I hate fundraisers. Especially the kind that ask you to buy overpriced garbage so that the school can get 10% of the purchase price. Instead of hassling people, I just write a check to the school and forget about it.
But Henry brought home the latest fundraiser (the THIRD this year) and I feel compelled to post about it, not only to offer up the the opportunity for some original artwork by Henry, but so you could see the interesting subject they chose for the kids to draw:
Who doesn't want a clown gracing a mouse pad or pillowcase? (All of the kids drew the same clown, so don't feel too bad.) Maybe I feel so strongly about this because June has declared how "scaredy" clowns are. (But still not as scary as snowmen.)
Should you feel compelled to have this image put to a t-shirt, check out the products available here. Let me know by next Wednesday (October 26th) so i can include it with my order for a clown can coozy.
We should really mention how awesome the food was all weekend. We're talking non-stop pizzas, PB&Js, and grilled cheese. With SQUARE cheese. (Or American cheese product, as mama calls it and NEVER lets us eat.) Best. Vacation. Ever.
Our condo complex was really something. It had about 400 condos, 2 outdoor pools, an indoor pool, 2 restaurants and access to the beach. We never had to leave. And we figured out that we could walk all the way across the 4 buildings without ever having to leave the floor we were on.
Mama took us down to the beach at sunset to try and get a picture of all of us for papa.
It didn't really work, and it didn't matter much anyway because mama promptly spilled her pop on the computer and it had to dry out for the rest of the weekend. (But it worked when we turned it back on!)
Georgie was skeptical about the cold water.
Mama practiced taking a picture of herself without looking crazy. This was the best she got.
I ran around drawing in the sand.
This is me. You can tell because I have long hair. (It's worth noting that I suffer under the delusion that I have waist-length hair and am bigger than most 8-year-olds.)
While I drew, Jo ran after me trying to pick up my drawings.
Finally, another family offered to take our picture for us. Not bad.
Georgie spent most of vacation sleeping late and taking long naps. Poor little kid is coming down with a cold. So one morning while she was sleeping, Miss Juliet stayed with Jo so we could go down to the beach.
I don't know if this trip could live up to the excitement of our first trip to the beach with all the kids. We spotted dolphins in the water (though mama heard someone mention sharks and came running and made us get out of the water for a minute). We saw 3 or 4 dolphins bobbing along about 30 feet off the shore. Then mama kicked something and after she started digging she pulled out 5 huge conch shells that were all still intact. You can't beat that.
On the trip, apparently mama only packed clothes that are too small for me.
We spent some time running in and out of the waves. It was mid eighties and the water was cold. Just the way we like it.
Henry jumped in a few times, but wimped out when mama threatened to throw him in.
Then we got down to the business of digging a castle on an island with a moat around it. Or mama dug and we filled it up with water.
Then we just dumped water on the island and flooded everything.
Henry found a "pencil" and wrote our names in the sand.
Mama declared almost 4 and almost 6 the perfect ages for a morning at the beach.
Papa had to go up north for a conference, then flew in to Ohio for PawPaw's Army retirement party. At some point papa declared that we were allowed to go because he didn't want mama driving up 24 hours total for a party we weren't allowed to go to. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Mister Tony, theater lighting guy extraordinaire, was also going out of town for a show in Hilton Head. Mama and Miss Juliet got together and declared this to be the first Work Widows Weekend, complete with a condo in Hilton Head. It sure is weird to be enjoying 85 degree weather on a beach in mid-October.
John got some new Star Wars legos that he and mama built together.
And I worked on my technic set.
Mean while June and Christo had a book party. Where was I? Asleep until 11:15 am. Come on, it's my vacation.
My late nap paid off because it meant we all got to go spend the afternoon at Cajun Fest! We didn't see much of cajun Fest, but for $5, kids could play in the KidsZone all afternoon, featuring a ton of inflatables, including this huge castle Henry rode down about 25 times.
June spent her time running through this train over and over and over.
There was even a little place for kids only.
Though I had more fun putting cheerios into my shoes.
When June was done with the train, she got to jumping.
It might be time to retire this dress.
Mama was walking with me around the bounce house and looked up to notice June was gone. The KidZone was fenced in, but mama couldn't find her anywhere. Until she came sliding down the slide of the 40 foot tall castle. Apparently, she zoomed up the ladder with no problem. Then she zoomed straight into time out for not telling mama where she was.
Then she got to get back in line to slide down again.
Henry couldn't wait for the operator to let him climb.
We needed a little break, so we got a sorbet to share and pulled up our chairs to watch the crawfish eating contest.
They just dumped them all on the table and went at it for 45 seconds.
Afterwards, we were invited to check out the leftovers. Mama taught us how to shuck them. (I'm not sure it's called shucking, but she did it and even ate a few on her own. None of us would get close to them.
Then back to the inflatables. I tried to steal some shoes from the older kids.
And mama even let me get in the bounce houses if there weren't any other big kids around.
It was awesome, even in June spent the whole asking mama to take me out. We finally called it quits when everyone kept hitting heads and insisting that June did it on purpose and erupting into tears. It was an awesome afternoon.
