"Happy Daddy" 7/31/10

Since we were in CA for Marc's birthday this year, we had a belated celebration with my family. My Mom and Grandma came up for some lunch, gifts, family time, and best of all, cake and ice cream!!

We made a yummy lemonade cake. Here is a link to the recipe we used: Lemonade Party Cake Marc helped me make it the day before. After lunch Marc helped me frost the cake, put the decorations on, and put the candles in.For the very first time, ever!, my little man helped light the cake. Whenever we let him do some "big boyish" it make me feel both proud and sad. Proud that he is growing up to be such a smart, caring little man and sad that he isn't my little boy any more.
I don't think there have been any candles lit in the last 6 years that anyone has gotten to blow out themselves. ;-)
For every occasion Marc makes a collage project and card. In this picture Marc is explaining to Daddy all the things he drew on his card. The cutest one was a picture of Daddy sitting at his computer. :-)
As Marc opened his gifts, the kids played with the bows and ribbons. These are pictures of Daddy's 2 cutest birthday presents.
I hope Marc had a good birthday! I know everyone else had fun.

Carnival Time! 7/27/10

Every summer our local library has a summer reading program. Every year we participate by reading, going to preschool story time hours, reading, going to elementary school story hours, reading, reading, and more reading.
At the end of the program, the local store and 7Up sponsors a free carnival for the participants. There are a few carnival games, like ring a can of soda.There was popcorn, chips, cookies, juice, and ice cream sandwiches to snack on. They were giving out reading tattoo. Both the kiddos wanted one, so here they are sporting their new "ink". ;-)
The local fire department brings out one of their pumper trucks and hoses the kids down! Marc looks forward to this every year. We were told ahead of time that there were going to be water activities so Marc had his suit on for when the fire truck soaked the kids.
Marc's favorite water activity was this inflatable water slide. He waited in line to gone down it about 5 times. The last time he did it he decided to mix it up a little and go down head first.
It was a very fun and free 2 hours! :-)

Clean Teeth! 7/21/10

One day Samantha told me she wanted to brush her teeth like Marc does. That afternoon I happened to be going grocery shopping anyway, so I bought Samantha her very own toothbrush and toothpaste. She got a pink & purple Elmo & Abby toothbrush and My Little Pony toothpaste. :-)
Of course, the first time we brushed her teeth it was a family affair. ;-) Everyone crowded into the bathroom to help/watch.After we got done brushing I told her to spit the toothpaste out into the sink. Well, as I was lifting her up to the sink, she swallowed it. Still, ever weeks later, she swallows it (don't worry, it's training toothpaste without fluoride) and sticks her tongue out over the sink to "spit" it out.
She feels like a big girl being able to brush her teeth like her big brother does.

Grandchildren Therapy 7/21/10

After being gone on vacation for 2 weeks, my Mom said she needed a little grandchildren therapy.....she missed my munchkins. :-) So we planned a day to meet at the Meijer Botanical Gardens.
The first thing we always do in the Children's Garden is the tree house. The kids tested their (and ours) animal knowledge in the lift the panel trivia questions in the tree. Grandma and I did pretty well. ;-)Part of the tree house is a cute little table and chairs with a tea set and dishes. It was hot out that day so Samantha made sure we were all well hydrated. ;-)
I wanted to get a picture of my little "peeps" in the bird's nest, but my littlest "peep" wasn't in the mood to get her picture taken right then.
This bridge is a suspension bridge that wiggles as you walk across it. We went round and round in circles always coming back to cross the bridge again and again and again, you get the picture. The first time she stepped onto the bridge she was a little nervous....she quickly got over that!
Gee, guess what...Marc likes that bridge too! ;-)
After we finish with the tree house we head over to a log cabin that usually has some old fashion, hand-made toys to play with. We went and played there for a few, until we got overrun with a daycare group.
After the log cabin we head over to the sand pit. Since it was so sunny and hot out we quickly found a shady patch of sand and began to play. When we took Samantha's shoes off and put her in the sand she did NOT like it! We weren't sure if she didn't like the ground moving under her feet or the feel of the sand between her toes.
After some time to get used to it, Samantha "dug" right in! She scooped up sand and poured it over Grandma's feet and into her hands and buckets. After a while we went to the other end of the sand pit where there are dinosaur bones buried and the kids dug some up.
When we left the sand pit we walked along the walking path. We found a little hut that had puppets for a puppet show. Marc didn't stand still long enough for me to get any pictures of him. I was, however, able to snap a picture of Samantha helping a butter fly give Grandma a kiss.
The last stop we always make is the water area. There are small replicas of the great lakes for the kids to drive boats around, and just plain get wet! There are also a few misters scattered around. Marc likes to stick his head directly in the path of the water. So, of course, our little miss copy cat had to do the same thing. ;-)
In the water area there is also a small fountain-looking thing of kids playing. It used to be just for decoration, but kids quickly found out that it is fun to splash around in the water. It now smells very heavily of chlorine. ;-)
I ended up with 2 very wet children! I learned early on to bring their crocs for them to wear in the water areas and a change of clothes for them to change into on the way out.
It was a very hot, but very fun day!