Sunshine of your Love

Morning, you guys! SUPER long day, but extremely good day :) Gotta like those days, right? hehe. Woke up at 6 something to loud kids. I SO wanted to sleep for a bit. My friend Virginia was supposed to be bringing her daughter, Yoshi, over at 7: 45am ish, so that I could take her with me to Purple Camp drop off. And I knew that if I slept in till 7:10am, I'd have enough time to get ready.

So I told the kids to stop bugging me, and let me sleep. hehe. I did, for the most part. And got up at 7:10am, and got the house mostly cleaned and organized. It looked ok. Kids ate breakfast, and Virginia texted saying that she was gonna drop Yoshi off at 9:30 instead. That works too.

I decided to let the kids have to pool open at 8:00am. So they got their chores done, and hoped in the pool. They simply LOVE their new pool. And so does their mom :) hehe.

I did have to kick each of the kids out for 5 minutes a piece for saying the word "butthole". Seriously? I don't say that. Where on earth did they pick that up???



At 8:45am, I made them get out, and Eme and Tom showered and finished getting ready. Last minute packing. And we needed flashlights and sunblock. So Tom and Joe and Jim and I loaded up in the truck and headed to Big Lots. And got the few things we needed, and Virginia texted saying they were on their way. So we paid, and hurried back on post. And still made it home about 15-20 minutes before them. I'm not sure where they live...

Captain America got on Skype at 9:30am, and got to talk to the kids before they left for camp. We chatted for about 15 minutes. Jake was finally awake, and decided not to come with us to drop the kids off at Purple Camp, because it was supposed to take 2 hours. That's fine. He was still grounded because of skipping church, and was on an additional day's ban because he'd snuck Eme's laptop into his room last night....

Anyway, we got the kids and their camping gear all loaded up into the truck, and headed out to Biggs park. And there were a TON of people there. We found Eme's church friend, Winona, and her mom there right off the bat. Yeah, I can't remember what her name is.... She was Jimmy's Primary teacher until she got called to be the nursery teacher this past Sunday. I guess I should figure out what her name is, right? hehe.

We filled out the required paperwork, and were told to go and hang out at Biggs park for the next 2 hours. They had fire department, police, Amry trained attack dogs demonstrations, tanks, soldiers, MADD, all sorts of stuff there. And each place was giving away free stuff. My kids got backpack bags and rulers and stuffed animals and pencils and water bottles and TONS of stuff. They were super excited.

Tom and Noah (Leigh's son) and Yoshi hung out together, and walked around. Eme and Winona hung together. Winona's mom and I hung out. Jim and Joe wandered around and did their own thing. It really was a nice morning. Hot, but nice. I think I was in the sun too long...

Tom and Noah

Jim

Jim (yes, he dressed himself today...)

Tom

Jim

Tom

Joe had fun talking into the headset (and it was even turned on!)

Jim

Tom (11) and Noah (13) and Yoshi (11)

Eme watching the Dog Demonstration

At around noon, we went and found a place to sit, and waited for the kids' lunch to arrive. I was SO tired. I think the sun was getting to me. I posted pictures on Facebook, and waited. Eventually, I had Eme go fill up her new water bottle in the drinking fountain for me, and I used one of my flavor packets to make it taste somewhat better. hehe.

Jim and his monkey. He ended up with 2, tied their tails together, and calls them his Monkey Numchucks. Nice, huh?


Eventually, food got there. Ham and cheese sandwiches, string cheese, Lays potato chips, oranges, and frozen juice. The food was just for the Purple Campers, but they had extra, so we all ended up with lunch, and enough to bring home to Jake, too. Sweet!






Finally, it was time for the kids to load up on the bus. Chaplain McCain said a few words, had a prayer, and they started calling the kids. Off went Tom and Eme onto the bus. Not sad in the least to be leaving mom. hehe. They'll be fine at camp. I'm not so worried about them being homesick. They were just SUPER excited.

Here's Tom, not thrilled at all to have to be posing for a picture. He just wants to get on that bus already!
We got the kids on the bus at 12:45pm. And were supposed to go home, get changed, and be back at Biggs water park at 1pm. Yeah, wasn't gonna be on time, that was for sure. We loaded up, and headed out.

We changed clothes, and hurried back as fast as we could. We got there around 1:30pm. And yeah, it was PACKED. Kari and Amanda and kids were already in there, but they'd stopped letting people in. They were over capacity by 11 people. So they wouldnt' even let any new families in until 11 people left. And there were 15 people waiting in front of me. Yeah, I SO wasn't waiting in line to play at a SUPER crowded water park. Not gonna do it. So I told the girls that I'd see them tomorrow, and we headed home.

I really wasn't that upset. I was SUPER tired from being out in the sun all morning long. I just wanted to relax. And cool off. Cause I was hot.

