Anyhow - I had another 1,000 pictures to go through, so yeah, I officially realize that I take too many pictures, but oh well. It's all good. :oD Oh - and the title of this post is in reference to Emily's current favorite song, that she's singing all the time. She's lucky those Madagascar movies are actually pretty good. ;o)
This post starts just after the last one, on July 22nd-ish, and covers our day trip to New Orleans, Evelyn's amazing cheerleader performance, Matthew's birthday party, and other random awesome-ness through August 4th. Enjoy!
Monday, July 22nd - ish:
So, we finally finished reading The Fellowship of the Rings!
(Book 1 of 3 of The Lord of the Rings)
And man, I tell you, it was tough. The book has endless pages of descriptions and settings and stuff, but we made it. And the kids loved it!
Soooo - since we finished the book, they finally got to see the movie! I just happen to own the extended version of Fellowship, so it took us half a day to watch it (haha!) But wow - those kids were completely captivated the whole time watching this book and these characters come to life on our TV. *le sigh* What a proud parent moment... :o)
...then I showed them my knife.
Lol! - Yeah, back in the day, Chris got me a movie prop replica of the Knife of Strider, and once I told the kids it was hiding up in my closet, they wouldn't stop asking me to get it out.
Ahahaha! They really liked it, even asked me if they could hang it on the wall in their room. ;o)
And yes, it is a real knife, very sharp.
But no worries! I was supervisin'.
Bahahaha! I wouldn't let Emmy hold it, so she had to improvise. :oD
Now they all want knives and swords of their own. :oD
This is just a random pic I took of Matthew reading at Evelyn's gymnastics.
His bookmark is magnetic, so you can clip it around the page you're on and it sticks to itself. So yeah, he clipped his hair in the bookmark while he was reading so he wouldn't lose it, hehe.
Thursday, July 25th:
Daddy had the day off, so we decided to take a ferry ride downtown.
The kids enjoy running along the waterfront as we make our way to Jackson Square.
Insert quick obligatory Cathedral picture here:
Tehe. :oD
Although we've visited the Cafe du Monde at the mall several times, we've never been to the real one.
Until now!
:o)
J says - Bring on the sugar!
We love beignets!
Nom nom nom. :o)
And the band wasn't bad either. ;o)
The Louisiana State Museum has several sites/buildings. We visited The Presbytere, which is right next to St. Louis Cathedral. And dude - it was only $5 for Chris and I and all the kids were FREE! Yay!
They had a really neat Hurricane Katrina Exhibit. I don't have many pictures to share from the exhibit, but the kids were able to learn a lot about what happened.
They got to see the timeline of events, when the hurricane made landfall, when the different levees failed and and why, etc. It was really quite interesting. One of our favorite parts was the response following Katrina - how local fisherman hopped in their boats to help people, and how the Coast Guard worked around the clock to rescue those that were trapped. :o1
And then they had this cute little thang.
A lot of people made dresses and decorated their floats from all the tarps that were used after the hurricane, because they didn't have anything else! It's unfortunate, but it's pretty cool too! :o)
They had a 15 minute video with first hand accounts of the storm and what followed. And honestly, no matter how insane the whole 'Katrina' thing was, it was really inspiring to hear them talk about how the people of New Orleans had to get to work, clean the mess up, and get back to life.
:o)
Then we headed upstairs to the much more pleasant Mardi Gras Exhibit!
Countdown says - 221 Days to Mardi Gras! :o)
And check out these awesome port-o-can doors that lead to the actual bathrooms.
Haha - one of the first things we learned about going to parades was make sure you know where the nearest bathroom is. :oD
There was a wonderful view of Jackson Square from up there.
:o)
We were having such a great day.
Hehe!
There was also a King Cake Exhibit.
And then this photo happened...
Ahahahahahaha!
I don't think he meant to look quite so evil and menacing, but man, what a great pic! You can almost hear him saying, "My precioussss." Lol! :oD
We saw this on our way out. The sign collapsed during the storm and was donated to the museum.
Purdy cool!
Another Cathedral pic! ;o)
We ended the day with an awesome dinner at Chili's. Yum!
And a good time was had by all. :o)
July 26th - July 30th:
Over the next week, the kids had lots of summer vacation fun.
Yep - that girl can ride her little tricycle now!
And she also made a new neighborhood friend that she wants to follow around everywhere. :o)
Hi Evelyn!
For whatever reason, Matthew decided to spend some time cutting pieces of yarn off a tangled-up skein and then tying them together again to make a rope. So after a few days he asked, "Hey Mom, can I hang my rope over the balcony so I can see how long it is?" Sure!
He had Evie grab the other end.
And it stretched all the way across the road!!
Wow. Impressive Matt-dog. :o)
The kids decided to make a game room/fort by draping a couple of blankets over the kitchen table.
Okay, maybe it was more of an underground arcade...? Haha, they named it "Game Over" and posted rules and everything. :o)
Emily wanted to join in on the fun, so she shoved a few of her puzzles under the blankets.
And then she disappeared under there too. :o)
Crazy kids.
I must say, it was pretty nice and quiet for a couple of hours. I think I like this game! ;o)
They had lots of tea parties.
And a few friends over now and then to join them.
