Back To School Party

I am convinced that it is more difficult to get your kids to sleep the 

night before school starts 

than it is on Christmas Eve. Seriously.

They were wired. 

Wrestling...squealing...jumping .

Their adrenaline rush even sent them into a little

love fest, which was fun to capture.

They finally settled down enough to pack their lunches. 

Bryce joined in the fun and packed a lunch to take on his trip to Grandma's the next morning.

I love Bradley's bottom lip. 

In the words of his Aunt Jenny, "He needs a wheelbarrow to haul it around". 

So delicious and squishy. You haven't lived until that boy has given you a kiss on the cheek. 

He lives a tormented life of girls chasing him on the playground, because of it.

While packing lunches, we realized that Bryce has an uncanny resemblance to 

Thomas the Train.

Thanks to Pinterest, I had the teacher gifts ready to go. Apples and Caramel dip. Mmm... 

  

 Tom gave each of the kids a Father's Blessing for their first day of school. 

This is my favorite part of Back to School Eve.

Morning came early. Tom thought the kids would make more friends if they went to school smelling like bacon....so he filled the entire house with bacon smoke. His plan worked and their hair and clothing was saturated with smell of bacon grease. The bonus was that Tom and I also got to smell like bacon when we walked the kids into class. Collectively, I am sure we were quite the stink.

There was also some egg stench thrown into the mix. Tom makes the best eggs...even if they ARE stinky.

Bradley was first to be dropped off.

Oops. I forgot to include something in the picture....

BAM! (Yes...those are the shoes he chose. 

So happy I will never have to worry about losing him in a crowd.

And then Karah. Off to Middle School. 

Pinch me. Is she really that old?

Walking down the Middle School Halls... brave girl.

The day flew by and before I knew it, they were back home telling 

me about all of their first day adventures. 

They were so excited for their back to school dinner party... again, sponsored by Pinterest.

I was so excited to find these adorable Apple napkin rings at Pier 1. 

I got to use my birthday gift certificate that my mama gave me.

The kids loved seeing some of their artwork from previous years.

The fancy dinner was served.

I went to the school cafeteria to buy the milk cartons. 

Why does milk taste so stinking good out of a cardboard box?

This year I decided to stick with a simple dessert of cupcakes with toppers that I made with cake pop sticks and scrapbook "thingys". Can you tell I'm not a scrapbooker?

The kids loved their grade level cupcakes, the best.

It was much easier to get them in bed, that night.

Worn out from their long, exciting day...they were READY for bed.

(Bradley was faking sleep here, I suspect)

Sweet dreams...of the second day.

The Un-Amusement Park: A Story of Tragedy and Triumph

Unbelievably, the last Saturday of the Summer arrived. 

The kids voted to cross off another To-Do on our Summer Bucket List. 

The verdict was the Route 66 Carousel Park.

Let's make one thing clear before I go any further. This aint no Six Flags. 

It's a glorified carnival on three counts: 

1. It's "erector-set" roller coasters are permanently affixed to the ground

2. The workers are cute teenage kids...with all of their teeth. 

3. There are no funnel cake booths...hence no random puddles of vomit.

It's a win all the way around. 

Unfortunately, one thing this place has in common with the carnival is $25 arm bands to ride unlimited.

Karah and Bradley braved a coaster together. Bryce was too suspicious to attempt it.

Heck...Bryce was suspicious of everything. I think his inner voice was telling him that this place wasn't like any other amusement park he had been to. His guard was definitely up.

He was eventually coerced into trying a "baby coaster".

He didn't find anything "baby" about it. Too intense for this skeptic. 

I love the poor look on Bradley's face. How exactly DO you comfort a terrified little brother when held captive by a maniacal crocodile? (or is that an alligator?)

He wanted to be brave, so badly. He climbed the huge slide...got to the top...and...freaked. 

It was a very tall, rickety slide... in his defense. I think I saw Tom crying, too.

The Route 66 Carousel Park was quickly becoming the Route 666 Carousel Park, to Bryce.

The disappointment of the roller coaster and slide were too much to handle. 

The wounds were too deep. 

The bouncy pillow couldn't even smooth things over for him.

It was apparent that Bryce found no "amusement" at this park.

The show went on for the others.

Bumper cars...

Bumper Boats...

If it looks like we were the only people there...that's because we pretty much were. 

I think there were about 12 people, tops.

My favorite part was watching Karah and Boo on the Go-Karts. 

They took it very seriously and took great joy in not letting people pass. 

The boy stuck behind them was in the same boat as Bryce. 

No amusement to be had.

The light appeared at the end of Bryce's tunnel. Goofy Golf, as he calls it. His favorite.

The Route 66 Carousel Park had found redemption. 

Bryce actually asked if we could come back.