Cookout Season

We went through birthday party season earlier this year. Next, we had wedding season. We have just recently entered into cookout season. We went to another one last weekend at a friend’s house. Sugie had so much fun with the other girls and the sidewalk chalk. What started off as sweet drawings of themselves turned into chalk body outlines. I’m sure the neighbors woke up the next morning wondering what exactly went on at the party! Buddy ate cup after cup of ice and played football with another boy. He eventually bit the tip off of the Nerf football. That’s my boy!

Take A Hike, Ike!

Yesterday was not a fun day! It was very windy when we woke up on Sunday morning – thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Ike. The power flickered several times before we lost it for good around 9:30 am. Since I was in the middle of drying my hair, I decided that we should play outside to let the wind finish up the drying. The kids and I played some on the swingset, which is near the woods. I was worried about tree limbs falling on us, so I made them stay on the basketball court. We had fun outside playing in the 30-35 mph gusts. However, this probably wasn’t one of the best parenting decisions. Little did I know that trees were down everywhere throughout the city and there were a lot of power outages.

The hubby left to watch a football game, so it was up to me to think of creative activities to keep the children entertained all day. It’s amazing how many fun things require electricity! So, we built several interesting items with Tinker Toys, painted pumpkins, had a picnic in their clubhouse, got a visit from Mimi, and played outside A LOT (this time after the major winds had subsided).

While outside, I had the huge task of cleaning up the yard. We had so many leaves, limbs, sticks, and gumballs littering our yard from the wind storm. I gave each kid a bucket and told them to find some “treasures”. They loved finding the gumballs and colorful leaves, and I loved that they were really helping me out!! This was their favorite activity by far!!!

The children were exhausted by the time the sun went down and didn’t put up any fights at bedtime. Since the hubby was still MIA, I set up a row of candles in the dining room and tried to get some scrapbooking done. I’m very curious to check out my color schemes in natural light. Around 11 pm, our lighted world was restored!! What a good ending to a very yucky day!

Let’s go fly a kite!

It was fairly windy on Saturday, so I decided to get the kites out. Sugie did a great job flying her princess kite. We also had fun with the paper kites that Mims and Papa got in China. The winds weren’t sustained enough to keep the kites in the air for very long, but we still had a lot of fun. Buddy had no idea what was going on and kept letting go of his Chinese kite. He just thought it was fun to run along side of us.

Literacy Day

Mimi and I took the kids to Literacy Day at the mall this morning. There were a lot of fun craft booths for the kids to visit. Buddy made a crocodile hat to match his shirt, colored with non-washable markers (this is definitely not the norm!), and got a sucker (his favorite treat!). Sugie made a hermit crab hat, colored/painted a beautiful butterfly, tried to guess what was in a mystery box, and brought home 7 free books, one movie, and 3 CDs. Sugie hugged on Clifford the Big Red Dog several times. Buddy tried to be brave, but chickened out at the last minute and ran back to me! After that, we had a nice lunch at Cici's, where Sugie ate almost 3 brownies. Sneaky girl! We had fun spending some special time with Mimi. Thanks for your help, Mom!!

Both of the kids fell asleep on the ride home. Aren't they precious?

End of Summer

Sunday was a sad, sad day at our house. Since the weather has cooled off some, we decided that it was time to drain both pools. Boo hoo!! Sugie and I LOVE the big pool! No more slip ‘n slide, no more sprinkler, no more of Buddy’s splash park, and no more lazy Sunday afternoons floating in the pool.

The kids actually had fun playing in the water as it drained out of the pool. Buddy kept sticking his head right in the stream! This is amazing since he cries in the bath tub if one drop of water lands on his face!

Kindergarten – Week 4

Madison loves music class and has even stated that this is her favorite part about Kindergarten. Last week, she came home singing something about “You need to put the I in intiative”. Then, while we were singing Happy Birthday to Buddy, she did all of the sign language for it. She’s a sharp little cookie! We were both happy and sad at the following news Sugie had for us:

Good news: Her school hired a new Kindergarten teacher, so 6 kids were moved out of her classroom.

Bad news: The problem child was moved out, so we miss the daily stories of his antics!

Run for the Border!

I have a strict policy that applies to cooking during the weekend. I will NOT cook dinner on a Saturday or Sunday night. Those are my nights off! (I usually get Friday night off, too!!) So, last Sunday evening when we were all craving tacos, Sugie and I picked up tacos from Taco Bell. I only got one taco for each kid b/c:

1.) Sugie is extra picky and said that she would only each the shell and lettuce.
2.) Buddy is usually a great eater, but I’ve never really seen him eat Mexican food.

Our little Buddy with the big belly devoured 3 tacos! He just kept going and going and going. Since this was actually my dinner that he was eating, I tried to sneak in a few bites. He kept saying, “No, mommy! That’s my taco!” It was cute watching his enthusiasm for this new found food. Next week, I’m taking him to Hacienda!!