Red, White, and Blue on the Fifth of July

Kathryn had us, my parents, Heather and kids, and Mark over for a 5th of July picnic. The fun began with an active game of tag.

Which quickly wore some of the participants out!
So we slowed down and had a yummy meal. Enough food for army!

Fourth of July!

Papa put El to work mowing the lawn as soon as we arrived! Well, actually just driving lessons. She will work up to mowing next year.
She enjoyed practicing driving and then parking to get refreshments and then taking off again.
Clearly Eva and Papa had a more difficult time... watch out tree!
I think she likes driving. What do you think?

To be fair... the tree was never in danger. I just caught the shot at an odd angle.

Red, White, and Blue on the Fourth of July

This is the fairy garden DeDe and the girls worked on during the day and evening. If you notice the pile of flowers to the left that is Eva's major contribution. She liked to gather sticks, stones, leaves, flowers and throw them on a pile. DeDe and PaPa have been working many hours in the garden after our departure. Wonder if they are still claiming this is, "just for the kids"?
The title of this blog is the song Eva sang relentlessly throughout the day. "Red, White, and Blue, on the Fourth of July!" I thought she must have picked it up from a Disney or PBS show. When I asked she said, "Lolo taught it to me." ~Thanks Lolo!

Sparklers!

Off to Findlay

We left Cleveland and headed to western Ohio. We are on our way to visit DeDe and PaPa for the Fourth of July. As we passed through lovely little Ohio towns, I was compelled to photograph this Ben Franklin 5 &10. I have not seen one in ages and ole Ben is my favorite historical figure. The photo below is one of the many corn fields we drove through during our three plus hour trek.

A quick stop

We stayed at Gramma Pat and Pa's for just a couple days. Here are a few pictures of us hanging out with grandparents, aunts, and cousins. We then traveled back to Cleveland where Eva and El hung out with cousins Katie and Lolo. Kathryn and I went out to a college Happy Hour with some friends from the good old days! Thankfully there is no photographic evidence from that evening:)

*I didn't add this because I could not remember the name of the "restaurant". Here are the sordid details from Katie's own words.

I remember Lolo teaching her that song as we walked down to the bar... I mean, restaurant.

(disclaimer: we ate at Buckeye Beer Engine while our parents were at a real bar, drinking. We were going to eat outside at the restaurant part but all the table were being used. So we are inside, with "nice decorations" as Eva said. The decorations were beer bottles.) hahah

July 26, 2010 4:23 PM

Arriving in Ohio

We arrived in Ohio at 10:40pm. Aunt Kathryn picked us up and we spent our first night at her home with Charger and Dodge. Eva was quite fond of Charger as he was small in size just like Lelly. El enjoyed Dodge as she was used to big dogs like Jake (best dog ever). The top picture was our ride to Ashtabula. Charger sat on Eva's lap the entire ride. In fact, Charger's paws rarely hit the floor from the time we arrived. Dodgey had plenty of room on the back seat but chose to sit as close and snugly with El as possible! I had to encourage him over with treats a couple times as he was squishing her. They weigh about the same.

Ready for the Holiday?

Eva: Mom? Is tomorrow when we go to Ohio?

Mom: Yes! (smile)

pause...

Eva: (big smile) Then today is Ohio Eve !!!

Get ready for fun:)

About A Roomful of Sugar

When I named my original blog I did not have time to think of a meaningful name. I named it what I was feeling at the moment, "Busy Busy Busy". While in Ohio we were discussing favorite movies and scenes. I mentioned that I was quite fond of Mary Poppins. I then broke out into song with "A Spoonful of Sugar". A little time went by and we heard Eva singing, "A room full of sugar helps the medicine go down...

Welcome to A Roomful of Sugar.

Barbie twins

We all went to see Toy Story 3. It was great (I had a tear at the end). I surprised Eva with the Barbie from Toy Story 3 just before going. She LOVES it. We came home and she wanted to have her bangs cut just like Barbies! I can finally get her to wear a pony tail...yea!!

