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Toadfrogs & Elephants

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Month: July 2022

31 Jul

Birthday Party Time

Kaitlyn knew she wanted a friend birthday party, but she had a really hard time figuring out what she wanted to do. By the time she decided she wanted to invite a few of her closest girl friends on an outing, we had to schedule it for after our trip to Kentucky. Kaitlyn was a little bummed one of her best friends was out of town, but we still planned on her place of choice (Altitude Trampoline Park), her dinner of choice (McDonald’s), and some of her favorite friends. The girls all had a great time.

31 Jul

July 31, 2022

Most days the big kids are in charge of their own lunches and I only have to fix the ones for the little kids. It is so nice having kids that are able to take care of themselves.

31 Jul

July 31, 2022

Birthday party!

31 Jul

July 31, 2022

Brothers.

30 Jul

S’More Please

Tonight was the perfect night for some outside fun, roasting marshmallows, and eating of s’mores.

30 Jul

July 30, 2022

This is definitely the face of someone up to no good.

30 Jul

July 30, 2022

Today I walked in to find Teague wearing the pig ears while reading a book. What is going on in this house?

30 Jul

July 30, 2022

These two played hide-n-seek in this box all afternoon.

30 Jul

July 30, 2022

Apple peeling at its best.

29 Jul

Lake Day

I rallied the troops and we made it a lake day. Alex couldn’t convince any of his friends to go with him so he opted to stay at home. The rest of us had lunch at home and then spent the afternoon at the lake. A big group of kids starting catching fish and it took off. At one point they had buckets lined up everywhere full of fish.

29 Jul

July 29, 2022

To spice things up this morning, Alex decided to have his breakfast on top of the kitchen island.

29 Jul

July 29, 2022

Kaitlyn used a Raddish recipe to make donuts for breakfast.

29 Jul

July 29, 2022

We’ve added to our meReader collection, but we still have the original ones we got back in 2012. These have been a great investment.

28 Jul

Playdate Makeover

Kaitlyn’s friend is going out of town for a month so we arranged one last playdate. I was thinking they could play while I got quite a bit done. Nothing went according to my plan. They wanted to “create” in the kitchen. Then they wanted to use makeup, which was fine. Except then I realized they wanted to do a makeover on me! I agreed to it all and it was a great playdate, but I got zero done all day.

28 Jul

July 28, 2022

Summer day chaos.

27 Jul

Garden Check

The garden grew quite a bit while we were gone. We decided to plant two tomato plants this year and they really grew. I’ve never had plants grow this tall before! Kaitlyn stood in front of them for comparison. Then of course Ben wanted a picture too, so he stood in front of the sunflowers.

27 Jul

July 27, 2022

Alex has spent a considerable amount of time drawing lately. I love seeing what he comes up with!

27 Jul

July 27, 2022

Just rambling around outside today.

26 Jul

Sight To See

I walked in to find that Kaitlyn had added an unusual accessory to her outfit for the afternoon.

26 Jul

July 26, 2022

Alex sat and talked with us all evening with his headphones off BOTH ears.

26 Jul

July 26, 2022

Teague has had quite a renewed interest in Legos the last few months.

26 Jul

July 26, 2022

It’s rather difficult to get a natural smile these days.

26 Jul

July 26, 2022

Most of my kids have been indifferent to sprinklers throughout childhood, but Ben seems to thoroughly enjoy them.

25 Jul

July 25, 2022

Today we started our drive for home – 12.5 hours planned for the first day.

24 Jul

Good-byes And Big Smiles

We had to say goodbye to our friends this morning. We took a few last pictures and got a few last hugs. There were several (or a lot) of random ways to procrastinate before all three kids were loaded up and headed back to Milwaukee with Amber. We were sad to see them go but so happy they came!

Because we had a couple free hours on our hands and some really good light before it got too hot, I bribed my children into dressing up for Porch Portraits – something I have been doing the last several years on Gram’s porch every summer.

24 Jul

July 24, 2022

It appears the cousins have officially outgrown the porch swing.

23 Jul

Here And There

Today we did a little bit of everything. The big boys spent the morning drawing while the younger kids watched TV. Then we remembered that we hadn’t actually taken a picture of the seven kids together (what is happening to me!?!). Next up was a trip to Vertical Jump. This had been high on Kaitlyn’s list of things to do in Paducah and even better to do it with good friends. Then we had BBQ for lunch. We spent the evening at the country club and wrapped up the evening with a game or two of Bingo. Abram also brought his virtual reality at Alex’s request and he tried it out after everyone else was in bed.

