FATHER'S DAY 2017

After the sleepover friends left, we had some family time via Skype and Facetime, then had Jay open his gifts before heading to "the outside pool" for some sun and swimming. The bonus for Jay was that James decided he was going to try the diving board for the first time (Jay loves all things swimming and waterpark related). I only took video of his first little hop (milestone moment!), but he went again and again, getting a little more brave each time. Eventually there were some diving lessons from the side of the pool too. The kids found friends to play with, went down the slides a zillion times, and eventually agreed to leave so that we could get cleaned up for a fancy dinner.

 Don't they clean up nicely? Such a lucky lady I am!

I made reservations for the special Father's Day Dinner at Cedar Grove. James had been there once before (for an etiquette lunch lesson with all the Southpark GATES students), and Jay and I had been there a couple times, but Cora had never been to such a fancy restaurant. She felt very special to be dressed up (she even wore her new "pearls" that were made just for her for her birthday by her friend Angel's mama), using fancy silverware and glassware, and was so prim and proper and blushing that we couldn't help but dote on her a little. She insisted on sitting next to her daddy.

After dinner, we took the kids to see the cannonballs (which James hadn't seen when he was there before, and he didn't understand why we couldn't touch the one in the wall).

We then took them up to the rooftop to see the view, then walked all around the grounds (because it was still early and plenty light outside, and we wanted to prolong our nice family evening out).

CORA'S BIRTHDAY SLEEPOVER

After her party, Cora had a couple of friends come over to spend the afternoon/evening with us and stay the night. Emma is becoming a regular at our house, but this was Lauren's first sleepover (and I was so proud of her - she was perfect and seemed so happy the whole time!) Because it's more fun for everyone if both kids get to have friends over, James got to invite Coltin and Will, who have both stayed over with us before. Just in case the kids weren't tired enough from the skating, and the non-air conditioned heat of the shelter, we took them outside to kick things off with a water balloon fight.

 Jay found a gorgeous speckled kingsnake in our tiny pond, so he captured it to show the kids. Everyone but Coltin was impressed (poor dude just wanted Jay to let it go far away, which we didn't, since having a kingsnake out the back door means we're far less likely to have copperheads or cottonmouths out the back door!)

How can you have outdoor water play without adding bubbles?...

 Once the bugs came out and the parents left, the kids settled in for some coloring and marble play. Which eventually turned into Barbies and Kindles.

(These are Emma and Cora's cat creations. Lauren's was even fancier because her cat was wearing a wig and a bow, but I didn't take this photo until after the kids had left on Sunday, and Lauren took hers home to show her daddy.)

The boys had climbed straight into their pajamas from their swimsuits (because they used the outdoor shower to get the majority of the bugs, bug spray, and little pieces of grass and leaves off themselves), but the older girls took a bubble bath upstairs (Lauren declined to join them because she wanted to stay with me, so we played with the kittens while we intermittently supervised the bathing beauties). As soon as we asked the kids to turn out the lights and snuggle into bed, they all complied, so they must have been tired (it was only 9:30, which is early in sleepover time). Lauren chose to camp out in her sleeping bag on the floor while Cora and Emma took the bed. Coltin chose the top bunk while Will and James shared the bottom bunk.

(I accidentally woke Will at midnight when I went in for my final check before heading up to bed around midnight - we watched a movie since we'd both had a lot of late afternoon coffee in an effort to keep up with the kids - but after bringing him water, he said he went right back to sleep.)

The next morning was Father's Day! And lucky Jay, he got to celebrate with 6 kids and donuts!

 Kids stay up late at sleepovers, but they don't sleep in late, so they had plenty of time to play before their parents arrived. The boys were very intent on marble races once again, and the girls took over the kitchen with play dough.