Ohio... here we come!

I am booking the tickets as I type:)

We will arrive in the Buckeye state on June 29th at 10:20pm.

We will be mooching off the relatives until July 13th.

Looking forward to our visit... it has been 2 years!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET ELYSE!

We had fun, fun, fun on June 7th. For El's big day we rented a speedboat and went tubing! She had a couple of her bff's along for the day. We started about 2:00. I took the four girls out for the first hour and then Daddy and DeDe joined us for the second hour. There was a whole lot of screeching so I guess they were having fun:) We then came back to have (Dad's homemade) pizza and (DeDe made) cake. I put two candles on because it looks like the number 11 and would be easy for El to blow out and get her wish... well... she did not manage to blow them out. She opened her gifts and the "Twilight edition of People magazine" I saw and just picked up for fun was a hit.

My little girl has grown up.

Fun, Fairies, and Boots

Eva is enjoying the new front yard. She loves to be outside! She had spent hours making a fairy house so the fairies will visit our front yard. She also loves her pink and white cowgirl boots. Eva is especially excited that in one more day we get to "keep" Issy all summer long!!!! I can not believe summer is here already... but I am so ready for it.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

My kids are funny!

These are a few of the gifts they gave to Todd on his birthday.

The purple card is from Eva. El asked her what she wanted to say and wrote it for her. I am not so thrilled about her favorite thing! The green card was from El. That should help cut down on the arguments! The painting is from El. The pictures are from our dinner at Rocco's. I am not sure why the painting came out so narrow.

I'm in trouble

We just arrived home from picking El up from school. El went to the pantry for a snack, decided on Oreos and Eva wanted some too. El took two napkins and gave herself and Eva four cookies each. I then hear Eva from the pantry, "No, no, NO Issy... I wanted the whole bag... You are ruining my LIFE!"

We had a little talk:)

I just had to add this picture... it seemed to fit. This was from Daddy's birthday dinner. Eva did not want her picture taken.

Trample-M

El, Eva, Mallory, and Jessica all jumping on the trample-m (evaism). It is quite a bit of fun... I wonder how long before I hurt myself?

Happy Mommy Day!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day! El does not disappoint. We started with brunch at The Crossings where Daddy made reservations. After brunch El let me open some presents. She made me a bracelet (beautiful), made a slideshow set to music (sweet), and wrote a poem (made me cry), and cracked a confetti egg over my head (to keep me laughing). Eva told me she was getting my present. She then looked and looked around her room. She later said, "I tried to get you a present but I couldn't find anything adult enough".

When we returned home El treated me to a mani-pedi. She did the whole deal. My hands and feet are still soft! Eva helped out a bit too. While El was polishing my fingers, Eva put cream on my feet. She used the entire container and then wrapped my feet in tissues.

All in all a most wonderful day!!!

Poor Eva

Eva had her 4 year old check up. She was very worried about having to get shots. I can't blame her... I don't like them either. When the nurse came in she went a bit crazy yelling, "No! Please no Mommy!". Yes... it ripped my insides out! I knew we had to get this over with. I had to hold her hands and top of her body. When she actually received the first two shots there was no crying, then with the last two she cried a bit. The worst was before any shots were given! Then the poor sweetheart ran a fever from the immunizations and caught a cold. She slept a lot over the next two days.

Ahhhh...

The Lazy River opened today! I surprised the girls with an afternoon swim. They were thrilled! Eva is happy because she can breathe under water because she is half mermaid. (Wish me luck on that one!)

Landscaping

The landscaping is now almost complete! Luckily we had these great helpers. It is great to have a front yard to run in. I guess we need to buy a mower now. That should provide El a great way to learn how to drive:)

Overheard last weekend

Eva and her friend Lily were talking.

E: We can have a sleepover sometime... as soon as we find out where your house is.

L: Or my Mom can come and pick you up!

E: Your Mom is beautiful.

L: I know.