My Big Six-Year-Old

Taylor officially turned six years old today and had a wonderful birthday! First, she and mommy slept in (not intentionally!). Luckily, Daddy woke us up in time to make it to morning assembly where the whole school sang to Taylor.

Then Mommy surprised Taylor with McDonald's for lunch, and got to meet lots of her school friends.

Then Mommy came back at the end of the day to see her class sing to her and help her pass out her birthday treat (yummy cupcakes).

After school, Taylor went to the dentist where she got an extra prize for her birthday. We ended the day with one of her favorite dinners and more cake!

Charlie and Taylor's Birthday Party

We celebrated Charlie's 4th and Taylor's 6th birthday today.

The kids got to spend some quality time with the family.

Daddy made some delicious chili for dinner.

Mommy made a Thomas cake for Charlie.

Taylor's cake was Hello Kitty.

They were so excited to open their presents. Mommy was so proud of them when they remembered their manners and thanked everyone for the gifts.

Morgan had a good time, too.

Grace helped Taylor decorate cupcakes to take to school tomorrow.

At the end of the night, mommy remembered to take a family photo.

Charlie's Four!

Charlie had a great birthday! His class sang to him and he brought cookies and suckers to share. Mommy read a book to his class. Lots of people called and wised him a happy birthday (including Geoffrey the Griaffe). He got a Thomas toy from the family and to top it off, the whole family went to Chuck E Cheese for dinner!

Camping with the Big Kids

Mark and I took the four big kids camping this weekend at Kamp of America west of Dayton.

We stayed in a cabin that was the perfect size for our group.

The boys shared the futon and the girls slept in the bunk beds.

When we arrived everyone played in our yard while Mark started the fire.

I bought rubber snakes for the boys and they played with them the whole weekend.

There was a big field behind our cabin, and we played tag and soccer in it.

On Saturday we drove one hour to Ohio Caverns in West Liberty.

The kids loved it, but they weren't big fans of the total darkness demonstration when they turned out the lights.

One of these stalactites was 200,000 years old!

Back at our campsite, we played inside and outside until it was dinnertime.

They had a pig roast and all the campers brought a dessert. Charlie liked the cupcakes.

Then we bundled up more and waited for the hayride.

Then it was time for round two with the campfire!

I told 'scary' stories and the kids roasted marshmallows.

Finally Mark made some popcorn on the fire and we took it inside for a late night snack.

The next morning the kids slept in until 7:45! They then entertained themselves with squinkies and leapsters.

After breakfast and packing, we headed out to catch the train that travels through the campground.

We finished off our weekend with slushies in the cafe.

It was a great weekend and I hope we do it again!!