Things don't have to be perfect to be awesome!

My friend, Beth, gave us this awesome bounce house when they moved to Guam a couple years ago. We hadn't played on it for a while because it had some big holes, but I finally got around to ordering some new patches. Good as new! It made for a pretty fun playtime on a nice autumn afternoon.

 Of course, hula hoops are pretty fun too. This hula hoop was from a really cool birthday party for our friend, Josie. She had a hulahoop themed party about 5 years ago in Farmville. It was neat and I would like to copy that theme one day.

Activity Day Girls

Victoria is no longer in ADG, but I still am! My friend, Katie was released from her calling and another friend of mine, Lindsay, was called. I was sad that I wouldn't see Katie as much, but happy to work with Lindsay!

Just wanted to say that we have worked with some pretty great girls over the years and I love the ones who are still here too! 

This activity was an activity to help us get organized and prepared for ADGs, so we put together binders to hold our books, pens, and special papers and t-shirt bags to hold them in, They were cute and the girls enjoyed to process.

Sick days

Poor V was sick for a few days. We get sick more often than we would like around here. Of course, the asthma complicates everything and makes it worse. We thought it was the flu, but that was negative. ILI. Influenza like Illness of some sort. Poor girl slept and slept. 

 Katherine was glad to keep her company. I wonder why.

 She slept and slept

 and slept.

Luckily we contained it and no one else got it.

In case you were wondering if she got it from the flood water, the answer is no. A couple of her friends also got sick.

I like bikes in the driveway and kids in the yard.

Some people may think I am kidding when I say I love having a ton of kids in the yard. I am not. I love it... most of the time. Really, unless I am under some sort of  stress and have too much going on on a particular day, I like that our house is a fun place to play!

By the way, they were mainly in the back yard on the swing set or trampoline. I just liked the look of all the bikes.

Another Weather Adventure

The hurricane never hit, but we did have a lot of rain and consequently flooding in some areas. We think things like that are interesting, so we went to check it out between conference sessions. 

(LDS General Conference) No post on that this time. It was enjoyable though!

This is a boat ramp and a little pier from which people usually fish. 

 Grant was not posing for this. His grin is totally genuine.

 We found a few bridges under water and enjoyed watching cars and trucks drive right through. Crazy, right?! The truck made it, turned around and did it again. They are weather adventurers too, I suppose. Just ones who might need a new car next week.

  More flooded roadways.  These are all areas where there is typically water, either marshy areas, creeks or the river.

 Victoria and Grant were the kids who really enjoyed getting in the water! Katherine loves water, but thought it was freezing. Christian just didn't want to be wet and cold in the car without a towel. He was good at thinking ahead. 

 This was our last stop. A friend, posted a picture of his office on facebook, so we wanted to check it out.  The road was closed, but we interpreted that as meaning closed to cars. Hope we were right!

 So, this is when a couple of my kids may have taken it a bit too far.

They were cold and may have had a miserable ride back home, except for that they just went swimming in flood water! They had a good story to tell and thought it was pretty awesome. Granted, this was really just river water and rain. If this had been floodwater in a city or after a devastating hurricane where coffins had risen from the ground, we would not have allowed the near swimming that these two did.

V and her "lovely" friends

They might hate more for this post one day, but they are super fun and pretty funny too! Shelby and "SG" and V sit together on the bus everyday and did last year too. It is nice to have friends nearby! Love the late-overs with the makeup, singing, and dancing. Like I said, this time they were especially....lovely.

Danny's rainy birthday

The kids and I had fun decorating and getting our house and pantry ready for Danny's birthday and the upcoming hurricane! We didn't think that Danny would be home for his birthday and we went to Bubba and Frank's for dinner the Saturday before, but afterschool activities were canceled due to a flood warning. I feel slightly guilty to admit this, but I love inclement weather and school early releases and closures and such! 

 He was received like a hero when he came home from work!

 He liked his cards, presents, and cookie cake!

 We had a really fun time playing his new game, Uno Attack! 

 After the traditional festivities, the kids thought it would be fun to play in the rain and puddles in bathing suits. It wasn't hot, but we didn't think they would freeze either. They had fun!

Mums

I love having mums and pumpkins on the front steps in the fall. I came across a bargain at Walmart and got 2 huge beautiful mums in planters on clearance for $5. 

I was deadheading the plants when I nearly pulled this little guy. Cute, but I didn't want to grab him barehanded as a surprise either! Sssscary or sssurprising!