Staycation Week In Review

I mentioned in my last post that we had decided not to take a vacation away from home this year for a variety of reasons. So instead, my hubby took the week off, and we decided to do some fun, local things.

You may remember that on Monday we went to a local splash park. 

Tuesday, we let each of our older 3 kids invite a friend to the pool. I brought a bunch of snacks, and they swam for hours. The kids had a blast! Here is the boy with one of his besties. How cute are they?!

After the pool, we came home and roasted hot dogs and 'smores in the firepit Jeff built in our backyard last fall. He's totally talented.

It rained on Wednesday, so we decided this was a good opportunity to go see a movie. We saw Smurfs 2. It wasn't quite as good as the first one (are sequels EVER as good as the first?!), but it was very cute.

The bag I am carrying in the picture was my diaper bag when the kids were babies. It makes a great movie-snack-smuggling bag today. There is a part of me that feels bad about smuggling snacks into the movies. But the cheapskate frugal woman inside me usually tells that part to sit down and shut up.

Thursday we took the kids bowling. It was the first time the younger ones had ever bowled, and they LOVED it! We played 2 games. I was terribly out of practice, although I did get a couple of strikes.

Friday we went to a local miniature golf course. I thought this would be the highlight of the week, but it was hot, and the kids weren't very into it. After we golfed, we rode the bumper boats. It was a ton of fun, but we were drenched. I failed to get any photos of this part of our adventure.

We did follow up the golf course with pizza and Bruster's ice cream. Jeff and I both ate pizza, but we were well behaved and didn't eat any ice cream. 

Saturday, my parents hosted a back-to-school bash at their house. They rented an inflatable water slide and had all the kids and grandkids over. It was a ton of fun! Some of the adults even got in on the action. Can I just say that water slides seem WAY scarier as an adult than they did as a child?!? I screamed every time I went down.

I am so sad that the kids go back to school in a couple of days! I always miss them when summer is over. But I'm glad we could end the summer with this fun week together.

Question of the Day:

Do you bring your own snacks to movies?

Sleepover Madness

Last night we hosted a sleepover to celebrate daughter #2's birthday (again). I was seriously so exhausted going into the party (after my poor night's sleep on Thursday) that I didn't know how I was going to make it.

The birthday girl loves the movie Brave, so she wanted a Brave cake for her birthday. But she doesn't really like cake; we settled on a cookie cake instead. Here's what momma came up with.

Once all the little guests arrived, the only things I could hear were shrieks of excitement and every Disney channel song ever made in the last 2 years. Then we had dance contests, and lots of them. Second grade choreography is a thing to behold.

The children feasted on nachos, chicken nuggets, and cheese puffs for dinner. Oh, and we had fruit. Followed by cookie cake and ice cream. It was the picture of health, really.

Jeff had to take the boy to a baseball game while the party was going on. Have I mentioned that baseball is a high maintenance sport? Because it is. So I was on my own with 8 girlies for about 2 hours. Jeff did snap this cute photo of the boy at his game though.

Two of the girls had to leave at 10:00 p.m., so I hung until then. But once the girls had settled down for a movie I went to bed. Jeff stayed up with them until the movie was over (what a guy!). 

I had planned to get up and workout before the girls woke up this morning. I figured when you go to bed at midnight, you sleep until at least 8:00. Right? Wrong. I could hear them waking up while I was tiptoeing around putting on my workout clothes at 6:50. I decided then and there that my workout was going to have to wait. So I worked on breakfast instead.

What kind of breakfast do you serve to follow up a nutritious dinner like the one we provided? Monster  Cookie Pancakes, of course! I won't give the entire recipe away, but I mean how can you go wrong with this?

And here's the finished product. Yes, that is chocolate syrup instead of maple syrup.

After all the guests were gone, I managed to squeeze in a workout. I did Insanity Max Cardio Conditioning and Cardio Abs. It was brutal.

Later this afternoon, I found this.

And then a few minutes later someone else had joined the fun.

The boy probably would have been asleep here too except he was too busy killing a pinata at his cousin's birthday party. Apparently we need to start throwing candy at him instead of balls when he's playing baseball, because he made quick work of the pinata and then came home with this.

So it will be early baths and bedtimes all around here tonight. Once the children are all in bed, I'm pretty sure the hubby is super pumped to watch this with me. 

My man is amazing!

Question of the Day:

Team Edward or Jacob?