Luke's 11th Birthday in Pictures...

Luke wanted an Avengers cake like Will got.  I did my best and Luke liked it. That is a Hulk fist if you can't tell! :)

Luke's special breakfast...bacon, egg and cheese biscuits...



It was special to be able to celebrate with family...



I love you Lukie.  More on your bithday later.  :)

Eleven...

Eleven?  Couldn't be. 

Week #7 of Summer in Review...

A little late getting this up from last week...

Another tadpole turned frog, and we released this one before he died.  Hoping he lived...

Isn't he cute?

The 3 big kids were at art camp from 9-12 each day, so Bo and Noah and I went to run some errands and they got a thermos for school and got to pick out their backpacks for school.  They picked the same backpack from Old Navy (I had forbidden character backpacks, or they totally would have picked those out)...

It was a neat week of having just them home...like it has been while the big kids were at school the past 2 years.  It was my last week of that set-up. I wonder if I'll miss it.

Will made ice cream sandwiches for his cooking.  Homemade vanilla ice cream (love our little electric ice cream maker!) in between 2 chocolate chip cookies he made.

YUM.

 

Geoff and the boys watched a show on Netflix called 'surviving the cut' (I think) while Kendall and I were out of town last weekend.  Since then Will has been training Bo and Noah for the Navy Seals.  They are working hard.  Here they are practicing carrying an injured man.

We had to go up to the pool one day so he could train them in the 'sea' part.  They had to tread water and do other water tests of endurance.

Kendall's doings....

Luke getting his birthday present a few days early...he got a stand for his electric guitar and an amp.  He was so excited to get them both!!  I'll always love the way Luke gets so excited over his gifts!

Notice school supplies are bagged up and ready to roll back there (except for some bulkier stuff).  I got that done this week, for the most part.  I enjoy school shopping but don't like the money it costs!

Like I said, the big kids went to art camp at our church, called "Uniquely You."  They all three had so much fun and couldn't wait to go back each day.  On Friday night they had all their art displayed for an art show.  The kids were so excited to walk us through and show off their stuff, then we got to bring it home.

All the kids made tiles for this.

They made these from clay and stuck magnets in the back.  Cute idea.

Kendall's

Luke's

A roller coaster at Carowinds.

...and much much more.

When we walked out of the art show there was a full, beautiful rainbow spread across the sky.  It was a sweet treat and reminder after a week of art camp that God is the creator of art and color and beauty and it probably blessed Him to have all the kids enjoying His creation all week.  So thankful for that!

We got in some good pool time this week too, which was fun.  We haven't done a ton of swimming this summer.

Only several more weeks til school starts! :(

Eat More Chicken (on August 1st)...

I'm guessing you have heard about the silliness involving Chick-fil-a.  Refer to this if you haven't.

It kills me that the folks who call Christians/those who stand up for their beliefs intolerant are the most intollerant people around!  All that aside, it's the best fast food restaurant ever!

Go eat chicken on August 1st to show your support for Chick-fil-a.  Everyone knows it's the best fast food restaurant around!!  Who else will take 8 coupons in one visit?!

Week #6 of Summer in Review...

Anytime Rainy comes home from the kennel (she was there while we camped), she is wiped out for a couple of days.  She must not sleep well there.  She cracked us up laying here with her arm hanging down sound asleep...until she was so rudely awakened for this picture.

I've had a tie-dye kit for a couple of years and we finally used it this week. 



We made shirts and dish towels (for me)
 (made from white big cloth diapers...perfect for dish drying!).  The final creations will show up in future pictures on here I'm sure! :)



Bo made calzones this week.  They were a huge hit amongst the whole family.  We'll definitely be making these again.  We used this recipe for the crust (in my bread maker that I love) and this recipe for the filling.  He also made salads and survived...



 

And strawberry shortcake for dessert...

On Thursday, the kids and I went to Carowinds for the waterpark.  We had not done that this summer yet (using our season passes that we got for Christmas).  Kelly and her 3 went with us.  We ended up being there for 7 1/2 hours, when we intended to only go for 3 or 4.  It was a long, sun-filled, fun day.  We had a bunch of tired kids that night for bed. 



On Friday, Kendall and I left for Greenville, SC to my aunt's house.  My cousin is having a baby (well, his wife is) and they were having a baby shower on Saturday.  We decided to make a girls weekend of it and Kendall and I took our first ever road trip together.  I hope there are more of those in our future!  My mom and I used to take road trips pretty often when I was in Jr. and High school and I have the best memories of them. 

We stayed with my aunt and uncle and cousin.  This is my cousin Anna, whom I love!!  She is such a fun girl to hang out with and such a good role model for Kendall.  If I were a teenager I would want to be her best friend! :) She is the sister of the cousin having the baby, by the way...

And this is my aunt Cathy, who was a wonderful and generous hostess...

They took us to play indoor mini-golf at a great little place.  It was wacky and Kendall loved it.  It had a neon room that was very cool.



Wowzers...



Overall, they spoiled us to death and we had the best time and can't wait to do it again sometime.  And the baby shower was great too...but I didn't even get a picture of the mom-to-be!

My mom was also on that trip and we all came home Saturday night and she spent the night with us at our house.  The kids like to entertain her...



