Lemonade stands just aren't what they used to be...

Zoë decided one Friday afternoon that the next day she wanted to have a Lemonade stand. I encouraged her to delay the adventure until she could have some time for planning (and I could have time to shop for supplies) and then have the sale on a Notre Dame Football Home Game weekend. She got her friends, Ivie and Alexandra, to get together and she had them spend the night. She told them to bring a bag of pretzels to sell, and that they would make a sign the night before and then sell lemonade on Saturday morning. Her planning went smoothly, and was well executed. They made great signs (see below), and had lots of fun making some money.

The girls painted this sign before they went to bed on Friday night.

Miranda loved being part of the action.
I think she sold a lot with her enthusiasm!

Megan decided to sell Kool-aid, enough to compete but not directly with the older girls.
She made quite a few pennies until her drink ran out. Then she helped Zoë's booth when the older girls got tired.

Addi came to help sell for a little while, too.
She ran up and down the block trying to garner more patrons.

Ivie ran back and forth and organized the table.

Guess who was in charge of the money!?!?

Alexandra helped out with advertising and selling and getting lemonade from the kitchen to the table.

And how much money did they make??

Oh my goodness!

12 quarts of lemonade
4 lemons, sliced
2 bags of pretzels
hundreds of plastic and Dixie cups
lots of laughs, spills and sticky fingers and coins
a few arguments over who got to hold the money and who should do what

Mix together, add lots of sunshine and a football weekend in our neighborhood and you will gain about $60 in earnings.

Megan's Super Sixth Birthday PARTY

Megan had an amazing sixth birthday! She got to invite friends to a pool party that the Moore's allowed us to have at their house. Since her birthday was actually on Labor Day (just like the day she was born!), we were able to have friends come and play. I was afraid it would be too cold to swim (it was cloudy in the morning with a high of 65 predicted!), but the sun came out and it was warm enough to swim for just long enough to enjoy the pool.

We had lots of friends there, and I was grateful for all the help from the other moms and especially from Travis (who was able to take part of the day off for the party).

It was a wonderful birthday, and I hope she remembers how she deserves all this fun and happiness!

Megan's 6th Birthday!Megan chose this "blue circle cake" to go with her Pirate Pool Party
Since there were boys invited, she didn't want them to feel uncomfortable with a girly cake.

 

Pirate Megan
She spent her own money on her swashbuckling garb.

Mermaid Miranda
Don't you love the BLUE hair?

Megan just started jumping off the diving board this summer.
She's quite the little swimmer now, and so proud of it!

We were all glad that Travis could join in the birthday party.
(He went to work after the party)

The kids loved the idea that they could carry such a big guy around!

Treasure Map for our puzzle treasure hunt.
Each step of the hunt had a game or task to be completed before the next clue was given.
With 15 kids aged 2 to 13, it was quite a fun group!

Climbing to the "Crow's Next" for the next clue...

There was a treasure chest at the end with little treasure boxes filled with goodies (telescope, gold coins, pirate patch, pirate earring, slide whistle, and a few pieces of candy). The box even had the name of the child on it.

Pirate Megan and her Birthday Cake, YUM!

This is more just to show that I was actually there!

Rori checking out Megan's lost tooth.

Most of the 15 kids:
Moody's, Smith's, Elliott's, Skube's, and Bailey's

Thank you, friends!

Yes, THANK YOU!

Megan and Rori have been best friends since they were 3 years old.
I don't think I've been friends with somebody for half my life...

Megan with Rori and Rori's big sister, Hazel

Later that night Megan opened her family gifts.

Nica loved playing with the Zhu-Zhu pet racing ball.

The girls thought they made great hats!

Megan was glad to have Dad's help reading her cards.

What do you do when your sisters are at school?

Why, you go play with friends!

and take lots of toys



and go on picnics, long walks, and to the zoo


and make LOTS of messes for Mom...

(Nica found a 1/4-cup of flour and she and Xena decided to go paint the couch, floor and themselves)

Nica's Second Birthday!

Yes, we really did celebrate her birthday! It was a simple affair, especially since it was Miranda's first day of school (and one of the last days of summer for Megan and Zoë). Veronica shared the spotlight nicely. Her very favorite part was opening presents. Megan and Zoë had fun wrapping the presents and were as eager to help her open them!


'Nica picked out a "confetti" cake and I covered her in a lemon-custard (yum!) and fondant. She didn't last very long...





We were able to Skype with Grandma and Grandpa and Nica loved opening her presents for the cameras and reading her books:




After dinner and cake, and Skype, we went to the living room where Veronica opened her presents. She was so excited and happy to have so many packages to unwrap! Her favorite toys were by far the baby doll and the crib...

More?!?!
More presents!?!?

It was hard to get a good picture of her, she was so excited to be in on the action of unwrapping.

I love this little girl!

Last Days of Summer

We took one last trip to the beach with our friends, the Nelsons. The girls had a great time swimming, digging and rolling in sand, and flying a kit (gifted to us by the Moody's. We've had SUCH a great time flying that thing!)





It was also the day Megan lost her first tooth!
Not even a six-year-old, not even a kindergartener, and she was so proud.


Yes, she still wants to be a dentist!

Projects and More

Yes, I will still post pictures of Veronica's and Megan's birthdays and cakes. I will still post things about the last 2 months. But trying to catch up on the summer trip, and starting seminary, and staying up intil 1:30 a.m. reading a book I couldn't put down, and making a wedding cake for a friend has really put a crimp in my blogging time. Oh, and so have sew many of my projects. To name a few: piano book bags, ballet tutu bags, diaper change kits, skirts/dresses, mending, trick-or-treat bags, and 2 Rapunzel dresses, 2 wizard robes, and a ghost costume. Yeah, I've put a few miles on my machine. I'll post pictures of these things later (especially the Halloween costumes).

But, I wanted to post something related to my Silhouette machine. I cried out loud when I read that the company was releasing a new machine that could cut 12x12 paper and didn't require irritating little plastic caps to adjust to paper thickness (my daughters love playing with them, and even I keep dropping and losing the dumb little things!). But, when I thought about the deal I got, I realized that I didn't want to spend twice as much money, even if the machine could cut 12x12 paper! Maybe when my ship comes in... and after I get a new camera, an iPad, a newer computer that doesn't take 20 minutes to load 2 programs, a faster internet connection.... yeah, it's pretty far down on my list of "needs".

Still, I was browsing Pinterest (If you haven't checked it out, and you are a person who is finding ideas you want to try, but don't have time to do it just then, this site is PERFECT!) looking for things make with my Silhouette. I found these adorable Owls that turned out GREAT,



and I even took the idea for a pop-up card and made it into a Halloween announcement:



I had loads of fun, and was so excited with the results. Even better? The owl and the pop-up card are templates on my Silhouette cutter so I can just plug in a new front, switch around some paper colors, and voila! I have a new owl or stand-up card! Love my machine!!!

OK, I will post more kid pics soon...