After supper, we took a walk down to the outdoor pool. (We also have an indoor pool and beach access. this place is awesome.) We all dipped our feet in the water.
Like we said before, mama got it in her mind that she wanted to go camping, so we found a private campground down down on Lake Hartwell that still had available spots. We had to wait around for me to finish my morning nap before we could leave. And once we got there and set everything up, I was tired again. Mama actually got me to lay down and take a nap in the tent while Henry and June went to the lake. (You could see it from our campsite.)
Maybe the best part about the campground was the putt-putt course that we had all to ourselves. And despite his hockey-grip, Henry was pretty good and beat mama a few times.
I crawled around the course and kept papa busy retrieving me from the stairs behind the course.
June didn't play, but did carry her pink "gold-stick" around.
Back at the campsite, we built a fire and got ready to roast some hotdogs.
June didn't even roast her hotdog before she started to eat it. She only roasted her marshmallow for 3 seconds before declaring it done.
We went back again in the morning for more golf. I spent some time putting golf balls under this lighthouse. Too bad mama couldn't figure out how to get her ball through. It took her 23 tries on their last round.
We had a great night in the tent, with only a wake-ups. But as soon as it started getting light this morning (around 6am), I rolled over and saw all my people and just couldn't get back to sleep.
So by 9am, I was zonked. Mama couldn't get me to sit still on her lap while the boys played golf, so she ended up putting me in the van to take a nap.
While I slept, June and Henry had good old-fashioned dangerous fun on the teeter-totters. You don't see these much anymore. These were even modified so you could move the bar and modify the lever for different weights. That's got pinched finger written all over it. AND they had an old merry-go-round too. You'll be glad to know that everyone escaped with all of their fingers and no head injuries.
We had so much fun. Henry and June are already asking when we can go back. I was just worried about where my next nap would be.
So what am I up to these days? Just trying to stay close to my best friend- my mom. If I'm not close to my BFF, I want to be close to my nuk and blankie. (Aunt Jenni, please make me a smaller blankie soon! It's so gross when I drag mine across the floor!) Mama thinks I should be dropping my morning nap soon, but I'm having a hard time letting go of it. So I can often get her to bring along my bed stuff if she knows I'm not going to get my nap.
I'm very well known among all the other moms in town, because even though I love my mom, I love every other mom too. Really, I just want to be held all the time. when I'm at the gym, I'm always the kid who greets every mom at the door and demands to be picked up.
But I'm not all fussy. I'm usually in a pretty good mood after supper when all of my people are at home with me. (I remain the best eater in the family. Last week, mama discovered I love eggs, onions, spicy Korean barbeque, and Indian curry chickpeas.)
You can't see it, but I also just sprouted my 9th tooth. I already have my front 8 teeth and now I have my upper right molar too. I'm taking after June, who grew all of her molars before her front teeth.
I don't think mama has posted this picture yet. She doesn't make many pies, so she was so pleased when she made this awesome apple pie. The best part was that she ended up flipping it over and there were pecans and caramel on the bottom of the pie! (Grandma Seibert, she tried to cut vents like wheat like you always do, but it didn't quite turn out.)
Last weekend, Gracie and Audrey (or Ondrey, as June calls her) came to visit. We hit up the fall festival in Pendleton and just had a good time in general.
Grace and I made necklaces and I was quite pleased with how my Clemson necklace turned out.
Of course, mama forgot to take any pictures. Luckily, Mister Andy took some with his phone and posted them to Facebook. Grace and I tested the weight limit of the Barbie jeep. We figured out that it can really only handle one 5-year-old at a time.
Here's the only picture of all the big kids. June and Ondry had a great time playing with their dolls while Grace and I set up the cardboard playhouse in the office and kept ourselves busy writing letters to the grown-ups and rigging up hanging flashlights in the house.
Mama stopped in at the Walgreens and picked up these little dolls on clearance for June. They're princesses and each comes apart into about 7 pieces. They're actually made out of pencil erasers, so a couple pieces have had to be glued back together. But even with that minor annoyance, they've kept June occupied for HOURS. She was the "monkey of the week" at school and had to take in pictures of herself and our family. And she got to pick out a toy to show the class. she very carefully packed her princesses in bubble wrap in a tupperware and made one thousand promises not to take the princesses apart at school.
On Thursday, June and her friend Piper visited the children's museum with their moms. They took care of puppies in the vet clinic.
Wow, this whole post seems to be about June. She was just so funny this week!
On Saturday morning, mama took a look at the weather (75/53) and announced that we were going camping. June ran upstairs and grabbed her sleeping bag and all of her toys. She was back downstairs and ready in 2 minutes.
Mama convinced her to get dressed. She added a stocking cap in case it got cold and then gave mama her fair share of attitude. Mama thought she looked a little like Elliot Smith...
Let's hope June's music career ends better than Elliot's.
Here's her first single. You may know that our newest niece, Cecelia Ann, arrived on September 27th. We're all dying to meet her and we've had to tide ourselves over by singing a song about another girl named Cecelia. June really took to it and asks mama to play it about 40 times a day. Get ready for some serious gravelly-voiced cute.
