State Fair and Mooooooooooing

We headed to the State Fair with the Hackmans. Justin "mooed" during the Farmer's Market contest sponsored by Cousins. They voted him through to the State championships, which were held at the State Fair. Free tickets were included. The kids had a great time eating lots of yummy food and also checking out the animals and craft areas. Although Justin did not win the contest at the fair, we all had a great time!

Intrigued by the bees at the honey stand

a picture with the Cousins sub mascot

waiting in line for his turn to moo

Justin MOOOOOING

Craft area

New piglets born during the State Fair

Ian talking and trying to play with the horse

Ian looking at the horse

Cream Puffs! YUM!

Justin on the mechanical bull

The 2 Bens sliding down the bouncy house slide

Cami and Ben Hackman sliding down

Ian going down the bounce house slide

the kids enjoying a baked potato

Happy Birthday Cami

The weekend of July 30, Aunt Keri and Natalie and Grandma and Grandpa came to Madison to celebrate Cami's 6th birthday. The kids enjoyed spending time with Aunt Keri and Natalie on Friday then having Grandma and Grandpa arrive on Saturday morning. We always enjoying spending time with them when they visit. Grandma Sandy made a very special birthday cake. Cami requested a princess cake and grandma delivered!!! We all had a wonderful time. We played, ate cake, then headed to PAC to swim at Dolphin's Cover water park.

Cami's amazing birthday cake, created by Grandma Sandy

On August 1 we invited Cami's friends over to celebrate her 6th birthday. Cami has been looking forward to a swimming birthday party for many weeks. God blessed us with such a beautiful day. Her friends enjoyed swimming, playing games, and decorating birthday cupcakes.

decorating special birthday cupcakes

Cami's birthday guests

PAC Waterpark Fun

Another 90 degree day. A perfect day to head to the Water park for some fun! The park was packed, but we all had a great time!

She loves going down the tube water slide

Fresh off the water tube slide

HMMM...Where should I go next?

Mr. Baker B

This afternoon B asked if we could make brownies together. Since the kitchen was clean and counters were cleared off (not a common occurrence), I told him that I thought HE should make brownies. I told him that I thought he was old enough now to be able to do some baking on his own. I told him I would help by getting ingredients, and putting stuff in and taking stuff out of the oven. I told him that I was impressed by the way he cracks eggs when daddy makes crepes and how he is good at fractions and measuring things. I told him I was confident that he could do it on his own. He was SO excited, but also a bit nervous. After reassuring him that it didn't matter if the brownies "got messed up" (as he said), he got a chair and was ready to go. He put in ALL the ingredients, mixed it up, and poured it into the pan. I put it in the oven while he tasted the spoon.

The brownies turned out GREAT! He was SO proud! He couldn't wait for daddy and everyone else to try HIS brownies.

Mixing the ingredients together

Just look at his masterpiece

YUM!

Eastside Lutheran Soccer Camp VBS

Eastside Lutheran had their Soccer camp VBS this week. The kids enjoy seeing their friends from when they attended Eastside for preschool. The kids spend the week learning about soccer, playing games, and learning about God.

Ben (and Ian in the background) loves kicking the soccer ball around

Cami loved playing soccer this year

Kid of the Week

Today C got a special letter in the mail from a local radio station, Magic 98. The letter was to tell her that she has been chosen as Kid of the Week. With this honor comes a 2 month membership to The Little Gym, a place for gymnastics, dance, etc. She also gets her picture on their website for the next week!

She is a very excited little girl!!!!

Blog entries

So, I have to admit that I am usually good at taking pictures and starting a blog entry. Unfortunately, my entries are not always finished before I start another. The pictures don't always get uploaded after writing and so the blog entries sit in the saved mode until I get back to it. Today the kids headed to VBS at Eastside for their yearly VBS soccer camp. It gave me about 2 1/2 hours to come home and work on stuff around the house while the 2 little ones napped. Instead, I sat at the computer uploading pictures and finish 3 blog entries that I had started the last week or two. If you read the blogs, feel free to go into the history to see our day at Truax field for the Rhythm and Booms outing or check out the Mallards game from last night. Eventually I will get the grandparents day blog pictures up and post it and our exciting Day out with Thomas the Train. Enjoy!