July 4th blow out of fun!!!

Our day started very very very early on Saturday with the Church's July 4 Pancake Celebration. Everyone had a great time. Pancakes, games, play scape, face painting! So that finished around 10 AM. Then just before lunch Katie and Jesse and the dogs arrived at the house. You will see in the slides the afternoon was a puzzling, slip n slide, and great BBQ. My parents and Chris and JJ arrived just before dinner. (Which i did not take any other photos that night!) But after dinner we played a quick game of group Taboo. And then set out for Schertz to watch the fireworks. After driving around for about 30 mins. We just pulled into a parking lot, pulled up behind the parked cars and just stood by the vans to watch. (That way we could make a quick exit) Turned out to be a great location. they were right on top of us! The kids loved it!!! And we all agreed that was the best show we had ever seen!

The slide show is long but there are great snapshots!!

Okay the slip n slide fun night really deserves its own entry. After it cooled down to a nice 91 or so and the back yard was shaded for the most part. We set up the slip n slide for the kids. They had a blast. It was interesting we were sweating, they were freezing!!! Enjoy and Sierra is in charge, just in case there was ever a doubt. She appointed herself the regularator of when it was time for each one to have their turn. (i tried the slide show, hope it works)

Day Three...

So the kids were super excited to go to IHOP for breakfast this morning. Our friends Jon and Emily went along with us. And you would think they were the kids aunt and uncle also! Jon as you can see in the photo is just like all the men in our family, crazy with a funny sense of humor!!! (ok so growning up my older brother and cousin always joked about me and chris being adopted and/ or the sibling that was no longer there because they were lost, died, left on the boat, left at the nut hospital, etc, etc. So maybe Jon is a long lost bother!!! Just kidding) The kids had the perfect table manners! After we ran over to Sams club to get a few things. Jon decided to just go home and so Emily got in the van. Levi was so funny, he said "why is that girl coming with us?" And Uncle Michael rode in the very back of the van with Sierra and Zack. Needless to say i kept having to get onto the back row for being loud!!!

After our quick errands we need to do a little "company is coming sprucing up"!! So of course all this free help was totally used! Uncle Michael said that Aunt Tina needs to be reported for Child Labor Laws!!!! But they all did a great job. And we got everything done while Michael mowed the grass. So here are the kids doing their jobs. And yes that is a real vacuum that Levi has!

So after a good job cleaning everyone got to watch TV with uncle Michael. They had a hard time understanding that you watch what he wants. But they did watch a program about training a dogs.

Later we realized that we had kinda lost Emma. But we found her! Sweet as can be sleeping in the guest room. And Zack really was into his book that after story/quiet time he just kept on reading!

And then Uncle Michael and Levi made Tuna salad for lunch. Which tasted great. And as a special treat they got root beer and bugles. And Sierra is so much like me, we love tuna salad. I remember when i was young, i thought that was the best stuff.


Then after lunch time Uncle Michael had a few errands to do so the kids got to have Music time. Who knows maybe someday they will be famous singer, pianist, or something!

All that and it is just now 5:00 Pm. No wonder i am so tired at night this week. But it is all worth it. They are only young once. And they can be so sweet. I absolutely love these times that i get to spend with them. Thanks JJ, Chris, and Michael for letting me spend time like this with them. I will update if there is more later tonight.

Summer Fun Day Two

Day Two packed full of exciting things like...

So today started out with a round of cereal for all. Today was Story time at the Library, and they were all very excited to go. So they passed the time with coloring pages again. And playing lego's.

While we are all upstairs watching a little disney tv. We realized that Emma had gone downstairs. (I had played the piano and sang songs with them on the first day.) So there sat Emma with a book on the stand and pretending to play while she sang!!! So Cute!!

Okay, so coming from the Round Rock/Georgetown Area where Story time draws the crowds of stay at home moms. It is nothing to have 30- 40 children at each story time there. So i was a little surprised by the turn out here in Universal City!!! Yes you counted correctly, only 6 children.

They learned about flowers and then got to decorate a cup to plant some sunflower seeds in.

Then after we came home and had our hour of reading and laying on the couch. They all helped fold laundry. Why not it is their clothes!! And they seemed to know how to do it. Great job JJ and Chris ( I am sure it was JJ that has taught them this skill, after all i grew up with Chris and he never even folded wash rags!) Although Sierra says that he does know how to fold them now!!

I had a few papers that i needed shredded. So while i have free help that thinks it is fun to separate and put paper in the machine. I totally put them to work!!! So here is how the assembly line went:

Levi and Emma were in charge of riping old checks out of the books.Zack was in charge of putting the papers in stack of 4 sheets.
Sierra was in charge of feeding the papers into the machine to shred.

After a fun afternoon all the office work and laundry was done. Love free help!!

After dinner we did two exciting things. We played science experiment with little capsules that when put in warm water turn to sponge animals. They still have not opened up yet all the way. We are hopeful that the morning will bring exciting animal sponges.

And then we went to Mc Donalds for ice cream cones and to play on the jungle gym.

Summer Time Fun As Uncle and Aunt!!!

Well i had been promising my nieces and nephews that they could come down and stay a week with us in SA. So on Tuesday i picked them up and we drove back to SA, with a stop over at McDonald's for lunch of course! And a stop at the gas station for gas and a quick car wash. And as i pull into the drive way Emma finally falls to sleep after asking me a million times where my house was at?

So this is how Wednesday morning started out as Peaceful day!!!! When i got back from my morning walk Michael was having a discussion with Levi about not waking the others up by hitting them and screaming in their ears. So it did not stay this way to long!

After a great breakfast of waffles and Welch's Passion Fruit Juice. I was giving instructions for getting ready for the day and this is the response i got! Looks hopeful that they heard every word, yes? So after getting everyone dressed and realizing that Emma's tops got left at home. We hurried to Walmart to buy a few shirts and Coke Zero for Uncle Michael. Then we stopped by the library to check out a few books and find out when the story hour is on Thursday.

For dessert we made Treasure Hunt Cupcakes. They are fun, easy and good. And while they waited they worked on one of the coloring pages for the 4th of July. And painted our nails!

And of course tonight was pizza night. They all enjoyed making their very own pizza with as little or as many pepperoni on them. Sierra was the main Chef tonight. By the way Emma required a total outfit change after her cupcake.

Then after dinner we went to the park to play and get good and sandy before bath time! Uncle Michael sat off to the side reading his book for a little while. But he did try and get the kids to play on the see saw with him. But they still needed my help getting him up in the air! They are very skinny kids. At least compared to Uncle Michael!!

Well that was the end of our first full day. After baths and stories they were all ready for bed. Emma and Levi had to be carried upstairs because they fell asleep during the bedtime stories. Thank goodness Michael was home! I will update tommorrow events hopefully right after they go to bed tommorrow!!