Hello Everyone!!!

You are never going to guess what this is in Edmund's hand....... I'll give you three guesses!

First Clue....five

Second Clue....screaming

Third Clue....drive fast to the hospital

 Did you figure it out??? Poor Edmund had yet another kidney stone...ouch...apparently it's labor for men. I drove the poor guy up to hospital as fast as I could to obtain drugs for excruciating pain! This is about the 5th time this has happened and its been about 2 years since the last one. He drinks lots of water and watches what he eats but to no avail....apparently there isn't too much you can do to alleviate the problem. Fortunately he was fine later in the day, though tired. So that was Monday morning! I attended Brooklyn's Back-To-School night alone that night while Edmund recovered. What a day!

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Tuesday was school and dance class day with another back-to-school night thrown in for good measure!!!

The timing is such that Sarah and Devon get home in time to change for dance and prepare water and snacks. I do their hair. Then I go get Brook off the bus and we rush in to help her get ready. We are out the door about 10 minutes after that! 

Brooklyn and Devon are taking two combo classes each which cover acro, ballet, tap and jazz. Sarah is taking two classes... jazz and tap. She stays between her classes and has dinner and does homework. Poor girl doesn't get home till close to 8:30 pm. I bring the two littles home at 6:30 and my friend Tammy brings home Sarah and her daughter. ( I take them usually). Gotta love carpooling and schedule making! But they really love it and it is only one night!

 On this particular night, I picked the girls up a little early and we grabbed drive thru McDonald's so we could make it in time for Devon's back to school night. She loves her teacher...it's her first official year of teaching though she did teach half of last year as well. She is super excited and had all kinds of goodies laid out on Devon's desk for me. She even had cookies! Devon made a cute paper clip too!

 Here is a look around the room!

 Here is Devon's All About Me Poster!!!!

 While I was in the classroom for the presentation, the girls were in the cafeteria eating dinner (on the run) and coloring and hanging out for the 30 minutes! They had just come from dance class obviously! It was a busy day but I loved meeting her teacher.

 I hope both girls really enjoy school this year....if these first two weeks are any indication, I am sure they will! Sarah is also loving middle school though she does get lots of homework I am afraid. I pray for each of them and for their school and teachers. Have a wonderful year!!!!

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 On the sewing front, I finished Brooklyn's Cowgirl outfit for halloween. We actually don't celebrate halloween but we do love to dress up and the candy, of course, so we celebrate fall's arrival instead!! I made a Scientific Seamstress Festive Vest and Patchwork Twirl skirt. I had to add a row to the skirt and its super full and twirly. I used an applique from swak to do the tee.  I ordered her hat and boots from ebay and I made her little bow with a polymer pony! She will also have a stick horse and goody bag and maybe a scarf for her neck.

 That reminds me of another tradition. We are going to rent a hayride/pumpkin patch wagon at Rea's farm so if you are local, let me know if you want to go!!!! It will be one weekend day at the end of Oct I imagine...details to follow!
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We have also been going to yard sales and look what I came home with last weekend. Its a dress form and it was only $7!!!! I've always wanted one and hopefully "Rosalie" (I named her) can help model some of my things I make.

  Devon, however, in true Project Runway form, decided she needed to dress Rosalie up. She made lots of different outfits for her!!!!

 To add to the crazy week,  Brooklyn developed croup and was still recovering over the weekend....it took her like 5 or 6 days to get back to normal. I brought her to the doctor right away but besides some prednisone, there wasn't much to do for her. Poor girl. She napped every day. I can say she eventually made a full recovery! I noticed a lot of students out sick at school too...guess its that time of year.

So, Edmund and I were invited to a surprise 50th birthday party and Aunt Mary agreed to come watch the girls for us. They all had a great time together. They played and had dinner and made brownies and went for a walk too! Thanks so much Aunt Mary!!! We had a fun night out too!

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 More sewing news.....I finished three tees for my friend's son....they are going to Disney in Dec. I am making a few more sets for them too so I will keep you posted as I finish them.

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One of the things that the girls have been doing (in school) is working on doing kind caring things for others...so here is Devon working on a pretty card for her sisters!  Isn't that so sweet? She gave everyone a card one morning that she made...awwwwww!

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As the month draws to a close, we have a very special celebration coming up ......Devon's 7th Birthday! To begin the weekend, all of us were invited to dinner at Paul's house (a friend  I work with) on Friday. We brought a cake from the Ravioli House Bakery to begin the festivities with. It has been so hot this week (high 80's and lots of humidity) so the girls got to go swimming too. It will probably be the last time as cooler weather is expected. Then Paul made a yummy dinner for all of us!!! It was so fun to relax and visit! Thanks for having us over Paul!!!!!

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Today, the  girls helped me get ready for Devon's birthday party. Her theme is "tie-dyed"...and so I figured we had better include some tie dyed shirts too! Instead of the traditional method, we decided to use Sharpie markers and rubbing alcohol. You make little dots of ink on the shirt and squirt OH on it. The OH dissolves the ink and spreads it out, giving it a tie dye effect. Here are the girls working on the shirts. They will be perfect for sleep shirts or something.

 Shirts drying!

 Next, the girls helped make "goodie" bags for the guests. They put stickers and names on them and we filled them with favors and treats!

 Our last task, was filling the pinata with candy and toys! I got the kind with the strings/ribbons that you pull....hopefully it will work!

 All finished!

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 After the girls left, I wrapped this huge present for Devon....I wonder what is in there???????    Any guesses?

