Party at the YMCA... climb and slime!

Okay so I'm a little behind on some things... I'm blaming it on the fact that our upstairs computer died and I had to wait for a new hard drive before I could download photos off of my camera.  I'm ignoring the fact that we have another computer downstairs and Dave and I each have a laptop... It's just easier to download photos on the upstairs computer.

On September 24th we had a kids party, for Amerah's birthday, at the YMCA in Southgate, Michigan.  I've come to the conclusion that it was the best party yet!  The idea came to me while I was searching for party venues.  Lack of parking and my leg issues ruled out having a party here at the house, so I was looking for someplace fun.  I stumbled across a random post by someone who said that their kid had a party at the YMCA and that they LOVED it... from then on I couldn't get the song out of my head! 

My cousin, Sunshine, is a member at the Southgate YMCA so she made some inquiries for me and we got a great deal because of her membership.  Amerah was thrilled and the kids all seemed to really enjoy it.

She is currently into anything with a peace sign on it or zebra print so Sandy got her a pull apart peace sign cake.  It was actually a bunch of cupcakes... we have since learned that we won't do THAT again!  There were humongous globs of frosting in between all of the cupcakes and it was very gooey and messy.

The birthday girl looooved her party...

Don't ask.  I have no idea why she insists on sticking out her tongue for photos.

Blowing out the candles....

With her friends, opening presents...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then on to the activities!  First up was SLIME!  The kids made and played with not one, not two, but THREE different kinds of slime!  They had a blast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daddy didn't care for the slime himself... and all he did was touch it with his fingers... haha

And then it was on to the gym!  All of the kids tried climbing the wall, some little monkeys were more successful at scaling the wall than others, but they all gave it their best shot.  I was pleased to see the determination it brought out in them, those that didn't make it to the top the first time, kept trying. 

Amerah... unfortunately, when she reached the top, she didn't hold still long enough and the photo is blurry!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luke...

 

 

 

 

Gabrielle...

 

 

Addie

 

 

 

Brooke...

 

 

 

Jessie...

 

 

Katelynn...

Aislinn...

 

 

 

 

Nora... (Nora was the first to scale the wall, impressing us by using mostly her arms instead of her both arms and feet!  She would have sat on TOP of the wall if the guy in charge hadn't called her down!)

 

 

 

 

 

All in all the kids had fun, I didn't have to clean up, and it was an all around good time had by all!  Even my brother-in-law, Keith... I think the kids wore him out... hahaha

 

she seeks sea shells... at Erie metropark...

Last weekend we took a little drive, just Dave, Amerah, Lily, and me...  I was anxious to get out of the house so we thought that we would go to the apple orchard.  I knew that I wouldn't be able to go apple picking due to my super irritating ongoing leg issues, but I thought that maybe Dave and Amerah could pick apples while I stayed back at a picnic table with Lily. 

Alas we didn't even stop.  Once we saw how absolutely, horrendously, ridiculously CROWDED Apple Charlie's was, we drove right past.  We ended up driving down to Erie Metropark so that I could sit at a picnic table there and Amerah could hunt shells on the lake shore. 

 

 

 

 

 It was chilly and windy but enjoyable nonetheless.

 

Lily was super excited just to be going ANYWHERE with us!  Dave took her around to see everything...

 

 

Dave and Amerah found LOTS of caterpillars... looks like this may be a good place to come to see butterflies!

 

I got some fun shots of Dave with his girls...

 

By the time we left the park, it was evening, so we thought that we'd drive by Apple Charlie's again to see if the crowd had thinned out.  We were excited to see that it was MUCH less crowded so we stopped.  We didn't pick any apples because all they had left for the day were Red Delicious (blech!), but I sat at a picnic table with Lily and Dave took Amerah to look at the animals and get some cider and donuts.

 

 

While there we were treated to a beautiful rainbow (it's hard to see in the photo but it was actually a double rainbow).

 

 It's easy to see that Amerah is OUR pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Finally, as if mother nature hadn't already blessed us with a beautiful rainbow, we were treated to the most beautiful sunset which started out as THIS:

And ended as THIS:

Isn't that spectacular! 

Stephanie's baby shower

These photos go back to September 25, 2011, I've been a little remiss in my blogging.  I just wanted to share a few pics from Stephanie Danieley's baby shower (for those of you who don't know, she's my cousins' cousin - you know, family :-)

 

How adorable is she!

Steph's family (including my aunt Pat on the far right and my cousins Sunshine (5th from left) and Angel (2nd from right).

Cute cake... can anyone guess the baby's name? :-)

Fun decorations (noticing a theme here?) :-)

Yummy favors :-)

Only downside was how much my leg hurt when I left the party :-(  Still healing.

Silly Lily

Again, I had some random photos that were too cute not to share...

I took Lily to the groomer again... she must have rolled in something nasty because she stank and I couldn't stand it!  While at the groomers I learned that they would put little bows in her hair for FREE!  (Imagine this said in Adam Sandler's voice from the movie Bedtime Stories).

Now, how adorable is THAT!  Too bad she managed to get them out within three hours time.  Not only did she get hem OUT of her hair, she also tried to EAT them.  By the time we got them away from her they were no longer bows, just long pieces of frayed ribbon.  Dave didn't even get to see them.  Ahh well, they were cute while they lasted...

On that note I'd like to add that Dave and Lily have a very special relationship...

"Daddy is Lily's favorite playmate... they play tug-o-war and wrestle with toys... they play a unique form of soccer (or keep the football away from Lily) (I can't find pics of the latter, even though I KNOW I took some!)

 

 

 

And then... when they're all worn out... they even nap together...

It makes me smile to see them together... :-)

Amerah's solution

I had some random photos that made me laugh so I decided to share them. 

A week or so ago, Amerah called Dave from school and told him that she had gotten her socks wet at recess and needed him to bring her another pair.  Dave told her that, even if he brought her another pair, her shoes would still be wet and that would make her new socks wet also.  He told her she'd just have to tough it out. Ha ha... so our daughter came home from school with these:

Yes.  Shoes made out of paper and duct tape.  She was very proud of herself for coming up with a "solution."

self-confident? Or a tad dorky...

I admire my kid's lack of self-consciousness.  Really I do.  Every weekday morning I sit in the living room and watch Amerah as she stands near the bottom of our driveway, waiting for the bus.  Some days I think that she must live in her own little cocoon where she imagines that no one can see her.  Either that or she just plain doesn't care what passersby think.  I haven't decided if she is just a tad bit of a dork, or if she is super cool and brimming with self-confidence. 

Some days she makes loud animal noises.  Her favorite appears to be the caw of a crow.  This involves her stretching her neck forward and opening her mouth in as wide an oval as it will go.  She then proceeds to caw.  Loudly. 

Other days she dances.  Bizarre little dances with unique moves that I am convinced she made up.  Usually these dances are accompanied by equally odd facial expressions.

 

 

Lily finds the morning entertainment equally puzzling.  She sits by the door, engrossed in the performance...

 

 

 

And no, the next photo is NOT my child getting OFF of the school bus... it is her walking TO the school bus... backwards...

I often wonder what people think as they drive by our house.  As for us, well, Lily and I are entertained... but still thinking she just might be a bit dorky...