Weekend in South Bend

It was another busy week for us. Katie has started swimming lessons two evenings per week. On Thursday we actually had both swimming lessons and then a soccer game to follow. It was a little much for all of us and Katie got a little ornery during the game, but she did have her first assist, though.

This first photo was of the girls playing baby dolls in Katie's room. Caroline loves Katie's American Girl baby and will go play in Katie's room whenever she gets the chance. Their new favorite game is to put the baby's clothes in the plastic bags that we use for dirty diapers and walk around saying "she pooped" and holding the bag very far from them.


On Friday afternoon we headed to South Bend for the weekend to visit Mom and Dad and get together with my high school friends. The girls spent Saturday morning enjoying the amenities at Grandma and Poppy's- many, many toys, playing in the yard (without any dog poop) and visiting the neighbor's koi pond.



That afternoon we went to my friend Kim's parent's house for a cookout and enjoyed hanging out and catching up with everyone.


The girls had fun with the other kids. Katie and Mallory went around conducting brownie taste testing. It kept them busy for quite a while, but I was disappointed that my Mom's chocolate chip brownies beat out my s'mores brownies!


Caroline made a friend of her own, and the two of them spent some time standing behind the food table eating as many Doritos as they could.


Later, Jamie decided to make use of the cat cage/tunnel and loaded in as many kids as possible!
While we were helping clean up, Katie and Mallory stopped to do some flower arranging and then became brides!


After dinner that night, the girls got to go for a golf cart ride- another favoriate activity at Grandma and Poppy's house-- while we got ready to go out with my friends.


Sunday morning we went to the pool with hopes that the girls would swim a lot, get tired and sleep in the car. They swam some, but the water was chilly . . . and no, they did not sleep in the car!



On our way home we bribed them with smoothies from Sonic, but it was still a long drive!

Gone Camping!

From Jamie: It was time again for a Dad/daughter campout. The Indian Princesses has a campout in the spring and in the fall. We went to our first one last fall and didn't know exactly what to expect. Our first thing to figure out for the week was what to bring. We decided on a cheesy meat dip and chips and Beth and Katie made s'mores brownies for us to take and share. Beth can't wait until both Katie and Caroline can go.

We arrived about 5:30 on Friday night. Katie went and found some girls to room with in a cabin. This year they changed it up in some of the cabins and had all the girls stay in one and the dads in another. I stayed with the girls as the one adult but some of the girls ended up sneaking into the other cabin with the dads. It was then time to eat and what a feast it was. Everyone in our tribe brought something to share. We had steak, hamburgers, hotdogs, brats, chicken sausages, regular sausages, KFC grilled chicken, numerous dips, lots of fruit, some salads, lots of cookies. There was even a smoker with pheasant and trout. Needless to say everyone was stuffed and the racoons ate well that night, too. After dinner, we went to the campfire for songs and stories.

The girls then got into the face painting. I think Katie's was the favorite of all the girls.If you can't tell, they painted eyes on Katie's closed eye lids- it's really kind of creepy!
After a late night and some early- morning wakers, the activities started after breakfast.

First, we went to the climbing tower. You can see how high it was and how high Katie got. She is one of the youngest in the group but got along great at all the activities and with the older girls.

Look how high she went!

Then it was off to the pony rides and the mini mine shaft ( a tunnell that you ride down on a sled).

There weren't pictures from the afternoon as we did the Amazing Race contest. We had to do a bunch of activities for points within a two hour time limit all over camp. One of the activities that I participated in was on the climbing roes. If you look at the picture of Katie on the climbing wall, you can see a log with a saddle. I had to climb up the ladder end up on the saddle when it got pulled over and grab the ladder that you can see at the top of the picture. It was hard to climb up that high ladder. We also did a balancing contest, a construction contest, a maze, a word search, a hike, Katie had to hang on a big pole with only her body. It was fun but everyone was tired after. We had a little break before the pig roast. Katie also played a fun game called Ga-Ga ball with her friends. We were planning on leaving Saturday night again before the bonfire. When the thunderstorm and tornado warnings started we left quickly after saying goodbye to everyone. Katie had a four-hour nap today and Beth had to wake her up even then. It was a fun weekend for Dad's and daughters. I think there were 250 campers and even 3 grandfathers.



