Summer Fun--Week 3

We started this week's summer fun by returning to swimming lessons. We asked Mrs Larson if she would come to the country club, and we coordinated our lessons with the Tauntons, so this is lots of fun for everyone. Mrs Larson said she loves to have a different venue for some variety to her teaching and is excited that diving is allowed--she plans to teach Jillian to dive this summer.

Jillian attended a sewing camp Monday and Tuesday mornings. The camp was geared to help students make a pair of pajama shorts. Jillian was the only student signed up, so she essentially had some private lessons. She selected some wild fabric (totally her style), and is SO proud of these cute little shorts she made.

I always get a kick out of how Adrienne sleeps with her lights on bright and her music on loud. She loves this enormous teddy bear (named Rojo). She has covered her headboard with stickers (not approved by her parents) and proudly displays her medal from the Spartan race.

On Wednesday the girls asked to go to the RAC pool, mainly because they wanted some waterslide action. Jillian was delighted to find her classmate, Lizzy, there. We also saw Mrs Davidson!

On Thursday, we of course had all the excitement of a big birthday.

Adrienne admiring her Garfield stuffies at the breakfast table Friday morning.

The girls enjoyed some time on the front porch playing with Adrienne's new chalk markers and chalk paper (birthday gift from Charlie)

Saturday morning, the girls and I hit the farmer's market while Matt went on a long bike ride. They always like to take a break and sit on this bench looking for geese.

When we got back, I decided to tackle my basil. I am deck gardening this year (planning to expand the real garden for next year) and am overrun with basil, 3 varieties of kale, and mint. Two cherry tomato plants are trying to survive in there too.

I cut back about 25% of my basil, and still was able to make 5 batches of pesto from it!

On Saturday afternoon, Matt and the girls spent several hours out in the man cave...sewing. Yes, sewing. Matt loved how excited Jillian was after her sewing camp, and they were talking about things she could learn to sew. Soon he came downstairs to proclaim that he and the girls were going to learn to sew teddy bears together...so they did!

The girls picked their own fabric, Matt found the pattern online, watched a few YouTube videos, and we ended up with three teddy bear shaped pillow friends.

Finished products. You can see that Adrienne drew "hair" on hers with a fabric marker, and Jillian insisted she put a face on hers and a bow around its neck. Matt told me later that they put heart shaped pieces of each other's fabric inside every bear--their sweet little take on the Build-A-Bear process. The girls will never forget this father-daughter adventure.

On Sunday we headed over to Winds-Consin (Jillian still calls it that). On the way, we stopped at Lark Toys, of course.

We picked up some curds at the Nelson Creamery, then hit a nearby park for a bit before buying A LOT of fireworks (and New Glarus beer, of course).

Then we made our way to Stone Barn Pizza. We were the second car in line at 4:10 for the 5 p.m. opening. After we sat in the car for a bit we noticed a huge line of Corvettes coming around the bend. It ended up being a Corvette club coming to eat some pizza--21 of them!

I was pretty proud of my order number. In impressive feat at this place!

Silly selfies on the way home. Adrienne was soooo tired and was having no part of the fun.

On the Fourth the girls and I finished up our first-ever cat sitting for the next door neighbors. Lucky was a very good cat and hid from us most of the time. Jillian was serious about this job as you might expect. Adrienne got to help whenever I forced Jillian to let her. Sisters.

Later that evening, we headed over to the Taunton's for dinner and play and Matt and Michael's second annual crazy fireworks show (featuring 'illegal' fireworks from Winds-consin). I was pretty pleased when Matt busted out his goggles, and head lamp. Safety first! No, he didn't really wear that hoo-rag on his face/head, but it sure made for a fun picture!

The gang (minus a sleeping Jack) enjoying some s'mores!

Kids snuggled up on the deck watching the show. Nice work, dads!

Five!

Adrienne is 5 today! Despite going to bed super late last night, both she and Jillian were up at 5:45! This is almost 3 hours earlier than usual for them these days. Needless to say there were a lot of emotions caused by fatigue and sugar crashes throughout the day (for all of us).  She was so happy to find that her birthday shirt did indeed have a picture of Princess Leia on it, and the obligatory streamers and balloons were in place. Jillian usually leaves a gift outside of the door for her, but this year she decided to be sneaky and draw her a map for a treasure hunt. X marks the spot on the microwave!

She found her treasure--Princess Leia bobble head pop figure. Of course.

Adrienne requested donuts for breakfast, so I took the girls to a different bakery (new to them) the night before to pick out what they wanted. They were delighted to see how cute the Gingerbread House was and each selected two donuts. After much discussion on the way home they realized that they selected four different donuts between the two of them. The brilliant master plan then became to cut each one in half so they could technically say they ate FOUR donuts for breakfast.

I tried my best to delay gift opening until Matt was home, but did allow Jillian to give Adrienne her second gift--Rapunzel's horse, Maximus. We learned some gift giving etiquette this morning after Jillian shouted, "It cost TWENTY dollars, Adrienne!" right after she opened it.

We had our usual piano lessons at 8:45 (Adrienne and I), then the birthday girl requested to go to the park. We picked up party balloons and then hit Allendale Park for a bit before then going to the movie store. The girls think renting movies at the store is just the bomb diggity, despite the fact that we have digital access to almost everything via Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, etc. The forecast was looking stormy so the video store followed by a living room picnic with Subway (remember this is code for Cheetos) seemed like a fun treat, and a way to potentially get these girls to settle in and rest before the big party.

