More Bouncy House Fun

AA and Alivia enjoyed playing in the new (used) bouncy house this past weekend.
Going inside......







Over the wall many times, makes for a fun and active play time!

New Bouncy House

Not exactly new; new to us.
We love Craig's List. We have found many items that we would not normally buy but can get it really "cheap" (and used) using Craig's List. It is the best on-line garage sale!
AA was very pleased when she saw it for the first time!
Set up was very easy..... (only down side is that these things are HEAVY! and we are OLD! The wheelbarrow has been our very good friend when needing to move heavy objects!).



It actually came with two blowers. This is the old one. The other is brand new - never been used!

First time spying it out the front door!

Looking at it up close.....

Inside!


This one is open to the sky. No net ceiling but netting all around. The center wall is fun for kids to climb over. AA struggled with it some and will need to learn to work her legs better, I am sure she will get the hang of it.


Success!! Little does she know at this point that her Daddy negotiated with two sellers and ended up with two different bouncy houses.....but that is another story!!

Sunday Snapshot - August 29, 2010

We have two of our grands at our home this weekend and all three little ones are a handful. Two are old enough to get into all sorts of mischief together and the baby is crawling. No time to look away from any of them! Photos taken in the first few minutes of arriving.
Grand - AKC:

The two "bigger" kids:
More pictures to come of the many faces of Grand-baby JDC.....

Capturing these moments, very special! So join in and post your family photos! Click on the Sunday Snapshot box below (thank you Stefanie).

Annual Roof Cleaning

Our roof is never clean...... it has a low slope so a lot of tree limbs and leaves stay on it (a hurricane doesn't help, just adds more debris!). We need to sweep and blow off the oak tree leaves and Spanish moss each year. Guess what didn't get done in 2009? We blame the "having fun with AA" syndrome!

The ladder and gutters full of leaves...


View from the roof looking out to the river:

The back yard picnic table with some of the leaves we swept off the roof.....


We have several tree limbs that over hang the roof and a few bushes that are towering over the roof too. DH did some trimming and swept off about 75% of the debris; I did a little sweeping and cleaned out about 75% of the gutters that were packed with leaves.


A very tall crepe myrtle beside the house:


My access point onto the low point of the roof (top of ladder)........ The stains from the oak leaves will gradually fade and our metal roof will shine once more and then the cycle repeats :)

Great view looking into the neighbors yard - so much nicer than ours and brand new homes!


Now to finish the job (maybe next weekend!). While I was working on the roof, I did enjoy a summer shower that cooled it down for me, defiantly heaven sent! (good thing DH did not come out and take a picture - looked half drowned!).

The Pillow Tower

We have two living room couches, two pillows per couch. Each morning, with the occasional exception, I find all four pillows neatly stacked one on top of the other. Always on the same couch. It's not the work of some mischievous ghost or galactic alien visitor.

It's the handiwork of Alyzabeth...

More strange than the nightly pillow ritual itself is my near total lack of awareness of the stacking event as it occurs. It must be that I've witnessed it so many times I've become oblivious to the most obvious. Especially so since she sits on one the pillows during the reading of our bedtime story. And unless the fourth pillow has grown feet, someone is putting the finishing touches on the pillow tower at the conclusion of "they all lived happily ever after."

I could worry she suffers from one of the maladies more often identified in 4 capital letters or less. However, I'm more inclined to see it as the simple workings of a child's mind at play and a father's mind, shall we politely say, gone visiting. Which gives pause to my thinking, what else am I'm missing?! I don't even want to think about it.

For now, I'm content enjoying the mystical morning pillow tower...
peace
fm

Contest to Enter!

We love this couple who are very creative in fundraising. They work very hard and have lovely products for sale. Enter their giveaway now at Color Me Home!!

The Long Road to China...... Referral

We are so excited for our "bloggy" web friends for receiving their referral last week, check out their story at "The Long Road to China".
Most everyone who has been logged in to the China NSN program have waited 51 months (we waited **only** 31 months). We are thrilled for them and know this special family will be perfect. Their new daughter, Reagan, will have a beautiful, proud and fiercely loyal older brother and sister. Visit them and send as much congratulations as you can!

Sesame Street: Celebrity Lullabies

This was just too cute, watched it in the morning so we were WIDE awake!

Children's Home Visit and PlayTime

Lots going on this past week. Dear Sweet Hubby baked an apple pie, he's made a few before so I know they are good! He had planned to take it to a friends house but alas, the sick friend wasn't up for visitors.
AA and I enjoyed munching on the sweet treat instead :)

Our church collected school supplies for the Children's Home. We so love their support and our church representative (Ken K). The congregation continues to be so generous when this time of year rolls around.
We also delivered new bed pillows, a year round mission effort at FIUMC.

Ford and AA drove the supplies to the Home on Friday and planned a visit with friends "Uncle Don" and JMei.
They met at a Mall which had an indoor jumping contraption (what do they call these things?). JMei was brave and went first, so AA had to follow. I think they had tons of fun over lunch and running the hallways! And they even enjoyed a train ride!

Same shoes!



Thanks to Don for taking the pictures!

Daily Dose of AA - Playing at Home

I enticed AA to play on our guest bedroom bed (also known as "Nana's bed).......just to take a few pictures.
She is wearing a new L.L. Bean skirt from Nana and a "hand-me-down" top from Bess (a FCC family). We love the hand-downs!


Enjoy your day!

Back to School!!

AA is continuing in the two day a week pre-school program (9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.) and to mark the beginning of a new school year, we thought it would be nice for her to have her first school back pack (junior size).
And Nana made the wish come true!

AA changed her favorite color to red and since this brand (L.L. Bean) has a lifetime guarantee, I don't expect to buy another one until she out grows this one!

Hopefully Daddy will remember to take pictures this week!

The Elusive Leotard!

Never will I ever go shopping for something unusual, unique or one time purchase without searching on line. I know this, so why did I not do it before AA and I journeyed out to buy a black leotard for her?
We went to Target (and had a Starbucks refreshment break), Belk, Sears, Dillards, Old Navy, The Children's Place...... No Leotards in black. Six Stores. Nada.


After so many stores, I was driving to the library and saw our old, faded Kmart.....and yes, we found one at Kmart of all places. And just so you know it was where we were supposed to find it, the name of the leotard dance-wear is "Just Imagine" (we bought the short sleeve version).


We made a quick stop at our local library to checkout a DVD; AA selected a Wiggles movie for this week.
We had time for a quick, but nice lunch at MoJo's Bar-B-Que in our neighborhood and I do like it, partly because kid's eat for free Monday - Thursday!

Now you know why I hate to shop!