It's no Blue Bell, but it'll do...

This past week we were BUSY!!

Since Dominic enjoyed camp so much, we decided to pony up and enroll him in another two week session, which started last Tuesday. This time around there were 12 kids in his group! I am assuming they have combined two groups since there are 2 counselors in there.

When we weren't at camp, we were at playgroups. Monday we hosted a playgroup at our house. Kids were invited to make homemade ice cream, which actually turned out to be quite delicious!

Fattening, but delicious! While we waited for the ice cream to freeze we moved out front and ran through the sprinkler!

Our new church friends joined us for this one. She is due with baby girl #3 anyday now. Note to self: I should check in on her since I didn't see them at church yesterday.

The next day we had AM and M over for some ice cream and playtime.

The next two days I was saddled down with creating the neighborhood playgroup's newsletter. Big doings!! This took approximately 3 days to get all together but the third day was simply copy-paste'ing.

Friday we had a full day all to ourselves. Until I remembered that I had to buy my hubby a birthday present! So it was off to the golf store to pick up a fashionable golfing outfit, complete with golfing belt. I never knew such a thing existed, but trust me it does.

Friday afternoon we were invited over to H and E's house for indoor play. It was just nice to get out of the house after the whole newsletter stress. I even managed to get a photo of myself with BOTH babies!! As I've said in previous posts, photos of me with the kids is rare as I'm usually the one taking the photo. I just love this one, too!!

Saturday Daddy turned "4-4" and Jillian turned 2 months old!

Instant birthday in a bucket

What do you get a teenage girl who has everything for her birthday? For this year's birthday I delved deep into my teacher's bag of tricks and thought like a 15 year old girl for a moment.
From my experience as a teacher and being around pre-teens, I know that although they like to think of themselves as adults, they still have that little kid side that enjoys goofing off and having an excuse to be silly.

I saw this idea a few months ago and was just hoping I would get to use it. The opportunity came yesterday. My neice and 2 nephews are visiting the IL's and my neice has a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks. I put together what I call

"Instant Birthday in a Bucket!!"

The idea was to give her a birthday party that any 6 year old would love. Inside was the following:
1. birthday girl ribbon to wear
2. cupcake printed plates, napkins and cups
3. crazy straws
4. crazy candles
5. water balloons
6. a pin the tail on the donkey game

Surprisingly, my 2 nephews said they'd never played the game before, so we broke it out and let them all take a turn!

Guess who won???

That's right! My boy got the tail right on the star!!!

What party is complete without a cake, right? We had that too!!

We bought the new game, Headbanz, for the birthday girl. I specifically chose a game that my little man could play with the big kids. We had to adapt the rules for him, but he did pretty good. And he looked pretty cute playing, too!

Parental observations from a former teacher...

As a former teacher with 10 years under my belt I have the unique opportunity to see my child through two sets of glasses: the rose-tinted mommy glasses and the eagle-eyed teacher glasses. While this can be great, it can also lead to stress that other moms are spared.

This month we branched out and enrolled D in a 4-day parent optional summer camp. Actually, we enrolled him back in April knowing that he'd probably want to get out of the house and have some "D-time" away from his sister. Since we've never left him under any else's care, except for the Grands, I stayed Tuesday with him just to see how he'd do (FANTASTIC!) and to see what activities they'd do. I am happy to say that I was very pleased with both.

The following day I let him go on his own, but Jillian and I stayed in the commons area. There, I was able to see and hear many observations I otherwise would have missed. Here's what was rambling inside my head:

1. I can teach my child to follow instructions but not all parents do. The result? My child ends up waiting for his turn while other kids take multiple turns.

2. I am my child's greatest advocate. This means I will be present for all his activities. In his group of 7 at camp I was the only parent who stayed and sadly, I ended up feeling like the crazy "that mom". (So what if I happened to be snapping pictures of my son eating a snack?)

3. Parents are VERY particular about their children. As a teacher I know that parents can certainly be a thorn in the side. Being a parent in that common area I overheard a mother planning a birthday party on the premises and was amazed at the extravagance of the event. Face painter? Multiple cakes? Extra staff on site? Personalized favors? All of these cost extra money and the mommy was more than happy to oblige. Then she said a key sentence and it all suddenly made sense: "All the other parties we go to have face painters."
We had D's party here at home and I assure you it was just as appreciated at much less cost. (My hubby may beg to differ about the cost.)

I also came to the realization that I will be the mom who is in the front row at concerts, recitals and awards assemblies with camera in hand, hollering out my child's name so that I can get a shot of him/her in the moment. And you know what?? I'm okay with that!
I mean, look at these faces:

Can you blame me??

Fourth Fun

Today being the Fourth of July, I thought I'd start with a festive photo and then do a catch up post.

Here we are this morning:

Jillian is really feeling in the spirit, no? Hee Hee!

This week we actually had it together enough to make it out of the house on a few occasions. We made it to a local rec center and met K and B for some running and bouncehouse bouncing. Fun!

I've made contact with a few ladies from church via email. We have been playing "tag" for a while now, trying to synchronize our calendars. So far we have tentative plans to meet next week with one family and the following week with the other. I'll be sure to post how it goes once we meet up.

Jillian is ready to eat now so I'll sign off for now!!