We are SO dragging today! We have had such a wonderfully busy weekend! We had Shane's birthday party on Saturday and after we cleaned up, we grabbed some Culver's and drove over to Brian and Nicole's. Brian needed some help in the front yard, so Nicole and I hung around with the girls (I will let you read her blog if you would like more info!!), and Shane helped the men with the outside work. We didn't leave their house until about 10:30pm, and by the time we got home, Shane and Kayla were both asleep. We picked the up out of the car and straight to bed they went. Jim and I didn't get to bed until almost 1am. We had to feed the dogs and finish cleaning things up.. do you ever have those days that you just can't stop? And even when we layed down in bed at 11:30pm, we still watched TV! I think we were just too wired up to stop!
On Sunday morning we didn't get up until about 8:30am. That is pretty late for us. We try to be ready to leave for church by 9:30am.. we were moving so slow! Somehow though, we all took showers and made it our the door. Good thing they have doughnuts and coffee waiting for us every Sunday when we get there!!! That was ours and the kids breakfast! We stayed for a business meeting after church, so we didn't get to leave there until noon. We then met Brian, Nicole, her cousin Meredith and Taylor at Applebees for lunch. By the time we were done there, it was already 2:00pm. We had plans to meet The McNeel's for some sand volleyball at 2:30pm, but lets just say that we didn't make it there until 3pm! Brian and Nicole joined us there as well and we had a really fun time. The weather was just awesome. We got done at around 5pm and by then, it was time to run home real quick to get cleaned up so that we could run to Pink Hill Park for our Church Picnic! On the way we had to swing by Price Chopper to pick up a few bags of chips because I honestly had NO time to make anything! The only nap Kayla got was the 45 minutes between us leaving the volleyball courts and the time we arrived at the picnic. We just let her sleep in the car while we got ready. She woke up in rare form though! Ready go eat and play! We had a really fun time at the park.. the kids came home SO incredible dirty! The bottom of their tub was nasty!! But, at least the kids were clean and off to bed!!
I love having busy days though.. I am exhausted, but we all had a great time in everything we did. I guess that is what summers are for right??

Saturday finally came, and after Shane counting many sleeps, it was the day of his Birthday Party! He was so excited this morning! Jim and I woke up early and started setting everything up for his party and were done just as our first guests had arrived. Everyone seemed to have a really fun time. We ended up with 16 kids and some parents who might as well have been counted as kids!! They enjoyed a day full of water! Water ballons, slip and slides, a sprinker, an inflatable pool with a little slide, a bouncer and a kiddie pool at the end of the slide on out swingset which we filled with water and ice!! We were a little worried this morning since it was really cloudy, but just at around 2:00pm (the time the party started), the clouds parted and the sun came out. (I am sure that little prayer had nothing to do with it! *wink*). The best part is that we had plenty of time for games and cake and ice cream.. just around 4:00pm, the wind really picked up and it was our cue to wrap things up. We let the kids enjoy the last of the water ballons and it lasted probably close to 15 minutes. Shane had a wonderful time.. I am really happy that we planned this for him and am very grateful to all who came to share it with us! Thanks again for helping us make it special for Shane!!









The kids all sang Shane Happy Birthday and enjoyed cupcakes and ice cream!






Then it was time to open gifts!!


When we were done cleaning up, we tied up all the ballons and wrote a little note that said, "My name is Shane and I let these balloons go on my 5th birthday. I'd like to know how far they go, so please respond by returning this note along with a story of where you found it." Jim included his work PO Box address. I guess we will have to see what happens!!





I wanted to end today's blog with an update of my birthday dinner.. all I have to say is YUMMY! It was so good! I ate foods yesterday that I hadn't eaten in years! I got to even drink Brasilian pop!

ITS MY 30TH BIRTHDAY!

I have been so busy planning Shane's party, that my birthday really just snuck up on me! I'm ok with that! Last thing one needs is to be reminded about turning 30 over and over again. I got an email from a friend from church and she typed, "what is that saying, isn't 30 the new 20?". I'll take that and ask no questions! I am at a very happy place in my life, and if this is what my 30s will be like, bring it on!!

