Bridal Shower Tea Party

Sister and I attended a bridal shower tea party this weekend. It was fun to dress up and go to a "girls only" party together. Thankfully, there were a couple other young ladies for Sister to chat and play with so I was able to catch up with lots of friends. Unfortunately, we didn't get a photo of us together. The younger ladies' special tea table setup.Aunt Sarah and Sister get a refill of tea.The beautiful bride-to-be, Anna, and her maid-of-honor (and sister), Aunt Sarah, opening gifts.

Sister enjoys a fun game of croquet.

The Roh Wedding

This weekend we had a fun time helping Dan and Angela celebrate their wedding up in Seattle. Sister Bear was on the dance floor the whole night. Brother Bear loved going down on the docks with Aunt Sarah to check out the boats. Baby Bear was passed around like a hot tomato while my dh and I danced more than we have in the last few years. What a wonderful wedding!!!The beautiful bride and groom.

Our family after the ceremony.Aunt Carrianne checks out the house boats with the big kids.
Aunt Sarah dancing with Baby Bear.
Daddy and Sister enjoy some swing dancing.

NASA

A NASA exhibit tour came to our town. It was parked outside our local children's museum. What a great time the kids and I had playing the interactive games, checking out space food, enjoying the moon landing simulation, touching a real moon rock, watching some robots, and getting passports to space. My dh even was able to take a break from work to go through with us. Thanks NASA!!!

Here are the kids before we started out tour.

Lakefair

Growing up, Lakefair was the height of summer for me, especially since it always falls right next to my birthday. Since I've been blessed with a wonderful nephew whose birthday is the day before mine, we're normally out-of-town helping him celebrate his birthday instead.

This year we had a wedding to attend that weekend and I made sure I planned my schedule so we could check out the fair. We had such a great time. Thanks to the ladies who met me there with their kids. Outings are always easier and more fun when you have friends to hang out with.
Here are some fun photos from our day at Lakefair.

Brother Bear's first ride on a roller coaster. He loved it!

The kids ready to go on the balloon ride.

Having a fun firefight.

Taking a cotton candy break. Notice Baby Bear sleeping. Fortunately, he took a nap during our time at the fair.

This "ride" at the nearby park was more Baby Bear's style.

We will definitely be attending Lakefair again next year!!!

The Roger Wedding

Congratulations to Mandy and Phil! We had oodles of fun helping them celebrate their wedding.

Here are some fun photos from the event.The kids with the beautiful bride and her handsome groom.

The kids with Del and Betty.

Our family with Grandma and Grandpa.

Swim Lessons

All three kids are in swim lessons this summer. Today was the start of our second week of lessons. As some of you may already know, the two big kids took their first round of swim lessons last summer and it was a trial to say the least. Both were scared to death to put their faces under the water and would hop out to wipe their faces a towel when even a few drops landed on their faces. Before every lesson the kids were both complaining about them. Let's just say, it wasn't a "fun" time had by all.

After the water "retraining" we've had to do with the two big kids, I am committed to make sure we don't have to go through this same agony with Baby Bear. Therefore, I've braved wearing a bathing suit in public to take a parent and child class with him. In the past, I had trouble rationalizing the high cost of swim lessons for a baby. Now I know, it is worth every penny!

Baby Bear loves the water. He's not fond of going underwater, but doesn't get upset about it. His big problem is that he doesn't get the concept of closing his mouth first. He does squeeze his eyes shut though. It's so cute! Sister Bear took some photos of Baby Bear since I was in the water with him. Sister Bear is so proud of putting her face underwater, and so are we. She's also getting more comfortable kicking her legs and using her arms. She doesn't cling to her teacher like she's going to drown any moment.Brother Bear loves the water. His favorite part of each lesson is splashing the teacher. She is a saint! His class only has one teacher for six kids. She gives them things to practice while holding onto the ledge, but Brother gets distracted. He is improving and is willing to put his face under and kick while swimming. Best of all, the kids say every time how excited they are for swim lessons and how much they love them. Even if they didn't learn anything, except a love of the water, I'd be happy.

Happy Fourth of July!!!

We started our Fourth of July out watching a fun parade with some friends. As you can see, the visors we made came in handy since we were blessed with some wonderful sunshine. It sure was difficult to get a photo of all three kids smiling at the same time. Thus, I am sharing two of them. The top one is the best photo of the kiddos and their friends waiting for the parade to begin. The one on the right is a cropped photo that was great since Baby Bear was waving his flag. Sadly, Brother Bear was sneezing in this shot, so I cropped him out. Sorry Brother Bear.

The parade is just a small city parade that we attended last year as well. There were a lot of old cars and political candidate entries (less than last year, thankfully). Our favorite entries were the high school band and cheerleaders (mainly due to the music and the mascot), the motorcycle group that does choreographed riding, and the groups riding horses. We missed having the Flora float this year. She's the name of a bush that the florist shop dresses up as a woman. Last year we were surprised to see a float in her honor, but got a real kick out of it.

