SAD GOODBYE

For some reason when these 2 get together, the dress up clothes come out. Lily is in her Halloween costume that I made when she was 3 or 4.
Lily spent the day with her friend Leia yesterday. They moved to China several months ago and were home for a few weeks. They left today and won't be back for a year. They were so sad. Lily hid Leia's shoes so she couldn't leave. It didn't quite work. At least they got to spend some quality time together while she was here.
Wyatt started CSI camp today. They hiked and found a dead raccoon(really just a pelt) and they have to investigate to figure out what it died from. They said it was a lot of fun. We're trying to decide if he's going to miss Friday. We want to leave for Kentucky to go to the lake Thursday night so we'll just wait and see.

Bop to the Top

Lily is constantly "performing" around the house. I just had to get it on video. So funny.

FREE WEEK

It's so great to live in a place that offers so many free activities for kids. This week we have gone to a free sprinkler park that gave out free popscicles and watermelon, we did free mini golf, free bowling camp and today, a free movie. We have managed to stay very entertained for very little money---gotta love that!

The kids were so sad for bowling camp to be over. They had the best time this year. Their "counselor" was a super nice teenager that rewarded them with tickets and tokens from the arcade. Lily came home with a huge stuffed dog plus lots of other stuff and Wyatt and Rachel had a bunch of tickets to "spend" too. He was also very instructional and they learned a lot. They all bowled in the 120's the last day. It is always one of their favorite camps-and this year, even more so.

I'm so ready for my hubby to be home. We've seen him one day in the last 2 weeks. He gets home this evening-yay! He's been traveling with his boss and his boss's boss who is the VP. He wanted to see Jeff's stores to see what he is doing right because his district has been doing so well. He said his time with them went really well-so that's a good thing. I know he's ready to be home, though, and we are ready for him to be home!

We had a great day at Dillon Park today! I was afraid the kids would get bored quickly, but we were there for over 2 hours and I had to drag them away!! We will definitely be going there again! Best of all, the day didn't cost a penny!

FUN DAY AT DILLON PARK!!

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS...

OK, funny story about each of my kids from the last couple of days.
Last night, Wyatt and I went to see Harry Potter and McDonald's before. I got my fries and they were old and cold. Yuck! McDonald's fries just aren't what they used to be. Anyway-I digress. I took my fries back up and asked for fresh ones. Seriously, they were bad. Jump ahead to the movie. We're sitting waiting for it to start. Wyatt looks at me and says, "Mom, you embarrass me sometimes." I'm like, "What? Like when?" He said, "When you went up and asked for new fries, that was just embarassing." Oh, my---and how many years of this do I have to look forward to???
Ok, now Lily. This was funny. We're eating at the chinese buffet tonight after dance(I'll tell you about that in a minute) and she looks up and says, "I must be a side kick" meaning psychic. She said, "I heard the word drink in my head and then you took a drink and a last year at school I heard the word timber in my head and then someone in my class fell down". She said, "That happens sometimes, I hear things in my head and then they happen." Oh my, I may have the next Sylvia Browne on my hands. LOL!
The reason we were at dance in the middle of summer is--I decided to let Lily do the Cecchetti exam at her studio. In this method of ballet, these exams are mandatory later, so it is good practice for them at this level. Lily's teacher thinks she is really doing well and paying attention in class more than ever, so she thought it would be good for her to do it. I think it will be a good experience for her to go in front of the examiner and get "graded". They will give us a detailed sheet with what Lily is doing well on and what she needs to work on. We have never participated in the past, but I do feel like she's getting more serious about it, so I thought it would be good for her. The exam is in late August and she will do classes until then to get her ready for what she will be tested on. I'll let you know how she does!

TOMATOES, ANYONE?

Well, my garden is overflowing with tomatoes. Especially the grape tomato plant. I'll have to plant this same variety next year-it has produced like crazy! Too bad I'm the only one in my family that really likes them!

Wyatt is about a third of the way through Harry Potter. We saw the movie last night. I was so glad Lily didn't go. It was SCARY! But good.

The kids have bowling camp this week. They had a lot of fun today. Lily scored a 108 in one game and had 5 spares! That's better than I could do!

Emma, Lily and Savannah at lunch.
Wyatt and Trevor at lunch.

Lily on the tube slide.
Wyatt on the tube slide.
Lily and Emma in front of the big slides.
Lily at the 4H fair "walking a llama".
We went to a nice water park yesterday with Tracee and the kids. It was a good size and we were able to see them from anywhere pretty much. It was the cleanest water park I've ever been to. We all had such a good time.

