Weekend in Columbus

We went to Columbus, Ohio for the weekend to spend time with Grandma Linda and Gramps. Packing 7 people up for a weekend away is very overwhelming, not to mention we took the dog and the gerbils. Our kids aren't the best travelers either, though they are getting better. We got a late start, but made it to Columbus before dinner time. The kids were excited, the grandparents were excited.

Friday night the kids got treasure maps, and each child took a turn wondering around the yard with their map to find the X that revealed a present. Garrett got a dinosaur kit, Dylan got a magic kit, Sami got a build a bear kit, Macy got a purse with puppies, and Sydney got a purple lion.

Saturday morning Nathan and the boys took Gramps to Lowe's for their Kids Grow Clinic. They built helicopter's together. While they were gone, the girls sat down and had a tea party with Grandma Linda. They dressed up with fancy hats and jewelry, had sandwiches and tea and painted fingernails and toenails. Then we went to see UP in the theater.

We went to the Columbus Zoo on Sunday and the kids had so much fun. We got to see manatee's and Elephants (Dylan's all time favorite!) and gorilla's, things we don't see at our local zoo.

It was a great weekend, full of wonderful memories. The kids were sad to leave.

200 BOOKS

Garrett just reached his goal, 200 BOOKS this summer. He began reading the first Monday of June and reads for atleast 20 minutes every day, but I often find him reading more than that. We signed up for the library reading program and the kids were sharing books with a goal of 42 books to be read to them. Well we couldn't keep up with Garrett, so I put him on his own and he met his goal at the library as well.
Wow!
The other kids have done great too, Sami read her 16 chapter books and Sydney, Dylan and Macy listened to us read 42 books during the Summer Reading Program at the Library. They received nice prizes and got to go to the Library Carnival which was so much fun for them. I'm so glad they love to read and be read to. I hope that never changes.

Tooth Fairy

The tooth fairy is making an unexpected visit to our house tonight. Unexpected because as of today, none of our children had loose teeth....that is until the t-ball game tonight. Garrett had a tooth knocked out while in the dugout tonight before his last t-ball game of the season. It was a baby tooth, his first one to come out. It was quite a painful, traumatic experience for him and we still aren't sure exactly what happened, but OUCH! Daddy found the lost tooth on the ground in the dugout. That in itself was amazing with so many little cleats running around in there. Grandpa Brent, Grandma Rachel and Grandma Theresa all helped Mommy take care of him while he sat out his last game. Tabitha even ran to get him ice. So there's a little boy sleeping on the couch tonight with his tooth under his pillow, and gauze in his mouth, waiting for the tooth fairies very first visit.