Happy 9th Birthday Kaylee!!!

I can’t believe my girl is nine years old. Where have the last nine years gone?

She’s growing up much to quickly… and I can’t make her stop!

~Some of her favorites~

Favorite food- Chili

Favorite team- Purdue

Favorite color- Yellow

Favorite TV Show- Wipeout

Favorite book- Little House on the Prairie

Sport- Basketball (Gymnastics is a close 2nd)

Subject in school- Math

This year to celebrate her birthday, she wanted a slumber party with “a few close friends.” She started with sixteen girls on her list. After my eyes popped out of my head, I told her she needed to narrow it down a bit. She got it down to 8 little darling girls. They really are good girls. She’s a lucky gal to have such good friends. It was actually a pretty simple party. Pizza, cake & icecream, gifts, and we did a small craft. The rest of the evening they played dolls, painted nails, played dress up, and had a dance party up in Kaylee’s room. They attached a flashlight to her ceiling fan, which served as their strobe light… did I mention they’re very resourceful too?

Just after midnight, I went up to check on them and there were a couple of very sleepy girls begging me to make the others settle down and go to sleep. The wound up party girls pleaded their case and said, “We just wanted to stay up till midnight and wish Kaylee an official happy birthday! I had to laugh. I think they all settled down after that, although Kaylee tells me they were still up at 2:30 AM.

Here’s a few pictures from the evening…

Left to right: Larisa, Averie, Lydia, Molly, Kaylee, Kelsey, Kate, & Magda

Here they are showing off the foam door hangers they made.  Such a funny group of girls!

Destin Family Vacation

We spent the last week of July in Destin, Florida at the Sandestin Resort. It was our first family vacation since "The Vacation From Hell" a year and a half ago.  We had a great time! The kids had never seen the ocean, so that in itself was worth the trip. We left early Saturday morning (around 3:00 AM) and got down there mid-afternoon. The kids did much better than what I ever imagined in the vehicle for that amount of time. They were so excited, in fact as soon as we arrived, we were in our condo just long enough to dig out our swimsuits and they were racing down to the beach.

The waves were a bit much for Anden, and even Kaylee and Jacob initially. Destin was experiencing more sea grass than usual, so the waters weren’t as clear as we’d imagined. 

This is the face of the girl who'd cry, "I have slime in my swimsuit!!!  Get it out!  I just want to swim in the pool!"

Anden ventured into the ocean a time or two but was much happier spending his time playing in the sand...

Or better yet… the pool!

He went from just beginning to figure out how to jump in and float with his floaties, to by the end of the week, jumping in and swimming his way around the entire pool. He was a little fish!

By the end of the week, Kaylee & Jacob were having a good time in the ocean with the boogie boards. They’d gotten used to the waves, the salt water, and the moss.  Kaylee figured out that if she wore a 2-piece suit, she didn't get near as much moss in her swimsuit. 

We also spent a day in Pensacola (about 1 ½ hours east of Destin) at the Pensacola Air Museum. Two days a week, visitors can view the Blue Angels practice their air show stunts. It was pretty amazing. In fact, this was Jesse’s favorite part of the trip.

Some friends of ours were also in Destin at the time, so we met up with them several times throughout the week. The kids really had a good time with each other.

Here we are together at McGuire's Pub.

And here we are at Pompano Joe's.

 

Love love love this picture of Jacob.

The kids’ favorite part of the trip was crab hunting at night. Almost every evening, we’d head out to the shore with our flashlights and search for snow crabs. They all had a blast… I think Kaylee was our best crab hunter!

On our final evening, we ventured over to The Village of Baytown Wharf. The kids tried out euro-bungy, mechanical bullriding, mechanical surfboard riding, and hamster balls! They had a blast!

On our final morning, we took to the beach for some family pictures.

Here are just a few pictures from around the resort that we stayed at.  We were up on teh 14th floor, all the way on the left side.  Since we were on the end, we had an extra sundeck off the side of our balcony.  It was nice during the afternoon when Anden would nap.

This was the view from our balcony.

And this was the view from the entry way into our condo.

 

Overall, we had a GREAT time!  The kids are already asking if we can go back next year.  I doubt that we'll do as big of a vacation again next year... and the following year, I really have my heart set on Disney World, but who knows!  We'll see!

Soccer Tourney & Camping

This weekend was jam-packed with so much stuff that I don't even know where to begin!  We camped at Patoka with some friends and took part in their Trick-or-Treating around the campground.  Here's a shot of all the kids in our group.  See if you can pick mine out! 

Just in case you didn't find them, check out Daphne, Batman, and Eeyore. 

The kids also had their Soccer Tourney this weekend.  So proud of both of them and how much they improved througout the season. 

Kaylee's team won 2 of their 3 games in the tourney.  She ended up scoring a goal in both games today! 

Great job Kaylee! 

Jacob's team did a great job too.  They won 2 of their 3 games as well. 

Jacob scored several goals this season!  Too many to count! 

Here they are with their medals.  Awesome!

And here's our mini-sized soccer star!