Thursday, June 30, 2011

Pirates, Princesses, and Cows...


This week our favorite Chick-fil-a had a fun family night... Pirates and Princesses! I mean seriously, do you think we'd pass that up?


Nicole wasn't quite so sure about that big cow... (she pretty much held my hand the entire time in case the cow got too close)


We had to have little playtime in "the palace."
Nicole liked the princess part - just not the cow.
Megan, however, jumped right in on all the fun!
But even Nicole was willing to brave the cow for some yummy ice cream!

I have to say that I am SOOOOOO SAD that we are going to miss Cow Appreciation Day this year. It is next week and we'll be building sand castles - so sorry Mr. Cow..... but, we sure do appreciate you!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Popsicles

How do you end a hot day? Popsicles!!!!!!
And an evening watching the boys next door (and all their neighborhood friends) play a rousing game of baseball.
Megan thought the popsicles were the best part of the evening....
But Nicole was VERY into the game...
Well, she was into her popsicle too...


Ahhhhhhh... the taste of summer!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Dance Camp

This past week, Megan went to dance camp!



Nicole found it to be very interesting, and really wanted to know when it would be her turn...
Megan was super excited because she had 2 friends in class with her - Elizabeth and Sydney. They are friends of hers from school.
It was sweet to see them having fun together...
and dancing together...
I think Megan liked sharing "her" dance teachers with her friends. Some of the girls who are helpers in her dance camp were some of the girls who sometimes helped in her dance class and at the recital.
She was super cute working on her ballet and tap moves.
Oh so serious looking...
They always ended class with a little fun dance that all the girls seemed to enjoy.

So fun.... But the summer fun isn't over and neither is the dance fun! We have another Dance camp mid July. And then her actual dance classes start back up in August. Nicole is seriously trying to figure out when it's her turn. She's see's the church where we have classes and as soon as she sees it she yells, "yance" and starts to dance in her carseat. It's just too cute!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Movie Night

Tonight we got to go out as a family, in style! Tom's employer always has a fun summer family social event each year. In the past it has been a cookout at the Braves game, or a bowling outing... but this year they basically rented out 2 screens at Movie Studio Grill for Cars 2. Woohoo!!!! If you don't live around here and don't know what Movie Studio Grill is... it's a theater where you actually eat while watching your movie - they take your order and bring it to your movie table. Super cool fun!

When Tom asked me a few weeks ago if we should go, I hesitated about .00009th of a second in saying - uh, yeah! After all, I've wanted to go there and it's free and it'll be the girls first movie theater experience. If it is bad - we just leave (and it'd be guilt free since it's free). So off we went to see Cars 2.



I should mention here that Megan has only seen 2 full length movies - Cinderella and Tangled. And she knows NOTHING about Cars - other than they talk. So I wasn't sure if she'd be into it. But she loved it. I think the overall experience was what she loved the most.... sitting in a big chair, lounging and getting to eat food and popcorn and someone bringing her sprite refills during the whole movie. Oh yeah -that life!

And Nicole... well I was wondering how my 19 month old would sit through a full length film. I had visions of spending my evening walking the hallway outside the theater. But you'd be amazed at how much pizza she can put away. Add some lemonade and you are already 1/2 way through the film. She laughed, screamed (oops), and danced (that was hysterical) - and made it through the whole movie. She was in constant motion - but hey, it was a theater full of kids and parents and it wasn't quiet.... so we were good!

Did I mention that it was in 3-D?

Not that we actually watched it in 3-D.... Megan didn't like the glasses, actually they gave me a headache, and whenever I did put them on Nicole promptly ripped them off and tried to give them to Daddy - since everyone knows that only Daddy wears glasses.

Oh my girls..... at one point in the movie, Tom was sitting back (with his glasses on) watching and llaughing, and I pretty much looked like this (which was taken before the movie started) with 2 girls wriggling in my lap. I think I missed a lot of the movie. :^) But it was still fun and hysterical.
I've never seen the original cars - and it may be about Lightening McQueen... but this one is about Mater. Oh my gosh... I love Mater! I'd like to watch it again without the kids around.


On the way home I asked Megan what the best part of the night was - the screen? Getting to eat dinner while watching a movie? The sprite? The popcorn?....
Her response: Spending it with my family, all together!
Awwww... melted my heart!
Then I asked her - what do you wish had been different? More popcorn? different movie? was it too loud? too long? Did you wish you'd gotton something differen to eat?
Her response: I wish I could've sat in your lap the whole time.
Awww... that's my girl!

