Beat the Heat

HOLY COW! It is officially summer!! I can't believe that there is only a week left of June ... nor can I believe that we only have about six weeks left before school starts again! I am trying something different this week ... we will see how it goes. I am starting to incorporate a vlog in with my regular blog. Right now we are using the standard webcam ... BUT a nicer model will be purchased in the coming weeks!

Playmaker playdate turned into water fight

Okay, honestly, I TOTALLY saw this coming. LOL We had 6 kids, 2 adults, 4 water guns, 1 bowl of water, 4 cups, roughly 200 water balloons, and 85 degree sunny weather! Everyone got drenched and then after everything was used up ... it was pool time. Thanks to Claritin and MomSelect for the opportunity.

Jazzing up a Playmaker Play Date for all ages!

Preparing for an outdoor play date ... thanks to Claritin and MomSelect. Tomorrow is supposed to be 85 degrees and sunny. When you have outdoor play in that weather ... it has GOT to involve water! I have plans for 3 different play areas, but instead of having lemonade, we are having water. LOTS of water.

Summer Vacation Time!

Most schools are out now and summer vacation begins. We are a one vehicle family and now that my husband has normal hours ... it is much easier! We will be taking him into work and then doing our summer plans. After Candy from kcmetromoms & mommypalooza started the #summeritup, I joined the campaign. I love that term much more than Summer Bucket List.

Kids Bowl Free

If you are looking for an almost completely FREE event to do with your kids this summer, you really need to check out the Kids Bowl Free program. It is a nationwide program and children get two free games every day all summer long ... you just pay the shoe rental!

Manic (but awesome) Monday!

This morning came SUPREMELY early. I am not used to getting up before 7:30am and this morning I had to be up by 5:30am. In fact, I have to get up at 5:30am for the rest of this week and all of next! It is all worth it in the end though, as Peanut is having a BLAST at her theater/dance camp. My wonderful friend had the opportunity to volunteer to work at the camp and got to take three children with her. Since her youngest is still very young, she asked to take Peanut in his place. So I am watching an awesome, and sweet, little boy who treats Monkey with the greatest of care. I don't think it could have been a more perfect time for all of this to occur either. I just wish that I didn't have to get up so early.

Theater in the Park

So what do you do when it is hot and you are stressed to the max? You take an evening away. My wonderful husband was so awesome and chose to stay home with the older children due to issues, and I snuck away with Monkey!

Mission Family Backyard Campout

This weekend (yes I am finally caught up) was our much awaited camp out in a park in Mission, KS. We paid for our spot back at the beginning of May and prayed for better weather than last year. Our prayers were answered! The weather was absolutely beautiful and we needed blankets overnight because it got kind of chilly.

MVPS T-Bone's Game

Before I really get into this post, I must place a note. Let you dive a little into my world and where our thought process has been.

As if our Friday wasn't enough ...

Immediately following the Jr Iron Chef Competition, we drove my mother-in-law back to Manhattan. We made it back to Kansas City around midnight, and I had a couple of things to wrap up. I went to bed around 2:30am and then prepared for our next adventure the next morning. Peanut was with her aunt and grandma for a sleepover birthday party. So Bullfrog, Monkey and I went shopping and prepped the van for yet another trip. We packed a picnic style dinner into the cooler and loaded everything up. Jeremy loaded a cooler full of snacks and drinks for us to have on the way down and back as well. We got off to a late start and missed most of the first game. We got there at 7:20pm and caught the end of a very bad game. However, the boys put up a real good fight in the second game and lost by a single point.

Car is all loaded up and ready to go!

We enjoyed watching James' play ball ... even if it was REALLY hot.

MeMa made James a cool Angry Birds hat for his birthday and James stuck it on Monkey's head!

We did capture a shot of him wearing it! =) *note the smirk - he liked it*

Last game ended after 10:30pm and we still had to make a pit-stop at Wal-Mart before heading up.

The kids were BUSHED

Jeremy drove home so I could work on some articles on the way up. It allowed me to get home (at 2:30am), email them, and crash!

