Final 10 of Summer

Well, of course summer came and went in the blink of an eye.  We did continue our calendar, but it was mixed in with visits to Nana & Pops, Falls Creek, vacation, Mission Trip, etc.  So, here is a mash pile of our calendar activities (most likely in no particular order).

1. On our "Make Something" day, we made a recipe of Gak that we found here. It made me a tad nervous that we would have a slimy, sticky mess, but it turned out well. Logann had a ton of fun playing with her purple Gak.

First it was a bottle of glue

Then you add some Borax

Stir in the color

Then play away!

 2. For an adventure, we met Owen and Stella at Pelican Bay in Edmond. The little girls had fun playing in the shallow area going down the slide over and over and over and over again. The big kids enjoyed the big slides and the lazy river. We didn't even notice the 113 degree heat!

3. We got haircuts.  It may not seem like a big deal, but it sure was to this cutie!

4.  To beat the heat, we found a splashpad nearby.  The girls loved splashing in the buckets and spraying me with water.

Goggle girl

5.  One entry on Logann's Summer Bucket list was to get an ice cream treat from the Ice Cream truck that travels our neighborhood.  It seemed like weeks before the truck came down our street.  Immediately, she heard the music and ran out with her money in hand.  Jeremy's intern for the summer, Lauren L., had told her all about the "Tweety Bird pop", so of course that's what she just had to get.  She said she like it all except the Tweety eyes.

6.  Happy Birthday Merr-Merr! Because we like the splashpad so much, we decided to have Merritt's birthday there.  She loved playing with Owen, Stella, Miah, Kanin, and Logann.


Birthday cupcakes



Getting help from Auntie Christa to blow out her candles

 

Eating the goods

 

 7.  Zoo day! The day after Merritt turned the BIG 2, we took a family trip to the OKC zoo.  The girls loved checking on the one armed baby Chimpanzee.  They also enjoyed the kids area, the water in particular.  This trip, we rode the train in order to see the whole zoo.  Of course Merritt ended up naked by the end of the day!  It wouldn't be a complete trip without a naked baby!  We love family days!!

 

 

 

8.  TEXAS!! We took our Junior High students to Arlington, TX to work at Mission Arlington during the week of July 23-27.  While working at apartment complexes and gathering donations for the Mission, we also watched a Rangers/Red Sox baseball game and we spent one night in a hotel to allow the kids to swim and relax before we headed home.

Merritt catches a ride to the game

Baseball diva with her buddy Madison

UGH! Somebody got a hold of my makeup bag

Night swim

Naked baby strikes again!

Logann being a missionary (letting the girls at the complex fix her hair)

 After we returned from this trip, we took a mini family vacation.  We turned around two days later and went back to the Dalls Metroplex.  We stayed with some friends in the Fort Worth area.  Then, we headed into Dallas and spent time shopping and going to Hawaiian Falls water park.

Cheering on the Rangers

Naked Baby playing with her friend Karah (In her defense, it was hot!)

Splash pad with Karah and Andrew



Baggage helpers



Bathing beauties at the hotel

 

9. After all of our travels, we spent a normal week at home back on schedule.  Our "Make Something" Day had us making splatter paint balloons, from a recipe I found here.  It was fun to try, but the girls did have trouble getting their balloons to splatter.  We used regular balloons, and I think water balloons would have popped better.

 

 



Cornstarch

Adding the water and food coloring

Give it a little stir

The loot ready to go

Trying to give it a POP!

(Yes we were in our PJ's)

 10. My favorite day- COOK DAY!! We decided to make Pudding Pops that I found here.

All the goods

 

Logann said they were delicious! We forgot to buy the Cool-whip, so we will need to try again.

 

What a fun summer we had! Hopefully, being in a routine will help me keep up with documenting our activities.  Now, it's on to my favorite time of the year!

Summer, Take 2

Here we sit at week 2 of summer, and we have been running around having a blast!  For our activities, here is what we planned.

Monday, we dashed over to the new SOKC library for story time.  The girls sang and danced and listened to the stories and rhymes.  Once nap time arrived, Logann and I mixed up our bathtub paint.  We found the recipe here (from Pinterest, of course!). She added and mixed the ingredients.  Then, she meticulously selected a color or a mix of colors for each individual slot.  Logann had tons of fun painting, but once we added Merritt to the party, the paints got dumped over in just a few short seconds.  It was fun while it lasted!

Stirring

Selecting her colors

The finished product

Trying it out

Tuesday, we joined our Junior High youth girls to go visit some residents at Legends Memory Care Center.  We chatted with the ladies in their rooms at the care facility and gave them each a poster created by the girls.  They were so excited to have visitors, even though it was for just a few minutes.  After our visit, we headed to the house of a Sunday School teacher's brother for a swim party.  We chowed down on sandwiches and spent lots of time in the water.  Both of my girls were like fish...splashing and playing until I had to pull them out of the water.

That same evening, we went with the whole youth group to Bricktown to watch an Oklahoma City Redhawks baseball game.  Merritt's favorite part was riding on the bus to the ballpark.  She also loved the fountain across the street from the ballpark and seeing "Ruby", one of the mascots for the team.  Logann chowed on some ice cream, and she couldn't get enough of the Center Field playground's tire swing.

Admiring the water

Ruby!!



Cheering at the game

It's baseball, Dada!

Swinging

Center Field Fun!

Taking in the scene

This week, I tried to add in the activities from the local library.  Since our house sits between two libraries, we get double the fun and the choices.  This causes complete chaos in my brain and on our calendar, but the girls LOVE, LOVE going to the library!  Wednesday was a movie day at the SOKC library, so Logann watched Toy Story 3 while Merritt ran around the computers and the puzzles.  She did stop a few seconds here and there to pound the "hammer" puzzle piece on the table.  It even found its way into to proper slot on the puzzle a few times.  Here's to hoping that all the running around the library will produce a love for reading someday when she figures out that the library is for books and not just for races.  Again, once nap time arrived, Logann and I concocted our snow cone syrup. (The recipe can be found here.) 

First, we dissolved the sugar into the water and let it boil for one minute.  Then, we added in the Kool-aid and let it cool.  Once we were ready to eat, we crushed up some ice in the blender and drenched it with our syrup. 

It was really good!  Logann thought it was a bit too sweet, but Merritt and I devoured all of our bright red snow cone!

The finished product

Yumm!

"It's coldy, Momma!"

For "Thoughtful Thursday", Logann drew pictures and mailed them to a few friends in Texas.  She decided that she wanted to write to her friends Andrew, in Ft. Worth; Faith, in Terrell; and Maw-Maw, in Terrell.  By this time in the week, I'm pretty much done entertaining, so sadly we weren't very thoughtful this day.

Friday was more of a hum-drum day because our activity didn't happen until the evening.  Logann's friend Ashton is playing Cinderella at a nearby children's theater, so we went out to dinner and went to watch Ashton's play.  She absolutely adores Ashton, and she LOVED, LOVED the play!

Cinderella in her wedding gown!

And to conclude this crazy symphony of a week, here is Logann doing what I feel like doing!!