Finally, the long tortuous wait was over and it was time to go to Roca for the party! Adrienne has been very consistent with her desire to have a party at the rock climbing club since the day we first went there months ago. This ended up being a fabulous spot for a party. We had a total of 7 kids ( just missing Calvin from the invite list)--J, A, Will, Rachel, Charlie, Paige, and Bella. The kids climbed for just over an hour, then we had pizza and cupcakes and called it a day. Perfect!


I scored some sweet Star Wars glasses at Hobby Lobby on clearance and we filled them with Star Wars Pez dispensers, a Star Wars pencil, a Milky Way, and a pack of Starbursts. Because themes are fun.

Adrienne asked me for "Princess Leia cupcakes with light savers (sabers)". I ordered some light saber cake toppers from Amazon, and found the cupcake idea from Pinterest. Kind of hilarious looking, but the birthday girl was pleased.

Troy (our Roca worker who helped with the party), fit the kids with harnesses and then gave them some instructions before he set them free.

Time to climb!

Bella is a pro and has her own gear. Her family climbs there on a regular basis.

Jillian was much more efficient this time we climbed. She was driven and brave, and insisted on getting to the top of every wall she scaled.

Seven climbing kids!

Sweet, adorable Charlie.

Buddies who will be at the same school for Kindergarten next year.

The kids were wiped after climbing, and were starving for some pizza.

Time to sing!

Adrienne was so funny blowing out her candle. She just basically spat repeatedly on it, not truly blowing despite how it looked. She got pretty red faced with embarrassment and humor when she realized it. It was cute.

Will and Jillian. These two are such sweet friends.

Paige flashing her Oreo grin

Oh, William

After the party we rushed home to open presents. Adrienne was delighted to receive cards with cash from both Great Grandma Helen and Grandpa Bennie and Debbie.

Jillian served dutifully as card reader

Aunt Angela sent Bertie Bott's Beans and a Chocolate Frog from Harry Potter World!

Mom and Dad came through on a requested Mermaid Barbie

She got such a kick out of opening the Taunton's present--Darth Vader card with sound effects and lots of fun Star Wars stuff!

Grandma and Pop Pop sent Garfield and Friends stuffies. The girls LOVE Garfield and Friends show and I know these toys will be favorites as they are the first Garfield items we have.

We saved the most anticipated gift for last--she desperately wanted a light saber. Now we have a true Jedi in the house.

A few fun selfies with the birthday girl before we begged the hyper children to go to sleep!

Adrienne, you are such a joy. Your sweet spirit and easygoing manner are so refreshing and uplifting to the rest of your type A family--you balance us out so well! You are growing quickly and turning into such a big kid. I love how you tilt your head to the side, shrug your shoulders, and give a sly grin when you are trying to be serious about something funny.  Pretend play is your jam. You love to set up scenes in your bedroom for your toys (often it's the doll hospital, with everyone wrapped in toilet paper or stuffies perched reading books). You still love to dress up, wear your hair in various hairstyles that resemble Princess characters, and are the queen of sneaking tiny toys in your hands into the car to carry with you everywhere you go. You love to seat your friends (selected dolls or stuffed animals) next to you at the table and make beds for them with hand towels and wet wipes. You are my night owl, often staying awake until well after 9 these days as you blast your radio and play in your room. I will never understand how you eventually fall asleep with that volume of music. You are somewhat of a free spirit, and so we often lovingly refer to you as "Willow" (a name your dad suggested we name you, I said nope) when you do something of that nature. Other names we have for you are Squeaky, A, A-lizabeth, and Jillian often calls you "Ay-Bay".  You love sugar passionately, and will get it any way you can--in cereal (somehow you've convinced your treat police mother that Cinnamon Toast Crunch is appropriate breakfast food. What has become of me?), pancakes, RAC banana bread, cereal bars, fruit leather, and in just about any other obvious way--you have yet to meet a dessert you don't devour. You survive mostly on PBJ, yogurt, cheese, mac and cheese, fruit, and some variation of a cheese sandwich (grilled, quesadilla, bagel/cream cheese). We call you a "carbotarian" because you do not eat meat, but you also don't eat vegetables. Dr Valdes had a very serious talk with you at your 5 year appt about trying vegetables, so now you want to try them, but barely take a taste before declaring it "yucky" and then later proclaiming that you eat LOTS of vegetables. I've recently started catching you in little white lies--generally about whether or not you went potty or washed your hands or something like that. I'm a little scared at how straight of a face you can keep while you do it. It takes some pushing to get you to admit it, and if I have accused you incorrectly, I know because you get very upset and start to cry. Your feelings are hurt so easily, and most readily by your sister. I'd say the thing that makes you cry the most is when you think Jillian is mad at you--it nearly breaks your heart and you dissolve into a puddle of tears immediately. You want to do everything Jillian does, and I suspect you try to do everything she does even if you don't really want to, just because you know it drives her crazy. You've got her number, as a little sister should.  Though you haven't yet tried any organized sports, I notice a strong athleticism in you. You wanted so badly to train for the Spartan race and your dad and I were pretty floored to watch your natural running stride and some crazy endurance emerge when we stopped at the track. You also have such a super positive attitude when you are trying something difficult, and that is a gift that will serve you well in your life. We aren't sure where you got that from, but we are thankful you have it and pray you don't lose it as you encounter challenges in your life. This will be a big year for you with kindergarten on the horizon, and I am so excited to watch you start that new adventure (with tears in my eyes, I admit). I am your biggest fan and I'll be cheering you on every step of the way. Happy 5th Birthday to my baby. Your mama loves you.

Our first snuggles on your birth day

Rockin' Five