Fourth of July

We had another fabulous weekend at Springvale. We went up on Thursday night. Friday night there was a street dance at the campground. Carly LOVED it. Alex......not so much. He told me several times throughout the day that he was going to dance but he never did. We didn't get to stay long but it was a lot of fun!! The picture below is the only one I was able to take at the street dance.

Springvale had their annual Fourth of July parade. The Boys of Springvale always lead the parade.

This year we decided to bling up the golf cart and be in the parade. The kids had a great time but the Dads decided that next year the Moms could be in it and they would watch.

The picture below is of Kels and Kat (the two in the middle).

We really had a GREAT time. Can't wait for next year. Maybe we will be able to stay for the whole dance AND win the parade "competition". :) Hugs. Laura

Planting shrubs

My next door neighbor asked me to water her plants for her while she was on vacation. As a thank you, she gave me a beautiful Weigela shrub, a couple of Coneflowers and another flower out of her garden (Not sure what that one is called). So I planted the flowers but decided that that one little shrub needed some friends. Yes, I know, it's a sickness. It's a little bit like buying a throw pillow for the couch and then deciding you need to re-paint, re-upholster, etc. I'm sure there's an intervention for this somewhere. So I ended up with 8 shrubs (yes, 8) and still would like 2 more (Couldn't find 2 of all that I wanted.). Well, anyway, we planted them yesterday while Sissy was at school.


Not sure what kind of shrub this one is (below). Pretty sure it's a dwarf variety though. :)


Alex's favorite part was the pile of black dirt in the back of the pick up truck. He probably would have slept there last night if we had let him.


This cool weather today and yesterday is kind of a bummer but it sure is GREAT for doing outside chores!! Talk to you soon. Hugs. Laura

TripleShot

Went to Doyle's Lounge last night to see TripleShot. For those of you who don't know, that's Mikey (my BIL) on the left. They rocked the house as always and played some new songs (Songs that I hadn't heard them play before.). It was a lot of fun!!


The following picture is of my sister Cathy, my dear friend Bennie and my Mom. Just like old times, they kept me out too late. For many years, I have been a firm believer that nothing good happens after midnight (Unless, of course, you are in your craft room. Lol.). I still truly believe that. We didn't get home until 2:30 am. I am totally exhausted.

Have a great weekend. Hugs. ~Laura

The best weekend ever!!?

Thought I better get this post done. I had meant to do it Sunday, then Monday........then.......well, the week got away from me as usual. Last weekend we had the best weekend. If you don't want to hear a mom shamelessly brag about her family, then this post is not for you!! I warned you. ;)

The Friday before Memorial Day weekend Doug got off work early and came home with a golf cart (Golf carts are VERY common at campgrounds that have seasonal sites.). I have been against this idea all along (I think we need the exercise. Plus, now I have a 4 year old that whines when I suggest we walk anywhere.). Carly absolutely LOVES it. She happily rides along in the woods, "singing" away the whole time (usually smiling too).
Carly was outside the camper way more than she was inside the camper this weekend. This is a huge deal. She usually doesn't like to be outside/away from her camper for very long. She also led me over to the slide to help her go down. This too is unusal. Usually when we are near a slide I make her go down once with her protesting the whole time. After I helped her up, she sat at the top for awhile and eventually pushed herself down the slide.

We also went to the pool. Carly LOVES the pool. In fact, it gets difficult to even walk by the pool because she wants to go in it so bad. She is now standing up in the pool on her own (with floaties on her arms). I didn't have to hold her the whole time. A couple of times she was even floating. When it was time to get out, she did really well too (this can be an unpleasant event).

On Saturday during the afternoon, they had a kids craft up at the Lodge. The kids were able to make a Father's Day gift. I brought Alex (Crafts usually just aren't Sissy's kind of thing.) up to do the craft and Sandy and gang wanted to know if I wanted to bring things back to the camper so that Carly could do it too. Since she had been doing so great, I decided that I would bring her to the Lodge. She did super!! The kids made a t-shirt. The front says: This Dad deserves a pat on the back. The picture below shows the back. They also got to make a card and they placed a coupon for a free waffle for Dad in the card. Super cute!! Thanks Sandy and all!

Saturday night me and Carly went up to the Lodge to get icecream. We had a sundae and ate it sitting up at the counter. She sat so nicely. The gang at Springvale treats us like family. Where else can you go where the person who gets your icecream will also reach over with a napkin and get a bit of fudge off your sweet girl's face? Thanks Kels. We finished our icecream and even sat for a little bit at the counter.

On Sunday, Doug went home early to enjoy some quiet time on Father's Day. Me and the kids stayed for a little while longer. We went back to the Lodge for icecream. Carly was a little upset when we were up there so I told Alex that we would take the icecream back to our camper and eat it. On the way out of the Lodge I suggested that we sit on the bench (just outside the door) and eat our icecream. So we did!! Carly sat still the whole time and we shared an icecream sandwich. So sweet!!

For those of you who don't know Carly well, these are all MAJOR things in her/our life. I am soooo proud of her. A HUGE thank you to Sara (Carly's para) and all at Parker. Your hard work and dedication is paying off!! Alex also had a fabulous weekend. He was very well behaved and I am super, duper proud of him too.

Hugs to all.

A bit of home improvement

Aren't these Decor Elements cute? These are available through Stampin' Up! . I had bought them last fall but didn't want to put them up until I had a fresh coat of paint on the door. The actual painting didn't take long but getting around to it did (story of my life!). The color is called Warm Brownie. Just didn't see how I could go wrong with a color by that name!! We also got some new light fixtures for the outside of the house. I'm always amazed at what a BIG difference such a little home improvement can make. By the way, I TOTALLY copied this idea. Thanks Gretchen! Thanks for stopping by!!

A Big Day and a "DreamNight"

Today was a big day! It was the last day of school for Carly and Alex. Carly finished second grade and Alex finished his first year of preschool. Carly had cake and icecream to celebrate three of her sped classmates going on to middle school and Alex's class had icecream treats too. Alex also got crayons and chalk from his preschool teachers. A huge hit!! Here's a pic.

Then, last night we went to the MN Zoo. Cities 97 and many others were sponsoring DreamNight. This was a private event that invites children with special needs and their immediate families to spend a free evening at the zoo (free admission, dinner AND parking!). The event was from 5 - 8 pm (The zoo was closed to the public at 6 pm.). Our ride south was a little long (It took us 2 hours!) but well worth it!! We got to pet a chinchilla (OMG how soft!). Here is a picture of Sissy enjoying the softness.

We had the opportunity to see some of the animals up close and personal. Like this beautiful grizzly bear. Isn't he sweet!!?
Here's a picture of Carly and Alex with their friends Evan and Nolan. Thanks to Kathy for letting us know about this great event. So glad we got to share it with them!! They even got to feed the giraffes!! Cool, huh!?

After the zoo event, Doug and I were off to see Triple Shot. My shy friend Bennie was there. I really need to find a way to get that girl to come out of her shell (LOL!). They played awesome as always.

A little R & R.......It's a good thing!

I had a super, fabulous weekend up at our camper.....ALL BY MYSELF! I had gone up there for a little R & R as well as to try to work on a quilt for Carly (I've had the material for about 4 years!). The picture below is what one of the blocks will look like (If it looks a little goofy, it's because I haven't sewn the 4 units together. If it doesn't look goofy....never mind. :) ). I didn't get nearly as much done as I thought I would (Story of my life!). I really enjoyed what I did get done. It's been awhile since I made a quilt so I was kinda out of practice. Thanks to Kris and Sandy for the fun chats at Springvale!!