Reflections dance camp

The Blacks did a year at Reflections and we went to their recital a few weeks ago. The girls were mesmerized by the teachers' numbers and loved all the glitz and flash, so when the girls asked us to take the camp with them this week, they JUMPED at the chance.

We prepped for day one getting tap and ballet shoes, leos and hair ties all ready--and finally the big day was here (literally, because Amara had golf camp at 8, Paige took the girls to the big splash today and it was my 4oth, but rain or shine we got there at 5 for Cora's class).

She and Kennedy bopped down the hall and we literally didn't hear from them at all till 6. They horsed around the lobby while the big girls got ready to go in and a few minutes after 6, Amara and Payton took off too.

After Cora and Payton were done playing and they headed home, Cora had me take her home too, but when Amara rolled in at quarter after 9, all she kept saying was "it was awesome." and LITERALLY shoveling food in her face like I have never seen her in my life.

I think she's having a hard time winding down, but I think day one was amazing for her and I'm sure the rest of the week will be too. I sure am lucky to have such swell friends and that our kiddos get along so well--what a gem, really.

Father's Day '15

Father's day always starts BEFORE father's day, with my little crafters. This year it was a hand-made mosaic, one of their favorites, complete with name stamping and glass and mosaic patterns. They loved it! It needed 24 hours to dry, which was perfect timing to surprise daddy. 

Father's day this year was all about fun with the girls! Two aspiring chefs in the kitchen, cooking all day for daddy (strawberry pie in the morning, to set up for dessert) and pizza with grandpa for dinner. 

We also went fishing with Grandpa Jahn over at the Stoer's house again. it's a great little fishing hole for us and the girls were catching blue gills like crazy! Eric estimated 30 catches in the just over an hour and a half we were there, and we went through an entire bowl of bait.

On Saturday we went to see Inside out--we were going to do the South Drive In, but as it POURED all day, we took a rain check and went inside. The plan is to go back and see Minions there next month, woot!

Back at home, we surprised daddy with his gifts: a mosaic stone the girls had made with their names, a music video I put together, framed pictures, and handkerchiefs too. We sat together on the couch (that sun took it out of everyone during fishing!!) and watched the home videos from Hilton Head and Amara's birthday, it was a fun, low-key evening together. 

Coulter turns 4

In the midst of a moonsoon, we headed up for Coulter's bday party to his house to celebrate! He had a spiderman theme, but the real entertainment were the kids. All the Young cousins were there, as well as a few other friends, and everyone was crammed inside, but one minded, given the alternative ;)

The kids played and played, mostly monster with uncle matt and aunt kristin in the basement. There was a brief break for cupcakes and pizza upstairs, lots of blue and red faces and more of it on the plate and floor, but great silliness too--especially since Amara is the oldest of the Young cousins. 

Colt had fun opening his presents and was a great host too--by the time it was after 7 and everyone was crashing, we took off and played with the goodie bags on the way back home. It's always fun to have the kids together and playing and celebrating!

Summer Flower class

The girls were excited for another flower class at Connells this weekend and we were so ready to get our canned goods donations and empty flower can containers ready that they were packed the day before!

Richard did such a great job with the girls--really showing and teaching them, no wonder they want to go back!

They loved their creations, goodie bags, and bringing canned goods to donate too. We do it for so many events, Amara is a pro at hitting up our pantry ;) It's a great thing Connells does to support the community and develop these little brains too!

Hilton Head

Our Hilton Head vacation this year was SOOOOO needed. I feel like I had vacation withdraw in the worst way! We booked our trip in the Winter to coincide with Carissa's again, but even after she changed hers, we decided to go as soon as school was out anyway, which literally was Saturday after school let out. 

We spent the day loading the car and trying to wear the girls out, but they were so excited it didn't work, haha. 

It was so fun talking about the trip with the girls, now that we have been there three times. Amara wanted to visit her "favorite restaurant," Aunt Chiladas, Eric wanted to go to Hudsons, and I wanted to try a couple new places--and just soak up the pool and the sun for a week. 

I also wanted to do a couple activities, so we booked a tour with the Pirates of Hilton Head, and a dolphin tour too. The pirate adventure, featuring the charismatic characters Squirt, Sea Dog, and Captain Bones (Cora insisted on calling Squirt, Squid the entire time!) was really great! We toured around the water off of sea pines getting clues and chasing Stinky Pete, who we blasted with water cannons in the end. 