 We think they all had a good time and we were happy to let Cora celebrate her birthday with a sleepover. A year ago we weren't sure we'd ever do sleepovers (at our house or friends houses), but without having cousins nearby, we feel very lucky to have a few sets of friends that we know we can trust to keep our kids safe and well behaved, and we're thankful they feel the same way about us. It can be really hard to entrust your children to other people, be that school teachers or Scout leaders or other parents for play dates, and it's especially hard to do so overnight. We don't foresee sleepovers happening too often (we had a couple more than expected this spring due to my surgery and Stirlin's), but they're a really nice treat for the kids on special occasions.

CORA'S KITTEN CUDDLE PARTY

 Last year when Cora attended a friend's birthday party where they requested donations for our local foster-only animal rescue (Paws) instead of presents, she came home saying that she wanted to do the same thing at her next birthday party. A year later, she hadn't forgotten, and as we started to plan her party (last minute), she immediately reminded us that she wanted donations for kittens instead of presents. In that light, it was an easy jump for her to decide on a kitten-themed party. She picked the skate rink because she's really liked the last few events she's attended there (skate parties for the Girl Scouts, Southpark, and her brother's party back in March) and we told her she could invite as many kids as she wanted to (so she honestly invited everyone she knows that mama is also friends with on Facebook - too late to print invitations and send to school, so she was bummed to miss a few of her school friends whose parents I don't know). 

Cora loves puns almost as much as James, so this shirt was a big hit!

We kept her party simple (again, last minute) with cupcakes, Girl Scout cookies (we're down to just 3 boxes left in the house now!), candy, pizza, and ice cream (I think the adults ate more ice cream than the kids, but then, who can resist Drumsticks and Magnum bars?!) For "goody bags", we provided cat ear headbands, LED bracelets/rings and glow sticks (the skating rink is kept pretty dark once the party starts, so glow items are extra fun), and kitten stickers.

When you have multiple favorite colors, you get multi-colored cupcakes. It made the boys happy :-)

Kitty cat birthday banner over Michelle and Lucas:

Singing to our birthday girl, held high like the queen she is by her daddy:

Miraculously, I think I got everyone in the group shot:

We didn't count the items, but she ended up with an impressive number of bags of cat food and litter, and a few monetary donations from friends that couldn't attend the party to bring to the Vicksburg-Warren Humane Society. While the skating was a lot of fun, it seemed that the visit to the shelter was the favorite for all the kids that came down with us to deliver the goods after the party. They had 3 times as many cats and kittens as when we were there 3 weeks ago to adopt Starfire and Claw'dia, including some black kittens, so we were lucky to make it out of there without any new furry family members (and we weren't the only ones!)

Starting with Cora and going counter-clockwise, our shelter adventurers were James, Coltin, Will, Adler, Lauren, Abrahm, Autumn, Sammy, Cara Beth, Asher, Hazel, Julia, and Emma

 We even found Claw'dia's mama out back (remember I mentioned that she was set free to be a barn cat?) and the kids loved petting her and telling her that her baby is happy and growing.

(See her half tail? Just like Claw'dia, who also walks around with her tail held high in the air)

 We've definitely had some fun parties over the years! Not sure we'll be able to top kittens though... 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY USACE

ERDC and The Corps celebrated their birthdays this week (ERDC on Wednesday, USACE today), so the Colonel and Director had a lunch break party and double cake cutting ceremony.

(The tradition is to cut the cakes with a saber, so Colonel Green brought his)

FRIENDSHIP DEVELOPING...

Every day they get a little closer... Buster is winning over Cannon though, for sure.

SWIMSUIT MODEL

I asked Cora to try on her new suits from Gramma and let me take pictures to send so Gramma can see how they fit, and THIS is what she gave me...

 I couldn't get her to smile because "this is how they do it". They who? Where in the world does she see photos of swimsuit models? The only catalogs we keep in our house come from Athleta where all the models are busy surfing or paddleboarding, not standing around posing... We're in so much trouble with this girl!

CHICKEN LEGS

Cora received a birthday gift from Robyn and Stephen today: Dominoes Chicken Foot and two pairs of chicken leg socks. She didn't hesitate to try them on :-)