Friday fun!

We took the kids to the downtown Palmetto Halloween festival last night. They got to dress up in costumes, play games, trick or treat, get their faces painted and...IT WAS FREE! Now that speaks to me!

I've actually been somewhat annoyed with all the "Fall Festivals" going on around the area. There is a big one nearby that so many people go on and on about. We went 2 years ago and it was okay. My biggest problem is that you have to pay to park, pay to get in, pay to ride any ride or play any game, pay to eat, pay to bounce in the bounce houses, pay to get lost in the corn maze, pay to pet the animals...pay, pay, pay. So, by the time we left, with children crying because they didn't get to do all of the fun and exciting things they wanted to, we had spent $75.00! And, we live in Florida, so it was 85 degrees and humid. So there.

But we had fun last night. The kids had their baseball and soccer games this morning. Randy cleaned mold out from behind the dishwasher (long, sad, Arwen has dishpan hands story), I weeded the front bed (can you hear my neighbors rejoicing?) and now I have to go fix supper. All in all, a good Saturday.

Here they are in front of the pirate ship. Yes, it was Reed's favorite attraction. No, that is not a storm trooper Bobble head...its Reed.
Cassidy getting her face painted.

My cutie lil' pumpkin!

Reed getting his face painted. What should he have painted?

A blue light saber, of course. We're in the Star Wars phase. Reed cried last night

after his bath because he forgot that he wasn't going to wash his head (ha...little did he know) and he laid down in the bathtub. By the time he remembered his plan to save his light saber, it was too late. Poor little guy. But it did save me from having to force him into good hygiene.

Unlocking the treasure chest. What was the treasure, you ask? Why, it was plastic fingers with long pointy nails that you stick over your own fingers! Treasure is in the eye of the beholder!

Wow! We can really BIRTHDAY!

My little Cassidy is now 5 YEARS OLD!!!! She had a great birthday that seemed to go on and on and on! We had her party a few days after her "actual" birthday, so she really was able to celebrate MANY times. In fact, at final count, she had 3 birthday "cakes": cupcakes at school with her class, a cake a Chik-fil-A on her birthday with the fam, and cupcakes at her party.

Here she is the morning of her birthday with her new, big-girl bike from Dad and Mom. She was able to take it for a quick spin in her jammies before getting ready for school.

We had a family party on Wednesday afternoon where she could open ALL of the fabulous gifts her grandparents and aunts and uncles sent!

Hog heaven!

Playing with some of her loot.

Cassidy chose dinner at Chik-fil-A (big shocker) for her birthday dinner and requested a...

PINK (shocking...I know) cake. Of course, Mommy complied! Strawberry cake with cream cheese icing is actually quite yummy!

Cassidy at her birthday party. We loved having Grandma Jane here to celebrate with us!

Cassidy was SO excited to wear a crown and sit on a "throne" to open her presents.

All I can say is...well, there is really nothing to say about this.

Blowing out candles!

I was finally able to get her to slow down to get one picture in the actual bounce house area!

Randy and Reed sliding down the big slide.

Fun was had by all. Cassidy felt very special. She is extremely happy to be 5. All in all, a success.

Busy days

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks. Life has been the usual hectic "start-of-school"
pace, thus the blog has suffered. Or maybe it is me that is suffering. Or maybe it is the floors that are suffering. Well, at any rate, here are some pictures of 2 kids who are NOT suffering (unless you count having to practice addition facts as suffering...and you might have point.)

Reed's first day of 2nd grade at Rowlett. Can you see my "fake it 'til
you make it" staging of this picture!Cassidy's first day of 4 year old preschool!
She LOVES everything about school!

Grandma Jane is here and we are loving it - especially Miss Cassidy who has found

a willing audience for her ENDLESS chatter! I'm loving it too! Grandma is such a positive person and a HUGE help to me!

Here is Miss Cassidy at her first soccer practice.

She was one big ball of energy! I loved seeing her run

and run and run and run! Click on the picture to see

her look of concentration as Coach was teaching them toe taps.