We thought we'd made it to mini golf one night, but we didn't--the girls really really liked night swimming so any night after dinner that we made it in time, we just headed back down to the pool, which they LOVED. 

The sunset dolphin tour was amazing--dolphins that we literally could have reached out and touched if we'd wanted to, and we were partnered with the Davis family of three kids who were perfect companions to ours. Amara laid on the front of the boat, searching for dolphins the entire 1.5 hours, while Cora raced around the boat, spotting. Both girls got a chance to drive the boat with Captain Gio's help too, it was just amazing. 

Between the calm areas of the creek we were in, he'd punch the boat up to 40 knots and blow the girls hair back, they screamed and yelled and wanted him to go faster. Gio was a great captain and one we will ask for again!

We did some of our favorite activities too, like lighting sparklers at sundown, attending the singing family Shannon Tanner show at the HarborTown marina across the street, going to fun dinners every night and spending all days at the pool too. 

We visited the general store near the hotel for ice cream and bought souvenirs, mailed post cards, and got too much sun some days but it was really, really perfect overall. 

Amara really took to boogie boarding quickly--she was catching waves like a pro and stayed at the beach quite a while on a few days. 

The girls did plenty of crafts and consumed MANY slushies at the pool-side craft shacks. They painted, made sandy candy, got hair wraps, and did poolside dancing with Duney the dolphin on several occasions. 

And last but not least, Eric and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary in Hilton Head (for the 2nd year in a row!) We had dinner at Skull Creek Boat House, which was way more fun than anything we would have done on a work night at home, and loved it! 

Anywhere we went all week, I had to have singles in my wallet, because beach and restaurant singers attracted her like a moth to a flame. The girls made fast friends with several families of girls at the pool during the week too, especially Sophia and Jocelyn (who happened to be from Cincinnati and we hope we can meet up with again soon). Several families told us at the pool that they recognized us from previous visits too, as did we--so I think it's safe to say we found our safe spot.

pickin' strawberries

We were so busy the week of Amara's party, end of school, etc. etc. that we didn't get time to pick berries as soon as the were on; however, we decided to make the best of it and pick right before vacation--so we could enjoy them all week!

Kenny and Clara sent us over to Fannin farms on Graham rd. in commercial point and even though it was overcast--those berries were so bright and red that we had no problems finding them! Once the girls got rolling, we were just little picking and eating machines! They were all SO red and pretty and perfect, we couldn't help ourselves!

Eric was convinced we'd picked 12 pounds, I guessed 6, but it was 5 ;) We weighed and paid and got on our way to start packing the car, but what an amazing treat it was to snack on our berries all week in Hilton Head! 

Sometimes breakfast, snack, or late dessert and we didn't pitch many at all! There weren't any left for father's day, but we sure made the most of all we picked!

kindergarden celebration

Well they didn't call it a graduation exactly, I think it was a celebration--but it was cool, regardless. We went to Darbydale on one of Amara's last days of school to watch Ms. Bice's green class as they move to first grade. 

The kids all got on stage and sang 3 songs, one was about Kentucky fried chicken and Pizza hut, which Amara has been singing since the first week of school and a rendition of New York, New York which substituted First grade, first grade. 

All the kids came up one at a time to state their name and say what they wanted to be. Amara was very composed and she said that she wants to be a dolphin trainer, wow!

She then got a certificate, shook Mrs. Powers hand (her last class before she retires) and then went back to sit with her friends. 

Ms. Bice moved things along and then we got to see Amara and give her flowers, and take a few pictures--then Amara presented Ms. Bice with the block "O" sign that Eric made for her and she free-hand painted, she LOVED it. it was awesome. Even though it was over and done inside an hour--it was a great event and I'm so glad we were there and Eric was glad he got to see Ms. Bice's reaction to her sign :) super fun. 

Amara's 7th Challenge themed party

In picking this year's theme of "Challenges" for her party--we didn't go through many iterations. Once I suggested it, she was all in, so we just tweaked the details a bit. Amara invited a ton of her best friends, from school, clubs, family and schools, and why not? Parties are for celebrating!!

Cora got into the fun too--and we started out the challenges with the potato chip challenge right away. The kids did pretty good at guessing the cheddar and plain, but got the salt and vinegar and dill pickle ones mixed up and almost no one got the BBQ!

