Shower

It's baby season! My cousin is due with a baby girl in October and had her shower recently. It was a really nice affair and fun to hang out with all the ladies of the family (Paige was the littlest lady there!).

All dressed up!

I try not to take pictures of my food too often but everything looked so yummy!

Paige and I after present opening!

And with the guest of honor!

Not Quite Halloween...

I was going through bags of old clothes from the basement when I came across the bag of Halloween costumes! Jackpot!

Here's Owen modeling his 6-12 month sized tiger costume

Side by side comparison of a too small bat costume, Owen wore this costume 3 years in a row!

Pirate Paige/Minnie Mouse

Kiddos

Sightseeing

We were long overdue for a visit with Pat's parents! We watched some Olympics and then headed to Forage for some dinner where we got to finish watching the US women win their soccer game. Afterwards, we headed for the water where we got to climb on giant rocks and see the beautiful view. It was crawling with people and not just people playing PokemonGo:)

Dinner! Burgers for the boys, mac and cheese for Paige, tacos for me!

We weren't wearing the right footwear to be climbing but these weren't so close to the water

This mole was disturbingly not disturbed by how close everyone was to him...

Family picture!

More rocks!

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Skyzone

I told the kids at the beginning of the summer I would take them to Skyzone and last week I realized we were running out of time to make it happen! I finally coordinated a visit with their friends and with a little help from Groupon (yay!). The kids jumped for a little over an hour and a half before a worker pointed out they had jumped past their time. Then the kids picked out an ice cream treat and relaxed for a bit before we headed home!

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March!

Paige got to march in her first parade last week with her dance company! Owen and I watched with some other families right near a train track and since Paige had to be there about an hour early, we had a lot of time to use up while we waited for Paige to pass by. We played some war, met a cute dog, ate some snacks and watched the trains go by. I think the route was about 2.5 miles and it was a very hot day but Paige powered through! We even got some ice cream afterwards!

Indians Game

Another Indian's game! Pat was able to join us this time and we had zero problems with traffic or construction on our way to the game. Phew! Pat's work gave each employee two free tickets to the game and then we bought a couple extra so we could all go together. It also happened to be the hall of fame induction night so we got to see Jim Thome get inducted (standing ovation!) and there were also some amazing fireworks after and they even won!! Hooray!

Dance Pictures

I know! I know! More dance pictures?! But they're adorable! Someone from the studio joined Paige's ballet group one day and these were the results!

Paige and Maeve

The dance company is using the picture of the girl's backs in their advertising!

Ballet/Lyrical Camp

This was camp 3 out of 4 for Paige and it was all about ballet, lyrical, and even a little musical theatre! I asked Paige one day if anything fun happened at camp and she said "everything." So...she loved it! Here are some pictures form when we got to watch them perform on the last day.

Let's Eat Cookies!

I feel like it's been a long time since we've tried a new cookie so we were long overdue! I needed a quick and easy dessert and was just about to settle for chocolate chip cookies when I realized I didn't have enough chocolate chips. I busted out my favorite dessert cookbook-Baking: From My Home to Yours, and found the Gingered Carrot Cookies. I just so happened to have shredded carrot already so it worked out great! The cookies were so good too. I saw them described as a cookie/scone on this blog (where you can also find the recipe) and I would say that's accurate. They were chock-full of coconut, raisins, pecans and carrot!

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Bike Race

I got a couple pictures from our front steps of Paige and Pat having a bike race around our block! Paige won:)

Ballerina

I took some pictures of Paige before ballet camp one day so I could compare them to this post from before her first dance class! The picture on the left is three years ago!!

Waterfalls

We met up with some friends at a park so the kids could play in the waterfalls! They had a great time and lasted at least 3 (maybe 4?) hours before we had to tell them it was time to leave.

Half Birthday

Normally when Owen and Paige's half birthdays roll around we start the day with half a card and some sprinkle pancakes! This time, however, Owen woke up and had breakfast at a friends house because he was finishing up a sleepover! We skipped the pancakes, but gave him a card when he got home. We also happened to get together with family the day Owen turned 9 1/2 and his cousin's half birthday is just 10 days before his so we sang to all of them and everyone got a cupcake!

Party

One of Owen's good friends, Adam, had a birthday party and our whole family was invited to come hang out! They rented a giant inflatable slip n slide that was a huge hit and the kids played a big game of keep away in and around it for a huge chunk of the party. One of Adam's cousins is also a good friend of Paige's from dance class so she even had a buddy to hang out with. We left the party after about five hours(!) but Owen stayed the night and was up until about 3. Paige was devastated that he didn't come home with us but her sleepiness may have been part of the issue. Either way, we missed him!

Bubbles

I was looking for can activity to get the kids outside and settled on giant bubbles! I didn't have all of the ingredients for the bubble recipe so I just combined a bunch of dish soap and water and it did a mediocre job. I used string and straws to make giant bubble wands. It didn't keep the kids entertained as long as I was hoping because the bubbles wouldn't stay long before they popped. Apparently glycerin is the secret ingredient to bubbles!

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Splashpad

Paige was invited to hang out at the splashpad with some dance buddies after camp the other week! Dance has become a little more serious (I feel silly saying that but it's true) so the girls don't have as much time to get to know each other during class. We had a picnic lunch and then the kids played in the water. Paige actually spent a lot of her time doing cartwheels and roundoffs with one other friend but got in the water eventually. Then a policeman showed up with popsicles for all the kids. The heat was stifling that day so we were all glad he showed up!