It's the simple things

It's the simple things in life that can make us so happy.  Like taking a little time to paint your toes...



can you tell I have worn flip flops all summer?



Or to paint little toes...

Oh the joys...

Go Team!....and a Hot Air Balloon Festival Too

     Since Mike has been in school I have been trying hard to find things for me and the kids to do on the weekends so that he can have time to study and do homework.  This past Saturday I filled the day with a cheerleading clinic for Mikayla, storytime with Curious George for Noah, and heading to the Great Midwest Balloon Fest. 
     I had promised Mikayla that I would sign her up for cheerleading prior to realizing that in order for her to cheer for flag football we would have needed to sign her up back in March (sigh...).  I also looked into a local gym that specializes in cheerleading, but the only time available for her class was at 4:30 (sigh again...).  But a great thing about her being in school is that she is constantly bringing home flyers about different activities in the community.  One of the first weeks of school she brought one home for a cheerleading clinic at a local high school.  This is the clinic she attended last weekend and had a lot of fun.  I was thinking that I might be able to tide her over with these clinics until we can sign up for cheerleading in the fall.  Then she brought home information about cheering for basketball this winter through a church league (yay!).  I am hoping to sign her up next week for it and we will see how it goes.
     Mike took a little break from studying to take Noah to storytime at a local bookstore.  I thought he might enjoy it since he always seems so sad if Mikayla gets to go somewhere and he is left at home, plus he had the opportunity to meet Curious George.  He was not too interested in story time, but he did like seeing Curious George and finding a new book to bring home to read.
     Saturday afternoon the kids and I went to check out a new annual hot air balloon festival.  A local parenting magazine put on some free activities for the kids to enjoy plus traditioanl festival fare.  Both the kids got tattoos, face painting, and their air sprayed with paint.  They also got to jump in a bounce house.  It was pretty hot out there and we had to wait a bit in lines, but the kids did great and loved showing everyone their hair and tattoos.  We were expecting to see the hot air balloons take off, but just about the time they were supposed to a storm moved in and they had to cancel it.  We did get to see the KU hot air balloon all ready to go up, though.

My little cheerleader

Great Midwest Hot Air Balloon Fest

This is how the clouds looked just prior to us leaving the festival.

Labor Day Weekend

     So I know it's late in posting, but I did want to share our happenings over Labor Day weekend.  We had wanted to start the tradition of taking a mini family vacation over the weekend, but we opted to stay home this time when we heard that my mom was coming into town.  The kids don't get to see her very often so we wanted to take the opportunity to let them have some grandma time.  Really my mom was here to check on my grandma, but she still managed to work in some time with us.  Saturday was super busy for us.  It started off by going to the neighbor's house for a "Potty Party."  They were hoping to do a three day potty training session with their daughter and wanted to start it off by throwing a party for a doll who went on the potty all by herself.  Strange, I know.  Anyway, we went over there and the kids had fun playing for a little bit and eating a cupcake.  It was time to leave once we had seen that grandma had shown up.  We headed back to the house and gathered up a few things and headed out to the nursing home where my grandma has been living.  We spent a few hours visiting grandma cupcake (that's what the kids like to call her) and then headed to her house to do a little cleaning prior to her returning home the next day.  We spent a good part of the afternoon cleaning and then headed over to my brother's for dinner.  The kids loved running all over the place.  After dinner we returned home and there was a message on the machine saying that we could come back over to have the potty party for the little girl since she had gone on the potty too.  So we delayed baths and headed over there for another cupcake and a little dancing.  Normally Saturday is our movie night, but we were too wiped and just gave the kids a bath and read before bedtime.
     Sunday started off by us enjoying my oldest nephew's soccer game.  It was a beautiful morning and it had been such a long time since I watched one of their games.  After the game we had some errands to run prior to heading out to grandma cupcake's.  Once there we spent time hanging out with family and talking about how things were going to work while my grandma was home.  In the evening we let the kids have movie night and then went to bed early.

A butterfly the kids had caught.

Enjoying cupcakes at Grandma Cupcake's

     On Monday my mom brought us by breakfast prior to heading to the airport.  I did some grocery shopping, but other than that we just had a nice, relaxing day at home.