Dance Party?

Frank and Amanda had a fun Sunday afternoon planned, we did this kid dance party thing...seemed lame to us adults, but the kiddos loved it.

And there was face painting, really what more could you want. We also tested Emmy's endurance level, she lasts a pretty long time with no nap and a full beach day the previous day, however there's only so much a girl can take and the car ride home proved that! Cry, cry, cry...

Aleah's

We hit Frank and Amanda's over the weekend of the 10 days in Florida trip (don't hate us!)

We went to Shark Tooth Beach, a dance party and most importantly - the pool!

It was SO good to see friends again, it had been too long!

Loaded up and Headed South

The kids and I (no Stuart) headed to Florida to visit the grandparents and Frank, Amanda and Aleah!

We had a WONDERFUL time! We hit the beach right away, many days over. Played at the most rockin' park right next to Grannie and Poppa's house and got to play with Aleah. It was the kids perfect vacation! They got loved on, played with, swam and came back more tired than ever.

We managed cheapo tickets and the flight was perfect. Cam and Em both travel very well.

So, here are some kids and Grannie shots:

I promised more info on Cam's words Exhilarating and Accumulate.

Here's the deal, he learned them from NOGGIN. And used 'em both in one day! He was outside alone playing wall ball and came running in the house exclaiming, "That was exhilarating!" Then he went on to say that he would like to "accumulate more stuffed animals" because that's what he collects. TOO CUTE, and accurate!

Date Night

Ahhhh, we had a babysitter. We went to Indiana Jones. OH...MY....WORD. HOW bad was that?

I'm just posting my warning. Unless you have tickets handed to you, just wait and burn a few bucks on the rental to discover how bad this one is.

http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_9333553

There's the review that states it well.

But, really, without revealing the ending all I can say is its SOOOOOOOO bad.

So, there's my unsolicited review. And my final advise, don't go. Just skip it and watch Raiders again.

Book Review #2 and a GIVEAWAY!!!

Book: Fatal Deduction

Author: Gayle Roper

Summary: Libby Burton longs to be close to her twin sister, Tori, but their lives have taken them in different directions. Forced to share Aunt Stella’s old Philadelphia home in order to receive their inheritance, Libby hopes for a change, but it isn’t looking good so far.

First, Tori tries to steal the affection and allegiance of Libby’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Chloe. Then when a crossword puzzle with a hidden warning shows up on their doorstep, Tori refuses to take it seriously—in spite of the dead man who delivers it.

Libby finds comfort in neighbor Drew Canfield, but he hesitates to trust her after his disastrous marriage. As Libby struggles to act faithfully in the midst of these confusing relationships, she must also deal with a stolen diamond and a botched kidnapping. The answer to her problems lies in the riddles of the crosswords, if only she can solve the puzzle before it’s too late.

The above is a cut and paste of what the book is about...now for the review:
First, I liked this book and I'm not a big mystery person. It was enough suspense mixed in with a really good story to keep me interested. There's a little romance for us chickies and yet enough adventure that your hubby COULD pick this up and not throw up :) The main way for me to tell I liked a book: I ignored the kids until I was done reading it and I stayed up later than normal trying to finish! That's a good sign! The only problem I had was following the switch between narration and first person that Gayle Roper used. It was not as effective for me, but you may not have any trouble with the switches.

ANYHOW, you want to receive your free copy???? Send me a comment and I'll randomly choose from the comments :)

Home and Vocabulary

We made it home and while away we extended our vocabulary.

Let's just say, Granny and Poppa have Noggin on their TV and we were "vacationed"!

Sooo, Cam's new words: exhilarating and accumulate. More details to come.

Em's new word was NOT from TV, it was from Momma, "snarky" and it was used properly if you're wondering Mrs. Hanna. AHHH. Again, more details to come, but we laughed a lot!

Visited Frank, Amanda and Aleah and never did the sunshine agree more with a family! They just need that business to make a million! But it was so wonderful to see them and go to the beach and swim! Cam and Aleah had a wonderful time and Amanda got to clean up after Emmy, who is potty trained except at their home...lovely.