Have I mentioned lately that I love my girls!?!?!?!
(If you are on facebook you know we've had a rough week and Megan has had some mega tantrums lately.... so it was sweet to see my girl back).

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Swim!

Megan started back up with swim lessons today.... she loved every second of it!


She showed Aislinn that she is a waterbug and would like to live underwater!
I watched from the sidelines and wondered where she was getting all that energy from...

They even working on Megan's least favorite activity - floating on her back.
And she was rewarded with the chance to JUMP!
Oh the summer fun continues!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Waterbugs

I love my little waterbugs!
Nicole got a new floatie system called a Puddle Jumper. It has arm floaties and an inflatable band that goes around her chest. She seems to like it. She likes to try to swim like Megan and this lets her try to do that.

And Megan......
Don't see her? yeah... that's pretty much what you'll see all day at the pool with us - big splashes and Megan underwater! She starts swim lessons up soon - and she's soooo excited about seeing ms. Aislinn (pronounced Ashlynn).

Friday, June 17, 2011

VBS

This week the Blaisdell girls had their first VBS experience. Megan, Nicole and I all had a great first week of VBS.... we are all exhausted, but loved it! Our church's theme this year was The Wild West. Megan loved being a cowgirl! Here she is on Monday, all raring to go....
Even Nicole was ready... even though she had no idea what we were doing.
Megan had a great week with lots of her sunday school friends. I volunteered and worked in the 1 year old room, with Nicole. Boy howdy, trying to keep 6-8 one year olds occupied and happy for 3-4 hours was exhausting!!!!!!
Our VBS is for 4 days, Monday-Thursday. Then on Thursday evening we have a big family celebration. They finish off the skit of the week and the kids get to dance and show off all the songs they've learned. Megan was very into it!
Then the family fun continued with an ice cream social. Our littlest cowgirl was all about the ice cream!

behind them you can see a big blowup... it's a huge maze that the kids got to go run through. Megan loved that. Here is a shot of her and her friend Mary Grace waiting for their turn to go in. Don't they look so serious! Nicole was a bit too small for me to let her go in with all the rowdy big kids.
So she hung out and watched....
In the back parking lot they had a bucking bronco. Megan soooooo wanted to ride it. But I have to admit that I over ruled and claimed she was too young and the line was too long. The picture is decieving - it was almost 8:30 at this point and Nicole was fading fast.
They also had a rock wall that Megan wanted to try. You can see her hanging on the fence watching.
We had a great time celebrating. There were about 600 kids at VBS this year - around 300 volunteers. What a huge undertaking! I will say that our church does an amazing job of really driving home spiritual truths during this time. Here's my example:
On the way home Thursday we were going to meet up with a friend for lunch. I was trying to keep Megan awake (she was exhausted) by asking her questions about her day. She told me that they had heard the story of Jesus getting beat up and dying on the cross and going to heaven. Then she said - you know Jesus is the only way to heaven and we should tell people about him. I was so proud of her.... we were at chick-fil-a at that point and we had a great time at lunch. Then it was time to leave. On the way home we were driving past the mall and we were singing along with a kids worship CD and the song that was had a verse in it to "tell people about Jesus". Well Megan picked back up with her previous comment as we were stopping at a red light.
Megan: "did you tell them?"
Me: "who?"
Megan: "them" (pointing to the group of construction workers who were right by the red light). "Did you tell them about Jesus? Cause he's the only way to heaven!"
Me: "uh, no - the light is turning green"
Megan: (screaming at the top of her lungs through closed windows), "Jesus loves you! Jesus loves you! Jesus loves you!"
OK - I was more than a bit humbled by my sweet girl who caught hold of a huge lesson this week!


Thursday, June 16, 2011

PPP Champion!

Megan would like to announce that she is officially the Pretty Pretty Princess Champion in our household!

Parks... third time is a charm

I'm trying to get caught up on some entries from our time with Uncle Dan. This week we've had VBS to be quite honest, I'm exhausted! Since we've been gone so much, I haven't been able to get much posted.

Did I mention how much we love to take Uncle Dan to the park? We had so much fun our first trip to castle park, that we went back. The fact that it's mostly shaded was a plus with our hot temps.

Megan has always been my little monkey...

Nicole pondering... which way do I go?


My fearless tire swing girl....