Carson Granger turns 11

Carson kicks off the birthday boy month around here. 2 weeks after his birthday is Jason's. 2 days after that is Cole's and less than 2 weeks after his is the twins'.  Makes me tired just thinking about it.

Carson opted to have a fun family day instead of a party. We incorporated his best buddy, Mitchell, of course. They had such a fun day!

We started the day with pancakes (Carson's request). My dad makes the very best pancakes. Once you get used to that nothing else compares. I just used a Krustys mix and let's just say they weren't Papa's pancakes.

In order to try and beat the 100 plus degree heat we started our next activity right away. Andrea (Mitchell's mom) and I took the boys geocaching. I have lots of friends who have been doing this and though I haven't been terribly interested it seemed like it would be fun for the boys. And actually, it was really fun. We will do it again once its at least 30 degrees cooler.

The day before I picked the different locations we would track down and I hid a geocache especially for the boys. That way we knew there would be something there because most of the places didn't have a cache there anymore. The boys both got to hold iPhone and had to navigate and tell me where to drive. They did great and had to learn real fast how to always identify "north" so they could use the map correctly.

I left things like gum, silly string, Pez dispensers and these masks...

Our last stop was near Pops (a cool little joint on route 66 with over 100 different kinds of pop) so we had lunch there and Andrea treated the boys to pop afterwards.

I should mention that Madison and Maddy (Mitchell's big sister) were at home watching all the little guys so we could do this. What great girls!

After geocaching we all went to the pool - Carson's request.

After the pool we played for a while and then had birthday dinner. Caron's request? Hot dogs and Macaroni and Cheese.  He didn't want a themed birthday and only wanted my Chocolate Sheet cake (and by "my" I mean Pioneer Woman's but don't tell Carson that - he just thinks I'm amazing!).

Then Daddy took the big boys to see a movie. What a great day for a great boy. It kills me to think this boy is going into 6th grade! I have 2 middle schoolers all of a sudden. Good thing they are such fantastic kids.

 Carson is an amazing boy. He is extremely talented as an artist and sings beautifully too. He is gentle and loving towards his baby sister. He loves his dog. He is very smart. He is a great helper in the 2 year old class at church.  He still loves video games and is becoming more and more self controlled when he plays them. :) He is convicted of his sin and sensitive when corrected. He is very funny and an awesome big brother. I might be a little sad that he is getting old so fast but I am so excited to see the young man he grows in to.

Nana and Papa visit

Oh the fun that is to be had when Nana and Papa are here! My mom had just gotten back from her trip to Paris and she brought the kids gifts. Before giving each gift (which she spread out over 2 days) she would give them a little history lesson pertaining to what she saw and their gift. She gave the twins swords and taught them about Mont St. Michel..

For Pip's gift she gave everyone a lesson on the Eiffel Tower

  

                                        

and then gave her a beautiful little dress with Eiffel Towers on it...

OK.. It will take me far to long to blog everyone's gift and lesson but it was fabulous - from Normandy Beach to the Louvre to the Palace of Versailles and beyond - she had a wonderful trip and we loved hearing about it.

On to the rest of their visit...

                                   

We did so much while they were here - kinda like a vacation but without leaving home. One of the days we went to the Science Museum...

We went to a movie...

We went downtown and enjoyed Bricktown. Pip wore her new dress...

We had dinner, listened to live music, rode the water taxi twice and got ice cream sundaes. Such fun. I really wished they lived closer but am so glad they visit whenever they can.

Why I don't do playdoh...

Thomas Edison said "To invent you need a good imagination and a pile of junk." That makes me think there should be a lot more inventing going on in my kids rooms. I blog this picture to remind me to stick to my guns on the playdoh ban. Man, you should see the floor!

Where is their mother???

SO... I let the kids put the dog in the bathtub to try and see if she would swim. There was a day I would have never allowed such shenanigans. Tonight I just said "sure" and continued to sit on the couch reading while they set to it. I guess the way I see it... I'm a mom who says "no" to a lot and will continue to - why not say yes if it's not a moral issue. They had a blast... created such hoopla that I peeked in and snapped a few pictures.

Check out this drowned rat...

Pippi is crying because she fell in the tub while watching...

the kids thought she looked SO cute... I thought she looked more like a rodent that had crawled up from a sewer pipe (Madison is highly offended that I would say that!)...

... so... where was these crazy kids' mother? She was sitting on the couch with a smile on her face as she listened to the giggles and squeals coming from the bathroom, hoping her kids were making memories together and would remember what a fun mom they had. :)

Fun With Friends

Couples Night Out with our co-op. 6 of my favorite couples in the whole wide world. I found this quote from John Piper and it resonated so deeply with me and is exactly how I feel about these families...

"And I know from experience that the sweetest and deepest moments of fellowship in my life are the hours of relishing some great vision together with people who have the same convictions about God and about the world. And the deeper the agreement, the deeper the joy and the power of those moments. "

What a sweet  and fun time we had together...

...so blessed. Everyone should have people like these in their lives.

Summer Days

It's hot! I'm ready for fall. All is well. The Lord has been so faithful to us. He has provided, though generous people, for us well during what should have been a very difficult month for us. Jason has been working every day in Jun and July (woo hoo!). We are not forgetting the lessons of our faith being rooted in Him.

In our little circle of friends these are the four seasons... fall season, winter season, spring season, and birthday party season. Everyone has a birthday in our co-op and we are no exception. All four males in our home have their birthday between the end of July and the end of August.

The girls went to a fabulous tea party and came home with these darling teacups as favors...

Two days later they were off to a "Crazy 8" party where they had to dress crazy (they LOVED this)...

We visited the Children's Museum... free and air conditioned... perfect...
Allyson and Ty playing in the bank...

Pippi poured coffee on the porch of the house display for a LONG time...

Wilson in the tepee...

Cowboy Cole...

Madison tended the shop...

Pipster and her buddy, Jude...

We've also done some outdoor play - a few trips to the park but I really need to get them to the pool! If only taking 7 kids to the pool was easy. Sigh.

But we are here and well and enjoying the lazy, crazy summer days.