Sunday, July 20, 2008

Art Fair Parade, City Bus Ride, Last Day of Camp, Sierra's Party and the Baby Revealing

Phew! Friday was busy. We started the day with a kiddie parade kicking off the Art Fair at our neighboring Bush Park. There were hundreds of kids there. Our kids were dressed as a cowboy and cowgirls. Originally, Mia pulled a wagon with a momma and baby horse and a little kitten poking out the back, Josiah carried the pooper scooper shovel for the horses, and Sierra pushed her baby stroller which was a last minute change from the original plan of riding the horses. All was going great until Sierra began to feel overwhelmed by the crowd so she ended up riding the horses anyway, which prompted Mia to want to ride, which left me as the wagon puller and Josiah pushing Sierra's stroller. You really feel the slight hills at the park more when you're pulling a wagon with two girls, two horses and a kitten. Josiah was a trooper with the stroller.
After that, we dropped Josiah off for his last day of Canyonview Day camp then the girls and I walked a block to the free Art Fair shuttle bus and got to ride the big city bus downtown to meet Grandma Linda for lunch. The girls felt so big because they didn't have to wear seat belts. I thought they looked so small in those great big seats.


That evening we went up to Canyonview to join Josiah for dinner, meet the rest of his counselors and see their closing camp ceremony. In the pictures he's wearing red, just up from that ladies head. He had a blast again this year and was very proud to be up front singing songs with the big group. Part way through the songs I guess Mia was feeling left out. She slowly inched her way up to the group of campers in front of all the parents and tried to sneakily join in. Nothin' doin' by her brother. He kept noddin' his head for her to make an exit and then pointing off to the side. Then he made those desperate eyes for me to get her out of there.



Thankfully a huge fight didn't erupt and I could convince Andrew to be the one to go retrieve her so I didn't have to try and chase her. Yes, she did try to run but the long arm of the law snatched her just in time. I told her that her time was coming to be a camper but this time was for Josiah. You can imagine how wonderfully that soothed the whole situation. Sierra just watched the whole thing from atop daddy's shoulders.

Yesterday was the birthday party for Sierra and we had so much fun. Daddy went above and beyond with my request for him to purchase a slip-n-slide. He ended up getting a huge blow up water slide that filled one side of the front yard. The kids had a blast! We also found a bubble machine on clearance and a huge tub of sidewalk chalk for the times when they needed to warm up out of the water since the weather was not quite as hot as it's been. Either way, the kids stayed busy which is always nice at these things.


Once all the guests had arrived and I had lunch well on it's way, we stopped for the great baby reveal. I tied a pink ribbon on Snip the cream colored beanie cat and a dark green ribbon on Luke (or Uke as Sierra calls him, or Ukelela as Daddy calls him) the black beanie dog. I opened the card which held the fully labeled ultrasound picture and then whispered to Sierra which animal to bring me. That way she was the one who got to make the announcement. Oh, you want to know which one it was?! Snip. Yes, we're having a girl and all parties are happy thanks to "Where the Red Fern Grows" whose character has three little sisters. Josiah strongly wanted a boy until he read that book, then he wanted to be like Billy and thankfully that included the sisters. When Josiah switched from wanting a boy to wanting a girl, Mia decided to switch to wanting a boy. I guess just to balance things out. After the reveal I asked her, "What do you think? Another sister in the family." She gave me a big thumbs up. Praise the Lord! I had also talked to the doctor on Friday about the ultrasound and learned that it showed a healthy baby. That's a major praise!! Now that we know it's a girl we have the joy of deciding on a name and I love how instantly I have bonded with her.

After lunch the kids did a Dora style scavenger hunt using "The Map" that I made. First they found their different prizes around the yard, then they found their way to cake. Sierra had some help from her older siblings with the candles but she was getting really tired anyway and didn't seem to mind as long as the task was done. Josiah had made a special blue heart candle at camp so that was her main candle on the cake.


By the time Sierra opened her presents I thought she would fall asleep in the wrapping paper. Again, I'm thankful there were no melt downs, and she was able to muster a quiet "thank you" to her guests.

After naptime, though, all energies were restored and it was back to the water slide until bedtime.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sounds wonderful!!!

A GIRL!!! Well, you can just keep passing down their cuteness :) What fun. And praises for happy siblings as well.

Sounds like you are having a wonderful summer, Noah asked if you guys had moved yet? I said not yet! But soon. So hard for little ones to grasp, but we are praying for just the right buyers to come and bless you and the buisness as well.

Lord, lift me above my own narrow horizons, that I might fulfill your true vision for me. - B.J. Hoff