Wonderful trip...tired tired tired...but we did relax and have fun. The weather - perfect...the beaches we went to - perfect...hanging out with grandparents - perfect.

Now, when do we go back? WITH daddy?

You can't go with us.

So Cam is having a conversation with Kathy, a co-worker of Stu's.
She asks if she can come to Florida with us.

Cam replys, "well, if you lived in our house you could, but you don't live in our house so you can't come."

In the retelling to me he also included the phrase, "its difficult to explain"

So, the gist of it is, if you're in our family, you're welcome to come to FL...otherwise you're OUT!

Hopefully pics of FL will some soon.

Alice the Cat

Alice the Cat strikes again!

Emmy has continued her story of Alice, the pink cat with pink eyes (that detail added today)

Alice has now: gone to church with her, slept in her tent in her room, gotten lost, been waiting for us in the van to go and pick up "Bu" from school, she was also in Daddy's car for a while too.

We'll see what she's up to tomorrow.

That Cat!

Bowhairs

Em calls her bows that....bowhairs.

Anyhow, thanks to Tammy I've been making bowhairs for a week! Still more ribbon...gifts!

Look out below!

Lots of posts below...scroll...scroll...scroll

Fishin'

Fishing time is here...
Em is also dressing herself. Dancing and fishing apparently require the same outfit.

Cam's got a new BIGGER fishing pole (spiderman); the old one broke!
Em's is princess and she actually will cast it into the water with the little plastic crown thing that comes with it, instead of a hook.

Cam is serious about fishing this year. His attention span is much better and he's learning the ropes pretty well. And the boy can cast, MUCH better than his Momma.

Stu's loving this. Andy Griffith right here.

Photo Shoot

Emmy and her flower...

Boys.

Tonight at the ball field we watched a buddy play baseball, but really we were there to hang out with friends and play at the playground. And apparently we were there for Em to chat with boys.

You read right, boys. She knows. OH does she know. She stands different, tilts her head, saunters! This was the scene...a teeball/baseball team waiting to play, just standing around. Emmy walks right up to the group of 8/9 year olds and tells them the following:

Em: I, I, I tew da boys I have a pink cat. Her name Alice. Her go school and my, my, my pink cat run 'way. So I yell for her, I yell ALICE and she, she, she come back.

First, we have no pink cat. The name...no idea. School, okay we went to Cam's school to register him today. All the rest, running away, coming back...no idea.

Second, she had this harem of boys spellbound. She kept running away, looking over her shoulder to see if they'd chase. Coming back and chatting more. Seriously, she totally intruded on their group thing and just took over. Flirt.

Mostly, I'm grateful that the boys she preens infront of are still young and sweet to her. They laugh and chat with her, meanwhile I'm wondering if this is a sign of things to come. Last night she picked her object of affection: David. Last week: Jesse (we're STILL talking about Jesse- "I wike Jesse" quote from last night. They're always older, hoping its a big brother thing. She does it at home to a degree ... dresses up and wants "Bu" to see her (brother) and he does and makes the proper response - Emmy you're beautiful- (bless his heart, he's such a good brother).

Anyhow, tonight was priceless and caught on film.

Kindergarten...already?

Its gonna be hard.

We registered for Kindergarten today.

I'm not ready.

He is, I'm not.

Its gonna be hard to watch my little boy walk off alone.
Its gonna be hard to NOT know most of his day.
Its gonna be hard.

I'm not ready (have I mentioned?)

Anyhow, we loved the school (looking around) and Cam introduced himself to another little boy that's going to be in kindergarten there next year (he did make Sissy go over with him to chat...man they are getting along so well)

I'm NOT ready.

EARTHQUAKE?!

Earthquake...we're up...the house shook for about 15 seconds. This, apparently, was big.
Little freaked out, but the kids slept thru!

Wow, that was a big one:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/

5.4

wow.

Let's go Fly A Kite on TAX DAY, uggggggg

Beautiful day...
...played outside after school and ate our lunch out!

Then we got the call from Nora to go the the park and fly kites!