And here is red and sweaty Cassidy at the end of practice!

She loved it and I loved a channel for some of her energy!

Why Daddy gets the "Rock Star Love"!

I love my husband. He is the greatest guy I know. He goes to work every day and then comes home and is 100% involved with the family. A really fabulous husband and father.

With that said, I am occasionally slightly jealous of, what I have termed as, the "rock star love" our 2 kids have for their dad. You know what I mean...rock star love - sheer devotion and excitement induced just by walking in a room. But as I was looking at the newest pictures to post on the blog, I saw the hard evidence and solid proof of WHY they adore their dad. And boy, am I glad to have him! Thank you, God for Randy!

I mean, really, who else wants to launch the canoe in the tiny pond behind our house? And then spend the next 45 minutes just paddling in a circle.

What was I doing while they had this "awesome adventure"? I was doing the dishes...in a wonderfully QUIET house. And, for the record, Reed has asked EVERY night since this if they can launch the canoe again. Rock star love.

Let us not forget all of the cool things we would NOT have in the garage without Daddy. I certainly have never even owned one pair of waders...much less 2. Yep, rock star love.

2 tickets. Front row, box office seats. Spur of the moment opportunity to see the Rays. Well, of course Daddy can go! (Now, to be honest, I TOTALLY would have gone too, but we only had 2 tickets given to us.) Reed even got a ball from the game. Rock star love.

Cassidy and I watched parts of the game from home while folding clothes and playing beauty shop. Daddy doesn't play beauty shop. It may be one of his only short comings. Of course, I have no doubt, that Cassidy could convince Randy to play beauty shop if I wasn't around to run interference for him.

Let us not forget one of the joys of going to Tropicana Field. Cotton candy. And, if you were wondering, Randy would not leave the game until he had searched out the last remaining vendor of cotton candy and bought a pink one to bring home to Cassidy. Well deserved rock star love.

So there you have it folks. Without Randy, we would have a semi-clean house, clean clothes, really nice "beauty shop" hair and nails and a decided lack of adventure and fun in the Blankinship home. But we have Randy, and boy, are we, ALL 3 of us, REALLY glad to Randy. Rock star love!

It really was HER idea!

Cassidy has been asking me for months if she could get her ears pierced. My answer has always been "Yes, when do you want to do it?" (I wanted to pierce her ears when she was a baby, but I kept chickening out.) Then she would hedge a bit and say, "Maybe when I'm 5 or 7." The matter would then drop for a few weeks. Well, recently she changed her answer to, "How about we go pierce my ears today." I stalled her until after our camping trip (thanks, but no thanks to newly pierced ears and bacteria laden, infection inducing lake water!) We also convinced her to wait until her Aunt Becky came.

Aunt Becky arrived on Monday and here we are on Tuesday at Claire's to get our ears pierced. I had explained previously to Cassidy what was going to happen. I was hoping they would be able to do both ears at the same time, but alas, there was only one gal working that day. So the big moment came for ear #1 and, I have to say, I WAS NERVOUS! I was feeling jittery and pacing a bit. But maybe it was worse for the little girl in the hot seat!

It was a little dicey after ear #1 was completed. I was worried we were going to be heading out of there with only one ear done. But I grabbed the Cass in a sweet, loving but quite firm hug and the store clerk was FAST (I'm guessing she is used to this). And before we knew it (well, Cass probably knew it), it was done!

She may have thought, right when this picture was snapped, that she made a mistake. But her tears didn't last long! In fact, she perked up right up and then convinced me she needed a bracelet to match her new earrings!

Here she is! My big girl with pretty sparkly PINK flowers in her ears. You can click on the picture to get the full effect! Oh, and if you are wondering which bracelet she chose, she picked the multi-colored flower bracelet to the right of her. Each flower has a faux diamond as its center! Can't go wrong there!

Cassidy is happy with her newly pierced ears and Randy and I think she looks wonderfully cutie!

