The first month of summer break!!

Some days I pray for rain. Not just a little shower either. I want it to rain all day. Why??

These kids want to go somewhere every single day. I have to do some housework and wash clothes every now and then. So I've figured if it rains then we have to stay home and I can get some work done. 

I do like to keep them busy though. Especially all the free stuff offered in our community. 

The summer reading program has started at the library and they have special shows every week that we have been attending. The first one was about clowns. It was probably my favorite show ever. It was very cute and entertaining. I love hearing my kids do their loud belly laughs. We took Ethan along with us. My kids love him. Especially Amelia. She told him she was going to marry him when they grow up. 

Josiah and Amelia both got picked to come up and balance a peacock feather. Let me rephrase that. Josiah got picked and Amelia just went up on her own. 

Josiah was actually pretty awesome at it. Amelia kept getting help by Cherry the clown. 

The kids have also enjoyed playing outside. We were at the park one day and seen them playing this.....

I'm pretty sure Josiah was getting crucified.   These kids have big imaginations and I love it!

Maynard had to have surgery the next week and I wasn't sure what I was going to do about my kids. I knew they wouldn't be allowed back with me and Maynard  and I didn't want to leave them alone in the waiting area by themselves. They got passed around so much during my MIL's sickness that I was too embarrassed to ask anyone for help. Except I happened to realize that my parents would be in that week for youth camp here in town. Problem solved. Mamaw to the rescue. Ha ha

God love it's heart. 

My kids had a blast at youth camp and kept asking us to take them back all week. We ended up going a couple days. 

I hoped that my kids wanted to go to youth camp to get closer to God, but I soon realized it was the "all you can eat donuts" and golf cart rides with Papaw. Apparently a ride with Papaw was better than a roller coaster any day. 

On Thursday of youth camp, my little nephews were needing a break so I offered to take them with me to the Silly safari show at the library. 

They were petting frogs here with that creepy bird just daring them to touch it. 

Eww eww. 

My brave boys!!  Amelia had nothing to do with it!!  She did pet the bunny and the dog though. 

The next show at the library was a bird show from the Cincinatti zoo. He had all kinds of creepy birds with him. My favorite was probably the penguin though. 

After we got home from the program I looked up to see Titus doing this:

 Does it look similar to this:

Ha ha. I love it. Titus had a Christmas stocking on his hand with a stuffed duck on a leash. Very similar to this bald eagle on a glove and a leash. Titus doesn't miss a detail. 

Maynard had some unexpected days off work for a week, but we couldn't leave town because he was on call. We loved having him home with us and done as much as we could together. 

The kids were begging to go swimming, but it was pouring the rain outside. It was Maynard's last day off and we didn't  know what we could do. We still couldn't leave town so I had a brainstorm. 

It was midweek and most motels are empty so we rented a local room here in town. We swam and swam to our hearts content. 

Then we ordered pizza. These kids were out like a light!  Swimming will wear you out. 

Amelia didn't like sharing a bed with her brothers so I fixed her up a bed in 2 chairs. She told me she was "hotel sick". I think she meant homesick though. Ha ha. She is my only child that doesn't like to stay away from home very long. I mean we were seriously only 5 miles from home. Maynard offered to take her home to sleep. I guess he was missing his bed too. 

The next morning Maynard had left for work and we got up and ate breakfast. I'll admit I even enjoyed making my own waffle. 

Yes Amelia is wearing her gown. Her clothes got wet from the cooler that leaked so it was all she had to wear. I feel like I need to mention that she wore this gown just fine last year. It barely covers her behind now. So she has gotten so tall. 

After they ate they got to swim some more. They made a couple of friends in the pool this time that brought along pool toys. 

I had to make them get out because it was almost 11 and checkout time. They were sad to leave!!!

This is getting to be a long post so I'll end it for now and do another post soon. We've been on several play dates and different things and there's no way I can blog about it all. 

I just want people to know that you can still have a good summer without spending a fortune and stay close to home. You just have to know what's going on around ya in your hometown. 

Pirate Party Father's Day

My title says Pirates Party Father's Day. It was a Father's Day celebration at the library. Very similar as to what I posted before like the Mother and Me tea. Except this was for Fathers and sons and it was pirate themed. 

Now I believe I say this every post, but Maynard had to work. I was gonna avoid the whole thing and hope my boys just didn't read the announcement anywhere. Clearly, Maynard wasn't going to be able to go and I'm not aware of anyone else that would be willing to take them. 

My boys did begin noticing the announcement of the Pirate Party. They began asking to go, but I tried to explain that it was a party for boys and Daddy had to work. 

Then Ms. Leah came up to me one day at story hour and asked if I had signed the boys up yet. I explained I hadn't because their Dad had to work. She told me it didn't matter and that last year there were more Moms than Dads. I'm not sure if that means that Daddy's are busy working or just not cool enough for stuff like that. Lol. 

After being reassured that I could bring the boys I went ahead and signed them up. They drove me CRAZY asking if it was time to go to the Pirate party yet. 

They didn't really have anything pirate themed to wear so we took a trip to Walmart and bought T-shirts and fabric paint. 

Maynard is a pretty good artist and so I was hoping he would help the kids design their shirt. 

 Amelia had to have a shirt too. 

I thought they turned out pretty awesome. They enjoyed painting their shirts and only had little assistance. Amelia followed instructions really well. 

Finally the big day had arrived. Oh you know I went and got free pirate hats from Long John Silvers. Ha ha

I made sure Amelia was attended to in the children's department with Miss Mary for story and craft. I was just a few feet away from her in the Community room with the boys. 

