...and the fun continues

Continuing our weekend 'o fun, we headed off to the Painter's for some good food and relaxation.  The water works were already in full swing when we got there.  Temps in the 90's today = time to get out the hose!

After packing away grilled hamburgers, corn, and more pound cake and strawberries it was back outside to enjoy the sunshine.....although the bigger boys did a lot of this...

And the adults did a lot of this....

The little guys spent all afternoon playing in the water, and one little boy seemed to enjoy adding a special ingredient to his pool.....DIRT.  The result was that by the end of the day the kids were jumping into something that resembled swamp water. :) 

 Thanks to a Facebook promotion, we ended the day with some free chicken from Chick-fil-a.  Thank you Mr. Chris!  Actually the day has been wrapped up with a shower.  (See above photo!)  Let the summer begin!

Party Part Two

Since birthdays are rarely a one-day event in our family, we moved right into Rachel's 6th birthday celebrations, the sequel.  All four grandparents on hand, one uncle, two aunts, and all 5 cousins!  I gave Rachel a choice Friday morning....1.) I could make a regular birthday cake or 2.) her grandad was bringing a ton of strawberries from his patch and we could have pound cake, strawberries and whipped cream.  Without hesitation she choose the stawberries.....Mmmmm.

Dusty got to meet Carson (his nephew with the rock-n-roll hair)  for the 1st time. 

There were plenty of dolls and clothes.  I do believe I heard David exclaim at one point....Ugggh more clothes!  He just didn't get the appeal of new girly clothes.

And Aaron.....well he gave Molly some basic instruction on "pots & pans drumming".  This was some payback for the time Daniel let 3-year old Aaron drink coke in the evening while he was babysitting.  Go Get 'em Molly!

Party Day

Today is Rachel's 6th birthday!  Happy Birthday big girl...we love you!  Today was also the Kindergarten party.  Instead of a graduation they decided to throw a kindergarten luau.  The kids each received a certificate and then there were fun activities to go around. 

Rachel and her teacher, Mrs. Pickett

After school we headed to Dairy Queen for a birthday treat.  There were presents when Daddy got home and then dinner at McDonald's.  I told Rachel she could choose wherever she wanted to eat....and that was the result.  Friday the family comes for a visit and then it's party party time!

Concert Adventures

I'm always up for a concert and if it happens to be free....bonus!  Building 429 was holding a free concert yesterday on the east side - no tickets required.  The lead singer, Jason Roy, is the worship pastor at my cousin Chad's church in Tennessee.  We got to meet him last year while on vacation.  Concert at 7PM; doors open at 6PM.  In my mind that translates to  - Better be there no later than 5PM.  So I decided to surprise Aaron.  I arranged for one of his friends to go with us, and asked his mom not to tell him what was going on, just to be ready by 4PM.  I took Rachel to the neighbor's house to play and told Aaron to get his shoes on.  When asked "why" I told him that it was close to Rachel's birthday and we needed to go take care of something....nod, nod, wink, wink.  So off we went.  When we pulled into Joel's driveway, he was somewhat confused.  So I said, "The surprise isn't for Rachel, it's for you....go get your friend."  I had them in the dark until the promo for the concert came on the radio and I jacked it up real loud.  "Is THAT what we're doing?"  "You got it!"  So after a quick stop at Wendy's we headed to the church.  Pulled in at 5 PM and there was a mostly empty parking lot.  SCORE!  We're 1st at the doors.  Long story - short, they let everyone in early because a storm was brewing.  We ended up front row, center stage, and had a blast!  The boys got t-shirts, I got a CD.  After the concert we got everything signed.  I did a bit of name dropping at the signing table. :)  We grabbed Frostys and headed home happy, and I have been declared one of the coolest moms around by Aaron's friend Joel.

Now we will play "How to entertain a photographer"  You let them go to an event with a full battery and empty memory card and let them shoot away.  Not because they really need a bunch of photos of the band,   (Or in this case, the lead singer, because he's the one I had the clearest view of) but because they will entertain themselves by trying to photograph the stage lighting and effects in different ways at different settings.

Hi! Our names are Joel and Aaron.....and we're VIP's!

Princess Banquet

This weekend Aaron spent Friday night at the church for the Boys turned Men event.  It involved camping, hot dogs, football, bowling and general running around with the guys.  When Aaron started to recount some of the night's adventures I told him it might be best not to worry his mother.  No one was hurt; so all's good.  This evening it was the girls turn to party.  Their event is the Princess Banquet.  It does not involve hot dogs or football.  All the girls dress up in their best party dresses and have a scrumptious meal.  They are escorted in and served by the boys.  My part is setting up the photo equipment and shooting away.  The photo booth is always popular!  Aaron was on escort duty.

All the guys cramming in for their photo

...and when not helping out they were doing this. :)



A little shooting around

Hmmm...was trying to decide between a walk this evening or grabbing the camera for some shooting.  Camera won.  I drove out west of town and had some fun.

Awana Finale

Last night of Awana for this school year.  Rachel completed her 1st year of Sparks and received her book award.  And Dusty and I....we're happy to have survived another year of volunteering. :)

Paul - Thanks for the photo :)