The Fun Never Stops

You heard that right.  Its just been one fun thing after another this week. :)  On Wednesday morning we met up with some good friends and let the kids play together.  After playing a little while, we had a picnic lunch and then played some more.  We finally had to call it a day when the babies (Paige and Ryan are only a month or so apart in age) were completely worn out and ready for naps.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures to document our fun, but trust me when I say it was fun. :)

On Thursday morning, we went to the library and checked out what felt like half the books in the library.  Is the public library just about the greatest thing ever?  Afterwards, Elise went and ate lunch with her cousin Emmy who is in year-round school.  While she was doing that, the rest of us met Cory at the park and ate lunch there with him.  In the meantime, Elise and Emmy convinced Emmy's dad to check her out early and he brought both girls to the park and all the kids played for a while.

This little gal really, really loves to swing. :)

Merry Grace had to get "all fancy" to come to the park.  For her, "fancy" meant a strand of beads from mardi gras, doubled around her neck with an old key looped onto it.  She totally achieved fancy.

Would you look at that cute snaggletooth smile?  I love it!!!  And I love that little boy.  The day before, he fell off the swing trying to jump off.  Somehow he had managed to get his shirt tangled or caught in the swing and he busted.  Bless his heart.  Apparently he inherited his mom's coordination.  Today, however he fared just fine on the swings.

I think the sandbox is the kids' favorite part of the park.  They dug a pretty big hole, especially considering they didn't have a shovel or anything like it to dig with.  Just their hands.  I just hope their aren't stray or neighborhood cats roaming around who think this sandbox is their litter box.  (I know, I know.  I worry too much.)

Paige mainly wanted to fill Elise's flip flop with sand, over and over again.  So cute!

I just LOVE this boy to pieces.  Sometimes if he has to go down the hall by himself he gets a little scared, so he'll just randomly yell out, "Mommy!!!!  I love you!!!  I just wanted you to know I love you."  Its comforting to him to "talk" to me down the hall.  And when he's being so cute, I can't feel too terrible that he's a little scared. :)

In addition to the swings, Paige loves the slides.  She could just go down the slide over and over and over again.  And again.  And again. ;)

Is it just me, or does Elise look really LONG in this picture?  When did she grow up so much?!    If you'll look closely, you'll probably see where Merry Grace got her idea of "fancy" from.  Elise also has a string of beads with a key on the end.  I love their sense of style!

After spending a long time at the park, I finally convinced the kids to leave and we went home to play in the sprinkler.  

I think it was a hit!!!

I fixed an April Fools Day dinner for the kids.  I served them a dinner of mashed potatoes and gravy, peas and carrots and chicken nuggets.  Only the mashed potatoes and gravy were vanilla ice cream with caramel syrup, the peas and carrots were green M&M's and orange Reese's Pieces, and the chicken nuggets were maple peanut bites.  I just acted like it was a normal dinner and set the kids plates in front of them.  I think Elise may have been the most confused of all.  She wasn't really fooled, but she had no idea what was going on.  Dessert for dinner?!  Unheard of.  Dessert was actually meatloaf cupcakes, frosted with colored mashed potatoes.  And their drink was raspberry jello that I'd fixed into cups with straws.  It was so much fun and the kids got a kick out of the different routine.

We were trying to do only one fun thing a day, but I think we may have crammed a week's worth of fun into Thursday.