Later in the day we attended a BBQ at some friends' house. It was wonderful! The food was delicious and the kids had a blast playing. We enjoyed getting to know our friends better and watching the kids run wild.

After a great meal (and beautiful patriotic cake), we headed over to a local parks event. This was another discovery that we made last year. It is fabulous. You pay $5 for the most organized parking I've ever seen at an event with 7,000 people. You can even bring in your own coolers and food. (They check for alcohol since it is not allowed). There are 10-12 bounce houses set up for varying ages. The lines for some of them can be a bit long, but the kids love them. There are performers ranging from jugglers to magic acts that are family-friendly. Everything, except food from the vendors, is completely free. At the end, long after nightfall, they have an awesome fireworks display.

This year Sister Bear did the big kid bounce houses. Look at her go! Brother Bear and his friends stuck to the younger kid ones and had a great time climbing, bouncing, and running around. Baby Bear was too young for any of the houses, but enjoyed watching all the kids and playing on the blanket.

Last year the kids, particularly Brother Bear, were a bit scared of the noise the fireworks made. This year it was no problem. Even Baby Bear stayed awake for the display and watched it with awe. We loved it last year and had even more fun this year.

Since we got home really late, we enjoyed sleeping in. (Does 7:30 AM count as sleeping in? In this house it does.) The kids and I lazed around then attended the 11:30 AM mass instead of the 9:30 AM which allowed my dh time to finish his service and meet us halfway through. It was great to have an extra set of hands since both Brother Bear and Baby Bear needed to be held. They were pretty tired.

Today was great. Both my husband and I got naps. The weather cooled down so our house was no longer as hot as an oven. The kids enjoyed playing on the new church playground after mass and then going to the park with Daddy after naptime.

I hope all of you had a fun Fourth of July with family and friends. God bless!!!

Preparing for the Fourth of July!

It was almost Independance Day and I'd yet to do any decorations or projects. One of my friend's has been showing off all the creative crafts she's been doing with her girls, and I thought they looked like fun. We can do that.

Thus, on Thursday I went out and bought some cute tee-shirts for each of the kids. Then, I looked for either fabric paint with glitter in it, or fabric glue and washable glitter so we could decorate the shirts with "fireworks" with either noodle stamps or pipe cleaner stamps (http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=10189). Unfortunately, everyone else must have wanted the "Red, White, and Blue" theme as well since several places were out of red and blue. After rethinking it, I decided that I already have lots of glitter (including red, white, and blue) and fabric glue. Maybe I could just use what I have.

So, on Friday I pulled it all out and I chickened out. We're just not crafty enough to do shirts. The shirts looked so nice without our "mess" on them, that I couldn't destroy them with our "creativity". (How awful a mom am I?) Thus, I replanned and found some red foam visors to decorate with the fireworks glitter. That could work, right? Actually, I pretty much did all of the visors. The glue was really runny even after I added flour to thicken it. Then, they kept smearing the glue when they sprinkled the glitter on so they looked like glitter globs instead of fireworks.

Now, they haven't gotten to make the cute tee-shirts. They like the visors, but it was basically just Mom doing them with their "input" on the color of each firework. Thus, I decided to let them make the pipe cleaner fireworks that the same "crafty" friend did. That was an easy craft, right? She has a 2 and 4 year old who did it. We can do it too.

WHAT A MESS!!! They had clumps of glue and glitter EVERYWHERE!!! What do I do wrong? My 7 and 4 year old just don't seem to be able to do crafts with me. Am I too controlling? Probably. Am I too anal? Definitely. Do I expect too much? Obviously.

Sister Bear decided to lead a craft of her own that she named, "Grand Ol' Flag". She collected the necessary materials and instructed Brother how to do it. It was fun to listen to her give Brother instructions. She's a lot like I am. I also enjoyed how quickly she learned how I feel during crafts since Brother doesn't listen to Sister any better than either of them listen to me. They really enjoyed it and we're all crafted out for this holiday.

In the end, the color-coordinated shirts and decorative visors will look cute when they wear them Saturday and the fireworks ended looking okay as long as no one touches them (since they drop glitter with the slightest breeze). The "Grand 'Ol Flags" will be really sweet hanging on the windows as well.

I really do try to do fun projects with the kids. Most holidays we attempt craft projects. For the most part we stick to simple coloring ones like handprint turkeys. Simple crafts tend to go okay. It is the more elaborate ones that go astray or I end up doing on my own. A couple years ago there was the gingerbread house that took Sister Bear and me an entire week and looked like it had barely survived a tornado. A few Easters ago there were the "Easter Story Cookies" that were basically hardened sugar on the baking sheet.

So, we'll stick to simpler crafts this summer. Sister has a craft book she likes to pick crafts from. Those are fine since I don't have any expectations for the results. "Sure, make some snowmen even though it is July. Don't forget to put them in swim suits." Verses attempting to make clothing that they are actually going to wear outside of our home (or even inside, honestly).