Cam and Daniel ran and ran and ran (beautiful!)
Em and Bethany climbed, slid, dug in the sand, ran and Bethany flew her kite (quite well!)

They were all dirty, tired, and summertime smelly...beautiful!!!

Then we pushed it to the edge with impromptu dinner (baskin robbins is very strict on their dollar scoop hours, so we had to do dinner first!) and then dollar scoop night. Em barely ate her strawberry ice cream and pushed Bethany's frayed little buttons by trying to eat HER ice cream.

So, the end was not as pretty as the beginning, but still SO fun, and I do believe the boys are going to "hang out" sometime. Its nice to have an older kid think you're alright, it gives Cam such a boost. He's always had some older buddies (Harps, Austin) and this has continued nicely here. I just love that God has provided friendships for my little boy, that's some serious icing on the cake.

Now we shall see what tomorrow brings...oh the plumber (leak under the kitchen sink...and taxes (did I mention that?))

What did you learn in youth group?

So, there was a lovely discussion in the van on the way home from youth group/our small group meeting/play in the gym time. Its our Sunday night, and Cam and Emmy love, LOVE, LOVE it! I have never seen Cam more emphatic about anything than going to youth group, he loves it. And his teacher, Mr. Steve, (hope I have that right) anyhow, he rocks.

Anyhow, I asked what Cam learned about.

Cam - That guy taking his son up to sacrifice him.

Me- you mean Abraham?

Cam - Yeah, that one. Anyway, do you know that sacrifice means kill? And he took his son up and then an angel came and brought a very special kinda sheep so Abraham didn't have to kill his son, they got to use the very special sheep instead and it all was okay and God was happy.

Me - (BIG PAUSE, this is a story I have trouble with, I'm sincerely convinced that Abraham did NOT inform Sarah of his intentions with the whole sacrifice thing. I'm pretty sure a mom would have a bit of trouble with it. And I'm mostly sure my trust/faith in God would not be this strong, anyhow I say...) Yeah, that's an interesting story. Abraham trusted God a lot. He knew that no matter how silly or strange it seemed to him, that God had a best plan. Abraham trusted that God would make everything turn out alright.

Cam -yeah, I trust God too. He's stronger than anything, and I bet he can make me fly, if He wanted too.

Emmy (pipes up) - I twust God too!

Then the conversation ran on to flight and a few statements about TV and such. But you know what, he does trust God. What's not to trust? I think it just gets muddled when we decide we know what's best and forget that this is not home.

Anyhow, I think in the end, great conversation, but man, if I were Mr. Steve I'd be rethinking that curriculum! Heavy stuff indeed!

Wasps

Yup, that's what the warm weather brought to us, wasps and TONS of them. All flying around the backyard. Lovely. We sprayed their hideouts last night, so hopefully we'll see an improvement today. Yuck.

Thankfully the front yard still seems wasp free, but we shall see.

Otherwise we're off to enjoy another beautiful, beautiful day!

SPRING BREAK!!!

Ahhhh, it's here! And its BEAUTIFUL, at least for a few days. The weather is stunning and we will be outside for most of it! Yesterday was filled full of bike riding, basketball and baseball for Cam. A nap, dancing, sand, swinging, chalk and bubbles for Em. For me: cleaning the van, ahhhhh so much better now and trying to do some yard work, yuck. Stu: biking with Cam, basketball with Cam, taxes, grilling out, baseball and a little bit of star wars.

Beautiful day!

Now lets see what today brings!

Nora's Suggestion

Nora overheard me say something yesterday while we were on the phone:
"Don't hit your sister with the whale"
She said I should write these down...so the weirdest thing I said yesterday was, "don't hit your sister with the whale" in reference to the new stuffed animal shamu, which Em insists on calling Baby Shampoo. LOVE THAT.

Today's statement, "That's an interesting place to put that". Now while I know the statement isn't so funny this part is:
The statement was in reference to the pull up laying in the hallway with a partially sucked cough drop laying nicely in the middle of it. That's what she thought of it, skip the whole digestive process and put this where it goes! She said to me, "I, I, I, I put it there." That's what 5 minutes unattended does.