Play Date with School Friends

After Ivie's t-ball game this morning, Ivie and Macie's friends from school, Caroline and Cameron, came over for a play date. Dale had the idea for them to finally paint the "Color Me Rocket" we'd won, so, while he and Iv were gone to the game, I pulled out the paint. The paint that I admit to having previously told Ivie we didn't own (so that I could postpone the painting of the rocket).

But since the rocket has been put together, boringly-devoid of any color, in our foyer for a couple of weeks now, I figured it was time for me to get over the fact that it was probably going to be a bit messy for a 4-year-old and an almost-2-year-old. So why not just take the leap and do it with 2 4-year-olds and 2 2-year-olds?!?

The girls had a lot of fun painting. And it wasn't as messy as I thought it might be (best of all, it stayed true to its "washable" name and did not permanently stain Dale's khaki shorts or my shirt!) But, as you can see from the "finished product", this is going to have to be a multiple-session paint job to get the entire surface area covered!


After about 15 minutes, the girls were ready to move on to something else. So off came their "smocks", and the big girls headed into the living room for some princess dress-up time, while the littles played with the various push toys.

Next came the playground. Pretty much every day when Dale or I pick the girls up at school, Caroline makes it a point to tell us that she wants to come play on Ivie's playground. Ivie must talk about it a lot! Since it was really hot and almost lunch time, though, we only spent about 15 minutes outside. But there was a swing for everyone, so they all got their fill.





When our 15 minutes was up, we came inside for a Chick-fil-A nuggets lunch. And don't forget the all-important juice boxes!



Then, sadly, naptime arrived. Ivie and Macie were sad to see Carolina and Cameron go, but I have a feeling another play date together will be in their future soon. It was activity-filled morning. Let's hope that translates into a LONG NAP. (And maybe a little one for Mommy, too!)

Movie Quoter

We went grocery shopping at Target this morning before church (still trying to get used to our church switching to only one service during the summer, held at 10:25a - LATE for us!).

We entered the store at the produce section, and Dale mentioned that he had a "$1 off" Target coupon for "berries". I asked him if strawberries counted, he said yes, so I ventured in that direction, pushing Ivie (Dale had Macie's cart).

When I got to the strawberries, I exclaimed, "Oh, good, they're on sale, too!". (Gotta love a bargain!)

To which Ivie responded:

"It's on sale? I'm gonna get on the bottom of this. I'm gonna get on the bottom of ALL OF THIS."

I'd never heard her say this before, so it took me a while. But then I almost fell over laughing.

Does anyone know the movie she quoted? I couldn't find it on YouTube, so I just filmed it myself with our Flip. She didn't do half-bad with her quote - only got one word wrong!

I'm still laughing at the randomness of it...

T-Ball: Year #2, Practice #1

Those of you that have followed this blog for at least a year know that Ivie's first experience with t-ball wasn't that great. (If I may digress for a moment... Who am I kidding? My blog following right now is pretty much exactly the same as it was from the day it began. I have 10 followers, and about 15 others that are forced to read any updates I send because the blogger email system sends them an email each time I submit a post. That makes a total readership of about 25, not counting the random hits that I get from those on Facebook who click over every once in a while when I do a status update saying that I've done a blog post. And THEY only click over because they know it's the only way to get to see updated pictures of the girls. At least I'm putting this blogging experience into perspective. In other words, I'm pretty much just doing it for myself. As a way to be able to write something unrelated to NCAA regulations. And maybe as a way to someday entertain my children, and their children, and their children...)

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. T-ball.

Today was Ivie's first practice of her second season of t-ball. I've been cautiously optimistic (I know you don't believe it, Dale!) that being a year older would dramatically improve her attitude toward the game (which, last year, really only meant a reason to hang out with the cool sno-cone cups at the water coolers).

So this morning, I sent Ivie and Dale off to the baseball field (I stayed home with Macie, who was recovering from a sore throat) with exclamations of "Have FUN, Iv!" and "Listen to your coaches, okay!?!".

Now, if you haven't done so yet from the hyperlink above to the first t-ball post from last year, click over and do it now. Because the rest of this post is not going to be as funny to you if you don't.

I'll give you a moment...

