The Last Weekend of Summer Break

Yesterday, Shawn was still sick. He had stopped vomitting but he was completely weak and said he had a banging headache. Poor guy! Praise the Lord, though, the rest of us felt fine. Originally, we had talked about doing something this weekend as the last hurrah of the summer. But, with Shawn's sickness, that was off the table. It may have worked out okay, though, because it just poured and poured yesterday. So, it would have been sad for him to take a vacation day and not get to be in the sunshine. Last night he was feeling a little better, so we gave the boys a haircut, the outcome of which you'll see in the following pictures.This morning Grandma called to see if we'd want to go to the grand opening of the new kid's shoe store in town. They had advertised this extravaganza on WJTL all week, and the Kid's Cookie Break was live on location today. Shawn was feeling mostly better (although he asked me to drive since he's still a little woozy), so we decided to venture out. Along with the WJTL KCB, there was the Young Chef's Academy (something I'd like to try with the Bean once he's old enough) - pictured below - along with various other vendors with fun activities for kids.We met Grandma & Emma (who had spent the night at her house) there, and the first thing we got in line to do was the face painting. Only once we got to the gal, neither child was too sure they really wanted painted. Emma went first and the gal offered to paint her arm instead of her face, and she said she'd do flowers just like Emma's pretty skirt. Then when it was Joshua's turn, he said he wanted flowers like Emma's. Thus, here the woman is painting flowers on his arm.I love his face in the picture below... he held very still, but he wasn't so sure about it at first (although all day he's been asking us to look at the 'pretty flowers' on his arm...haaaa!!!).This was how his little tattoo turned out, glittery sparkles and all!!!The kids paused for a quick snapshot of their painted arms. I thought this photo was cute! Both these kiddos head to Calvary Preschool this Monday...where has the summer gone???Anyway, next we got in line for balloons. The balloon man was making someone a John Deer Tractor...talk about time consuming!!! It was really amazing, though, to see. (I should have taken a picture!). The kids loved watching. But, when it was finally our turn, both Grandma & I agreed that something "simple" was best. In the meantime, Daddy was letting Caleb run around and watching him.So, the gentleman started making Emma a butterfly that matched her outfit...In the picture below, I had asked her to smile, but you can't see her face as she's proudly holding her butterfly balloon sculpture.Next, Daddy suggested a dinosaur for Joshua (no more girly things...haaa!!!). Joshua is into dinosaurs lately, so that was perfect.Here was Joshua saying "fank you" for his new dinosaur. He's wanted to keep it in his hands all day.Next, we made a donation to the Alex's Lemonade Stand, 'fighting pediatric cancer.' Each child got a small muffin then, and little Caleb Luke was a mess!!! But he enjoyed it. Next we checked out the fire truck station.Caleb snuggled with his beloved Daddy, who he's missed not being able to climb on since Daddy was sick.At that table, the kids got a coloring book on fire safety tips, a bracelet, firehats, stickers, etc. Their hands were full!Next, after dropping some things off at the car, we went to the Gymboree stand. I saw one of the owners and chatted about Joshua's upcoming party. Her son got "Hello Kitty" painted on his face, so I didn't feel so bad about the flowers on my son's arm. Haaa!!! The kids chased the Gymboree bubbles......and then Emma & Joshua paused to make little Gymbo puppets. First they colored the picture of the clown, then they got to each pick out the color of the stick they wanted. The gal there put them together.Here Joshua is showing Grandma his puppet...

Next Grandma bought each one of them a beanie baby animal. Joshua's was a lion - the Bean roared, Caleb's was a lamb (he says 'aaaa-b'...it's too cute!), and Emma's was something rainbow colored (I'm forgetting what now). Thanks, Grandma!Finally, we checked out the shoe store that was holding this event. The gentleman measured both kids feet and we entered a raffle drawing. By that point, both my kids had darted out the door, so we didn't try anything on or buy anything (they were pretty pricey, too, I must admit). It was a fun morning out, though!Shawn & I left there and went to the store to run a quick errand before coming home for lunch, naps and a workout. Shawn had left his cell phone at Uncle Brian's when he went, so he ran over there quick to get it while the kiddos slept. After they woke up, we quickly got ready and went to church, followed by dinner, some outside playtime before the heavens let lose and now some indoor play fun before turning in for the night. Only one day left of summer!!!