Summer's in full swing!

Well, the kids had a blast at Pops and Grandma's last week in Mayfield. The highlights include fishing, bumper cars, movies, Chuck E. Cheese, Speedway racing, putt-putt golf, picnics, bowling, shopping for toys, Indiana Jones cereal and Kung Fu Panda cereal for breakfast everday and lots of icecream! Boy, were they ever depressed those first couple of days back home....nothing but healthy food, chores and bedtime curfews around here!!

Here's the whole gang on one of their many ice-cream outings....



Kevin and I had a great week, too. Besides eating out way too much and sleeping in way too late, we did get a few projects done around the house that had been on the "to-do" list for way too long! My big project was refinishing our kitchen table and chairs. They were in bad shape, but I didn't want to get rid of the set since they belonged to my grandparents and have a lot of sentimental value. So, with a lot of elbow grease and sweat and even a few tears of frustration, they are looking better than ever! Here's a couple of before and after pictures:

FINALLy got this project finished just in time for the whole gang to come over and grill out at our house tonight. My sister-in-law, Cynthia, and her 3 kids are in town this week, and my mom just arrived today from Atlanta. So all of them, plus Jonathan/Shawna and their boys were here for dinner and a very dangerous display of pyrotechnics in the backyard (Kevin and the boys made a run to the fireworks tent down the road for a little early Independence Day celebration) My picnic table will never be the same....but I'm not about to start refinishing that. I'm ready to take a good long break from any more "projects!"


Tuesday night the whole crew headed out to Dave & Busters, which is basically a giant Chuck E. Cheese for the more mature (HAH!) crowd. Most of us went bowling (though it was a little too tame for some of the older kids) Here are some pics of us at the lanes...

Eli keeping score












Rosie & Sophie with
cousin Aubrey






Me, Shawna & Cynthia trying not to break a sweat....




Kevin with Silas (Shawna's oldest boy)















Most everyone is headed out to Atlanta tomorrow, so the house will be quiet again. Mom is taking all four of our kids to Atlanta for a week, while Kevin & I take a short weekend trip to Louisville for some wedding festivites for one of my cousins and a little anniversary getaway for us since tomorrow is our SIXTEENTH anniversary! Amazing! Time flies when you're having fun, and my sweet, selfless, and wise-cracking hubby of 16 years still manages to make everyday fun. Sorry for the sap..........but he is pretty great and I feel very blessed.

More summer fun....

Well, enough about the boys....here's what the girls have been doing this summer.

Mary Rose has been staying busy with her friends, with violin and of course, with her one true love......books!

She gets into kind of a panic when she's on the last few chapters of a book if she does not have something else on hand to start reading immediately. Most people make a dash to the grocery when they run out of milk; we make unplanned dashes to the library because we've run out of books and can't last a day without them! It's an addiction, I tell you!

Last weekend, Mary Rose got an amazing opportunity to participate in an artistic workshop with Alexandre Renoir, who is the great grandson of the impressionist painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Alexandre is also an artist and one of our local museums had an exhibit of his work. Pierre also hosted a workshop for kids.....Mary Rose came home with an original sketch by him, which she painted at the workshop. It was a neat experience and she had so much fun attending with her friends Emily, Abigail and James. Thanks again to Mrs. Brenda for taking the girls! Here's a picture of Mary Rose at the workshop with Monsieur Renoir; she's standing a couple of people behind him in the striped shirt...

Sophie had lots of pool time last week with swim lessons in the morning and then a swim party for her friend Skylar's birthday. She LOVES the water! She is getting braver each summer and is finally going off the diving board. Here is a picture of her with her friend, Skylar....


Now for the REALLY exciting summer event..........all 4 kids are in Kentucky for whole week with Kevin's parents!!! They are so very generous and brave to take on all of those grandkids
each summer! Cousin Claire is also with them...the girls especially love having her there to spend the week at Pops and Grandma's, too. They are packing in the fun....the first day involved bowling, a movie and Chuck E. Cheese....all in ONE DAY!! I'm tired just thinking about it, but Pops & Grandma are going strong! I can't imagine what else the week has in store. Pray for them all!! Here is the gang all loaded up and heading out to Mayfield....look, Grandma's already praying....or maybe she's thinking "When I open my eyes, this will all just have been a bad dream...."


Kevin and I have been out on the town every night! It's amazing how much cheaper we can eat without 4 kids in tow! Last night, we puttered around Barnes & Noble with no kids......aahhhh (big sigh of contentment.) Tonight, we may get really crazy and go to the cinema.....

The season comes to a close....

Well, baseball season is officially over (FINALLY!!) !!

Isaac's team came in last place with only 1 win for the entire season, but that didn't stop somebody from going out and buying the most ginormous trophies for the team....it looks like they won the pennant or something! I have never seen a kid more excited about a trophy than Isaac. He has been carrying that thing everywhere with him....it goes with him to the bathroom, sits beside him at mealtime, rides in the car with him, and, of course, he wanted to sleep with it. Kevin even observed him going to the kitchen towel drawer and get out two towels...the first he got wet and proceeded

to clean his trophy, then polished it with the dry towel. This is when the trophy is about 2 hours old and already as shiny as a new Ferrari!

Jacob's team, the Rangers, played in the playoffs last night and won 1st place for the season against a team that had beaten us twice! It was a GREAT way to end the season!

Papa & Mimi were in town and got to watch him play before heading back to Atlanta. Also, Uncle Jonathan, Silas, Cooper and Kevin & Karen Bain all came to watch the big game. Thanks for the support, sports fans! Of course, a celebration was in order after the big win, so we headed to Dairy Queen. Here's Jacob with Papa & Mimi at DQ. We enjoyed having them in town for a much-too-short visit!

We've jumped on the blogwagon....

Hey there, friends and family, we've entered into the fray! This blogging epidemic looked so fun, we decided to give it a go! This should be a great way to give everyone short, but sweet glimpses into our oh-so-fascinating daily lives. Well, maybe not daily....perhaps weekly.....who am I kidding, we'll be lucky to get this thing updated once a year! So in case you've ever wondered "What are those Stinsons up to right about now?"......here's your answer!


This past weekend Pops and Grandma came into town for the day to see Jacob and Isaac's baseball games. It was a scorcher! Except for that fact that both boys lost their games, it was a fun day. Grandma was generous with her change "baggie" and treated the kiddos to lots of Icees, etc. from the concession stand. Sophie went public with her new glasses and was feeling pretty spiffy until a boy at the ballpark that she knows from school (who shall not be named) told her they looked "HORRIBLE!" We've been doing some self-esteem building exercises since then....




Sophie and Mary Rose

Pops and Jacob

Isaac with Kevin, who's helping coach the 5-6 year old "Pirates," an expansion team, so everybody on the team is new to baseball for the most part. Their record is like 1-15, but who's counting?! As long as we're having fun, right?