Cory & Emily Chambers Family: August 2009

Thanks to our friends the Hintz's, we were able to attend Saturday's Owlz baseball game. We all went together and the kids had a great time trying to

catch fly balls,

playing on the playground and

just having fun together .

I had suspected that the highlight of the game (for the kids at least) would be the fireworks display afterward. As it turned out, it was the

marriage of Hootz and Holly

(the mascots)

that proved to be most exciting.

Jane was a bit disappointed that Holly didn't have on a wedding dress--only a veil and her regular dress. After the "ceremony" the owls rode off on a golf cart. Jane was sure they were

riding off to their castle.

After they drove off, the fireworks started. Two songs were played, one of which was "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. As it played, Jane said, "Now they can dance." When the fireworks ended, and we were heading home, she started crying because we didn't ever get to see them dance. She was slightly appeased, however, when they handed out

wedding cupcakes

(only for the kids)

as we left the stadium.

It was a fun, though very late night.

Since I've been such a lousy blogger this summer, I thought I'd give you a few highlights.

Olivia learned to ride a two-wheeler, and Jane can really cruise on this lovely Dora bike.

(Thanks Dave and Nancy!)

Note Jane's attire. She often asks me

"Can I put on a dress-up so I can be a beautiful girl and dance?"

When I went out to get the newspaper one morning (it was just before the 4th of July) I heard what sounded like a marching band. I told the kids and we prepared to go for a little walk to find the music. When they came upstairs, the band rounded the corner onto our street. It was fun having our own personal parade. (Later that day I noticed another family's kids parading around the block with their instruments. It was obviously a fun event for the kids!)

For the 4th of July

we had our annual family barbecue and water fight prior to watching fireworks.

As usual, we all went swimming first. Ella loves the pool. She especially loved standing on my HUGE belly.

(I can't believe I still had 2 months to go at that point!!)

This little pool was originally set up for the babies,

but was quickly taken over by the bigger girls. They had a blast!
Jane and Eva had a great time eating watermelon while swimming.

After swimming and eating dinner,

the kids got to decorate their own cookies (and some of their faces).

Next, we had the water fight.
It started with water balloons. Grandpa was a favorite target.

I had scolded Cory for being the only guy who wasn't participating in the water fight, and he called me out for not participating either. By the time I had at least partially changed, they had pretty much run out of water balloons. I then got involved by attempting to dump the cooler on someone (John?), then the hoses were let loose. We noticed Gustavo was still very dry, and the fight began. I think I got him pretty well after lots of chasing him around the yard, but I was completely soaked.

Eva had already changed out of her swimsuit, but she wanted to participate in the water fight too. Once, Gustavo and I finished with the hoses, Eva took her turn soaking Grandpa.

Moving on to July 22nd

For Anne's birthday I made the cake of her choice. . . twice!

The first cake never quite made it to the frosted stage. Jane kept asking for lunch and I kept delaying, so when I finally came upstairs, I found that she had helped herself to nearly half of the bottom layer of the cake!

This delayed our party plans just a bit as I had to make another cake. (Thankfully, we were able to only run about 30 minutes behind our original schedule.)

Then when we returned from swimming I hurriedly made the frosting (somewhat unsuccessfully at that) and left for dinner. When we returned from dinner and invited everyone for cake, I moved the cake to the bar, and unfortunately. . .

Jane found it again and helped herself!