Jim is taking me to a Brazilian Churrascaria for dinner tonight. Its a Brasilian style Steakhouse that I as a child grew up eating at. (For some of you that may not know, I am Brazilian!). I thought that was so thoughtful and so personal.. you did good Jim!! He even asked Jamie to watch the kids for us! I am really looking forward to it! Keep an eye out for an update!!

Just for the record, my finger tips are numb! Jim and I along with the help of two of our neighbors, Jamie and Heather, filled anywhere between 700-750 water ballons for Shane's birthday party on Saturday. We needed to get a head start since we won't have time to fill them Saturday morning. They are still looking good; some after 2 days of being filled.. we have kept them in a cool place and I think that has helped. Our child count it up to a total of 16.. a few of them are younger like Kayla, but they still love the water ballons! We are hoping they will be able to play with them for longer than 5 minutes!!

Here is something else those Christmas totes are good for: Water ballons storage!

TODAY IS SHANE'S BIRTHDAY!!

I can't believe it!! My son turns 5 today! I was just telling Jim last night that it is amazing to think that he has been a part of our lives for 5 years (and nine months!). He has turned out to be such a cool kid! I just adore and love him to pieces!!
He stayed home from summer school today.. I thought it was appropriate! He was a little confused when he woke up and asked me when everyone was going to get here.. we are having his birthday party next Saturday, so I guess that is confusing for him. I told him "5 more sleeps and everyone will come over to celebrate with you!" He understood it a little better and I quickly changed to subject to, "lets go to Walmart and pick out a new toy!" He was all smiles after that! He picked out a Bakugan toy (amazing all the stuff he is into now!) and he hasn't put it down since!


Kayla played with him for the longest time until it was time for her to take a nap and Shane looked a little releaved since he could now have his new toy all to himself! We also picked out a new toy for Kayla and we bought some brownie mix and decorations to make his little cake for tonight.. we are saving the big cake for his party.
Here is the cake we make together!


I asked Shane what he wanted to eat for his birthday dinner, and of course, like the child after my own heart that he is, he said pasta! So I made some yummy pasta and when we were all done, we sang happy birthday and gave Shane his presents.





Last week we gave Shane one of his gifts in advance.. it was something that was sort of hard to keep from him... he has been enjoying it SO much!!

Jim took the day off yesterday and it was so wonderful having him home. The kids and I really enjoy it when he surprises us by taking days off for no real reason other than to just enjoy the day with us. We didn't really do too much. We took Shane to school and just played puzzles with Kayla until it was time to pick him back up. We ate lunch at Pizza Street. When we got home, we laid Kayla down and started cleaning our garage.. it needed some serious TLC! We cleaned it up and even pressure washed it along with the driveway!(Something that we can now do due to Father's Day!!)

I also wanted to share a video of my little Kayla. She is now all about singing. It hard to catch her on tape because she sort of quits singing when she sees me with the camera.. but here is what I caught!

FATHER'S DAY!!
We had a wonderful Father's Day! We went to World's of Fun with the McNeels! We had never been before, so it was great to go with people who know where everything is! I hate having to look at a map and trying to figure out where we are and where the rides are. We got to ride a lot of the rides.. the rollercoster lovers got to ride those.. and I swear I got to ride everything that went round and round and round in a circle! We had to take a break right around lunch time when it started raining, but it worked out perfectly because we left and went to eat at Applebees, and then came back when it quit raining and stayed till almost 8pm!!

We worked on Jim's Father's Day gift yesterday! The kids made Jim a paiting. It turned out pretty neat! Jim noticed some paint on Shane's hair today, and Shane let it slip that they were making a paiting for daddy yesterday.. so we gave daddy his gifts today! Jim was SO surprised. He said to me, "I thought my gift was us going to Worlds of Fun tomorrow?" Well, I guess that is part of it!!

Here they are working on it!!


And here is the finished artwork!


I also got Jim a power washer, which is something he has been wanting to get for a really long time! He wanted to go use it right away!


