Birthday Celebration

The "Wonder Twins" turned six on Thursday.  Both boys are fascinated by animals so we decided to go to the Cameron Park Zoo.  I had heard that it was a good zoo and liked the idea of it being a wildlife habitat.  

It was AMAZING!

It was even "Bird Day" so they had bird crafts and discussions set up throughout the zoo so the kids got to make bird feeders, masks, feel bird bones, smell like a Vulture, and more.  These activities were perfect because we have been studying birds for Science and I am "craft challenged".  

I have a bunch of pictures that I took this weekend, however they don't want to load on here.
I'm blaming it all on a new computer, it couldn't possibly be user error!
Here is a cool tour of what all we got to see though.
I really have enjoyed our choice to give our kids experiences and trips over gifts and this was a great trip! 

Home Again

As many of you know, we spent the last week in WI visiting my parents.  

Since we're there for such a short time,  we try to pack as much fun as we can.  This trip was no exception =)

The first night we were there, Papa pulled out his old reel to reel player.

Put on a little classic Johnny Cash and danced with the girls.

This weekend we also celebrated Sarge's birthday and Papa's birthday.  This called for cakes.

For Sarge, the kids made a rice krispie cookie with plenty of frosting and worms.

Grandma and Girly making oatmeal cookies.

Papa's cake...  Chocolate with worms.

Sweet Pea enjoying the cake.

While the girls were busy in the kitchen, the boys were busy in the woodshop.

Girly even got in on the fun when they started painting.

We spent some time at the park.

Sweet Pea was excited for the ice cream that came after the park.

And the main reason for the trip...  The race with my dad.

All in all, it was a good trip and makes me realize how important time is with family.  I just wish that the weather would have been a little bit warmer lol!

A Busy Couple of Weeks

It's been a busy couple of weeks here at Camp Berger.  Between my parents visiting and Squish's birthday, there has been plenty of things to do and food to eat.

While my parents were here, my dad and I had a chance to run a local 5k race.  The race was run on a Friday night in conjunction with the local Balloon Fest.  The weather didn't really cooperate for us.  A couple minutes before the gun went off, the rain started coming down.  But that didn't keep us from running a good race.

My dad took second in his age group (4 seconds behind 1st) and I took 1st female.  The medals were really cool laser engraved wood.

On Saturday we spent the entire day at the festival and then went out to eat at a local restaurant.  And there was a little bit of excitement.

We were able to watch one of the balloons crash land in the parking lot across the road.  Thankfully everyone was okay.

Since my parents were here, we decided to celebrate Squish's birthday a few days early.  He requested a construction cake, and this is what I came up with.

I think he was more excited that he got to play with the decorations after the cake was gone =)

Papa spent some time fixing up the kids' bikes...  And then took one of them for a spin. (anyone else hearing the clown college theme song?)

Safety first!

Papa built the kids some new toys.

Sweet Pea took a break reading a book.

Out of the seven eggs we wanted to hatch, we got five chicks.  Sweet Pea wasn't too sure about them and tried to keep her distance. 

Sarge picked up a new cooking toy.

We filled it up with some meat, potatoes, carrots...

And set it to cook.

It was delicious and was more than enough for the 12 people who ate that day =)

So, you can see that I've been keeping pretty busy.  I'm hoping that things start slowing down just a bit so I can catch up on all the chores that have gotten missed the last couple weeks (the kids don't really need clean clothes, do they?)

Upping the Anty

Since we challenged (er, bribed) the kids to go without watching TV, we've upped the anty a bit.  

They now get $0.25 for every book they read.

Good thing the new library just opened up.  The kids have been going through 3-4 books per week now.

The library was promoting a local author's new book, but I think this is right where they belong lol!

We've also gotten into more family games lately.  They started out playing this one the *right* way, but pretty soon I had spaceships flying around =)

Suspend by Melissa & Doug

This has been another winner.  I've been going head to head with Girly to see who can make the most pizza slices.

Pizza Party by Dicecapades

I've been *sneaking* in some extra school work with Bananagrams.  Don't tell the kids, but they're working on their spelling with this one ;)

Bananagrams by Bananagrams

And with the cooler, longer evenings, we now have a lot of fun things to keep us busy.  And if you're looking, these would make some great Christmas or birthday presents =)

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Birthday Weekend

We don't just celebrate your birthday.  We celebrate for an entire weekend =)

Junior recently had a birthday (how did he get to be 9 already??).  Sarge took a couple extra days off so we could have more time to celebrate.

The weekend started off with a trip to the drive- in theater to see Planes.  It was a bit warm starting off (notice Sweet Pea is a *bit* sweaty?).  But once the sun set behind the mountain (sorry, world's highest hill) it started to cool down.

Planes was a really cute movie and the funnel cakes were delicious!

The next day, Sarge took the boys to see the USS Batfish (the girls went on a hunt to find quilt shops).  Yes, as odd as it seems, there is a WWII submarine in OK.

Junior's favorite part was how they could cram so many people in such a small space (and for up to 6 months at a time!).  He was amazed at how tiny everything was.

Monday was actually Junior's birthday.  He started off the day by going out for breakfast with Grandma (and got to pick out his birthday present).  After lunch, since it was still hot out, we headed out to the splash park (a great benefit of homeschooling- the park was empty because all the other kids were in school lol!!).

Since it was his birthday, I figured he needed his birthday cake.  And what's more fun than a firecracker cake?

A chocolate jelly roll cake with marshmallow fluff and graham cracker crumbs for the filling...  Just wish I was better at frosting cakes =)

Despite the lack of frosting skills, the cake was enjoyed by everyone.

There you have it.  Junior's birthday weekend =)  Thankfully it's another two months before we have another birthday to celebrate.  It gives me just enough time to figure out how to make a cake that looks like a semi...

August

Please ignore my messy counters, focus on the cute boys!

It is August, in Texas.  

The high the other day was 105, no joke!

It's also humid, like you can't breathe because the air is so thick. 

So yesterday, I came across a list of what people did in August with their kids. 

It mainly involved movies and swimming.  

My kids can't watch TV all day because we would all go CRAZY!

We don't have a pool but we do have a friend that invites us over every Wednesday so that is covered.  However, I wanted to give you moms out there a list of fun things to do that don't cost money.  

I'm sure there is somebody out there that could use some help. 

1. Run through the sprinkler.  This is my kids favorite thing to do in the whole wide world.  We turn on the sprinkler in the brownest part of the yard and my kids go nuts. Sometimes they ride their bikes through it too. 

2. Make your own movie.  The kids made their own movie with Legos, cars, and blocks.  It won't win a prize but they had fun! 
3. Make recycled art.  We save old toilet paper rolls, lids to milk jugs, paper scraps, etc and my kids create art projects out of it. 
4. Make your own game.  The boys like to take their board games and mix them up to invent their own game.  This can last for hours!
5. Hide and Seek.  We have started playing Hide and Seek inside the house.  This is a great way to get some extra energy out. 

Okay, this is a start for you before Summer ends.  Please leave your ideas in the comments.