You know your fried chicken is real when...

Yes, folks, those are feathers. Some things in life you just never thought you'd see.

Girls will be boys

We were playing outside in the water a couple of weeks ago and Blair wanted to make a mud bath. So she got a bucket, filled it with water, poured in some dirt, and had a seat. It was quite fun it seems.
(notice the muddy water pouring out)

I love my child but...

...I would run the other direction if I saw this walking toward me in a dark alley!
(That's what happens when little hands get in your makeup.)

To erase that image from your mind, focus on this a bit...awww. That's her princess pose, in case you were wondering. She practices it often.

6th Annual Red Sox vs. Rangers Weekend

Every year, we make the drive to Arlington when the Red Sox are in town playing the Rangers. Our first year to go was when Reid was just 6 months old. We've gone each year since then, and our family picture has grown to add 2 more kids in that time! Reid and Blair have come to realize that Red Sox weekend means we get to stay at a hotel and swim in a pool, and they eagerly anticipate getting to ride the red trolley that shuttles us to and from the game. This year, Reid even remembered getting to play in the kid zone on the backside of the field, and for weeks ahead of time, kept telling me to remind him to get money out of his piggy bank before we left so he could have money to play the games. I look forward to when Sloane is old enough to learn these things too and share in their excitement of these simple events.

(Unfortunately, no pictures from the trolley this year. There were too many people to even think about moving. On the way back to the hotel after the game, we squeezed 5 people in one regular two-person bench seat!)

The Fly going for a dip. Even Sloane liked the water. She normally shuns away from anything wet.
Every year we get a picture of Jeremy with the kids while waiting for the trolley to pick us up.

Sloane in her own little jersey! (which Reid wore to his first game)This year's traditional picture: Me, Jer, Sloane, Reid, and Cousin It.

A blast from the past--our 1st game, 2004!

This is what we deal with on a daily basis, people.

This is better.

Daddy and Sloane enjoying the game. Blair playing t-ball in the kid zone. She actually hit it pretty good.
I thought Reid was going to pound a hole in the mat!

Plinko!

A night of baseball

We went to a game for our AAA team the other night. We love going to baseball games--it's a lot of fun sitting out in the fresh air, taking in the all the aromas from the concessions and all the sounds of the crowd and the game. And the kids love eating peanuts. It will keep them still in their seats for a good 30-45 minutes! However, when the thrill of the peanuts wears off, or when the bag runs out*, then we're back to up, down, turning around, feet kicking seats, fighting over who sits where...but those 30 minutes...ah, pure summer baseball bliss!
*Cotton candy achieves the same quiet results, but the 2 games we went to managed to sell out of cotton candy before we could buy any. What kind of baseball stadium sells out of cotton candy???

Lucky for us, the nights we were there were "A Taste of Fenway" night. (Fenway Park in Boston is where the Red Sox play.) So for 3 nights, our stadium channeled the feeling of Fenway. You could order a Fenway Frank, stand next to a life size replica section of the Green Monster (that's Jeremy and Reid)

and look across the field at a HUGE mural of where the Monster would be if you were at Fenway. Bill Buckner, retired Red Sox player, was even there signing autographs.

Notice Reid always wears a baseball jersey, Sloane happily wears whatever we put her in (usually a Red Sox t-shirt), but Blair INSISTS on wearing a flowery dress (we can't even get her in shorts and a t-shirt).

The world-famous San Diego Chicken was a special guest. Mascots are usually fairly entertaining, but he was actually really funny. He had the whole crowd in stitches!

Living Room Campout

Jeremy was out of town one night for a church retreat, so I decided to do something different with the kids...we had a living room campout! We started with your typical campout dinner--hot dogs. Then we made a campfire...you can't eat smores and have a campout without a fire, now can you? We made this fire with the kids' handprints, much like you make handprint turkeys, and glued them to some paper logs.


Next was time for smores! We couldn't decide which was more authentic--eating them by our campfire

or eating them next to a real--albeit tiny--fire, which Reid used to keep them toasty.

After that, Reid said we needed to get in the tent and tell scary stories and make scary faces. Of course, our scary stories and faces both ended up being funny stories and faces, but it still had the same effect.

Blair

Reid


We laid out our sleeping bags and then took our flashlights on a bear hunt to find all the animal friends we wanted to sleep with. The forest ended up being home to more than just bears: we found dogs, bunnies, giraffes, frogs, and ducks too! After watching a few cartoons from our sleeping bags, it was off to dreamland under the stars (aka ceiling fan).

Good night!

So shiny! So red!

It's been so long since I've posted. I have a million things I've wanted to share, but I just haven't had the time. This is one of those things--my new red Kitchenaid mixer! Yes, my kids are doing things that are more exciting and should be more of a priority in posting, but, well, this post doesn't require as much thought or work. So anyway, back to my mixer :) ...it works great and is so fun to use. You just throw everything in there while it's spinning. No more adding ingredients, mixing, stopping, adding ingredients, mixing, stopping, adding ingredients...you get the idea. Yea! Who wants cookies first?? (Wait, don't answer that because the cookies would all get eaten before they even made it in a box addressed to you! Just being honest.) :)