I think this was one of our first outings as "just the girls" while Blake was at school.

While Alexandria does love playing with her brother she seems to be enjoying her "just the girls" time quite a bit!

No trip to the library is complete without a visit with our little library buddies.

You can tell she really loves them because she is sharing her special ladybug blanket with them.

I guess I haven't dumped the pics from my little purse camera for a bit because I see some shots from the Campout (in July) still on there.  So sad that summer has passed us by once again.  But we did have a fabulous summer!

We were parked, I assure you, when this was taken.

Coolin' off at The Dairy Shack.

Yes, I am one of the people who miss this weather.

On Labor Day morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  And no trip to Cracker Barrel is complete without a stop in the gift shop and a rock in the rocking chairs.

Some of us wore our jammies to breakfast.

Our neighbor, Rachel had a birthday party at a local pottery store, and the kids had a fun time spending time with their friends and painting their pottery.

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And in case anyone is wondering, a place full of breakable pottery maybe isn't the best place for your young son's next birthday party.  We managed to get out of there without breaking anything, but this kind of party is much easier to manage with a group of girls vs. boys.  There were only a couple of boys there, so this party went pretty smooth.

I will have to post pictures later of what the finished products look like.  The pottery place keeps them and does some kind of refining process (heating them, maybe) and they come back looking all glossy.  The kids were thrilled with the end results.

The birthday girl!

Party people.

Blake had been wanting to have Calvin and Isaac over almost all summer long, so finally as summer was coming to a close we had them over for some fun in the sun on a Saturday afternoon.  We invited their parents and their sister too.

The boys tested out all parts of the water slide and the irrigation system, while Alexandria managed things at the swimming pool.

Phoebe played for a bit, and then displayed her napping skills.

And the kids had tired themselves out, they watched a video and played the Kinect for a bit.

I think this was boxing.

The girls got pretty serious about playing with the toys.

As birthdays often do around here, Blake's birthday celebrations seemed to stretch out over almost a whole week.

He received several cards and gifts through the mail (thank you!).

We went to Fazoli's for Blake's birthday supper, which was actually two days before his birthday because we things going on the following two nights.  And for dessert that night, we went to Twist for some fro-yo.

And then on his actual birthday, he got his last gift from us, a truck set I'd found for 10 bucks at a yard sale months ago.

For breakfast we had one of Blake's favorite treats, cherry turnovers.

I was able to bring birthday treats to Blake's school that afternoon, as well.  It was really fun to see his classroom in action.

His birthday treat request was donuts.

And finally after church that night, we topped off the sugar filled day with some ice cream cakes from DQ.  Blake decided he'd rather have a drumstick though.

And now we have a six year-old.

Blake had a pretty fabulous birthday weekend, complete with both sets of grandparents, a party, presents, a homemade strawberry cake, some pretty cute decorations, and a even some time around the fire pit.

Alexandria helped with the cake prep work.

Papa Bruce and Gma Suzanne got into town on Friday afternoon, in time to have supper with us and roast some marshmallows out back.

I got a wild hair on Friday and decided I would make a birthday banner for Blake.  So  I was up late on Friday night working on that.

Not too shabby for my first birthday banner!

Grandma Suzanne and Alexandria were my chief corn shuckers on Saturday morning.

After we had all the presents opened up, we played a treasure map game, much like Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

Blake cheated and won.

Aunt Ginger had sent the kids a sombrero  pinata quite some time ago, and I had been saving it for a special time.  So we broke it out.

And since the kids were still going strong, we got out the waterslide.

Later that afternoon Grandma helped Blake set up his cool new tornado machine that she and Papa Bruce got Blake for his birthday.

Then Sunday afternoon was spent building the Lego spaceship from Papa and Ma.

Way back when Blake was still 5, and the weather was still super hot, we were getting the waterslide out pretty regularly.  And everyone knows that waterslides are more fun with friends.

Trying to drain the water from the waterslide into the pool for a softer landing area.

Alexandria only goes down the slide when the water is turned off.  She's not a fan of the cold garden hose water.

During the first couple of weeks of school, Alexandria wanted to do something special for Blake when he got home every day (she has since moved on from that).  One of the things she suggested was baking cookies, so not entirely for Blake.

Everybody loves using the mixer.

Not as much as they love eating the cookie dough though.

Cookies and milk after a day at school; yeah, he's got a pretty good life.