Lake Weekends

We had some fun weekends at Center Hill Lake this summer. There are 11 kids, so we devised a plan to take turns on the boat, with a group swimming by the shoreline. I think for some of the little ones, that was the favorite part.

 CC.

 The lake house provides a great place for the cousins to spend time together. This group created a hip hop dance for us!

 Tube rides, skiing, wake boarding, knee boarding....they are all learning so many skills!

 Even Sweet Cheeks!

Clean Fun

I feel almost certain these girls had no idea I was photographing this.

Miss Middler's Piercings

This summer was Miss Middler's turn to get her ears pierced. After 2 big sisters in years past miraculously were transported to Wal Mart in the middle of the summer, with a cousin riding along, giggling in the backseat, at the very age of "almost 12," Miss Middler figured out what was happening to her before we ever got out of the car.

CC has gone along every time. He wants to make sure they mark her holes in the right place!

She was very brave!

Beautiful! And growing up! (And, I might add, this is the same girl who's been hauling dead trees to build a fort in the forest behind our house! Don't let the earrings fool you, she's a tomboy at heart!)

Slip N Slide N Rip

Nothing says summer like slip n slide with cousins! We actually had one broken one from last year, but CC linked it to a second for a super long slide.

One day while CC was working on something outside, he heard 'rip.' A few seconds later, another 'rip.' He checked his pants, no rips, so he just ignored it. Later, my mom was washing clothes and found the rip...in the seat of his boxers! She safety pinned a little note inside that said, "POW!" I died laughing...and when CC found his note, he laughed, too, and thanked for alerting him before he tried to wear them again!

Memphis to Nashville

We ended up our Memphis time with some fun family memories. We ate out sushi with D and K. How did I forget to take a picture? (We've decided sushi is the tradition, no need to choose anymore.) We also had a lovely steak dinner out with Mimi and Grandad. When you know your time is very limited, you become a very intentional person. I have had friends tell me over the years, "That looks fun." or "We live in the same town, but hardly ever do that." Don't take folks for granted! Call your mom, dad, sister, friend and schedule something!

We decided our last family meal for summer of 2013 in Memphis would be Thanksgiving! Holiday ham, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and Sister Shubert rolls. mmmm. Yes, in July.

We said our goodbyes to our Memphis family and headed up to Nashville to finish our time there. Upon arrival, Sweet Cheeks had her Nashville birthday with the number 8 in gumballs.

 Grandma bakes a cake for every kid during the summer, and we sing happy birthday to them! For Sweet Cheeks, it really is a birthday month.

Glasses!

When Sweet Cheeks was at the end of first grade, she was given a school eye screening. The nurse suggested I get her eyes checked. The summer passed, and I never scheduled an appointment. I think it did not rise to the level of urgency because, afterall, CC still does not wear glasses. And I didn't get them until 40. I guess I thought somehow she just had a silly day or would do better next time. But then this past Spring, I occasionally noticed her eye cross in. She was so excited to get her eyes checked and so hopeful she would need glasses. I told her over and over to please remember that sometimes eye exams did not result in glasses. Sometimes kids needed an eye patch, sometimes nothing. I sat with her as she bombed the eye test! I could NOT believe it. How could my little darling be so farsighted, and I had no idea? Her eye was crossing as a result of being so tired of helping her farsighted eye. I sat there feeling a range of emotions...how I could not 'fix' her like I could with cuts and scrapes...how she was her own unique person even though her DNA came from us...how thankful to God I was that He showed my thick head a couple of red flags which prompted the visit...how thankful I was that my sis-in-law took some initiative to ask the doctor, who was filled up all summer, to make an exception for me.

And so yes. She needed glasses. And she could not have been happier!

Sweet Cheeks is officially the only 'kid' in our family to wear glasses, and we all think that makes her very special! And the best news of all is that as soon as she put them on, she said, "Everything looks good now!" She looks good!

Putt Putt Party

We so enjoyed our annual tradition of a Putt Putt birthday party for Sweet Cheeks with her Memphis cousins. With our 5 and their 3, we make up a party of 8! We started with a quick game of mini golf. I think Big Ben applied some hockey strategies to his game.

The birthday girl in her shades.

Sisters and cousin

Uncle D and Aunt K

 The sweet employee of Putt Putt who was in charge of our party made my day. She did not know my name, so she just kept calling me "Party Mom." I'd like that one to stick. She also asked me, "Will your dad be playing laser tag?" My dad was not there, nor my father-in-law. Only CC. a-hem.

 

In addition to mini golf, we got to play laser tag. Big Ben was not old enough to play, but the guys let him stand by the height chart. He stood on his tiptoes and held his neck as high as possible and cleared it. He was one happy boy with his laser pack and gun. We also had 30 minutes of unlimited arcade games. My personal favorite was the snow sled. I could fly off of a cliff, but I never died. That is my kind of game.

 We ended with go karts and water-spraying bumper boats.

And the funniest thing to happen all night was at the end. It was late. VERY late for Campbell kids. You know when you just get to that point where you want to load them, click the seatbelts, and know you are on your way to getting them to bed? Well, they were "dying" of thirst, so I told them they could run back inside to get a water fountain drink. We waited and waited. Finally, I went in to find out what was taking so long. Twinkle Toes had, just for a  last-ditch effort, spun the Pirate's wheel for tickets and hit the 1000 jackpot. The line of tickets coming out of it stretched to the door. So, we waited for the tickets. Then we redeemed them in the machine. Then we went up to 'buy' the junk that you can buy with those things. Twinkle Toes let her cousin and sister get the giant, oversized sunglasses they'd had their eye on. Then she got Big Ben a car he had wanted earlier but did not have enough tickets to get. Then she got herself a mini flashlight. The looks on their faces when that machine started chugging out the 1000 tickets was priceless. And suddenly it didn't matter that it was VERY late and that I was very ready to load them up.

Happy birthday, Sweet Cheeks, you are a wonderful excuse to party!