Whittington Family Camp in Tennessee

Boy, where does the time go? Here it is August 9 and I am FINALLY surfacing enough to post a few (and I use that term loosely) pictures from our fantastically fabulous and fun family foray into the wilds of Tennessee in July! We had a great time and LOVED being with our family. In fact, we had one little boy who was VERY, VERY sad to leave because he is old enough now to realize just how long it is between visits. But work and VBS won't wait, so we came home. And now that VBS is over (Thanks Becky!), I've got a little time to post.

Our family photo
Pa Gary and Gram Ava with all the grandchildren.

More Whittingtons...

including my Uncle Mike, Aunt Debbie and Shane, Stacey and

their cutie girls!

This is what happens when you let Becky and Reed go off by themselves

with the camera.

Yep...2 peas in a pod.

Surprise...Reed fishing!

And yes, he ran as fast as he could to show us and then

as fast as he could back to the lake to throw the little guy

back in.
Reed and Marla in the hammock.

Bad Unc and his "rough and tumble" nephew

I think this is a more accurate picture of Aaron, father of 3

little girlies!

Painting nails

Double trouble, but super cute!

At the Grand Ol' Opry.

We had a great time!

Randy and Dad in front of my "castle"!

Reed and Hallie playing cards - a true Whittington

camping tradition!

Another true Whittington camping tradition...if you want to

eat then you get a turn doing KP!

Pa Gary and Uncle Aaron taking the big kids out fishing.

Our rig!

We ate well, played hard and the pop up camper didn't leak in the rain storms! What more could you ask for?! If you said AC...well, we had that too! Whoo-hoo!

Texas Trek Trilogy: Reed's Birthday Party

Reed turned SEVEN years old on Wednesday, June 17. When I realized his birthday and our Texas trip coincided, I was excited to plan something fun for all the "gang" to do. I spent some time researching possibilities and decided on Fun Trackers in Corpus Christi.

Well, we ALL had a good time. And by all...I mean EVERYONE from the little guys all the way up to the big guys. I guess you can't go wrong with racing go karts and driving bumper boats.

To really enjoy some of these pictures, you have to click on the picture and it will enlarge. You won't be sorry...the facial expressions in some are hilarious!

The birthday boy on his first go kart ride.

Notice how his leg is fully extended. He was just barely tall enough for these.

Uncle Mark,on the other hand, had no problem reaching the pedals though.

Here is Andy who, we discovered, missed his calling as a "full-contact"

race car driver. And he also, by the way, doesn't follow silly rules like:

"No bumping into other cars."
Gram Ava with Reed, Cassidy and Laura.

Cassidy and I racing around the track. Notice, Cassidy isn't as cut-throat

as Andy or her daddy. She had to wave at the other cars and the by-standers.

Mom and Laura getting passed by Randy the Ruthless and his sidekick Reed.

To really enjoy Mom's expression, you need to click on the photo.

Getting strapped in. Note: Uncle Mark is strapping in the car beside us and

Mom and Laura are in the car behind us.

Reed and Daddy

Reed in his bumper boat. I am quite thankful for the rule about not spraying the onlookers with the water blaster. The next few pictures will illustrate why!

Click on this photo!

What a great sport Katie was...soaking wet, but a great sport!

Again, to really enjoy these, you need to click on them to enlarge.

Take that, Uncle Aaron!

Reed spending a moment with Marla.

The kids, minus the 2 babies, at the party. Reed is

sporting his new Storm Trooper helmet. And yes, we

somehow managed to get that thing home on the plane.

I did not let Reed wear it home even though he wanted to because Roger

told him is was a "chick magnet." Thanks, Rog.
Reed and Grandma Jane
Eating cupcakes
"Happy Birthday, dear Reed. Happy Birthday to you!"
Two of our cutie cousins, Hallie and Vivian

So, as you can see, we enjoyed ourselves at Reed's birthday party! What great memories!

Team Blankinship is leaving on our next big adventure in the next few days, so the blog won't be updated again until we return and I re-surface from the mountain of laundry and unpacking I'm sure to have.