And yes, Matthew was the waiter for this particular party. Hehe. :o)
Evelyn attended a 3 day Cheer Camp at the school hosted by the Universal Cheerleaders Association.
Another tea party. (And what a great brother that guy is!) :oD
Evie came home from camp the first day just over the moon about how fun it was, how much she learned, and that she got a ribbon for being the "Hardest Worker" that day! Yay! And then - her Cheer Coach took me aside and told me that Evelyn really impressed the UCA Coach and they were going to nominate her for All-American Cheerleader! W o w!! Go Evie!
(It's like a distinction or certification, kind of like making Honor Society. "Being an All-American Cheerleader is one of the highest individual awards in cheerleading." She would have to try out on Day 3 of the camp by performing her best cheer, the Xtreme Dance Routine, etc. and about 10% of all cheerleaders that try-out make it...)
Daddy got us some dinner for our table.
And Emily was really, really interested in the fish, until Daddy held it up close to her.
Haha!
But then she warmed up.
:o)
Matthew wanted to hold one up by himself.
So Chris showed him how to grab it and man...
That kid enjoyed holding that slimy thing way too much.
:oP
And then, they decided to set up lawn chairs and watch the show that Daddy was putting on.
Cleaning the fish! :oP
Haha! Yeah, Emmy didn't last long, but Matthew watched the entire dissection with absolute curiosity. Hehe. ;o)
Wednesday, July 31st:
Matthew's Birthday!
We started the day off right with some early morning cupcakes.
Hobbit Legos!
And I love the look on his face here.
Since we started reading the book, the kids have been asking for the Lego Lord of the Rings video game. However, the Lego games always follow the events in the book or movie almost exactly, and that would totally tell them what's going to happen before we've read it! So I said no! But, we figured that since we had finished the first book, they could just play the first part of the game for now. (If they swore to play no further, of course.) ;o)
So yeah, that "look" is aimed at Joshua because Matthew totally knew
it was on.
After assembling all the little pieces, he proudly showed us his new Bilbo and Gollum legos.
Lol! That's awesome.
Oh, he also built a boat out of popsicle sticks.
Hehe, yeah, he's been making a bunch of stuff with the sticks for a couple of weeks, and then he asked Daddy if he had any foam that he could use for the boat he was building. Matthew decided to take the propeller and engine parts from something he built last month and power his "boat". So, with a little help from Daddy and a 9 volt battery, he made a little working boat that ran all over my bath tub! :o) Not too shabby son. ;o)
We got to visit Evelyn's camp on the last day to watch them perform their Xtreme Dance Routine.
Yeah, she was the leader. :oD
And wow - it was so cool!
Like those cheer performances you see in parades where different groups each do their moves a split second after the previous group all the way down the line. (Does that make any sense?) Haha.
Go Evie!!
At the end, she got another award ribbon for Most Outstanding Cheerleader!
And Yes! She made All-American Cheerleader!
Woohoo! Go Cheerleader Evie!!
We're so very proud of that hard-working girl. :oD
Matthew playing his guitar shaped birthday card. :o)
And I just love this picture of my baby boy and me.
Yeah, I know he's officially 8 now and not a "baby" (phbbtt, whatever), but yeah, he's still my baby. And my sunshine. And he knows it. ;o)
We went to the store the next day.
So the kids posed with the napping one. ;o)
And Emily was rocking the whole knee socks and short jumper look, so I had to get a pic of that.
Yeah, she put them on by herself. :oD
And that weekend, we had Matthew's Birthday Bash!
I was planning to just buy him a cake, but then he was looking at all the goodies on my Pinterest desserts board with me, and saw this Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cake and said, "Oooh Mom, can you make me that???
How could I say no?
(Why would I say no?) ;o)
He had a lot of fun helping me put the peanut butter cups on it, and yes, it was delicious.
He wanted to have a water party, so we borrowed a friend's water slide, and then decided to have an Ice Cream Bar cuz all those kiddos would need something to keep them cool in that heat.
They got to make their own ice cream with lots of toppings picked out by Matthew himself - M & M's, Reese's Pieces, marshmallows, nuts, sprinkles, gummy bears... and I think that's it. :o)
:oD
Happy 8th Birthday Matthew!
He had such a great time at his party! Yay! :o)
Oh - and there's that look again.
He wanted this book in Walmart the other day, but I told him I didn't think he would really read it because it was a little tough (It was the "Mythology" book by Edith Hamilton that I think we used in high school. Great collection of Greek Mythology stories, but he's only freakin' 8!) Anyhow - as we walked away from the books, he started begging me, "Mom, I promise I'll read it. I really think I can do it." I still said no... but yeah, I had Evelyn sneak back over there and grab it when he wasn't looking and he got a bonus gift from us. :o)
That look on his face definitely makes this a "Parenting Win". :oD
Well, alrighty then. That takes us through August 4th. I'm working on a second post that covers J's birthday, our weekend in Houston, and the First Day of School. And I hope to have it posted soon... but Joshua has to get shots after school, and then Evie's got gymnastics, and somewhere in there I'm supposed to feed those midgets some dinner or something, so it probably won't be today. ;o)
But it's all good. Hope you're all doing well!
Laters!