Shane had his first ever sleep over at a friend's house last night. I kept the sleepover a surprise until yesterday. He was over at Ryan's house a little after 4pm ready for a super fun time with his best bud. For some more sleepover info, ck out Jamie's Blog!

The day started a little hectic today.. things were just difficult! Ever have those days? Things just don't go right? I didn't let that slow me down though! We met up at Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead today. I kept Shane home from Summer School so he could go as well. There were a total of 6 moms and 10 kids between all of us!! I had never taken the kids there before. It was a lot of fun for the kids with there being so much for them to do! We will have to make another trip, because although we were there for almost 3 hours, we still didn't see everything there was to see. As usual I took a lot of pictures! Here are some of them!

Kayla feeding the goats and Shane petting the goats!


Here they are at the school house wearing the dunce cap! I think it suits them both!


Here they are learning all about cows!


Shane got to ride on a pony, but Kayla wasn't old enough yet. Here Shane is on a pony that looked too small for him! And on the next pic they are feeding the baby goats with a bottle.

UPDATED
We had our neighborhood Luau get together today. A lot of people showed up this year! It was a lot of fun. The HOA provided hotdogs, burgers and the pop, and everyone else brought a side dish. We had SO much food!! They started things off with a parade.. Shane got on his biked and joined in.. he didn't want to at first, but then he did and enjoyed it very much!

Can you see him in the front?


While Shane joined the parade, Kayla played in the bouncer!


They also had a baloon artist and a face painter who was absolutly amazing. Here are some pics of what she did for the kids. Shane loves pirates and he wanted his to look like a tattoo; and Kayla said she wanted a kitty, so the lady said that she would make Kayla look like a kitty!



After we ate dinner, the kids wanted to go for a swim. Here they are with daddy!!


ADDED THIS MORNING
The boys went camping last night at Jenni's (Daniel Barnes' mom) place out in Oak Grove. Daniel and Daniel Jr., and Guy and Mady also camped. They both told me they had a really fun time. They got to go fishing and ate smores and hotdogs, and the kids got to stay up late telling ghost stories! I am so happy that Jim and Shane got to spend some fun quality time together! Here are some of the pictures Jim took.







One more thing I wanted to add today is my beautiful lillies that are starting to bloom in my front yard. They look so beautiful!

After I picked Shane up from school today, Kayla, Shane and I went to the Peace Pavillion with Nicole and her little girl Taylor and with Rachel and her two little boys Tanner and Jackson. It was a lot of fun. I had never even heard of the place! It is an interactive place with lots of different activities for kids to teach them all about peace all around them. The kids had a really fun time running around and coloring. It wasn't a very large place, but it had plenty to keep the kids interested. I would definetly recommend it.

Here are a few pictures of the kids!

Shane started Kindergarten Summer School this week. It has been really hard having Shane and Kayla ready to go by 7:45am so that we can make it to school by 7:55am! Good thing its only for 4 weeks. The important thing is that Shane is having a really "awesome" time - these are HIS own words! I think he is enjoying the "school" setting. His teacher is Mrs. Brown and he remembered her name and his PE coach's name on the first day!

We have been trying to enjoy our summer as much as we can. When the weather is nice, we are out all the time. The kids are both getting tanned! We made it to the pool this past weekend and it was packed with kids. I guess I knew our neighbourhood was young, but I never realized how young! There are so many parents with young kids! It is great going to the pool here. The kids always have someone to play with.. and its nice for Jim and I because we get to meet some new people.

Last night was pretty hectic. Jim took the kids to the gym and I went to go get my nails done. It was raining so hard that I didn't make it home till almost 8:30pm. Good thing Jim had gotten home around 8 and had started on dinner.. a nice combo of deep fried chicken nuggets and french fries on his little fry daddy. I told him while he was at it that he should just fry up some chimichangas. My house smelled like a Mexican restaurant!!

Since it was such a busy night last night, and Shane didn't really get to spend as much time with Jim, he told Shane that he would let him help him shave his hair. Lets just say that it was pretty interesting. Here are some pictures!!