We had an inflatable obstacle course that kids could challenge themselves in too--but it POURED down rain, so Amara and Cora ran in and got bathing suits for all the kids and it turned into a water feature challenge ;)

In between showers, we lined the kids up for the next challenge--ice cream! They all put their bandanas on and guessed between creamsicle, cookies and cream, chocolate and mint and again, did pretty good--but there were a few tricky ones! The older kids did better--the younger ones just wanted 2nd helpings, haha. 

The frozen tshirt challenge was next--and the kids really got into it! They were wrenching and beating the shirts on the ground and prying them apart! Saphira's mom Kirstin got in on the action and won, but only beat out Landon's brother by a small margin. It was great to see all the kids be so competitive but stick with the game too. 

During another shower, we came inside for a cake break--the kids loved the cake and cupcakes and of course we had tons of ice cream for everyone! The kids also loved drawing on the chalkboard tables we made for the party just in case of a rainy day, and it worked out great!

After everyone was soaked, the kids just took turns playing inside or in the rain. Some of them wanted to play in the loft, and others liked the outdoors, there was something for everyone. 

We started off trying to keep score, but in the end, everyone was just about the fun of it, so we went with it--there were no challenge winners, but we weren't 100% done yet. 

For those friends who stuck it out to the end, we saved the BeanBoozled challenge for last. Mind you, all these challenges she picked came from various YouTube channels she watched over the winter--and this was too, but I was most nervous about this one. 

The girls who were left took the challenge like champs, no one threw up, lol ;) there was lots of gagging, LOTS of fake choking/ vomiting, etc. and it was HILARIOUS really--but Amara was so excited to do all the challenges with her friends and we had yet another amazing party with awesome friends. What will she pick yet!?

Amara turns 7!

First birthday at school ever for our whole family!! Pretty sure Eric and I were more excited for Amara than she was--having summer birthdays, we NEVER got to celebrate during school, but Amara did!! We got her up and ready and in her birthday shirt-- to get on the bus and start her day. 

Grandma Jahn surprised her at school with a balloon and I wasn't far behind her bringing her favorite lunch (sonic, with a blue slushie) and a carrot cake with a candle. I got a quick pic of her lunch table buddies, since she was a "packer" this day--and they all piled in at the last second, just before recess. 

After school, we had a little downtime--but it was off to Cora's ball game we hustled, but then all celebrated at Grandstand pizza together before heading home for cake and presents. 

Amara got her 2nd cake of the day, on her 2nd day of celebration and we LOVED the chocolate, chocolate chip and dark ice cream that we all devoured!  Amara loved her bat, her hit net, her art set, and a special craft from her sister. Grandma and Grandpa Jahn got her a sweet necklace as well as a swing set (as soon as we can get to it) and she had a few other things from us. 

After lots of hugs and kisses, it was finally time for bed. Long day after school, kings island the day before, ball, pizza, cake, presents, etc. AND the BIG party is still to come tomorrow. oh wow. 

(Love these Darbydale dolphin green class kindergarden buddies!)

Amara's 7th birthday celebration

Pretty sure Amara gets more and more 'birthday celebrations' every year! lucky kid! this year, we decided to hit up Kings Island again at her request, but we went on Thursday the 28th, birthday eve, to dodge the Friday crowds, extend her bday celebration a tad longer, and to give her Friday to celebrate at school too. 

We started off in the kid area, on the swings, bumper cars, and haunted house, but quickly moved over to the 'bigger kid rides--" which thankfully Cora is totally big enough for now!

We got to enjoy lots of down time, hardly any waiting really, and just zoomed around pretty much to whatever we wanted. We tried a few new rides too--the bigger roller coaster, which, by no surprise, Cora loved WAY more than Amara. We also went up to the observation deck of the Eiffel tower this trip, and just did a little more exploring. 

The girls enjoyed having a leisurely stroll on the way out--as hot as it was, but we also had to get back for Amara's softball game later that evening!

I snapped this pic BEFORE the bigger coaster...

and this one on the smaller coaster--note that Cora is thrilled in either one, while Amara still isn't sure on the smaller one....

And at the end of the day, what's an amusement park without face painting? Sure, she had softball, and I tried to get her to do something else, but they were thrilled, and Eric took a pretty good selfie of all of us, tired, on the way out. 

We had another great visit and we never know what to expect from year to year, but I love seeing the girls buzz around like they own the place, even if it does make me realize, for the first time, that they have already "aged out" of some of the kiddie rides :( sad day.