Cooling Off

After our silly string fight, it was still hot outside, so we decided it was time to turn on the water hose.

The kids took turns having me spray a stream of water for them to jump over.

Ian is a great jumper.  They play this game sort of like reverse limbo, only no one ever gets out. :)

Merry Grace is still learning how to jump. :)  She loves playing in the water hose, though.  She was the first one out and ready in her bathing suit.

Paige was much braver this time.  She didn't stay on the porch the entire time, for starters.  And she even ran though the sprinkler after the kids!  What a cutie pie she is! :)

We are not above letting the water hose double as a shower, around our house.  We grabbed a bottle of shampoo and told the kids to wash up. :)

A little shampoo and perfect timing let us capture Elise's "Alfalfa" look.  LOVE IT!!!

Ian used enough shampoo to hose down an elephant, but on the plus side, he really ought to be clean.  I love it when you can combine bathtime and fun all in one shot!

Silly String

Sunday evening, we came across six cans of silly string that I had bought goodness knows when, and the kids decided it was the perfect opportunity for a silly string fight.  Each person took a can and we were set. :)

Merry Grace took this picture of me getting Cory after his silly string can had run out. :)  It's really a good thing we aren't competitive.

Elise had a great time.  She really likes being able to "take you down." (I wonder where she gets that idea?!)

Ian also had a great time during our "fight".  He was a really fast runner.

Not everyone thought the silly string fight was "super fun".  Merry Grace did not appreciate being on the receiving end of this game.  Fortunately, by taking her still-full can of silly string and chasing down every person who had sprayed her, (See photo #1) she was miraculously cheered up.

Paige really did not have a clue what was going on, nor did she know how to spray silly string.  But I think she liked being with all of us anyway. :)

Nothing says "Family Activity" like a fight, a few tears, laughter, a little bit of rowdiness and a lot of fun. :)

Theater Room

Lots of people have theater rooms these days.  You know, we thought about putting one in, but when our living room + these two giant buckets works just as well, we decided, "Why bother?"

State of the Art, right here baby.  Gotta love it. :)

Seriously, they watched an entire movie in these buckets.  Unbelievable.

Piggy Banks

At the end of the school year, I got these ceramic piggy banks from Michaels for a steal and thought they might make fun summer craft.  Last week, we finally got around to painting them.  Let me just say that it practically took the entire day for this project.   First of all, there are four little people trying to work.  We also had to take a break for lunch.  And there was drying time for the paint as we waited for one color to dry before we started another one.  It was a lot of work and my house looked like a tornado had swept through, but we had a good time.

I actually had two little cows for Paige to paint, instead of a pig.  She literally said "Cow!!!!!" all day long.  She loved painting.  She would paint the cow, dip her brush in more paint, paint her tummy, dip her brush, pain the table, dip the brush, paint the cow...you get the idea. She had a lot of surfaces to cover in paint.  Thank heavens it is washable.

Merry Grace decided on a black pig with polka dots.  She did a great job covering the pig in black paint.

Ian wanted a pirate pig.  At first he wanted him to be white, but when he realized that meant less painting, he decided on a black one.

Elise went with a green pig with polka dots.  She was slightly miffed that Merry Grace (who had originally wanted flowers on hers) decided to copy her polka dot idea.  I told her to be flattered--that's just what happens when you're the cool big sister.

This is what the table looked like when we got finished.  Actually, it seemed like every room in my house looked something like this.  The worst part of the table was that Paige had taken her leftover macaroni and put it on various paint plates.  It was so gross to see a puddle of green paint and then a macaroni noodle next to it.  Ugh.  But she was happy doing it.  Sometimes, that is the top priority.

Here's a little bit of Paige's messiness after she painted.  It came right off after a good soak in the tub.

And the finished products. :)  I decided after Ian requested a skull and crossbones that I was going to have to freehand, that I regret never having taken an art class before.  Boy, would those skills come in handy on a project like this.  I thought they turned out adorably cute.  The kids were so proud, especially since they did so much of it all by themselves.  Now if they just had some money to put in them.... :)

Balloon Fun

The kids blew up balloons one day last week.  They wanted to write their names on them to tell them apart.

Merry Grace had a few choice words on hers, "Merry Grace.  If you pop this, I will tell my parents and be mad.  Keep knives away.  Go Tarheels."  I think she covered all the bases. :)

We taped up a piece of crepe paper up in the living room for our volleyball net and used the balloons as balls.  It made for a fun indoor activity, since it is so hot outside.  (Have I mentioned the heat outside yet?)

Little Moments of Fun

I have been so happy to have the kids out of school this summer.  I'm already dreading sending them back next month.  Its really just too sad to even think about.  But we've tried to sneak in little moments of fun all throughout the summer.  One day we went to the produce stand for tomatoes and got some of their homemade ice cream.

The kids departed from their old stand-by "cotton candy" (which really is awesome.  I even sneak a bite out of their cups. :)) to try "birthday cake" and "cookie dough".  I was forced to get a cup of "chocolate thunder" which may be the best ice cream flavor on the planet.  It is chocolate ice cream with pieces of brownie, pecan pieces and swirls of caramel syrup.  We were going to eat it outside, but with the temps these days, we decided we'd just rather eat in the air conditioned car. :)  Yum, yum, yum.

Sweet Sisters.

The other day, Paige had woken up early from her nap.  Unfortunately, that seems to be a trend I'm seeing too much of these days.  Nevertheless, I got her settled back down and Merry Grace offered to hold her while she slept.  Wow!!!  A lot has changed in the almost two years since Paige was a newborn.  I do believe these two girls are almost the same size!!!

I think Max is napping too. :)

I think Paige is lucky to have this gal as her big sis!!!

Merry Grace was watching an episode of Dora the Explorer on Netflix and happily agreed to let Paigie watch it with her.  Cuties.

Elise is a good girl to hold Paige and Max at the same time.

I'm not sure Paige is interested in any love from Max. :)  Again, Paige is a lucky girl to have Elise as her big sister too. :)

A Day at the Beach

After leaving Hotel Disney Channel, we went to the beach for the afternoon.

It was a beautiful day to be at the beach.  Elise and Ian headed straight for the waves.

Little Miss Cutie Bug.  Love this girl.  She did not head straight for the waves.

Paige was covering herself in sand before we could even get her cover-up off.

This is the time of year for the little sand bugs that live at the water's edge.  Catching them is one of our favorite things to do.

Paige LOVED holding them.  She couldn't quite figure out how to catch them herself, so she just kept begging others to find them for her.

Cory got a handful of them for Merry Grace.  She thought they were great!  She may have actually liked them best of all.

Ian was not impress with them.  He kept saying, "I hate those bugs.  When I'm in the water I can feel a giant one touch my feet."  I think he may have imagined some of that, but he did not enjoy them either way.

Merry Grace's sand bugs.

Paige loved everything about being at the beach and loved being at the water's edge.

Cutest 1-year old.  Period.

Merry Grace and Ian worked to dig a big hole.  I'm not sure if there was a point to this other than "just a hole."

Paige wanted to drink sips of pop out of the bottle cap.  Her Daddy must love her. :)

Cutest 9-year old ever.  Bar none.

Once Elise started helping, they got a pretty sizable hole dug.

We had to leave a little earlier than planned once a storm came up, but that was okay.  We had already had so much fun, it would have been hard to have any more if we'd stayed longer.  We had a fun time being together as a family and making memories. :)  It was the perfect mini-vacation!