Last night was the 4H fair. Jeff and Wyatt went to the tractor pull and Lily and I walked around and looked at everything. They had a new Llama building with lots of free games, etc. She got to walk a llama through an obstacle course. It was a busy day and we all slept well last night.
Wyatt got the new Harry Potter book today and has been engrossed in it. I think we are going to see the Harry Potter movie tomorrow night while Lily is at a b-day party.

MISC RECENT PICS

Tomatoes from my garden. Yum!
Lily's newest fashion statement. She has taken to wearing her shirts behind her neck like this ( the blue as actually another t-shirt). I have no idea where she came up with the idea. She also made her own Hanna Montana t-shirt with markers. I was actually pretty impressed with the way she laid it all out.

Lily was SO happy to see her good friend Leia who moved to China a while back. She has been counting down to July because she knew she would be back for a few weeks to visit. She was ecstatic when we got home from vacation and there were a couple of messages from her. It'll be so sad when she leaves again ;-(

BLACK AND WHITE BEACH PICTURES

RIDEMAKERZ

Choosing his chassi.
Here's what he's picked.
Picking out the accessories.
Putting it all together.
More putting together.

Making the title.
In front of the store with his car. They give you a box to put it in that looks like a garage.
Something new! This is a store called Ridemakerz. Right now the only one is in Myrtle Beach with 2 more opening soon in other states. It's like Build-a Bear but with model cars!! Finally, something geared towards boys-why didn't I think of this! You go in and pick all the parts to your car or truck. Then you put it together at the stations they have. You then go to the computer and make and print a title for it. Wyatt got his with a remote control, too. That's him above "driving" it into our condo after he made it. Jeff had just as much fun with it as Wyatt did!! Lily wants to make one,too. Of course they had pink ones.

MYRTLE BEACH 2007-LOTS OF PICS!

4TH OF JULY

Lily with sparklers.
Wyatt with many sparklers.

Horses in the parade.
Wyatt and Michael "gettin' jiggy with it".

Watching fireworks.

At the parade.

Lighting foreworks.
The kids' favorite fireworks---parachutes come down out of them.

Well, it was a fun holiday. Yesterday we had our neighbor get together with lots of food and fireworks. Jeff got some really big ones this year and they were great! Today we went to the town parade. Lily decided she didn't want to ride on her dance studio float this year so she could actually watch the parade.
Tomorrow we leave for Myrtle Beach---yay! We're all so excited and ready! Still have lots to do in the morning to get ready! See you in 12 days with lots of pictures, I'm sure!!!

I found these adorable roller blades for Lily at Goodwill for $4. They fit her perfectly, too! She has barely taken them off since I got them. She learned really quickly how to balance on them. I also found some my size for $2--and Rollerblade brand, too! I love bargains! I tried them out and was surprised how quickly it came back to me.

Lily on her bike decorated for the neighborhood bike parade.
Making the same pancakes Trevor and Wyatt had below.
Lily and Emma home from overnight Girl Scout camp. They had so much fun.
All ready for camp.
Wyatt had Trevor over to spend the night since both of their sisters are away at camp together. I made them homemade pancakes for breakfast. They wanted chocolate chip but I didn't have any. I improvised by chopping up a dark chocolate Hershey bar. They said they were the best pancakes they had ever had. Awww.

Running through the fire hose after the parade.
Look how high the hose went.
Getting ready to start the parade.
These were the hugest dogs I've ever seen. One was 180 lbs and the "small" one was 150 lbs. They were so cute! Lots of slobber-which I DID fall victim to--yuck!
Lily and Meghan.

Our neighbor works for Proctor and Gamble. She gives us great stuff all the time-sometimes stuff that's not even out in the stores yet. Look at all of the goodies she

gave us yesterday. I got to go in her dining room (looks like a store) and "shop". I got the new Swiffer wet jet, a new Pur pitcher, a butane operated curling iron and lots of other cool things to try!

Jeff did such a great job on the yard yesterday I just had to take a pic. He trimmed all of the bushes which were majorly overgrown. I should have taken a "before" pic.
Jeff working on his fireworks contraption for our big

show. He got some huge ones this year. Those are the launchers. He put them on a cart on wheels to get out of the way of cars quickly. He loves to build things.

Another pic of Lily running through the fire hose.
Our neighborhood had it's annual 4th of July bike parade yesterday. Lily did it--Wyatt didn't want to. They decorate their bikes and a firetruck escorts them to the pool area where they throw out candy and spray their fire hoses. The kids love it.
It's been an awesome week of not too many obligations. I so enjoy this downtime to recharge and get caught up on things. It's so necessary for me and for the kids I think. Next week will be spent getting ready for our July 4th party and vacation. Should be fun!