Staceroo and Her Zoo: June 2015

Summertime = Ketchup + Pickles

So, in Kate's 2nd Class they would have "Catch Up and Pickle" days where those who were behind in their classwork could work on their worksheets and those who were caught up could pick an enrichment activity of their choice. Well, that's about how I feel about this summer. It's still as crazy as ever, but at least I get to pick and control a little more of what the craziness is. So the first couple of weeks of summer have gone like this . . .

There have been birthday parties and pool parties galore for the girls to go to.

And when there wasn't a pool to go to it seemed like the perfect time to get in swim suits and wash our bikes. (Aly was at Soccer Camp this first week - getting her awesome "soccer tan" on her legs.)

And of course doing sidewalk chalk and painting nails are a must.

When we can't go outside, there's always Legos, playdates, movie parties, and scavenger hunts. Of course it's not all "Pickles". There's the getting haircuts and school physicals, buying school supplies, exercising, reading, and chores to tend to. There is some Ketchup (mostly on Mom's part), but let's face it - mainly Pickles (for the girls).

We have been able to do a couple fun things as a family. First of all we had a S'mores night with a couple other family friends. The girls got their first opportunity to pick eggs out of a nest, they loved the horse, and the s'mores were delish!

Of course running around, playing on the swing set, and catching lightning bugs was the best part of all. Hooray summer is here!

A nice friend let us use her pool with some friends for a pool party - lotsa, lotsa fun in the sun!

Gotta love Kate's goggles that never go out of style!

Analise loved sporting her gymnastic tricks off the diving board.

And finally, we decided to go with some other friends to a Louisville Bats Baseball Game - nothing says summer like a baseball game, right?

Chris took Kylie on a little walk and she got to ride the carousel. Like I said before - all the fun is with Dad.

I love having such fun friends to hang out with! It makes everything so much more fun!

And, last but not least, Father's Day. We had to celebrate a week early because Chris was going to go to Sea Base with the Scouts for the following week, deep sea fishing, canoeing, etc.

The girls spent weeks coming up with all sorts of fun cards and posters to give to their dad for Father's Day. He loved it!

Analise's Poster said, "You're as Handsome as a Squirrel" - inside joke!

After a scrumptious dinner, we topped off the night with an exciting game of Carcassonne. Love it, Love my girls, and Love my hubby - what a great husband, father, and friend he is!

O'Gwin Oddballs

In addition to all the fun activities and awards, sometimes it's more of the behind the scenes stuff that is the most fun and makes the best memories. . .

Analise, Kate, and Kylie have been working on this "Polly Pocket House" for months - and snagging every empty Kleenex box in the process to make all the rooms, furniture, etc. They have put a lot of work and detail into this house - even down to making bedspreads for the beds and books to put on the bookshelves! Pretty amazing guys!

Kate and Kylie are in a "matchy-matchy, same-same" stage where they like to dress alike. They even went for one week straight, picking a different color on each day. (They were trying to dress like the Rainbow Fairies from their fairy books, I believe.)

Every time it rains they want to go out and play in it - which is awesome. Nothing better than jumping in rain puddles!

As for me, I got a haircut and the lady did my hair curly. I got so many compliments from this that I am trying to incorporate in the hairstyle myself. . . some days it goes better than others. ;) Chris also helped me tackle "the peanut" - what we affectionately call this huge flower bed in our backyard. It was nothing but knee high weeds last summer, but this year we decided to mulch it before the weeds could get too high. We were pretty proud of our handiwork. Hopefully we can keep it under control . . .

Oooh - and I also got spoiled on Mother's Day! Chris got me these beautiful flowers and chocolate covered strawberries - so, so yummy! Plus he and the girls cooked a scrumptious dinner for me and the girls made all sorts of cute cards for me. I love my awesome girls and hubby!

Now for everybody's favorites - THE QUOTES OF THE WEEK!!!

Now, we don't see Aly as much these days. She's always off with friends - at the mall, swimming, at McDonald's, having late movie nights, on youth temple trips, at the fair behind the mall, etc. And all that is as it should be. Luckily, I was still able to get a few quotes from her . . .

We were playing Scattagories for Family Game Night and the topic was "Street Names," starting with the letter "P". Aly wrote "Punching Bag". She thought "Street Names" meant "Gangster Names." Love it.

Also, this awesome conversation when Aly bought a new watch and was telling Chris about programming it:

Aly - It was taking forever! You don't know how hard it was to change my watch to military time.

Chris - How hard was it?

Me - Not that hard, once Mom read the instructions.

Analise went rock climbing with Chris for her Daddy-Daughter Date. Super fun and she was like a Monkey! She's also got a great sense of humor. Here are a few of her latest quotes:

Lise - Dad's so strong he can do push-ups with his nose hairs!

Lise (looking at a box of kinetic sand she'd just bought) - I can't even read the directions because the package is in Spanish for some weird reason.

Me (turning the box over and handing it back to Lise) - There you go, Lise. I just translated it for you.

Kate decided to decorate our mini pine tree with weed flowers from the yard. She, of course, never fails to keep things entertaining. In keeping with the Spanish theme, I was talking to Chris one day in Spanish and the conversation went like this;

Kate - What are you saying?
Me - If I wanted you to know what I'm saying I wouldn't be speaking in Spanish.
Kate (matter of factly) - Oh, so you're cussing.

Kate - Why are birthmarks so hairy?
Me (?!?) - I don't know. They're just formed that way.
Kate (w/a determined sigh) - I need to ask Google that.

Since Kylie is around more often, I've got a few more quotes from her and her fun personality. She is a very social little bug and almost every day when we wake up she'll ask me, "what are we doing today?" But no matter what I answer, or how fun it sounds, she'll always ask, "And what else?"

One night when it was Kylie's turn to clear the table she says to me, "Whoa Mom! You were a hungry girl!" Apparently she thought I at a TON that night.

Another night, when she was helping me cook Hamburger Helper:
Kylie - Mom, why is the dinner farting?
Me - It's not. It's boiling.

Kate (looking out at the field beyond our backyard) - Look, there's a guy mowing the field!
Kylie - Oh no! He's going to destroy all the wishing flowers!
Kate - You mean the dandelions?!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THESE GIRLS! They keep life interesting.

Dancin' with Disney!

In addition to all the other fun activities, we had the girls' Spring Dance Concert. It was a "Night with Disney" and the girls had so much fun! Plus, there were so many cute pictures that I just had to give it its own post.