Wildlife Festival

We had a great time at the Big Haynes Creek Wildlife Festival.

a little crafting

a little archery

a little more archery

Xman is a serious crafter

held some bugs

rode a train (isn't it darling?)

made animal tracks - very cool

laughed and loved each other

pretended to be camping

watched LOTS of snake shows, and some clogging, and some animals, and some more snakes

Mikaela's First Sleepover

ready for bed? I think not.

and now a silly one.

making some Panther spirit cheer bottles

I got an email that read "the Panther Cheerleaders are having a sleepover."

A sleepover?

Are we old enough for a sleepover?

This is the point where I confess my over protective mother tendencies. I'm the mom that likes to really know a grown up before leaving my kid with them (I've met the Panther cheer mom twoish times.......). I'm the mom who asks the questions about loaded guns and house rules. I'm the mom that expects my kid to follow my house rules and YOUR house rules in your house.

I'm the mom whose kid has never been on a sleepover (aside from with the Nana, and one recent weekend to her very cool Aunt Ashleigh's house).

So - I ask said kid "do you want to go to the cheerleading sleepover?"

To which said kid says "Cool."

Over the course of the week the cheerleading sleepover ranged from very cool to a definite "I'm not going."

So - I planned to attend the sleepover up to the sleeping part......figuring most likely when I announced that I was heading home to my own bed, that she would want to come to.

Not so much how that one went.

At 10:45, I helped spread out the sleeping bags, took a few cute photos, cheer mom made some popcorn, I held a vote on the movie choice......and then announced that I was leaving.

To which my child responded "Hey guys.......my mom's leaving...YES!!!!!!"

No goodbye.

No goodnight kiss.

Definitely not coming home with me.

as an aside, when I picked that sweet angel who celebrated me leaving up the next morning at 10:00 AM......she had not slept all night. Cheer mom shared that she woke her at 1:30, 2:15, and 4:15 crying to let her know that she couldn't sleep.

Perhaps she would have slept better if she had kissed her dear mother goodnight.

Bat Cave Party

Gotham City needs you!

Hurry to the batcave.........

I had activities and games planned - but Xman's batman party ran itself. Boys dressed up as superheroes, made up their own games, and played with the batcave.

A good time was had by all.

Especially me - who did not have to play "bat bat joker" or the "Mr. Freeze game"....but I would have.....I'd do anything for my batman on his birthday.

Xman Turns 5

Yes, my sweet baby had his whole hand birthday this summer.

His WHOLE hand birthday....ALREADY?

It seems like it was just yesterday I was chasing him around the house as he was crawling and getting into everything - wait, that WAS just yesterday!

And the birthday boy was quickly transformed into the Dark Knight Batman

"Yes - Star Wars.....MAN.....just what I always wanted." Score one for the momma.......and a wicked Target clearance find!

More batman

This might just be the coolest hat EVER.

It's my birthday - and yes, my mommy made me my annual birthday poster. A tradition started with the first birthday as a cheap decoration has turned into an annual affair. The poster gets moved from party decoration to a door covering until your next birthday when hopefully I will be struck by the creative gene again.

Birthday pancakes - complete with candle.

Cash in a card is always well received.

Gotta love that wrapping paper

Birthday boy

My boys headed to the Gwinnett Braves game to celebrate Xman's birthday as only manly men do - baseball, hot dogs and soda.

Wilmington 2009

Our trip to Wilmington was so much fun - click here to read all about it!

Summer Time

I will confess that I have been avoiding updating the blog as the task just seems overwhelming. So, rather than my blow by blow descriptions ........tonight you get the highlights.

Here we are...enjoying Summertime!

We sold our old couch - we got a "new to us" couch - we played LOTS of Wii.

We swam.... A LOT. We are very thankful to the daddy for working so hard on our swimming pool........and to all our sweet friends with big pools who invited us over to swim.

We read A LOT of books. There might be nothing sweeter than a big sister reading to a little brother. We went to the library twice a week. I will confess that we did not keep up with cute little reading log after the first few weeks.........reading logs have never been a strength of mine.

We took a few girly trips - this one to the American Girl Bistro with two dear friends was definitely a summer favorite!

Missy lost teeth - she currently has four missing teeth in her mouth - making a total of six teeth gone. The last lost tooth of the summer was probably a favorite of hers as the tooth fairy almost didn't make it and was apprently out of smaller bills so......tooth number 6 was worth $20. yep. $20

We stayed home - A LOT. We played dress up, we built forts, we made lego everything......we had breakfast for dinner, spent whole days in our pajamas, played all the board games on the shelves, used all the messy craft supplies - play dough, moon sand, paint, glitter.

Fashion Diva Turns 7

We decorated our own fashion mirrors, then went inside and made some snazzy flip flops!

http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11414

Then - our make up

and hair

now - we walk the runway!

The Mouse

A favorite summer play place of the children is The Mouse - not the really cool one in Orlando, just the one that makes bad, expensive pizza at the Chuck E Cheese.

A few times over the summer, we have met friends there to play.

I like that they have coke on tap - where I refill my drink by myself. And they have air conditioning.

The kids like it all - the playground, the games, the tokens, the big cheese, the videos......everything!