Fun Days

Family photo at our church's festival a few weeks ago

The last full week of summer vacation is over.  I'm not saying my kids were perfect this summer, and there were definitely times when they drove me bonkers, but we had a really good summer.  And if they don't start acting like little shits this week, I'm going to be very, very sad when they go to school.  I'm not sure what's gotten into them this summer, being all sweet and lovable more than their normal percentage of time.  But they could help their mom out a little by making me want to send them off to school in a few days.  I know they have it in them :)

 

That would be Casey

 

Good fun!

 

That would be Emily in her own sack next to Tom.  I did not want her going in her own sack for fear she would break her leg or not go down as fast as Tom.   I tried to shut this idea down big time....

 

....but then we wouldn't have had this when they were finished - pure joy :)

Last weekend was Tom's birthday.  I won't out him here on his age, when the girls read this one day, they can do the math to know which birthday we celebrated.  His birthday was on Saturday, which is his usual golf day, and he shot in the 70's for his special day!  We'll just call that my gift to him.  I was somewhat responsible, right?  I mean if I wasn't such an amazing wife who actually doesn't mind that her husband golfs every Saturday morning while I'm at home with 2 young kids, 70's wouldn't have happened.  Yeah, so you're welcome, honey :)  Hope we made your special day a good one!

The green sprinkles were Emily's idea.  The pink candles were Casey's idea.  I don't think Tom was surprised that there would be pink somewhere on his cake with these girls in the house!

 

Anyhow, while he was gone golfing, I was hurrying to make and decorate a (pretty clever) cake and make an appetizer for him to snack on while he watched the golf tournament on TV (that is what he wanted to do for his birthday - drink beer and watch golf.  Pretty easy to please in my opinion; I'm much more demanding on my birthday :).  And in the process of cutting lettuce, I managed to cut off a small chunk of the tip of my thumb.  As I was looking at the knife in my thumb on the cutting board, 3 things very quickly went through my mind: 1) Again?!?  2) Hmm? It doesn't hurt.  3) That's a lot of blood, and because I've cut my fingers before, I know I have a tendency to pass out at this.  So I called our neighbor, Jolene, to come over and look at it for me to determine if I needed stitches because I refused to look at it, knowing I was home along with the girls and didn't want to pass out in front of them.  No stitches required AND she stayed to finish the appetizer and clean up all the dishes for me!!!  Just in time for Tom to come home!

 

Happy Birthday hugs!

 

Sunday, we hired a sitter for Emily and Tom and I took Casey to a Reds' game.  A day with just our big girl.  Despite Casey stressing out the entire game about the possibility of fireworks (after 16 ear infections and tubes in her ears, she can't handle loud noises- it's a huge source of anxiety for her), Casey declared the day to be awesome!!  We had great seats and arrived early enough to get a free book and a picture with Rosie Red!  And UDF ice cream in a plastic Reds hat is a must at a game.

 

Casey and Rosie Red

 

I love these daddy/daughter shots.  I get them as often as I can.  One day, I'm going create a little memory book of just pictures of Tom holding hands with the girls.

This week we finally bought all of the school supplies on the girls' lists.  (For the first time, glue sticks and crayons didn't make the list!)  We went to the zoo with friends on the most perfect, amazing weather day!  And another day we went up to Dayton to visit my cousin, Jean, and her 3 daughters.  Fun times with fun friends and family for sure this past week!

See the tigers exactly 4 inches behind them?  Emily is NOT happy about this.  She, in fact, was scared of most of the animals at the zoo.

 

I love this picture because of the colors and the size of the bear in proximity to the kids.  Also, Emily is scared of the polar bear and I love how Casey's hand is on her back. 

 

Sillies

 

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I am certain one day in the future when we look back at this blog, we will see a consistent theme for me in the year 2013 - the weather.  After unseasonably cool temperatures this summer, the forecast for the first two days of school is 90 degrees.  Nice.  Last week it was in the 70's and too chilly for the pool and this week it's going to warm up, so we'll be logging some pool time before the big first day.  Maybe the girls will start acting like the little punks I know they can be and I won't be so sad to pack up the backpacks and slap them on their butts on the way out the door to school.
 
Come on, girls, get me here.  I know you can do it :)