Alright. So when Dale and Ivie got home from practice, and I asked Dale to "fill me in" on how it had gone (I was ready to take mental notes for the blog I would need to craft later), I got the following response.

"It was fine. She did pretty well. But her hitting is actually worse than last year, so we'll need to work on that."

That was it, folks! I asked several times for some stories. I got nothing.

Which is why I guess I'll need to drag Macie to the field from here on out so that I can experience (and document) t-ball for myself. Because I'm apparently not going to get anything out of her daddy...!

Except for some pictures, that is. He DID agree to take the camera (since it was team picture day, as well, and I wasn't about to pay $16 to get the version offered by the professional photographers), and he got some cute shots.

In other words, it wasn't a total bust in terms of a blog post. And I should look on the bright side. At least this way I don't have to write a long story. Not to mention that my friend Stacy might actually READ this whole thing, instead of just skipping to the pictures.

The Preparation/Practice at Home

Waiting for Some Action

Time to PLAY!

Batting...

Dale's Version of the Team Picture!

Her Last Day

I can't believe it's over. Amanda's been here for 7 weeks, and she's leaving tomorrow. The Hermans are officially in denial.

I know it's crazy, but we didn't do a "photo shoot" with Amanda and the girls the entire time she was here. So tonight, on her last night, we gave it a shot.

As you'll see, it didn't turn out as we'd hoped. Macie, particularly, was "done". School continues to wear her out on a daily basis, so getting her cooperation after 5p is no easy task. And we pretty much failed at it tonight.

So this is more of a photo shoot of hilarity than anything else. But it's the best we could do!

We'll miss you, Amanda. Thanks for spending your summer with us! You can come back any time. Just to hang out. And wash sippy cups, of course.

Wordless Wednesday (#21): Me, A Long Time Ago

Show-and-Tell, Round 55: Ice Cream Scoops

I saw these adorable ice cream scoops (and 2 accompanying cones) on one of the social shopping sites that I frequent. So I checked on Amazon, found them cheaper (and with free shipping!), and ordered them to help teach Macie her colors. Then Ivie promptly latched on to them for Show-and-Tell last week. The story of Macie's life.

My Movie Monday (#7): I Sowwy

Week 7 of joining Chrissy, over at Traveling Light, for...

I'm not sure what's cuter. This video of Macie saying "I'm sorry"...




... or watching her watch herself on the video and repeat her lines in unison with it.

Back to the New River

Year 2 of the Herman Fourth of July tradition of spending the holiday at the New River in Boone, NC, with Dale's mom, Emma Jean, his brother, Doug, and Doug's family, Jennifer, Luke, and Rod. Also joining us, again, were many members of Jennifer's family.

The bottle float made another appearance. And, yes, Ivie still thinks it's honey.


There was no fishing this year for Ivie (and she was quite disappointed). But we DID (against my better mom judgment) let her swing on the "big kid swing", which appeased her.


Before I gave in, though, I had Dale test it out. He's scared of heights, so I was sort of surprised that he did it...


And I was even more surprise that I gave in to his "encouragement" (read - goading) to check it out, myself! I'm not scared of heights. But I'm not a fan of doing things that are in the least bit dangerous. I mean, what if the rope had split, or something? Go ahead, call me a scaredy-cat. I've come to accept that about myself...


But since I was out there "on a limb", I thought I'd make some good faces for the camera, at least!



So, anyway, the rest of the day was spent just lounging around. At the badminton court, on the hammock, under the tents, in the floats.





Dale and Ivie took an hour-and-a-half float down the river, during which Dale pretty much had to walk the whole time because the river wasn't really "flowing". Macie snagged a short nap (the duration of which I'm unsure, since I dozed off myself!) in the camper, and then was pretty happy just hanging out with the adults. Looking cute and making for a good photo subject... Oh, and snacking on pretzels.




Another great holiday with family. Thanks for hosting the party, Herman clan!

The REST of the Wedding Story

After seeing the last post, you might have thought that I spent my entire day photographing my little flower girl. You would be almost right. But I did manage to move the camera away from the little princess a few times to take some other shots, as well. Many of them included Macie (obviously!), but no one was entirely safe from my wandering lens...

Olivia, Ivie's Partner-in-Crime


Me and My Girls, Wedding-Style


Macie, Post-Wedding


Time to Eat!!!


And More Favorites...