So her party is tomorrow. She wanted a "gymnastics" party and its about an hour and a half of structured gymnastics with an instructor! I went to a party there last year and was really impressed. Hope all goes well with it! The most shocking thing of all is the fact that Devon is going to be 7 years old. That's boggling my mind actually. 

So that's it for now! Have a great weekend everyone!!!

A camping we will go......

We went camping again!!! We had a coupon from our last camping trip and decided to try Jellystone in NJ (if you recall we went to Jellystone in Quaryville PA in August). This time we had a beautiful cabin in a prime location and gorgeous weather to boot!!! I packed late Thursday and we set off as soon as everyone came home from school on Friday!

We arrived about 5:30 and "moved in". No sooner did we unpack than Yogi Bear himself arrived to welcome the new campers!!!! He even brought a bowl of special treats! Thanks Yogi!

So here is a tour of our cabin! It had a living room with fireplace, flatscreen tv and futon sofa. It had a "dining room" with a table and chairs. And queen bed. It had a full kitchen and bath. Up the ladder was just enough room for two mattresses and children!

Meanwhile, Edmund prepared a yummy dinner on the grill and we enjoyed eating outside! The girls played on the adjacent playground and made fast friends with some other kids!

We came inside to relax and watch some tv. I started a book I brought until it was time for s'mores! We walked up to the camp office and they had a nice fire going. They had a flashlight scavenger hunt going too but the girls opted out.

 Later the girls got in their jammies and we all tried to sleep. That didn't happen. Anyone else have trouble sleeping in a strange bed in a new location??? The girls were up and down and up and down and talking. By 2 am, and a few bathroom trips, they all finally fell asleep. My allergies were so bad at this point that I took some benadryl too. I think I finally fell asleep after that.

The next day dawned fast!!! But it was such a bright morning, we had to get up and enjoy it! I made breakfast after a quick shower and the girls went across to the playground for a while.

 At 9 am, we headed up to the office for the flag raising and Yogi Bear Says! I should say that the little friends that Devon and Brook made, joined us again. I am not sure if they "live" at the campground or just visit every weekend or what. But I do know they were allowed to roam without their dad. The little boy was adorable and about 4 years old and the sister was about 5 or 6 years old. They "adopted" our family and hung out with us all morning!

Waiting for Yogi Bear to arrive....

Flagraising and Pledge of Alliegence

Playing Yogi Says!

And here was my little buddy! Boy, did I want to cut his hair!!! LOL!

After a little free time, it was time for a train ride with Yogi around the campground. We waited at the "train station"....

What a fun ride! Then the kids played on the playground for a while! Next up was a craft....painting...at the craft table! Sarah opted out and Edmund and I relaxed and read a book! It was a great day!

After all of this activity, the kids were hungry for lunch! We made sandwiches and brought them over to Yogi's Lodge. It was a character lunch!!!

Then it was back to playing! Edmund took the little girls fishing while Sarah and I had some time alone! She is such a sweetie! We talked about school and stuff. Then everyone came back and played until bingo at 4:30!! I stayed behind and everyone else played Candybar Bingo.....unfortunately they didn't win candy bars but Brooklyn did win a stick horse...perfect for her Cowgirl costume...lol!

Around the time we were cooking and eating dinner, we noticed a bunch of golf carts gathering by the lodge and they were facing each other. We wondered what was going on. When we headed over there, we realized they were having match box car races. And not just any races...the winner won $80!!!!! Here's the race ramp...

We did have another purpose for venturing over....it was make your own sundae night!!! YUMMO! Here's Brooklyn finishing up her's!

Silly face girl!!! We hung out for a while watching tv and I had to take a picture of Devon and Brooklyn's feet...they were filthy!!!! But we weren't done for the day yet! 

We still had a Glow Stick Parade. Too funny....Brooklyn kept calling it a Glue Stick Parade....hahahaha! We headed back up to the office at 8 pm and we met our little friends again who were dropped off by their dad, who then proceeded to leave. It was 8:15 pm by this time. I was irate. Who leaves their kids unsupervised all day and night??? (and shoeless besides!!!!???) I guess the campground is considered safe and so were we. Whatever...I tried not to get too upset about it. Here are some glow stick kiddos waiting to start!!! And this time it was Yogi's friend Boo Boo Bear who participated!!!!

 And finally the dad came back (after 20 min) and went along with the parade...thank goodness. (Can you tell I was upset??? Am I justified to be or is this standard practice at a campground????)


And off everyone went!!! Boo Boo sat in the golf cart and the kids ran behind until we reached the playing field! There was a movie and snack stand even! The kids got some popcorn and the dad took the two kids home.

Sorry it was dark out and my camera isn't good in the dark....

You can't see it but they were playing a movie (Night at the Museum) in the distance. Families were gathered on blankets. It was an absolutely gorgeous night after a beautiful 70 clear day! The stars were out and we really enjoyed walking around! But, it was getting late....9 pm....and we still had baths to do so we headed "home" to the cabin for just that. After such a busy day of play, I hoped sleep wouldn't be as allusive.

Needless to say, everyone slept soundly only to wake up to the sound of rain, rain, rain. We went to have breakfast at the Lodge (yaaaa no dishes or clean up for me!!!) and then we dodged raindrops back to our cabin to pack up and check out. What a great family weekend!!! We headed home and watched the traffic back up in the opposite direction as we past by. I hope everyone made it home safely!!! 

So its back to work tomorrow! Have a great week everyone!!!!!