The next morning we woke shortly before my mother came to pick up Bullfrog for his week long trip to Nebraska. *note, make time to double check bag even if you have it where it isn't to be picked through ... boys have sticky fingers* After sending him off, however, we crashed again!

Jr Iron Chef Competition!

SO ... I didn't get this blogged immediately after the event, actually it is just over a week after the event. However, I am now getting it all done and posted for you. Sorry about the delay.

Pushing myself to the limits

This past week has been strictly preparing for next week. I have spent the week trying to get everything caught up in the house, things prepared for packing, and kids worn out. We have done one of our Summer "Bucket" list items (see list here) by attending a tie-dye party with several friends. I have the outfits in the wash right now so I hope to be posting pictures by tomorrow. We missed Old Shawnee Days due to exhaustion so that won't be done this year. We have also walked around a park with friends, attended a park day, practiced for Iron Chef, got all of our paperwork turned in, toured Chik-Fil-A, and Peanut began crochet.

Solar Eclipse & a Graduation

Summer has officially begun for our family. We actually started our summer with a vacation to Fort Scott and while there, made our bucket list for the summer. First thing to mark off of the bucket list? Letting the kids see a solar eclipse. In Kansas City, the eclipse wasn't 100% complete AND my kids don't have special glasses so they couldn't get the cool pictures that people see online. However, they DID get to see the eclipse using a two paper method and some aluminum foil.

Eclipse from Fox4 Tower Cam

The next BIG thing on our plate was attending Jayme's 8th grade graduation. He is officially a high schooler now and in the class of 2016. We are SO proud of him!!

There are 104 days of summer vacation ....

(Singing Phineas & Ferb yet?) We have decided to make a summer fun bucket list of 50 things we would like to do before the summer is over. I am not sure we will get all of them accomplished, but we are going to give it our best shot! If you have made a bucket list, feel free to post a link to it in the comments or post on my Facebook pages so we can see more inspiration.

1. Build the kids' wood buildings they got for Christmas.

2. Paint American Girl Furniture

3. Visit Mission Pool as often as possible

4. Go to Aqua Jamz at Mission Pool

5. Go to Mission's Backyard Campout

6. Go Bowling

7. Go Cosmic Bowling

8. Go Cosmic Roller Skating

9. Tie Dye some clothes

10. Take a lesson on Henna Art

11. Each child get time with Grandma Mo

12. Each child get time with Aunt Tami

13. Go to Shatto Dairy Family Day

14. See a Solar Eclipse (just completed this - see blog post tomorrow!)

15. Watch fireworks on July 4th

16. Make a Number Wheel

17. Attend Friday Night Flicks

18. Go to Mission Family Picnic

19. Send Adella to Theater Camp (thanks to a friend!)

20. Attend Johnson County Fair (and participate)

21. Attend Family Reunion in MO

22. Attend Family Reunion in TX

23. Go on a Nature Walk/Scavenger Hunt

24. Go to a T-Bones' Game

25. Go to a Royal's Game

26. Participate in the Jr. Iron Chef Challenge

27. Make Homemade Icees

28. Go to Theater in the Park Production at Shawnee Mission Park

29. Go to Theater in the Park Production in Leawood

30. Go to a production at Starlight

31. Have a picnic at Shawnee Mission Park

32. Pick Apples at the Cider Hill Family Orchard

33. Pick fruit at Happy Valley Farm

34. Pick fruit at Wagon Wheel Orchard

35. Pick produce at Giergingers Orchard

36. Pick fruit at The Berry Patch

37. Make Old Fashioned Egg Cream Float (while you are there ... check out her blog!!)

38. Make a old Fashioned Black Cow

39. Make churned ice cream

40. Make homemade donuts

41. Make homemade bubbles

42. Go to Old Shawnee Days

43. Take the kids to a movie and get gelato

44. Make homemade root beer

45. Make Popsicles

46. Go on a night walk with glow sticks

47. Go see a movie at a Drive-In theater

48. Go walk on the Plaza

49. Go to the Overland Park Arboretum

50. Go to Deanna Rose