Crayola Factory Fun

Our family vacation this year took us to Pennsylvania. We knew we wanted to go to Sesame Place (pictures of that adventure to come!) We also decided it would be fun to go to the Crayola Factory. So here we are!

CHEESE!

Color wonders are very popular at our house. We usually like to reserve these wonderful inventions to a long car trip. They were so excited to sit and do some coloring at the Factory!

We thought this was a cute idea - however, then we realized we were dealing with H! They had a display up where you could write on the walls (which were clear) with special markers. What a great idea! Oh, wait, we had a detailed conversation with H about when and where we would be doing this! I now fear if he has a marker and folllow him around the house to make sure he isn't writing on the walls!

They had the mirrors that made you look silly and the kids really enjoyed this part too. They especially like it when Daddy went in and looked funny!

This was probably my favorite part of the whole factory. I was able to get G and E into an older section to use melted wax to do some drawings. They heated the wax up and then you would drip or splatter it onto a pre-designed paper art. It was fascinating! Many adults were in this part doing it as well as kiddos!

Of course, sidewalk chalk is VERY popular with R and E! These two would draw all day! E is very artsy, so she had a difficult time all day trying to get done with her projects at each station in the time alloted. Of course, all the boys were done quickly! Some of them E had to finish at home!


Yummy had a great time as well. He was able to snooze in the stroller for part of it, so he was pleasant! There were also parts where he could get out and crawl around.

The kids had a great time at the Crayola Factory! We were so glad we decided to go! Highly recommended!
The kids found it funny to pose in these characters!

And Now, drumroll please....

BEFORE. . . . .

AND AFTER. . . . .

E wanted her hair cut short, so we had a girls night. E and I went to get her hair cut off and then out to dinner. She said goodbye to about 4-5 inches of hair and hasn't looked back since!

the back of her hair....

With her new haircut, came a new attitude that's for sure! We love it and are now used to our little girls hair! Ryan only cried for about 10 minutes! :) Just joking - he likes it too!

Another Diaper Done!!!

H started showing interest in potty training right before VBS, however, I held him off until the week after!

I think this pictures is hilarious! I told H to show me his underwear and this was the pose I got! chuckles!!!
H has done amazingly well. He has had very few accidents! He is wearing clothes now - yes grandmas we can afford clothes, this is just how we choose to train! :) He is wearing underwear out and about now, however, on Sunday for church we still put him in a diaper for ease of workers! We are slowly weaning him off the M&M's - and no grandmas - we are not above bribery!!! :)

A Walker in the House!!!

Well, A is walking now with assistance! He uses his walk-behind walker that Mamaw got for G way long ago! He likes it, but his preferred method of walking these days is the bottom of the Papazon chair. I guess he feels more secure. He can steer it a lot easier that's for sure.

Concentrating on getting from Point A to Point B! I'm surprised a tongue isn't out!

Crocodile Dock

Vacation Bible School this year was Crocodile Dock. The kids had a blast! I was asked to be the director and I have since decided that director is NOT a title for me! I prefer to help out as much as I can instead!

Here are some of the preschoolers - we had around 20 the whole week. Luckily I had some wonderful teens who love that age and were faithful in leading them! Two VERY SPECIAL preschoolers!

E playing dead like a possum! Possum was one of our characters for the week!

G and one of his good friends, J. They were magically in the same group this year! :) Being director has to have some good perks, right?!

No, R is not running AT ALL with his newly formed arm! oops!

H was not old enough this year! He spent time in the nursery with other kiddos. Again, luckily I had great teachers in there that made the time go by quickly!

Thanks to my family for putting up with time gone, time crying, no cooking or cleaning, no laundery done, exhausted and sometimes cranky mommy through the whole week! I don't think we'll be taking that adventure on again any time soon!

Beach Party!

Happy Birthday big 6 year old! Every year for their birthday, the birthday kiddo gets to choose and make their birthday cake!

The birthday kiddo also gets to choose what theme of party they want to have (under supervision, of course!) G chose race cars this year - so we started brainstorming about what kind of race car party to host! He chose to have it at the beach as well!

Here are our stop light graham cracker with M&M lights! They were a hit - and about gone in 5 minutes!

I attempted to make a race car cake! I am NOT a cake decorator AT ALL (where is Missy when you needed her?!) But I attempted and it came out tasting pretty good, which is all the guests cared about!

G really like his cake and I was glad to make him happy!

Tons of food!!!

Then came the fun! I hadn't planned many games since we had a playground right next to our pavillion and the beach access as well. I did do water balloons since our tradition has been to do them every year at G's party! The kids loved them and again, they were gone in about 5 minutes!

G was blessed with many gifts! (way too many!)
It is fun to have him be able to read his cards this year!

He got a Lego jet/helicopter set from some good friends. Luckily, Papa and Nana Batchelor were here to help him put it together! I think I would have been lost at step 3!

Nana had been teasing G the whole week that one of his birthday sacks (pictured above!) was full of underwear! Now G gets embarrassed rather easily, so Nana kept teasing him that he was going to open underwear in front of everyone! It was classic! We decided to put a pair of his underwear on the top (easily seen by walking by) so he truly thought he was getting a lot of underwear! His face was priceless!

G also got rockets for his birthday to continue on his set from Christmas! We shot some off before Papa and Nana left and one even got stuck in a tree, later to be recovered by Daddy and Papa!

G is a very speical little guy! He has such a tender heart and love for anybody. I pray daily that God protects that tenderness for his future family! G is doing well in school and has really taken off with his reading! He is writing paragraphs now, which is a big step for him to use an imagination that once never existed. We have had such fun with you G in the 6 years we have loved on you! Happy Birthday!

Baby Dedication

We finally got A dedicated in late June. We were fortunated enough to have a set of grandparents with us to help us celebrate!

Another sweet baby girl was being dedicated the same morning, which made it even more special.

We love you yummy!

Soccer Star

Blue Crabs! #4 of course! G had another great season of soccer this year! He was on the Blue Crabs team and truly enjoyed being part of the team! He had two of his good buddies on team, so he truly enjoyed seeing them a couple time a week!

G usually had a good spirit when he played. He was able to score at least once a game, which that really excited him! Our family (and visiting family) had fun cheering him on the sidelines!

This is one of his friends that he has played soccer with for awhile now.

G got a medal this year instead of a trophy. He was very excited about that!

This was one of his coaches this year. This is the above friends dad. He was a great coach, very patient with the children, yet taught them numerous skills! We appreciated his time and efforts!