Silly Sayings: Summer Edition

• Maggie while lying in bed reading a book holding an ice pack on her most recent boo-boo starts reading the ice pack: "I'm not really sure why this says keep out of reach of children, I'm not really a child. I'm more like a big kid." 
• Maggie is fascinated with where people's "tickle spots" are. She assumes that everyone loves to be tickled in their underarms and for about a solid month, she would sneak in a tickle to Chris and I whenever she got close.
• On Pizza and Movie night, Maggie announced: "This pizza is SOAKING HOT!" 
• My sweet girl has always had a thing about making a big deal when it's time for me to leave somewhere. She usually has to give me 14 hugs and kisses and a few high fives. Well, most recently, she decided to add in a new trick to her goodbye routine...the foot high five!! 
• Riley said a sweet prayer the other day for the wind and rain to stop and for the DirectTV to start working again. Miraculously, it did very soon after his prayer. I'm thinking God does care (even about the smallest details). :) 
• Not to be outdone, Maggie recently said a prayer for Chris' back to heal (after he had gotten injured on his bike), and for her tooth to stop hurting, and for the tooth fairy to hurry up and come!
• Earlier that week, Maggie was so proud of her loose tooth that she ran up to both Chris and I separately and said: "One or both of your eyes are going to pop out when you see my loose tooth."
• Riley recently got a new haircut and he's really digging it. He saw his reflection in the mirror one morning after breakfast and made the comment, "I like when my hair 'sprouts up' like that!"
• Riley noticed graffiti for the first time in our neighborhood on a stop sign and remarked: "I don't know why that person DOODLED on that sign. I bet he's going to get in trouble."
• The other day we were discussing our top 5 favorite "food groups". Here they are:
• Maggie: bread, chips, Pringles (separate category), icecream and popcorn
• Riley: sushi, peanut butter sandwich, pizza, candy, and grilled cheese
• Chris: chips, popcorn, pizza, icecream, and sushi
• Tracy: mushroom swiss burger, icecream, spaghetti with meat sauce, fondue, and granola cereal
•  Maggie gave me an extra tight hug one night at bedtime and said, "You can give dad some of this hug too since he hurt his back."
• I made the comment to Maggie that she's a night owl when I found her still awake at 10:30 one night as I was heading to bed myself. She quickly replied back, "No, I'm not, it's just the way I live."
• We've been talking to Daddy on the phone while he's been on his bike ride across Iowa and we'll pass the phone around when we're in the car taking turns. Maggie always has to add at the end, "Okay STAY TUNED, I'm going to give the phone to mom now so goodbye, but don't hang up." 

Ahh...what am I going to do when these kids get all sophisticated and don't have as many silly sayings?? Just reading over these, brings a smile to my face as I hope they do for you too!! 

Summer Lovin'...Had us a Blast!

This "sweet thang" turned 6 this year and we kicked off our summer with a "PAW-TY" at the park with a few of her school friends and Uncle Marc. She had a blast and got to eat a whole plate full of edamame for supper (in addition to her slice of cake and candy-covered icecream from Sweet Frog's). 

 My mini-me!! We got matching dresses for her birthday and wore them to church together the next day!

 One night we went out for dinner to an all-you-can-eat sushi place and I believe that Riles almost put them out of business! He and Chris went to town on nigiri sushi (not to mention squid salad, crab ragoon, and an eggroll!).

 The kids got to celebrate meeting some special goals by going to Chuck E. Cheese!

 The grown-ups got to celebrate some special goals (surviving life with kids) as well and celebrated with a Brewed Clues tour in Charlotte!

June was full of swim lessons with Mrs. Heather! They got stronger and more comfortable in the water every day! Maggie was working on treading water for 10 seconds and Riley was going for 30 seconds! 

 Maggie went to Baker's Buzz in Fort Mill for Jordan's birthday party with a bunch of friends. She loved decorating the cupcake!!

 We had an at-home Low Country Boil one night for dinner.

For our 13th anniversary, Chris and I went to Dressler's and had some amazing fish dishes! Then we stopped by Grapevine on the way home for some live music and another adult beverage! :) 

Aren't these little angels precious?? Both awake and fast asleep! 

 On our trip to Camp Nan and Pap we were able to fit in a visit to see Grandpa at the nursing home and bring him a Frosty from Wendy's and then later that night, Chris and I were able to check out two new breweries in Muncie. We headed out Saturday with Ben, Brandy, Tim and Jen to check out a new cabin in Brookville and we went whitewater tubing the following day. Good times!!

 For the 4th of July, our Shiland Hills Pool had so many fun events (photo booth, merchandise sale, live band, bbq plates for sale, watermelon eating contest, cornhole tournament, greased watermelon, etc.) We are so thankful we've gotten to enjoy this fun pool and meet lots of new kids and neighbors!

 These two "stars" continued their fun at Grandmama and Papa's house later as we cooked out and shot fireworks with Aunt Connie.

 For my birthday, we celebrated as a family by going back to Melting Pot. This might have to be an annual tradition!! The food is just so yummy!!!

 We fit in lots of library shows (like the magician act above that both Maggie and Riley got to assist with) and a Lemonade Stand fundraiser for the Rock Hill Schools Foundation.

We went on Monday, July 16th to visit Mommaw and Poppaw in the new nursing home that they were being moved to. Mommaw's dementia had gotten so bad that she forgot that she could open her eyes. Mom helped her and she brightened up seeing the kids and asked for kisses!! Poppaw loved the cheeseburger and bag of candy that we brought for him and though, you can't really tell in the picture above, we think he was happy to see us (as we were him). Unfortunately, that would be the last time we would see Mommaw. She passed away a week later. We're going to miss her funny jokes, soft laugh, mischievous talk, and generous love! 

We found Maggie a new hairdresser who has curly hair too! She straightened her hair and gave it a trim. Pictured above are just some of the current hair products that I've been using on Maggie and Mrs. Carol gave us a whole list of new things to try too. I love that she took the time to explain why God made curly hair (to protect soft heads) and kept her entertained with snacks and shows! She was also a godsend when Maggie's hair got completely knotted up in the biggest tangle I've ever seen. She told me to use olive oil and heaps of conditioner and then work through it with a wide-toothed comb. Sure enough, an hour and half later, her curls were back (pictured above). We went to her later that week for the trim that will helpfully ward off bad tangles like that for awhile! 

 Riley has gotten to check out Lego Club and Robotics Club while Maggie has been trying out dance at New Attitude. I love that they both get to explore their unique interests apart from each other at times.

 We wrote Daddy daily encouragement for his week-long bike ride across Iowa (RAGBRAI). He left on July 19th and will return on July 29th or 30th. He and Pap will ride 500 miles across the state (about 50-75 miles a day). We're proud of his training, dedication, and perseverance and can't wait to hug him in person when he gets home!!

 While Dad was away, we checked out 2 trampoline parks (SkyHigh and Adventure Air), went to Carowinds, dog sat Teddy, made freezer meals, got our plumbing fixed, attended a gymnastics camp, made cookies for Santa and got to experience "Christmas in July" for the first time ever, spent time with Joel and Kelly, celebrated Mommaw's life at her funeral on Friday, July 27th, and saw a final library show. We have had a blast this summer and are going to soak up what's left of our final weeks together!!