been nine years already!  It has been the best years and I can't wait for many, many more!!!

#34 a trip to the blueberry patch

Today we took a trip to the blueberry patch!  I love picking our own fruit...we already picked strawberries this summer and there's still plans to pick blackberries!!  Last year, was our first year picking blueberries and even though it was a hot, hot day {wasn't everyday last summer hot} it was still fun so we decided we wanted to make it a yearly tradition.  The blueberry patch we go to is VERY popular around here so once they say the berries are ready you have to go quickly before they are all gone...the picking last summer wasn't very good for us because we waited too long.  Since the berries were ready we decided to head there tonight!  It was extra fun with some friends too!

{I'm pretty sure the kiddos ate as many as they picked!}

{The superheroes were old pros at what color was the right color to pick...the "blacker" ones are the best!}

{A cheap labor force ;)}

{But I don't know how much picking is actually being done!}

{Don't these girls look like twins??  If you can't tell Ellie is in the pink :)}

{There's also hay bales to play on...fun times!}

{Um, I think you might be too big for that tricycle Ryan ;)!}

Great memories and 4.7 pounds of blueberries later, we have another item crossed off our summer bucket list!

#33 a normal monday

I know I am double posting today, but I am finally catching up from this weekend.  We tried to have a relaxing Make Something Monday....well I guess as relaxing as it gets around here!

Today was Avery's first day at vacation bible school.  He is doing a soccer camp at his VBS and he LOVED his first day!!!  It is only for 1st-6th graders so that meant I still had E & E all morning....this week will be a little preview to what we will have this coming up school year with Avery gone ALL day long :(.  Well I survived making it to the gym and two stores with those two, but oh man....

Picking up Avery!

Then our afternoon session of Make Something Monday involved using Twizzlers to write our names.  Using the pull-apart Twizzlers would of had worked a lot better, but we had these leftover from camping so we just went with it.  Luckily my kiddos names don't involve very many curves so it worked out okay.

{I think this picture is hilarious because Ellie is also attempting to take a picture of it with my phone :)}

The best part...of course...was eating your name.

Then we did some painting with watercolors.  I actually like watercolors because they are pretty mess free.

Here's their work!  I made a column of artwork from each kiddo with Ellie on the left, Evan in middle, and Avery on right.  It's funny to see the progression of drawings.  Ellie's turned out pretty gray because she just kept using the black :), Evan was more worried about mixing colors and coming up with "new" colors then actually drawing a picture {he was so excited when he made "golden"....this is Evan's latest favorite color....do you know of anyone else who's favorite color is golden???  He beats to his own drum :)!}, then Avery created pictures of {from bottom to top} him camping, a rainbow, our house, Bella, and he tried his hand at mixing colors like Evan.

Then it was off to Avery's last baseball practice for the season.  They did team pictures.

He also got his medal for the season.  Way to go buddy!

#31 & #32 a very DIRTY weekend....part 2

Well if my mud run race wasn't enough dirtiness for one weekend....we also headed camping as soon as I washed off some of that mud!  I am not the biggest fan of camping....it's a lot of work to get everything packed up just to go play in the dirt, be dirty, and sleep in the heat...but Ryan & the kiddos LOVE it so I give them a camping night once a year ;).  We go to a lake that's only about 20 minutes away...far enough that we aren't at home, but close enough that we can return home very quickly if we need to!  I wasn't looking forward to the hot temperatures that were forecasted for this weekend, but there was 0% chance of rain Saturday night so I knew it was now or never to go.  {EVERY camping trip we have been on...before this one...it has started raining on us in the middle of the night....a tent + rain = no fun at all!}  The weather turned out to be quite nice...well as nice as I can expect for end of June in Kansas...and we all had lots of fun!  Some good friends decided to join us on our one night camping trip so that made things even better!

{We lucked out and got a GREAT spot...shady, our own access to the lake to fish at, a playground near by.....and the best part near the restrooms with RUNNING water...a big deal for me :)}

{Going for a walk to the "beach"}

{Lots of fun swimming!}

{The boys were watching out for sharks....yes, we are at a man-made lake in Kansas...I guess you never know ;)}

{Playing in the sand!}

{The best part of camping...eating lots of food!}

{and getting very messy with s'mores}

{Relaxing and hanging out with friends}

{Putting your feet in the water}

{Catching fish!!!}

{Fishing at sunset}

{Playing on the playground way past your bedtime}

{Being able to sleep with friends}

{And they are PASSED out!}

Then getting up and doing it again!

It was worth all the packing and all the dirtiness!!