SUNDAY HAPPENINGS

My first (looooong) game of D&D

Drinking like royalty 

Sleeping with mama (I don't remember why...)

It's close enough to October - time to decorate for our favorite holiday!

JULY 5TH...

One is sooooo sleepy and the other is sooooo happy to have the TV to himself!

STARFIRE THE SAFETY BLANKET

Starfire knows at bedtime that she's welcome to go to sleep with James (he's been bringing her back with him for months), then I bring her back out whenever I check on the kids before heading up to bed myself. If she's not asleep, snuggled beside him, she's standing guard (or waiting for me at his door). Not that James has ever had trouble falling asleep, but Starfire definitely brings him comfort and I just think it's so sweet that she knows the routine.

FORT FUN

The kids deserved Friday treats this week, so we came home to play outside and eat ice cream. Cora was more than happy to pose in front of their fort (which is behind the fence and surrounds the magnolia tree). They have camo netting around it, buckets and trowels to play with, garden kneeling pads to sit on, the tree to climb, squirrel feeders and plenty of squirrels to try and feed (and make friends with - no luck yet, thankfully), and who knows what else in there (I'm not allowed inside - not that I could fit through the fence anyway!)

They didn't get enough of their fort after school though, so we let them build a fort in James' room, where they then spent the night. 

Sweet memories and lots of fun, indoors and out!

BUSY BODIES

Before heading back to school to start the second semester, the kids had a busy and fun weekend filled with sleepovers, parties, and soccer!

Night one = sleepover with Cara Beth

Which resulted in a very tired girl being driven to the Kennedy's house for Will's birthday party and sleepover...

They started out at Launch, then went home to party Harry Potter style!

By Sunday afternoon's Rec+ practice, she was DONE. Luckily we arrived a little early, so she was able to get a 30 minute nap in between the drive and the wait. It's hard having so much fun :-)

CALIFORNIA THANKSGIVING 2019

We arrived late on Saturday night, and while the kids made it through the drive to NOLA (including a fun lunch with alligator at Middendorf's), the lengthy wait at the airport, and the nonstop flight, they passed out almost as soon as they were buckled into PawPaw's Suburban.

James discovered the fun of Sunday morning comics!

After Cora helped PawPaw tidy the yard, we took Grambot for a walk around the neighborhood.

Then we headed up to Elk Grove to meet Taryn, Eli, and Addy, and the Sanchez-Munger crew for a bowling and arcade adventure!

(Just an example of how hard it can be to take a "nice" photo with Sophie...)

The bowling alley had a pretty good restaurant (and pitcher beer specials), so we took a break there for a bit before hitting the arcade.

On Monday we took a drive up out of the valley (and away from the smoke and hazardous air conditions from the Camp fire) to take a cave tour, but the cave was closed, so we went gem mining instead.

This fountain took us all by surprise when Cora's side arched all the way over to hit James:

On Tuesday we went to see Grandma and Grandpa's new apartment and visit with Grandma over coffee in the downstairs bistro, and Cora was shocked to see a version of herself in the photo Grandma keeps of her grandkids:

On Wednesday we had an early Thanksgiving celebration (because David had to work on Thanksgiving) with an amazing meal made by Taryn (and some yummy side dishes made by mom). It rained all day, so we weren't able to take the kids to a playground or go for a walk after lunch, but the rain cleared the air and we all breathed a sigh of relief!

Jay took some (indoor) family portraits for us before lunch:

We played a lot of games and had a great time just hanging out!

On Thanksgiving we had a quiet day at home and the kids got to enjoy some time in Grambot and PawPaw's backyard for the first time since we arrived!

We even made s'mores!

On our last day in town, the kids stole PawPaw's chair for a bit, helped decorate the Christmas tree, and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with their cousins.

(We had to wait on David to get home from work and we kept hoping he'd get sent home early)

The kids were so sad to leave their cousins that night, knowing they wouldn't see them again for about a year, but they were definitely tired...

Baby Doll, especially, was exhausted after a week of late nights and too much fun. Asleep in the car on the way to the airport, asleep in the airplane, and asleep again on the drive home from NOLA.

While it's always fun to travel and see family, it's always good to get home to your pets and your own bed too. I was surprised just how much I missed Binx and Obby (pretty sure they missed me most too), and we discovered that Claw'dia missed Jay a lot too (and has since become quite the lovey-dovey cuddle cat with him).

(Buster spent one more night with Zy because Lawrence and Christine sent us this picture and asked us if we could let him stay, since he was already snuggled in to bed.)