Great Wolf Lodge AKA Zach's Birthday Weekend!

Last Friday, we picked the kids up from school at noon and headed to Kansas City for fun filled weekend here:

We went there for Zach's 10th Birthday!! This was on the door when we got to out room:

 

The kids loved the room!

After we got our swimsuits on, we headed to the indoor waterpark, but stopped in the lobby first:

(Sorry these pictures were taken with my phone.)

The kids had so much fun!! And by kids, I mean the 3 little ones & Jeff. ;0)

We played at the water park for a few hours, then changed into clothes, took some more pictures in the lobby, then headed to the restaraunt in the Lodge.

Zach got a huge ice cream sundae for his birthday and the waiters sang to him. They tried to get him to get up & dance with them, but he refused to do it. ;)

Of course, Lily & Riley had to get some ice cream too! They also got wolf ears! (Lily was excited that they had pink!)

After dinner, we went up the the Magi Quest store so Zach could pick out his wand, belt, and wand topper & so they could start his game. Magi Quest is a game where they have wands that make things open or talk throughout the hotel, and you have to find runes and clues to figure out where to get powers so you can defeat the dragon. It is pretty cool & Zach LOVED it!

Before starting the game though, we changed into jammies and went to the Pajama Story Time!

The boys did not want to wait in line to hug Violet, they wanted to start Magi Quest, but Lily wanted her picture taken with her, so she & I did that while the boys & Jeff started the game.

Then we met up with them and played the game for about an hour.

Then it was time for popcorn and a movie before bed!

The next day, we got up and went swimming until lunch. I have no pictures of this. After lunch we stopped in at the sweet shop for some yummy ice cream.

Then the boys went off to play Magi Quest again & Lily & I went to the craft room to make crafts!

She painted a ceramic piggy bank and made a snowman.

While we looked for the boys, we ran into Oliver & Lily got her picture taken with him.

After more Magi Quest, we had dinner & waited for the arrival of this guy!

They had a tree lighting & then it "snowed" in the lobby!

Can you see the "snow" on them? It didn't come out in the pictures very well. =0( Oh well.

After that, we got in line to see Santa!

After that, we hit the water park again until it closed.

The next morning, Sunday, was Zach's actual Birthday, so we let him open his presents!

These two were little sleepy heads:

After presents, we went to the water park one more time before checking out.

Then it wa goodbye to Great Wolf Lodge. It was SO much fun!!

Before heading home though, we stopped at T-Rex Cafe for lunch for Zach's Birthday.

He picked out this volcanoe with dry ice for dessert!



Then it was time to head home. I think that Zach (and Lily & Riley) had a great weekend!

Daisy Scout Investiture

Last Tuesday, Lily and the rest of her Daisy Troop had a badge ceremony. They got official Daisy Scout badges, and Lily also received two other badges. One was for he Haunted Stroll she attended, and the other was for a Money Counts event she went to. First she did the Daisy handshake with her leader, Miss Gladie:

Then she got her badge pinned on!

All of the Daisy Scouts!

After the ceremony, the girls all sang a song called, "I'm a Little Daisy" that had actions. It was too cute & they did a great job!

Lily is having so much fun in Daisies and learning a lot!

Getting Ready for Christmas

We actually decorated for Christmas last weekend, but I am just now getting the pictures up on the blog. There were a few fights, and Lily took sooooo long to put up the decorations that are only hers that she missed out on helping put up the "family" ones. So, she went down the basement stairs and pouted. So dramatic.... That lasted until she realized we still had candy canes to put up, so she was OK after that and helped out. So, overall, not too bad. :0)

I'm trying out a new idea this year for Christmas. I always have all of these ideas I want to do/make with the kids, but half of the time, I get to the 20th & I try to cram everything in and it is more stressful than fun (for me). So, this year, I decided to try to be more intentional with our time. I made a calendar and put at least one thing I wanted to do each day until Christmas. I used our regular calendar as a guide so I knew when to put small stuff. For example, on Sunday, we were in KC, so I just put read Christmas stories together. But later this week we are going to make sugar cookies and decorate them when I know we will have more time in the evening. Some of the other things we have listed are:
Watch the Grinch & make Grinch cookies & punch, make reindeer with hand & footprints, look at Christmas lights, make gingerbread houses, and I need to add a Nativity activity that I just found to the calendar, but there are lots more fun things on it! 
We are also doing acts of kindness throughout the month. We know that we are so blessed, and we try to show the kids how blessed they really are, so we hope this will help show them that Christmas isn't all about what they want, but that we need to help others and love one another. And of course, we have our Advent Wreath that we use every night. I am so excited for this season to begin! 

Happy 10th Birthday Zach!

Ten Years ago, Jeff & I were blessed with the sweetest bundle of joy we could ever have imagined. We couldn't know what a wonderful adventure he has taken us on these past 10 years, and and I can't wait to see what the years ahead hold for him!

10 Things About Zach:
1. You are incredibly smart. Your intelligence astounds me sometimes.
2. You are so loving. You would do anything for your family.
3. You are so imaginative! You will sit with a piece of paper for an hour making up new inventions!
4. You love to read. You will read anywhere, anytime!
5. You HATE any kind of change.
6. You are my researcher. If you don't know it, you want to look it up and learn about it.
7. You are such a big helper! Anytime Dad or I need help, you are there to step up.
8. You are so funny, and I love to listen to you laugh.
9. One of your favorite things to do is to mix things together to see what they will do/make. You are definitely the scientist of the family!
10. You are our first born. We have had you the longest. We learned how to be parents with you. :0)

I can't believe how fast 10 years can fly by. You are no longer my baby, or my little boy. You are growing so fast! I love the person you have become, and Dad & I could not love you more. Happy Birthday Zach!!