Activity Day Camp

{Aubrey and two friends from church}

Aubrey attended another year of Activity Day Camp at church and had a blast both days! She said she had fun seeing friends - and making new ones.

This year's theme was "Discovering Our Talents Within" and here's a summary of what they had fun doing together:

* painted boxes (to put all their camp treasures in)

* made catapults (courage)

* beauty bags (beauty)

* exercised imagination (imagination)

* played fun games (joy)

* used music batons (talent)

* made reverence butterflies (reverence)

* made friendship bookmarks (wisdom)

* made decorative mirror frames (love)

* played and popped balloons (strength)

* pie eating contests (faith) - she won this contest :)

* made hair ties (hope)

* sewed pillow cases (compassion)

{Aubrey & her friends from our ward at church}

{The Activity Day girls from our ward and their leaders from church}

Aubrey has two more years of Activity Day Camp and then she moves on to GIRLS CAMP for a WHOLE WEEK! Aaahhh...brings back memories of when I was in Young Women's! I know I've said it before and it won't be the last time I'm sure, but she's growing up so fast! And as her mother, I couldn't be more proud of the girl she's become! :)

Over And Out

This week has been busy busy busy! But fun times are ahead so it's not all that bad really. We've been decluttering, cleaning and organizing. Nothing like Jack Johnson and Ace of Base can't help us with! I know, random huh? But fun toons! These things would normally get done anyways but not at such a fast pace. For some reason though, having company puts me in the mood; my Mom's coming to town tomorrow for the holiday weekend! Yay! Family! :) We all can't wait to see her and the kids have really missed their Grandma.

We have a lot planned while she's here so I won't be updating much until next week. But I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend! :)

School Rewards

I thought I wrote about this already but I'm seeing that I didn't. I guess that's what happens to an overloaded brain sometimes! I have three good excuses, right? :)

We took Aubrey this past Saturday to Krispy Kreme to cash in her A's for donuts. We just recently heard about this. They reward students for getting good grades - and up through the 6th grade, they can get 6 free donuts for every A in the main subjects. She happily got all 6!

{Aubrey loved the cream filled donut!}

{She took the other 5 home and I believe she still has 2 in the fridge and shared one with her dad. Like all my kids, she doesn't have a sweet tooth!}

{Jocelyn enjoyed her pink balloon, her sprinkled donut that she picked out all by herself and had fun watching the donuts being made through the glass window.}

{Andrew obviously had fun with his blue balloon. And nibbling on part of my blueberry cake donut.}

Aubrey also LOVES to read! And as a result, she earned the highest AR (Advanced Reading) points in her class and earned a coupon for a free kids sundae at Bruster's Ice Cream. I figured we'd get all of the school rewards out of the way at the start of summer, so we went to Bruster's tonight and she traded her coupon in for a free dirt sundae. Gummy worm and all! :)

I'm so proud of my Aubrey and the great job she does in school! She's such a wonderful example to her siblings - even Jocelyn likes to "remind me" to start the timer for her reading. hahaha Soon enough! 

Movie Night

I think I'm up to speed with the rest of society now! :) I just checked out some movies from our local Red Box for the first time! Surprisingly, it was pretty easy - and convenient too! We don't buy many movies anymore, and with Hollywood and Blockbuster no longer in our area, this seems to be the best option.

{courtesy of photobucket}

For the kids/family night: Alvin And The Chipmunks - The Squeakquel

For the parents/date night: Invictus

They look just a bit excited, don't they? :)

Andrew's 18 Month Photos

We took a trip back to one of our favorite local spots: Chatham Manor. I was very determined to take Andrew's 18 month photos myself instead of taking him to a studio at the mall - and I have to say, I really like how they turned out! Especially since the day before, I had been very discouraged trying to take a busy toddler's pictures. I don't owe it to chance or luck. It was all due to prayer and faith that I could get it done. And I was thankful that a good handful of the photos turned out really cute!

As it's been very muggy and hot here, we made sure we got there close to when it opened so Andrew would cooperate as much as possible without feeling icky and gooey. Comfortable = happy! We were there for a good hour and then left around 10:30 am  - dripping wet and cranky! Even though it was only 85 degrees out at the time, the humidity was extremely high. I'm not a fan of this weather whatsoever!!! But I'm really glad we took the time to go there. Chatham is such a pretty place and this is the first time we've visited without snow being on the ground! The gardens were beautiful! And the flowers were almost wilting but some were still hanging on and photo worthy!

My girls have now asked me to take their photos for their upcoming birthdays so I'm excited to find some fun places to take their pictures. :)

P.S. Family....don't feel the need to print Andrew's photos. A couple of them will be in the mail to you shortly!

{Traveling in style to get his photos taken!}

{And the photoshoot starts NOW!}

{Break time!}

{The pineapple: Symbolizes hospitality and used throughout Virginia as a welcome sign}

{And that's a WRAP!! He was getting all hot and sweaty which meant we were done with pictures!}

{These trees were here during the Civil War}