Mini Grandpa

This is my boy. Around these here blog parts we call him Sparky. Sparky last week for Boy Scout Camp, but before he left I took this picture of him. I took it because he was so happy and excited for camp and all of the things that he would be doing there. I'm sure it's not because he was going to get a break from me for a bit. After he left I immediately posted this picture to Instagram and as soon as I opened the picture up I was hit with how much he looks like my dad did when he was young. It is quite freaky actually. When my dad had his 60th birthday party a slideshow of pictures was put together documenting his life and at the time people kept commenting to me on how much Sparky looks like my dad did when he was little. Sure, I saw it at the time, but for some reason this picture of my boy just really hit it home for me. I always knew he had a lot of my family in him and now it is proven. He is grandpa through and through.

Family Fun

Every year Doug's work has a Family Fun Day. Usually Doug is out of town and we aren't able to go, but this year Doug was actually in town and so we headed down for a little free entertainment. There were all kinds of games to play and food to eat. Yay for a free lunch!

 There were huge inflatables to climb on and slide down.

 Sadly, shortly after lunch Doug had a meeting he had to go to and so the two kids and I were stuck wandering around on our own. Luckily we know how to have a good time even when dad isn't with us.

 Tiger was all about having his face painted.

 He wore this face paint proudly all day and was very sad when he had to take it off before bed.

Batman loves a good party.

 There was also an inflatable laser tag maze. Tiger was all over this as well. As you can see, he means business. Woo wasn't quite a thrilled about the laser tag as Tiger, but she was a good sister and played a round with her brother. In the end she had a good time as well.

Batman means business. 

Sparky is at scout camp and so he wasn't able to come with us, but we were still able to have a good time without him. Plus, it helped to take our minds off of how much we are missing our boy.

This week

1. My boy is going away for his first ever full week of boy scout camp next week and I am trying to get all of his stuff together. The biggest challenge for me is going to be sewing his patches onto his scout shirt. They are all stuck onto his shirt already through the use of iron-on stuff, but they're not super secure and must be sewn on. I am not looking forward to doing this.

2. Laundry, my arch nemesis, and I will have a little rendez-vous. It will not be pretty.

3. I will start painting baseboards. I have been dreading and dreading this task because it is tedious and annoying and inconvenient and no fun at all.

4. Last week Tiger came down with a cold. Now that he is much better, the bad habits that resurfaced while he was sick must be dealt with. This too will not be pleasant, for any of us.

5. I will continue to spend hours working on the wedding pictures that I took while trying to figure out this dang Mac computer as well. All I can say is that I am very grateful for the internet and the fact that I can find the answer to anything I need.

Hooray for summer!

Let summer begin

Yesterday we were invited to an end of school summer fun party. It was full of kids running around, pelting each other with water balloons and covering themselves in shaving cream. Apparently there were some other games and whatnot as well, but I was too busy making efforts to be social to notice any of those. Plus, unless one of my kids was in trouble or hurt, I really didn't want to leave the shade. It was hot, man.

Sparky was happy to stand by the sidelines while the other kids got crazy with the shaving cream, although he was unable to completely come away unscathed. Luckily he took it like a man.

Woo was all about the shaving cream fight. She's never been a girl who's afraid to get a little dirty. In fact, she welcomes it.

Tiger was perfectly content by the snack table and splashing in the nasty, dirty water of the baby pool. I really can't even let myself think about how dirty that water was with so many kids in and out of it. I just made sure that Tiger was properly scrubbed and disinfected as soon as we got home, although that didn't stop him from coming down with a cold last night. Oh well. No one said having fun was easy. Even though we have been out of school for almost a week, it was a great way to celebrate the end of school and the start of summer.

A bunch of pictures I found on my phone

Some of these have been posted on Instagram and others have not, but blog posts are always so much more interesting when there are pictures involved, so sorry if you have seen these before.

My sister had a birthday. I know she's thrilled that I posted this picture, but I did it for the cousins. She can't get angry if it's for the cousins, right? Plus, look how cute she is in that sombrero.

My girl was a dancing minion from Despicable Me along with the other girls in her Girl Scout troop for the school talent show. Here she is at a rehearsal.

These two kids just killing time during Sparky's soccer game.

Lately, Tiger has been dressing up again. It is delightful. Here he said, "I'm just a little pirate, part of the crew." He then proceeded to run around the neighborhood doing piratey things.

Spidey was told that he could not go out and play until he did his jobs, so what is a super hero to do? He grabbed the vacuum and got to work.

One night while the boys were away at the Father/Son camp out, my girl and I had our own special night. We started off with Mexican food, headed to Target, played with puppies at the pet store, and then ended the night with ice cream and snuggles.

Out to dinner.

Tiger just looking cute (as usual).

The kids in their respective tie-dyed shirts for their field day at the end of school.

Tiger is playing tee ball for the first time this year. He's not a strong outfielder, but he looks pretty cute trying. Really, all he wants to do is hit the ball and then play in the dirt.

He also wears his hat daily. Honestly, I can't stand baseball, but if it is what my little man likes to do then I'm all over it.

My boy on his class field trip. I was able to be a chaperone and I just have to say that it was one of the lamest field trips ever! We went to the library for story time and then played at a park for an hour. Oh well, at least I got to spend time with this little man.

Sparky and Woo on the last day of school. It was a rough day for them, they spent it at the pool.

Tiger on the last day of school. He spent the afternoon partying his heart out and playing outside.

While the kids were having their last day of school, I was busy acting as a photographer at a wedding at the temple. It was extremely nerve wracking for me (mostly because of my own perfectionism and issues with my own wedding pictures), but lots of fun at the same time. However, I will definitely not be making this a regular thing. The stress of being in charge of someone's eternal wedding memories is just too much.

On a night of family fun we got caught in the rain.

Yesterday Woo finally got her braces off and she is as cute as can be with those straight teeth. It's only a matter of time before she has to get them again, but I'll enjoy those pearly whites while I can.

My reasoning for the change

I know I just switched from the blog that I have been keeping for the past 4 1/2 years which was a blog that I switched to from my original blog that I started 6 years ago, but sometimes I just like to mix things up a bit. Although I still think of my kids as my little pickles and we still use pickles as a constant reference in our family, I don't really feel it speaks to who we are at the moment. So, here we have it, a new blog with a new name. A name that references when it all began for my little family. Sorry for the inconvenience.