Sunday, October 20th

The sleepover fun continued on Sunday morning, as the kids played and ate a hearty breakfast.  Then the dads (Jim and Stevens) took the four big kids to free kids movie screening at our local theater!  Back home we somehow managed to achieve napping nirvana, with all four kids going down at the same time and snoozing for two hours straight which meant that Jim and I could both indulge in a long nap, too!  Ah... bliss :-)  In the late afternoon it was time for baths and AWANA, which the kids once again enjoyed immensely - even more so as Charlotte was able to go with them!

Breakfast of champions: Hot tea, orange juice, piles of pancakes and bacon.

Three lovely girls cleaned up, dressed and hair fixed, ready for the movie!

Waverly and I didn't go, but reports are that they did an excellent job at the movies (and a so-so job at lunch afterward) seeing "Turbo."

Lincoln and Mr. Young~

Mid-morning, Nana kept Waverly entertained while I met Amanda P. at the gym for a good workout.  Nana snapped this picture of the baby in her exersaucer and it's so cute!  She is just so smiley all of the time - I love it!!

An update on Cupcake: she's still here, still thinks she owns the place ;-)

Saturday, September 28th

Saturday morning Jim worked on pulling out all of the camping gear for our upcoming trip.  We wanted to make sure that everything was in great shape and finalize a list of items to pick up.  Of course, a mock campsite set-up in your own backyard equals hours of play for kids!  In the early afternoon there was a Notre Dame football game that Jim and a friend were going to watch at our house, so I left the littlest fan at home and took the three big kids out for a couple of errands and then to see a movie.  As soon as we were back home, the kids ran right out to play for the rest of the evening in the backyard and the girls ended up camping in their tent all night :-)

Sure appreciate Jim's hard work in getting this all set up!  The kids had told us very specifically that they wanted to sleep in their own tent this year on our camping trip.  We thought we were going to have to buy a little cheap secondary tent, however Nana had a really nice one stowed away and so we got that one all set up and it's perfect!  Thanks, Nana :-)  I'm so in love with our big, cabin style tent, too.  That was such a a great investment.

Victoria found this super fuzzy caterpillar, named his Crawley, and spent hours playing with and tending to this thing :-p

When Lincoln was little and not yet walking, we had purchased this baby holder for use while camping.  It's like an exersaucer meets an adult camping chair, with loops around the top to clip on little toys.  Waverly loves to be outside and was all bouncy and excited when I took her out back to try this out for size, but when I set her in there she looked up to Jim like, "Really? What am I supposed to DO in here?" haha  She's still a bit small for it, but we'll make it work with some extra support.

While Jim was busy, I got the kids all decked out in their Notre Dame gear complete with tattoos, stickers and all!  He loved it :-)  Sadly, it did not help them actually WIN, but at least his crew looked cute.

Go Irish! (love Lincoln's fierce football player face, hehe)

Another favorite that we've had since Victoria was only a bit bigger than Waverly is now - our awesome hiking, baby-holding backpack. It's a Sherpani, and was worth every penny - it's held up awesomely over the years!  I was pretty sure that Waverly would be way too little for it, but we decided to give it a try and she fit great :-)  

I needed to go by Target for a couple of things before we went to our movie, so I told the kids they could each pick out one candy to take.  I kid you not, we spent at least twenty minutes in the candy aisle while they poured over, compared, negotiated, asked for details and otherwise had everyone else passing by laughing at their hardcore, candy-decision-making behavior. (Final decisions: Scarlett - Junior Mints, Lincoln - Whoppers, Victoria - Angry Bird Fruit Snacks; however Scarlett and Lincoln split their choices 50/50 so they could have a little of both)

Movie time!  We saw Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 - it was a really fun, cute movie that the kids thoroughly enjoyed.

