Weekend with Daddy

Faith drove out to Kansas to be with her family this past weekend for her Grandma Arlene's funeral and the rest of us manned the fort here at home.   The kids missed her terribly and cried almost non stop (not really but I have to say that so she doesn't feel bad).   Here are a couple pictures to document our fun.

September Happenings

Bruce finished adding more shelving to the laundry room--it's awesome!

Alice, Myra and I had a girls night out at the roller derby.  Alice loves roller skating, and the idea of skating professionally was intriguing to her, but afterwards when I asked her about it, she was definitely NOT interested.

I made Myra try on a bunch of fall clothes from last year to see if they still fit and Quincy wanted to join the fun.  What do you think--does it suit him?

Our county had a tour of farms a few weeks ago.  We didn't hit them all, but made a point of going to the most unique farm (at least for Kentucky)--a shrimp farm!  They harvest the shrimp once a year and this was the weekend they did it. 

Stationery card

Party Doodles Blue Birthday Invitation

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All About MYRA

Bruce and I have both been noticing that we get really excited when Alice does things for the first time, but it's not so exciting when Myra does them a year or two later.  Alice sucks up a lot of the attention being the first and Quincy sucks up a lot of attention being the baby, which leaves Myra what crumbs of attention are remaining.  So, in an attempt to counteract this phenomenon, this post is all about MYRA.  Though, admittedly, it's hard to find a picture with only her in it!  (Just ignore the bike rider in the background).

In April, we took Myra's training wheels off and she jumped on her bike and just started riding (sound familiar?).  Thank you balance bike, for taking all the hard work out of teaching our children how to ride their bikes.  Well, unlike Alice, when Myra decided to stop the bike she didn't put her feet down--she balanced for a second and then fell over and scraped herself up.  I have it on video, but promised her I'd never show it to anyone, because she thought it was embarrassing.  After that, she refused to get back on the bike until a few weeks ago when I coaxed her back on.  She took off again and this time knew to put her feet down when she stopped!

The next day we went to visit her friend Miles and on the drive over, all she talked about was how she couldn't wait to tell Miles that she could ride a two wheel bike without training wheels.  She made me promise that I would not spill the beans before she got a chance to tell him.  Well, we're getting out of the car and here comes Miles, running out of the house, announcing that HE had just learned how to ride his bike without training wheels.  Poor Myra!  She was a good sport about it, but a little disappointed.  It turned out to be a great thing though--they've probably logged at least 10 miles of bike riding together around various parks since then.

Bruce also took Myra (well, and Alice--but we won't mention her again) on a 6 mile bike ride last Saturday and she had a blast.

Myra is kind of in limbo this year--she missed the school deadline by a few days, which means most of her friends are off to kindergarten and she is in Pre-K.  Curriculum-wise, it's very similar to the 4's class she took last year, which we kind of expected, but decided to put her in anyways for purely social reasons.  I have her read a couple simple books each day to earn TV time and she has me make up spelling tests for her when I am quizzing Alice on her list.  She's also learning the names of all the presidents--we're up to Calvin Coolidge.  Everyone keeps on telling me that it's better this way, to have an extra year to mature, so hopefully it will be for the best.

Well, that's an update on our little middle child Myra--we love her so much and hope she doesn't feel too neglected!

Alice's Cake Decorating Party

You're Invited!

Here's the picture we took to go on the front of the invitation.

A pre-party pizza lunch with John and Samantha.

 Alice had her heart set on a cake decorating party with everyone getting to 

decorate full size cakes.  Twenty sticks of butter later...

 Earlier in the week, Aunt Samantha brought over her fondant supplies and taught 

Myra and I how to make fondant flowers for the party. 

 

The first thing we did was string letter beads with the girl's initials onto ribbon 

to tie around the bottom of the cake stands so we could tell the cakes apart.

Next, we split into teams and had a race to see who could match cookie cutters with shapes on their piece of paper.  I mixed both sets of cookie cutters up and put them in a big pile in the middle for the girls to dig through.  I think if I did it again, I would throw some cookie cutters in that weren't on either sheet of paper, just to throw them off.

The winning team got to pick put their aprons first. 

Snack break.

Next, a quick tutorial on how to hold a decorator's bag and what each tip does.  Even though they appeared to be paying attention in this picture, everyone was VERY anxious to just get going!

I made the icing extra thin so they could squeeze it out, but Myra still had a bit of trouble.  Aunt Samantha helped her out some and even put a rainbow on her cake.  After that, everyone wanted her to make a rainbow on their cake, so she was pretty busy.

Next came the silliness--lots of it.  

These girls could have run around screaming for hours.

We did finally get them rounded up for a picture. 

Presents.

And last but not least, cake and ice cream!

Birthdays

Alice's birthday was today and we had a cake decorating birthday party for her and some of her friends.  It reminded me that we've had other birthday celebrations that I haven't posted about. 

Samantha had her birthday in May--the girls found this amazing candle headband to wear.  We've really loved having John and Samantha close by--it's so nice to have family to hang out with!  They've been so helpful with the kids too, like spending their whole day helping out with Alice's party and they also babysat for us last weekend so Bruce and I could have a night to ourselves for our anniversary.  I told them we will owe them big when they have kids!  
  

And Bruce turned 40 June.  His plane was delayed so he actually got into Florida on his birthday (around 2am) in pouring down rain, but he survived.  We spent the day at the beach and then later in the week got a day to ourselves while Memaw watched the kids. 

Thanks to all of you who sent photo messages in.  I think I was the only one with a doom and gloom theme--everyone else was pretty upbeat:)  Party poopers!

Really?

I was warming up some leftovers (Moroccan Chickpea Stew) for lunch today and here's the conversation I had with Alice.

Alice:  Why is it called Rockin' Chickpea Stew?
Me:  No, Moroccan, not Rockin'.  Morocco is a country.
Alice:  Oh, so like Morocco Bama?

Our New Farmhouse Table

So, this was the Pottery Barn table we were trying to replicate.

And here's what Bruce made me (for only $120)! 

This picture is from a different camera and better represents the color of the stain.  We've been trying out different rugs and chairs--it's so hard to find the perfect combination.

Playing Catch Up

Before

 During--Bruce had to patch like 60 holes made by the old shelving.

After---ahhhh...no more claustrophobia while doing laundry!

 These beauties were $30 on craigslist.  We sanded them, painted them, then added a $10 piece of crown molding.  Now, if I ever get round to selling the old shelving, we might break even.

Our little Quincy turned 1 in February!  He didn't exactly like his party.  He woke up from his nap to find a house full of noisy people and was pretty much crabby the whole time, but he did enjoy the cake.  

Quincy really wanted to dye eggs just like the girls so we found him a wooden egg--he thought he was pretty cool.

 Collecting Easter eggs in the back yard.

I can't remember what this was supposed to be....maybe some sort of animal trap?

Quincy found a way to watch dad work in the yard.

Bruce's makeshift wood shop in the basement.  We'll have pictures of our finished table in a week or two!

Another trip to the emergency room for Myra.  She fell off her swing and then the 

swing came back and hit her in the head.

Alice's spy tool belt she made.

Here she is sawing some wood scraps to make a picture frame.

Grandma and Grandpa Smith celebrated their 60th anniversary in April--we were sad to miss the party!