And guess what???  I was in fact the only "mom" there. That's ok. The children's department employees were all women and I knew them so it didn't bother me. Until Josiah and Titus parked themselves at another table with a man and a little boy. When they got up to get their food I moved their stuff over to my table. Ha ha. I wasn't going to spend "Father's day" sitting by myself. Lol

Some of the food. Cute ideas. 

After the boys ate their snacks they got to  paint a bandanna. 

Then they played a game of Pirate Bingo and won books. 

At the end of the party Amelia showed up. Titus was so upset that she was in there, but I had to remind him that he came to her Tea party at the end too. 

I was actually suprised she didn't show up until then. She understood it was a party for the boys and was ok with that. As long as she had a pirate shirt to wear!!!

My boys enjoyed themselves and I thought it was great. 

Maybe next year Maynard will be able to take them and I can go back to sipping tea. 

The For Real Circus

My kids love going to the circus. Of course they've only been to the little rinky dinky ones around town.

I have the best memory ever of going to the Shriners circus one year when I was young. We were a large family so going to the circus was a really big treat for us. I was so young that I only have bits of memories here and there of going to that circus. I remember there being more than one ring though. Seems like there were 3. I remember walking in and just seeing everything so brightly lit. It was magical. The men walking up and down the bleachers selling popcorn, snowcones, cotton candy, and flashing swords. I don't remember if were begging or not, but I got pretty excited when Daddy would flag down the man selling popcorn and got us a few bags to share. Then a little later he would flag down the cotton candy man. We were in pure bliss. I have 2 crazy memories that are in my mind that I have to share. One is I remember my older sister Angela got a Mylar balloon that had a tiger on it. Now I don't remember why she got a balloon. Maybe she had her own money. For all I know I could have gotten something too like a coloring book or something, but all these years and I still remember her leaving the circus with the coolest, shiniest balloon ever. She may not even remember this, but I do. (Angela, comment if you remember getting a tiger balloon. Ha ha)

My other crazy memory is I remember riding in our big ole station wagon and I had to use the bathroom so bad. Mom and dad kept saying I had to wait until they could stop somewhere. I had to go bad. I mean I could feel my eye balls beginning to float. We stopped at White Castle and I was never so happy to see a bathroom in all my life. So there you go. Why is that a memory in my mind?  Why don't I remember the clowns or the acrobats?  I remember Angela's balloon and me peeing at White Castle. Ha ha. I'm not sure how old I was. I know Melissa and Jacob wasn't born yet. So I had to be 6 or 7 years old maybe. 

So I had all these awesome circus memories in my mind and wanted my kids to experience a big circus as well. I looked up Ringling Brother's website and tried to find when they would be near London. I was excited to see that they were coming to The Corbin arena. I went ahead and ordered tickets 2 months ahead because I didn't want them to sell out. I told the kids about it and they were super excited. Of course I didn't tell them the part about buying tickets because I was gonna use that to my advantage. You know. Like, "if you don't clean your room we aren't going to the circus. Or, if you be mean to your sister one more time we are NOT going to the circus."  So it worked out pretty well for all of us. Mainly me. Lol. 

Finally the day of the circus came. And my kids were really bad that day. Like had I not already bought circus tickets they would not have been going. Of course the kids didn't know that part and spent most of their day sulking and crying because once again, the circus was off. They cried and begged and pleaded for forgiveness and mercy. They would be good, but please do not let them not go to the circus???  They've been waiting their whole life to go to a real circus. Ha. I know, I know. I'm mean.  But I find a parent strategy that works and go with it. 

We had went to the store earlier, before they turned into monsters, and I let them each choose a bag of candy. Then I chose popcorn and found the cutest popcorn boxes to take along to the circus. I knew that once we got to the circus they would be begging and pleading for all the expensive treats. I just can't handle wasting money like that so I decided to come prepared with our own treats. I even went down the toy aisle and found 3 elephants that would make the perfect souvenirs for them. They knew about the candy and popcorn, but I kept the elephants hid. They were $1 each verses $10 or $12 from the circus. 

I got our treats ready and packed them in a really big purse. Lol

Maynard came home and we barely gave him enough time to get ready and get out the door. 

On the way to the circus we passed Circus protesters. They were holding signs up about the circus being cruel to animals. I can see their point somewhat, but I wanted to pull over and ask them if they ate meat or if they ever went to the zoo. 

Before the circus started there was a pre-show where the kids got to gather around the ring and watch them do some stunts. They even asked for volunteers a few times. Titus had his brakes on. He wasn't going to help them do anything, but Amelia and Josiah had their hands up to be chosen for everything. 

This was a picture of Josiah and Amelia learning how to be a ninja. I took a small video of it and it turned out really cute. Amelia is a professional ninja now. Of course she calls herself a princess ninja. She got chosen to be a dancer and to my dismay she was more than happy to be chosen. 

Oh well. At least she burned some calories out there. Ha ha

I was this close to an elephant. 

Speaking of elephants, they are probably my most favorite part of the circus. 

We went back to our seats and waited for the circus to begin. The lights went out and the treat bags were already being passed around. 

My kids were having a blast and was very thankful for their treats. Until intermission and they seen this:

Cotton Candy that came with a hat or clown face. Only $12 a bag. What????

Sorry, no. Not going to happen. Who wants more popcorn?!?!?

The circus ended up being pretty good. A little more dancing than I liked, but it was still good. For some reason it seemed like the circus I went to as a child was way more awesome and magical, but maybe, just maybe, my kids will have the same memories about the circus they went too when they grow up.