Mamaw and Papaw have Arrived

 Regan has always loved puzzles.  This one is one of my favorites and I love that she enjoys doing them over and over again.  She is getting pretty fast at them.  This 1000 piece puzzle just took her a few hours.

 A few days before Mamaw and Papaw arrived, we had a ladies bracelet making party.  It was quite the success.  Two people asked to make extras so they could share the story with that goes with it to their friends.

 After showers (and before brushing their hair), they were just lined up like stair steps.  I had to get a picture :)

 Mamaw and Papaw came bearing gifts from Malaysia.  Each of the kids got a different colored monkey.  Oh, and Hudson wanted to look his best for Mamaw and Papaw...he got dressed all by himself.

 This was one happy girl...the biggest piece of seaweed ever!  I think they smell and taste gross, but she LOVES it!

 First thing on the agenda....girl time getting a pedicure.

 It's been a while since we have done this, so Mamaw coming to visit was a good excuse to go :)

 Since Katherine's birthday is so close, Mamaw and Papaw ordered a cake at the local bakery.  She was completely surprised! (That's her name in the chocolate heart)

 She has enjoyed celebrating a little early :)

We needed a group picture with Mamaw and Papaw :)  Next time they come, hopefully it won't be raining and we can get a good picture outside as well.

 They have taken advantage of Papaw reading books to them....I think he has read the same book about noses to Hudson about 300 times...haha!

 Hudson was so excited that he had a "dog hat" like Papaw...Go Vols!

 Regan and her coach

 Getting ready for the performance

Here is Regan's performance.  She did a really good job.  I'm so proud of how well she is doing!
https://youtu.be/80WZ8RNiUAo

 So, maybe not the best taken picture, but she dressed herself (as usual) and every time I looked at her all I saw were the flashbacks from "The Father of the Bride" where all George Banks can think of when his daughter said she is getting married is a little girl all dressed up wearing her white tennis shoes playing basketball :) 80's look

 Snuggles with big sister

 All of Lauren's friends started 1st grade this week.  I loved some of the pictures that the parents sent us.  I love this one because it shows the crazy nap time in elementary school (yes, they take naps here from 12:30-2:30 until they start college)

Here's a different school...I can't believe all those crazy blankets and the heat.

 So, Mamaw and Papaw kept the kids for a few days and Jonathan and I were able to get away.  It was such a great time just to get away from the business of everything.  To top it off, we flew to another city that has quite a few foreigners.  The biggest perk? The FOOD!  Mmmm. One of the  restaurants served onion rings :)

 A dinner for TWO (not seven) please...with a nice little rose and even a candle on the table :)

 Now, if we had not found anything else but only found this, I think I still would have been quite happy.  Since it was a special "date" I drank two with my dinner (shhhh)

My handsome date at the most incredible Mexican restaurant!  If we had found this place at the beginning of the trip, we would have eaten there more than once.  It was a good end of the trip meal and makes us want to go back :)

 I had a scoop of cookies n cream ice-cream.  The two spoons is because they assume that you will share everything. Not so.  I ate every bite.

 Seriously, I had no idea this kind of thing was available ANYWHERE in this country.  I guess I just need to move to a city with lots of foreigners ;) haha!  Jonathan had a delicious apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. So, I guess what I'm saying is the food was good. Can you tell? :)

 Classes have started back up.  Lauren is in a new dance class. I love to just sit back and watch the interactions take place.  She quickly had a circle of new friends. I also enjoyed watching her during the break.  Some of the older girls were giving her pointers and dancing with her.  It was really cute.

I also love seeing the kids hanging all over their grandparents.  So much fun!  Hudson said tonight (with a big smile) "I am so sad."  So I asked why are you sad? "Because Mamaw and Papaw are leaving tomorrow."  So sweet.  I'm so glad all the kids had fun.  We look forward to their next visit...we won't leave them with the kids the entire time ;)

Haircuts and Surprises

It was fun taking this crew for haircuts.  Katherine didn't want a cut so she just got it washed (that's why my kids love getting haircuts anyways...they wash and massage your head forever)  This is our after picture.

This was Benjamin BEFORE his haircut.  They cut about 2 inches off.  I couldn't believe the pile of hair on the floor :)  My only instruction was, "He wants to keep his hair long."

I thought they did a good job "keeping it long" but making it to where I could see his eyes again.  Regan's hair look really good now.  he needed a trim badly.  It looks so much healthier.  Lauren likes going to get haircuts because they always try to blow dry her hair straight.  I'm just glad all those curls keep coming back. Regan's hair keeps getting curlier and we get more and more comments about how those two look so much alike.

This is one of Gracie's favorite activities...watching The Avengers on Regan's iPad.  All Regan has to do is turn it on and she comes running.  It is very cute.  I didn't believe Regan when she said the cat can pause it and adjust the volume, but I witnessed it myself. She did both of those things (while trying to catch the bad guys of course) while I was taking her picture.

Lauren and Katherine spent the day at one of their friend's house.  They had a doctor kit and stuffed dolls that they were making better and then they made a mess with water on the balcony.

I came back from picking up Regan from her taekwondo class to find a BAT on the balcony where I normally park my bike!!  I took a picture and then waited for the bat to leave.  It finally left when the sun was setting (makes sense).

The kids have really been enjoying summer.  These two have been coloring in some new books that they got over the summer.  I was actually surprised at how patient Lauren is being with the book.  She saw it at the bookstore and wanted to get it.  It is called The Secret Garden and has lots of intricate garden pictures to color.

I don't often see an actual sunset.  There were several these past few days that reminded me that the skies are not always blah here.

Here are the cookies that the kids helped me fix.  Peppermint Kisses and sugar cookies.  I only had a few Kisses so the rest were just covered in sprinkles.

And then we had the surprise of the year...Katherine go a birthday package EARLY! :)  She was so excited.  

Then she spent the next several hours working on her gift.  She gets to make her very own blanket.  It is still a work in progress.

Jonathan treated the kids to snow cones this week.  They are huge fans! :)

Another beautiful sky.

Lauren finished up her swim class. She did great!!

Hudson and Lauren staying in the shade.  I guess Hudson is being the gentleman and holding the umbrella for his sister :)

Hudson finished up his summer art class.  Here is his elephant (for you Auntie Em) ;)

Jonathan took Hudson to ride bikes (and take some selfies of coarse)  He looks just like his daddy.

Apparently, this little guy was thirsty and "needed a Starbucks"  Hmmmm.  :)

Just waiting for the wedding to start....my handsome boys.

Katherine and Daddy

I have to say this had to rank up there with the cutest flower girl and ring bearer EVER!  This little girl would take one step and then throw two or three petals over her head and into the air (REALLY cute!) I think the ring bearer was supposed to hold her hand (in theory) but her hands were busy throwing the flowers.  So he did the next best thing and held her dress.  What happened next cannot only be described if you saw a video (I wish I had one)....I saw it coming because the little girl did not like him holding her dress. He responded that it was ok and then the biggest, tiniest fight broke out...feet were kicking and arms were flying.  It thought I was watching AFV...not even sure if that show still exists.

Regan and Daddy

The bride being walked down the aisle by her father.

Lauren and our good friend Soey

This little guy discovered building blocks and the train track this week.  I was a happy camper.  It is not an easy task to keep him interested in one activity.  He likes to change constantly, but these two things kept him entertained for awhile.

We took a day off and went swimming with friends.  It still is hard for me to get the kids consistently to a pool because all pools are close when we want to swim (from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm) We made this and early swim :)