From Beth: Meanwhile, back at home, I tried to make it a fun weekend for Caroline. She keeps asking when she will be old enough for Indian Princesses. I just know that she pictures the girls running around in princess dresses!

Caroline and I began our weekend with a trip to the library and Taco Bell for dinner (a feast of our own!) She woke up bright and early on Saturday (6:30 ish), and I really missed having Jamie get her. I loved this picture of her eating breakfast- I think she could be the next Mikey in cereal commercials (although she was eating Kix, not Life).

Our first stop of the day was a haircut, which was Caroline's only request for the weekend. She did need a trim, but she was just in it for the balloon and sucker. After that we hit the gym and the grocery for some picnic supplies. All of that and we were back home at 11 a.m. You sure can get a lot done when you start the day early!

After nap (a short nap, I might add) we played in opur inflatable pool. The water was kind of chilly, but Caroline was happy to dump buckets of water into each other.

After we dried off from the pool, we played puzzles and then got ready for our picnic dinner. We went to a nearby park and played for about an hour and then took a walk and found a spot for a picnic. Caroline was busy watching everything and anxious to get back to the playground.

During all of this activity, I spent many as many hours as possible organizing things in our new office furniture. It's getting there, but still more to do. I found all kinds of old documents that we decided to part with, so that was good, but it's a time-consuming task.

And, for those of you looking for a house update, the painters finished on Wednesday, with the newly white banisters taking a little longer than planned, and we had our new carpet installed in the family room/steps on Thursday. So, that is the last of the workmen for a while . . . until I arrange for the shutters!

P.S. This might be the most boring photo that I have ever posted on the blog, but my mom requested to see it!

Long weekend

Before I dive in to our activities of the long Memorial Day weekend, I have two photos to share from last week. We have had many home projects in the works and the office was being painted last weekend/Monday, so we were without a computer at home for most of the week. The first picture is of the girls newly enamored with a chair that was moved out of the office to make room for the painters. It, along with a lot of other random things, are now in the dining room.


In addition to getting ready for the paiting, we had a busy Saturday night as we watched our friends' kids for the evening. Jamie took Katie and Caitlyn to an Indian Princesses event at Bounce U, while I had the two little ones. It was fun, but made us glad we don't have four kids!

So the work at home conitnued all week. The builders finished the guest room wall on Tuesday and it was painted on Wednesday, which was a good thing since Grandma and Poppy arrived on Thursday!
Thursday night we all went to Katie's soccer practice and Caroline got to practice with the team as well.

She enjoyed sitting in the net, kicking the ball and strutting around!

After a hot practice, we all went out for ice cream!

Friday, the girls went to school, while we kept the painters company and worked on getting our new office furniture set up. Thank goodness we had Poppy there to troubleshoot!

Saturday, Dad and Jamie played golf, while the rest of us awaited the delivery of our new couch. You can see that we put Katie and Caroline to work! (our new mantle/fireplace is visible in the background)

Once the furniture guys moved the big chair to the playroom, the girls instantly turned it into a toy. Here, it is a car that the girls packed up for a drive.

Jamie found the new couch to be to his liking!

Sunday morning, we had a belated Mother's Day brunch for Grandma. We thought it would be nice to eat outside, but it was hot and sticky by 10 a.m. We couldn't wait to be done!

While Poppy was busy fixing our lamp post (background), I had the girls wash their wagon and then we had a "parade" around the cul de sac.

Later the girls swam in the neighbor's inflatable pool and Caroline showed off her hula hoop skills. Grandma also demonstrated her skills, which Poppy caught on video. Some people wanted me to post that video here (it was pretty funny!) but I refrained.

Monday morning we went to the playground/water park.

It was a little chilly, but the girls and I went in the water a little bit. They especially enjoyed spraying me.

After the park, we had lunch on the patio and the girls enjoyed the first watermelon of the season.

Here is Caroline telling us that she was going to sleep on the steps.

After dinner the girls played t-ball with the neighbor and Katie "kept score" while Lily kept her company.

It was a fun weekend. Thanks to Grandma and Poppy for all of their help with our projects!

And, a belated Happy Birthday to Jamma and Uncle Buddy who celebrated last week.