At home that evening, the kids played and played outside and finally asked if they could have their last thirty minutes or so before bed as outside, in their tent Nook time.  We acquiesced and then decided to surprise them by allowing them to sleep in their tent.  They were all ecstatic!  However, when push came to shove, Linc wound up in Nana's room and fell asleep in her bed after about 90 seconds ;-)  Jim opted to sleep in the other, big tent as well - he wanted them to feel big and cool, sleeping in their own tent, but he wasn't quite ready for them to sleep in the backyard alone.  What a great daddy, sleeping out there all night so his girls could have that fun experience :-)

Friday, August 9th

There were a lot of plans made for Friday, however the weather did not cooperate at all.  Fortunately everyone was able to go with the flow and so despite the changes, a good day was had by all!  A mix of around-the-house time with Uncle Jeff, a movie outing, some necessary party preparation (the next day was Victoria's 5th birthday party), and of course quality time with weapons :-)

Morning snuggles with Uncle Jeff.  Waverly seemed perplexed - it's like daddy but not daddy...? (can you tell there's no other men in her life??)

 Lincoln was showing off his mad game-playing skills on his Nook.

Scarlett made 12 pancakes like a pro!

 Then... the grand reveal!  Uncle Jeff had brought a belated birthday gift for Lincoln - an AR-15 style airsoft gun.  Because every 3-year-old needs assault weapons, right?

Learning the safety rules and proper handling procedures.

 Lincoln was quite impressed with it. He asked Uncle Jeff or Daddy to take him out to shoot some more roughly 4,395 times over the next two days.

Scarlett always surprises me - she meandered downstairs and discovered what the menfolk were up to and was eager to learn as well! 

Not only that - she was a total natural!  That's my girly-dress wearing, pancake-making, loves to sew, shooting girl, haha.

Per Victoria's explicit instructions, the theme of her birthday party was to be a Mexican Monkey Easter Egg Hunt.  I think we had something like 20 bags of a dozen eggs/each to stuff with candy.  Uncle Jeff helped establish the process.

Teamwork - they really cranked them out.  I think it only took about 15 to 20 minutes to get them almost nearly finished.

Grammie had taken Victoria to pick out her cake from Kroger.  Victoria had seen one there a week or two prior that she was sure she would love; they didn't have it this time but she chose another one that she felt would be just perfect.  I think it was the worst tasting cake of all time, lol.  She had made sure to tell us to save several eggs for her to fill as well. 

A whole buncha eggs!

 Time for the daily Uncle beating ;-)

 Jim and Jeff took the three big kids on a movie date to see "Turbo."  They all loved it, and especially since Uncle Jeff splurged and got them each their own kid's pack!

After the movie, Jim and Jeff headed out for the evening - when they returned all of the kids were fast asleep... except my sidekick, who likes to keep late hours and was in a sling helping me roll chicken enchiladas for the party :-)  Uncle Jeff was very accommodating and took over for a while so I could finish up.

 Hanging out while I wrapped presents.

I don't want anyone to feel intimidated by my *amazing* wrapping skills, but I wanted to show off this fine specimen ;-)

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 :-)

Sunday, July 21st

Sunday afternoon seemed like the perfect opportunity to take the crew to see the new movie, Despicable Me 2.  Not only that, but it was National Ice Cream Day, and once again we knew it was our patriotic duty to fulfill our ice cream duties.

Driving around town - sometimes they do so well in the van and other times (like this day), they seemed intent on making the most noise. EVER. Yikes!  They almost lost their fun afternoon event, but managed to pull it together.

Quick pre-movie lunch at Taco Bell - it is always a major negotiation about who gets to sit by Waverly, and the two tables side by side proved the perfect compromise as I could just wheel her right in between the girls.

Victoria's turn to push the stroller!

Lincoln insisted that Peter needed his own seat AND his own seat booster.  Several times I looked over during the movie and found Lincoln holding Peter's hand :-)

The crew (Waverly and I taking the picture) - Lincoln, Jim, Victoria and Scarlett.

Quick stop by Dairy Queen on the way home - Victoria opted for a Starkiss bar.  She was quite satisfied with her selection until she saw and tasted Scarlett's.  Eventually she wound up with my blizzard... of course ;-)

Lincoln also chose the Starkiss bar - he really enjoyed his and ate most of it before then eating most of Jim's peanut butter parfait.

I think Scarlett was the real winner here - she ordered a Brownie Earthquake, and it was h-u-g-e!  She was such a sweet sharer though, and gave Lincoln and Victoria both a dozen bites.  Even giving away some, I still didn't think she would be able to polish it off... and I was wrong!  She nearly licked the bowl clean :-)