Summer Fun--Week 8

Oh, what a fun week this was! We took the week off from our little schedule, and packed it full of good stuff. Matt was working a night shift and on call most of the week, so the girls and I headed to Des Moines on Tuesday evening, but not before a fun day of RAC Pirate Camp, and their first ice skating lesson.

Yes, really. Bike helmets. They look a little nervous, don't they?

Posing with Rachel pre-class

Jillian clinging to the side of the rink for dear life while she waited for her teacher to skate over and get her.

Trying to stay upright. Jillian is in the purple jacket with pink leggings and white helmet in the background of the pic. She did pretty well overall.

Adrienne is up! Far back of picture in red leggings and aqua jacket.

After ice skating we rushed home to change and load the car, kiss Matt farewell as he headed off to work for the night, and we cruised on down to Des Moines. I had purchased some kid audio books for us all to listen to, and I am proud to say we made both legs of this road trip without any screen time! A first for us--yipee! The girls were so excited to be at Grammy and Grandad's. I was, too.

Bedtime story with Grams

My mom knows how make this girl happy--my very favorite, Macadamia Nut Cream Pie

Fell asleep watching Happy Feet on Wednesday at rest time. I cannot remember the last time this kid napped!!

The beauty of it all was that Adrienne napped at the same time, too! We haven't seen a double nap in this family for 3 years! Poor Grams was stuck under a sweaty princess.

Learning to snap beans before dinner

Pre-bedtime fun on Wednesday. Trying on lots of my Grammy (their great grandmother) jewelry. This was big, big fun for all of us and the girls came home with a few new treasures.

Clip on earrings are all the rage, right?

Out of order pics here...Adrienne diving right into the baby pool Wednesday afternoon

Jillian's turn--look at those long legs!!

Wiggle Girl woke up from her nap and for a few fleeting moments decided to snuggle with her mama.

On Thursday, I got to go out shopping alone for the morning. Yipee! After enjoying myself thoroughly, I went back to pick up mom and the girls and we headed out to lunch. We tried a local Des Moines place--Tasty Tacos--and LOVED it. Homemade flour tortillas that are flash fried to produce soft delicious shells? Yes, please. 

Tasty Tacos gets the thumbs up from my taco-loving girl

And then there is this goofball. Hates tacos, but loves cheese quesadillas, and just being silly with her straw.

We hit Target after lunch and while Grammy finished checking out, we ordered the lattes to go and had a cake pop.

Lovin' on Grandad

All lovely in their new fancy jammies I found at Carter's on my shopping spree

And yes. This is homemade dark chocolate cream pie from the kitchen of my mother. She is amazing, and this was amazing. The girls helped make the pudding and Jillian had a few words to say after tasting it "Grammy, there are three kinds of chocolate--some is not chocolate enough, some is too much chocolate, and some is just right". After mom asked which one this pudding fit into, she got a big smile and a thumbs up.

Whipping up the bierrocks for Friday night dinner. A family favorite--homemade dough wrapped around seasoned beef and cabbage. Think Runza if you are from the Midwest, except a billion times better. Not pictured: Homemade ice cream and chocolate sauce. Yep. She's like a nicer Martha Stewart without the prison record.

The big surprise of the week for the girls was that the Widmers decided to make the trek to Des Moines so the cousins could spend some time together. They hadn't been together since Christmas, and it was so precious to watch them interact. Jack rang the doorbell and yelled "surprise!" when the girls answered.

You wanna talk noise? Think 4 kids under 6 in one tub. Madness!

Jack and Jillian.  Love these grins.

Hooray for cousin hugs!

Uncle D gettin' a lot of love. What you can't see from the picture is that he was holding his iphone that was playing a video clip for the kids

The tradition continues...Grandad had Krispy Kremes (and hats!) waiting for the kids Saturday morning.

some more pool time

A lesson in corn growing process and shucking from Grandad

Adrienne insisted on wearing this toy hard hat most of the day.

I didn't realize shucking corn was so dangerous

Tough work

Fun on the deck with punching balloons

Bryce was really good at multitasking--binky sucking and balloon punching

The three big kids run down to the park after dinner

My little stinker blowing bubbles

Snuggled in for a rest time--Despicable Me 2 was the featured film this day.

Lunch on the patio

Morning cartoon

Bryce being goofy

And trying to get all 4 kids to lay still in the hammock at the same time.

Pretty darn impossible

Yep. Feet in faces.

Jillian gave up.

What a wonderful time with family, full of memories and special moments. My heart is full. The only bummer is that I forgot my good camera, so all memories are recorded on my phone. So it goes. Love getting to watch my kids experience fun summer traditions I enjoyed as a kid. This is the good stuff, people.