On Sunday after church Geedi, Luke, Kendall, myself, and my niece and nephew Lindsey and Austin went to Carowinds for the rest of the day.  That is all the peeps who are tall enough to ride anything at the park.  And ride they did!  It was super hot, but not very crowded, which was great.  The big event of the day...my mom rode her first upside down roller coaster!! :)  She rode the Afterburn, my personal favorite.  The kids did some BIGTIME coaxing to get her to ride and she finally gave in...I assured her it was fine and I was almost certain she would love it.  I'm so glad she did or I would have felt terrible! :)  Go mom!!

Another great week of summer down in the books.  :)

Cool...

Isn't this cool?  My sister and brother-in-law make decals for a side business and made this for Will.  His skateboard was plain black on the bottom (we bought and built his b/c that's what Will wanted to do...to build a skateboard).  Anyway, I thought this was very cool.  If anyone is interested in decals for anything, let me know and I can get you in touch with my sis! :)

Jellystone...

We went camping on Sunday through Tuesday.  Two nights.  That's about all Geoff can handle.  Let's just get it out in the open.  G would rather do anything than go camping.  Especially in July.  He loves me enough to do it anyway.  The kids and I LOVE it.  I would do it a lot more often and buy a lot more fun camping gear if it were up to me.  :)  I bought a "living social" deal a month or so ago for this place, so we had to use it up.  Geoff's sister Kelly and her 3 kids went with us.  Jason couldn't go during the week.  We rented a group site together and had a blast.  Here is our two days, in pictures...

We left after church on Sunday and got there to set up camp in the heat of the afternoon.

After we were all set up the kids went to 'fun and games' time and Luke got himself into this...

Kendall had to throw cheese balls to stick on his shaving cream covered shower cap.

When we realized that you earned tokens when you played a game and even more when you won...and that you can save up 20 tokens for a free slushy...IT WAS ON. :)  Our goal as a group for the rest of the trip was to earn some free slushies before we left.

Candy bar bingo.  You pay 25 cents per card and pick out a piece of candy.  Everyone puts their piece in a box and the winner of that game wins the whole box of candy.  Pretty cool...except that none of us ever won.  And it was good candy...chocolate stuff.

 

We most likely would not have survived the heat if we didn't have the pool.  It was a nice big pool and the water was cold, unlike the bath tub water in our pool at home.

Peyton and Malaya

This is still Sunday night.  Us adults sat it out the first night.



Right at our camp site there was this huge hill.  The kids played on it most of the time.  That is why I was spending Wednesday spraying stain spray on bottoms of shorts.  They tied a rope up there for some climbing help.  It was night time here...totally dark...but my flash made it bright.  They climbed in the dark.

 

Bo and Noah got banned from the hill pretty early on.  Their recklessness would have almost certainly landed us in the ER if we had let them continue on the hill.  So the non-climbers (the twins and Rivers) played glow stick toss with G.  It was dark here too. :)



 

Monday morning.

 

Our passes included mini-golf.  The kids played one time, thankfully in the morning before it got too hot.  And for the record, those tents behind the golf course here were on the worst site ever.  If you ever go here, ask me what sites are good.  Some are terrible!!

We walked a hiking trail and came to water.  We had to drag the twins away. 



We also came to horses.



What a beaut...



Then it was time for the super triple looper water slide.

It was a fun one.  Nice cold water.  No big lines.  Us adults and kids alike enjoyed it.

This is our first camping trip to bring the kids' bikes along.  It was so much fun for them to be able to hop on their bikes and ride everywhere.  They loved their freedom.



Monday was Rivers' 10th birthday so we had a little celebration for her.  That night all the other kids had planned a light show for her with their collection of glow sticks.  It was pretty impressive.  They worked hard on it.  

 

More fun and games and a few more tokens closer to free slushies.  :)  Kelly and I even participated in the baseball bat spin game.

 

Our campsite.  G1 was wonderful.

 

I love our cozy tent and the togetherness that happens in it.  It never fails that I have to pee multiple times during the night though.  Never at home, just when camping.  I hate that part.  Hate. It.  And if I'm talking about things that bothered me...that fan felt good, but it blew tiny pieces of my hair into my face and tickled it all night.

Noah got involved in someone else's game of shuffleboard (that man might win the nicest/most patient man award)...



There was also an arcade room with a few games in it.  I was sad Mrs. Pacman was not there.  I would have gone to play after the kids were in bed at night.  Tickets from those games went towards our free slushy goal too.  :)



Bubbles with Boo Boo...





Songs with Boo Boo.  My big kids weren't sure if they should participate or not.  :)  Will is looking to big brother to see what he thinks.



We finally got around to boats Monday night and it had gotten cooler.  The kids loved it.

Luke and Will on kayaks...



Can't believe I let these three man their own canoe.  They did OK though.



The girls rescued the pink paddle boat that had gotten loose...



Tuesday morning. 

Packing up and going home.  While G finished packing up I took the kids to the pool/waterslide one last time.  Then we headed home.  But not before....

Slushies!



 We earned enough tokens for 3 free slushies!  They had to share, but no one seemed to mind.

They rotated so they all got some of each flavor.



I love this picture...

Good times at Jellystone.  The kids said it was the best.  We'll see if we can drag Dad back their next summer.  :)