Wednesday, July 31st

A date with our friends had been scheduled for a couple of weeks - we had plans to set up at Acworth Beach and stay for most of the day!  Alas, we woke up to relatively cold (for July in Georgia) and rainy weather and were forced to scrap those plans.  We didn't want the day to be a bust though, so my friend Amanda P. and I decided we would have a fun, low-key playdate at our house.  The kids played so well together and with tea time, free play, a movie + popcorn, and craft, the kids were all wore out by the time we said our goodbyes.  All four of my kiddos took a nap at the same time afterward - they were truly tired!!  When they got up, it was time for karate and back home to play for a bit before Jim got home from work and decided to take us out for Mexican :-)

Since we had already planned to have a no-school day because we'd be at the beach, I let the kids "off" even with our change in plans.  Victoria spent a long time tending to her lady bug that she keeps as a pet on the screened-in porch (see it in her hand?). It's actual alive-ness can neither be confirmed nor denied...

Scarlett said, "Look, I'm Mrs. C!" (who is expecting twins!) lol

When their friends arrived, the kids all played so well for quite a while.  I decided I wasn't going to announce that it was time for tea until someone started squabbling, and they made it a good forty-five minutes!  Right when we sat down for tea and snack, the sky went totally dark and we had a brief monsoon.  Scarlett said, "Who turned off the lights??" It looked like nighttime outside!

Of course Waverly was anxious to get her snuggles from Ms. Amanda ;-)

It's definitely grocery store time, so I didn't have a lot of fun snack options... however, the kids seemed perfectly happy with the remains of a french loaf of bread sliced up and served with a smear of Nutella (okay, possibly slightly more than a smear).

Judd, who was stylishly rocking a man-pony, enjoyed licking the Nutella off the bread bit-by-bit.

More playing followed, then it was time for movie & popcorn.  This ended up being the kid's lunch - parenting win!

Three little monkeys :-)

Craft time! I had found these little generic, blank people-shaped cutouts at The School Box.  A package of 30 was only $5, and I had picked them up knowing there were all manner of crafty things the kids could do with them.

The boys worked on their people for several minutes (Lincoln pretty much cut his guy in half and called it a day), but the girls spent a good long while making clothes and hair for their guys.

Victoria's guy~

Scarlett's guy.  I was all, "Wow, Scarlett!  Great dancing monkey with his little hat!" and she quickly informed me that it was not, in fact, a monkey.  It's a clown. Okay!

The kids woke up from naptime ravenous, so I made up with my popcorn lunch by making up one of their favorite healthy snacks - vanilla yogurt, organic granola and a drizzle of honey, all mixed together.  They each ate two bowlfuls, while Waverly did some fan-staring :-)

Jim is such a pro - out to dinner, and he can successfully navigate the very tricky eating-queso-while-holding-a-baby scene!

Totally checked out :-)