Daddy Daughter Camping

Ben & Kinsley went camping with a crew of Ben's friends and their daughters. I knew that they would have a great time but I had not expected the kind of coordination that was done for the trip. Partially because the first update I saw on facebook was one of the guys saying that ALMOST everyone was accounted for. I also saw an early pic of all the kids AND dads sitting at a picnic table looking as though they were waiting for the wives to show up and serve them. I wondered if they had thought of anything beyond s'mores and the tent.

I was proved wrong. Very wrong. I am still marveling over the pre-planned activities that went down.

1. Hide Elmo Game
2. Nature Scavenger Hunt
3. Animal Charades
4. And finally, the kicker....with the girls listening, each dad shared something he loves about his daughter.

Wow. They outdid anything I imagined. Ben had tons of fun with close friends and Kinsley laughed and played with her girls. They had an awesome time together and I think a new tradition has been born. I am already excited for the day he takes both of his girls!


These boys love their little ladies!


Proof they ate things outside the marshmallow and chocolate family!


This explains the dirt which is still in Kinsley's hair.


They may have their princesses with them but boys will be boys and never pass up on King of the Hill.

Muddy Buddies

A couple weeks ago, Ben and his pal James participated in Muddy Buddy. A race where you bike, run and go over obstacles which concludes with an army crawl through a pit of muddy mud. They pretty much rocked it with an 8th place finish out of 1,100. The medal is hanging proudly in our bathroom.


Kinsley had a muddy buddy of her own come visit last week. What a treat to have Grandma Jane and Gramps come out! The countdown is already on to see them at Thanksgiving!



I am also loving my own little buddy while Kinsley is away at preschool. I am seriously cherishing my one on one time with her.

Blink

It was a big big day. In a little over a minute, my baby has grown into a preschooler. A backpack wearing, letter of the day learning, show and telling, off by herself, preschooler. It helps that we were invited to learn the ropes with her today and spent the morning in class with her. It also helps that I adore the school and her teacher. It also helps that there are more days out of the week that she is still with me.

55 Degrees

When there is extreme cold at the end of July, we have found it necessary to make some fashion sacrifices. We were not prepared for winter wear, thus, no article of clothing on either child matches, not to mention they barely fit. The shoes however, are Hallie's favorite combination rain or shine.

Smokin' Hot Shower

My friend Nicole and I threw a baby shower for our dear friend, Kari. We are excited beyond words to meet baby Harper and loved planning a celebration for her. It was a whimsical garden theme and turned out darling.










The shower was super fun but when everyone left that is when the real excitement began. Look again at the pictures with the giant tissue paper balls. Amazing and adorable, they added the perfect amount of whimsicalness to the shower.

It is difficult to tell, but directly under the largest of the balls, is a tiny votive candle. You may know where this is going.

Nicole and I were alone in the kitchen when one of the balls silently and mysteriously fell on top of the candle. In a flash, the whole thing went up in flames. Nicole grabbed the fire ball and brought it down to the floor to stomp it out. But was it really worth sacrificing the hardwood floor---she then began to run toward the back door---but a wood deck was probably not the best solution either.

In hindsight, there was probably too much indecisiveness in such a critical moment but I like how the hardwood floor took priority over Nicole's arm. This ball of fire was no joke....it was massive. In the meantime, I was running outside to get a pitcher of water to assist in the battle but Nicole got it to the sink and used the sprayer to put it out.

When it was clear that there were no major home decor casualties or personal injuries, we laughed hysterically. The kind of laughter that had us doubled over unable to breathe. Laughing while fire alarms were blaring and ashes were settling on the leftover food, floor and nicole's face. She did call to tell me today that her arm is indeed charred and hairless. But at least the floor is unscathed.

Also, the Dateline reports are accurate, the children were sleeping soundly in their beds despite the fire alarms ringing through the neighborhood for an extended period of time.

My Little ESTJ & ENFP

We had a blast at the zoo last weekend. It is hard to beat a day when I get to see the girls so mesmerized and excited. I found myself watching their expressions and reactions more than I watched the animals. I loved seeing their wide eyes as they took it all in.

It is striking how different their personalities are.

Kinsley is a smart cookie and processes everything. Her brain observes and registers everything based on the details she recounts afterward. She is extremely social but ever since she was teeny tiny she has not been outwardly expressive when experiencing something new. These pictures capture this.




Hallie is a little more...dramatic. It has always been easy to know what she is feeling and now it is fun hearing her put words to her emotions. These pictures don't do justice to the things that were coming out of her mouth. Gasps, screams, wows, animal noises, and I am pretty sure I heard her say, "Are you seriously seeing what I am seeing"?

Timeline

Monument Parade: TWO HOURS of tractors, clowns, bands, and politicians throwing candy, toothbrushes, popsicles, water bottles, key chains, and glow sticks at us. We have missed this parade only a handful of times in the last 20 years and it only gets better. It draws upwards of 10,000 people even though there really was only one legitimate float this year. i love my hometown and we loved the parade as always.







BBQ at the folk's house: We celebrated Ford's birthday with friends and family. The cousin's played and the adults feasted.

Church picnic: Oh. My. Rain. After we suffered in the torrential downpour for a couple hours, we headed to a friend's house to dry out and play games. These kiddos are usually in potato sack races together rather than huddled up braving the elements.


Fireworks: They didn't start until 10pm so we enjoyed the view from our bedroom. It was fun that something so simple ended up being my favorite part of the day. Sitting in the dark with my family, watching Kinsley's wide eyes, big smile and gasps of amazement was priceless.