So we headed back to post. And decided to swing by the PX and see if they had pool toys. And I got stuck in the toy section chatting with some woman for about 20 minutes. hehe. I'm such a chatty Kathy sometimes... hehe. We found $0.94 goggles, and $2.50 blow up rings. And I bought another copy of Wii fit. Because they kids had destroyed mine... Dumb kids. ha!

We headed home, and got our rings blown up (oh yeah, I TOTALLY got one too!), and headed for the pool. I told Jake that he could play Wii fit, because it was exercise, not electronics. He seemed pleased about that. He ended up on there for 30 minutes. That's 30 minutes of exercise he wouldn't have otherwise had, right?

The boys and I had SO much fun on our blow up rings! We jumped from the ladder onto them, swam around in them, flipped over on them, played bumper boats with them. Yeah, it was a great time.

Check out Joe in Mid-Air. Yeah, I look frightened!

I got out to make dinner, and the boys kept on playing. I'd invited Virginia over at 4:30 to play in the pool. So I marinated some chicken, and made up some yummy cupcakes, and made up a bunch of Mac N Cheese. Figured we might as well have a cookout!
This is a yellow cake mix cupcake in a mini bundt pan, then filled with chocolate pudding, and topped with powdered sugar. And I froze them. Oh yeah, they tasted yummy. Don't worry, I didn't swallow...
Marinades with oil in them are FUN to cook on the grill. hehe. The chicken was absolutely DIVINE tasting. Jake even commented on how good it was!
Leo and Josephine came over and played after they got home from the splash park, and my kids had a TON of fun playing with them. And Kari stayed and chatted for a bit too. Virginia texted and said that her daughter (Jim's age) really wanted to go to the splash park, so they'd come to our house another time. I hadn't told her that I'd cooked dinner, so she had no idea. Oh well. I guess it got me to cook dinner for my family, right?



And then at 4:50, I realized that Joe had is last baseball game and awards ceremony and pizza party at 5:30!!!! Holy crap, we'd almost missed it!

I got the kids out of the pool at 5pm, and got everyone changed, we ate dinner real fast, and ran out the door. We made it to the field only 2 minutes late. hehe. Jake even came with us!

We sat and visited with Louann (Christian's mom) for a bit, and the team mom came over and asked if we'd brought stuff for the end of the season goodie bags. Eh? I didn't know about those. Louann had forgotten too, and so had the team mom. She said she'd run out and grab a few things for them. But I volunteered to go to the Dollar Tree, and grab some stuff. She was VERY glad that I'd volunteered. So was Jake. hehe.

I gathered up Jake and Jim, and off we went. We got some squirt guns and some candies and some crackers and some other odds and ends, paid, and headed back to the game. We got there with 10 minutes to spare.

I stuffed the goodie bags, and the game was over. The teams lined up, said good job, and it was done. Good season, Joe!

Here's the SUPER cute goodie bags

And then we went over by the SAS building, and had our awards ceremony and pizza party. Cute cupcake cluster, huh?


I still can't manage a bra, so I was in my swimsuit with a shirt overtop. Sexy, right? hehe.
First, they had pizza. So my kids got double dinner tonight. Jake was excited. hehe.

And then they gave out the trophies. Way to go, Joe!!!

He really didn't want his picture taken. AT ALL!

And then they had cupcakes. Check out this MONDO piece that Jim got. Holy cow!
He ended up just eating the frosting off the sides, then throwing the rest away. Dang!

I couldn't resist!

After the party, we loaded up, and headed home, and were home by 7:15pm. I texted Terra, and her and Eryn and the twins came over to swim! I was SO hot, and the pool felt SO good. Krista swam with Eryn, and loved it instantly. Kendra swam with me, and took a bit to warm up to it, but eventually got the hang of the whole water thing, and LOVED it! She stayed in the longest - ha!



After about an hour, the girls were shivering, and ready to go. Well, Krista was. ha! I helped Terra dry them off, and get them loaded up in the van. Fun times!

Jake and I put the little kids to bed, and we went outside to play with Boxer and the pointer light. He's SUCH a funny dog. He'll chase that little red light back and forth and back and forth and back and forth across the backyard FOREVER! Never tires of that game :)

We came back inside, and worked out a deal so that he could earn back pool privlidges tomorrow. Not video games or youth center, just pool. He had to do Eme and Tom's chores, and his own, and help me clean the bathroom and do my laundry. Sounded good to me, and he agreed to it.

So I started blogging, and he started cleaning. And it's now almost 10pm. I'm gonna put this computer away, and I'm gonna go watch some 24. One of these days I need to set aside some time to design. But I guess that's why I got ahead during the school year, right? So that I could take a chunk of the summer off, and play with the kids. It has been super nice :)

Tomorrow, we're having a pool party at my house at 10am, and everyone is supposed to bring a box of popsicles to share. Should be a good time!

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Perfect, Sharon! Simply perfect!