23 Jul

July 23, 2022

Alex and Gram have been making Orange Julius since 2013. (I remember it as a special childhood treat too.)

23 Jul

July 23, 2022

Introducing the Srouds to the county club pool.

23 Jul

July 23, 2022

Something about this picture makes them look much closer in age but I’m not sure if he looks older or she looks younger – maybe both?

22 Jul

Reunited!

We normally spend at least a few days of every summer visiting old friends in Milwaukee. Sadly, we couldn’t make our schedule work with our friends’ (two families). It turns out that the nine kids and working adults have very busy calendars. I had given up on seeing them when Amber asked if she could bring her three kids to see us in Paducah!? We of course said yes and were so excited when they arrived late last night.

We had a lazy morning watching TV and eating breakfast in shifts.

We then spent most of the day at my dad’s pool just being us. Except for one unfortunate encounter with a bee, we had a great time.

22 Jul

July 22, 2022

Boys being boys..

22 Jul

July 22, 2022

I never want to forget how stubborn this child can be. Teague can hold on to a “mad” like nobody else I know. Part of it drives me nuts and part of me loves it because it makes it him.

22 Jul

July 22, 2022

Friends are here!

22 Jul

July 22, 2022

We finally decided this super cool racetrack might be best outside since the cars end up in a pool of water and make a big SPLASH.

21 Jul

Pool Day – Again

We headed to the pool again and everybody kept themselves entertained – thankfully. This heat is no joke! Ben is still loving the high dive. He has also been practicing swimming without his floaty. I’m hoping he will do just as well when we get back to his swim teacher.

21 Jul

July 21, 2022

Another pool day.

21 Jul

July 21, 2022

These three – always causing trouble.

21 Jul

July 21, 2022

Another pool day. More jumping.

21 Jul

July 21, 2022

Another pool day. More jumping. Have I mentioned how well he sleeps at night?

20 Jul

Big Kid Outing

Today’s big planned adventure was to Atomic City. (Because Ben wouldn’t be able to participate in most of the activities, Gram planned her special outing with him at the same time. They went to pick out a new toy and he never knew he missed out on anything!). Chris and I took all of the others for goKarts, bumper cars, laser tag, and mini golf. We had called ahead to find the wrist band times and planned our schedule accordingly. We were a little worried it would be busy, but just like in April, it was pretty quiet. Alex rode a few times and then seemed content to sit with us. I told him he had to ride enough for me to get my money’s worth and he agreed. Otherwise the kids loved it. They spent a lot longer than they did in April and I think finally left due to dinner plans.

20 Jul

July 20, 2022

This kids rode go-karts, bumper cars, played laser tag, and putt. It was quite a night and we definitely got our money’s worth (well – maybe not with Alex)…

20 Jul

July 20, 2022

I was trying to think back how long this toy has been around and did some digging. It evidently appearing Thanksgiving of 2015 (as a hand-me-down from friends). Ben, and some of the bigger kids, still love it.

19 Jul

Lazy Day

We didn’t have any “big” activities planned today. The kids love getting up early and then watching TV in their pajamas. My only rule is at some point they have to watch a show Ben actually enjoys, which gets quite a few groans, but nobody leaves the room.

Then we picked up Starnes BBQ and headed to the CSI park to enjoy a “picnic” lunch.

19 Jul

July 19, 2022

We tried an early picnic lunch. It was manageable, but still pretty toasty!

18 Jul

Beating The Heat

We knew this week was going to be insanely hot and that would rule out most of our non-water related activities. My kids love the water so I also knew multiple trips to the pool would not be a problem. We had a lazy morning at Gram’s and then met the cousins at the pool. What has surprised me is that how few people have been at the pool. I expected it to be fairly crowded but only a few families have been there each time with us – which is probably a good thing. We are a fairly crazy crew!

18 Jul

July 18, 2022

Sometimes they still have fun together.

18 Jul

July 18, 2022

Teague has always known how to take a good jumping picture!

18 Jul

July 18, 2022

Kaitlyn realized what Ben had done and immediately worked up the courage to jump off the high dive too. Of course she loved it and spent the rest of the day in the deep end jumping.

18 Jul

July 18, 2022

I looked up to see that Ben had decided to jump off the high dive. That child has no fear of anyone or anything. From then on he jumped off all day long and loved it!

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