Water Day

On a Monday when the Douglas kids were over, Diona decided to invite a few more friends over for some water play. So two kids from the French family came, three Mendez children and Matthew M.

We planned a whole water day for them! It started out with a water-balloon war... over 400 water balloons... boys against the girls... with "No Man's Land" separating them... Meagan couldn't help but get in on the action!

 

 

 

 

 

Then we had a water bucket war... and Meagan cheated with the garden hose!

Then we had a "throw the water balloon the farthest" competition... but with the BIG balloons...

Each balloon was filled according to the child's size...

 and we went youngest to oldest...

 Matthew D... Great toss, little man!!!

 

 Joey's balloon rolled quite a ways down the street and then finally popped... he was in the lead!

 Evie's also rolled and popped a few feet away...

 Isaac's pink balloon made a funny splat

 Kelsey... heave, ho!!!

 Zachary... the soccer players had to "throw in" their balloons over their heads

 James.. is that a triangle-shaped balloon??

 Kaitlyn... sssttttretccchhhh....

 Josiah's was the biggest... he got smart and used his head!

 

 Matthew M's balloon stretched down behind his back and burst open in mid air! SO COOL!!

 Collin... great form!

 Katie... her balloon also rolled down the street and popped... just shy of beating Joey!

 

The winner (Joey) was awarded 'first-served' at the "make-your-own-sundae" table.

 

 the second place winner...

 

 

 

 Matthew D. kept adding more and more to his sundae... it was almost over flowing!

 Then the big kids swam...

 and played chicken fight...

 and played four square...

and ended the day with some fresh-baked monkey bread...

And as each happy energetic child left with their parents a few hours later, they asked their exhausted hostess,  "Can we do this again, Mrs. Boyle?"  Her answer was, "Of course!! How about Wednesday?!"
So we did!!!

Special guests!

For a few days, we had some guests come stay with us.

The Douglas kids are fun to have over! We have been blessed to know this homeschooling family for about 14 years.
Meagan has spent many days and some nights in their home babysitting, being a Mommy's helper, and lending a hand wherever needed.  Some mornings, when she takes a shower, the kids like to play pranks on her... like duct-taping the bathroom door so she can't get out! Then they say "We don't want you to leave!".
One evening when Katie was taking a shower the kids decided to stand an air mattress in front of the door...

It was pretty funny when Katie came out! Everyone was laughing so hard!
We had lots of fun with them. They spent many many hours in the pool making up all sorts of  games. I was beginning to wonder if they would grow fins and tails! 
Our bedtime routine became one of the favorite times of the day... the kids would enjoy a special snack while Diona read a few chapters out of a book entitled "The Willoughbys", a story about 4 very strange children, with a very nice nanny and a cat.
We are always excited to have the Douglas children come stay with us... it gives us an excuse to just have fun and not do any schoolwork!!

Meagan's 19th

Saturday July 30th, my friend took me out for lunch and shopping all day at the mall. Thanks Renee!

Sunday July 31st, my birthday day, was so relaxing... as tradition, I got breakfast in bed... yummy crepe's.

 

Later that day Dave and I went shopping at Beall's and the pet store. No luck at Beall's, but Dave did get a new bone.

After a yummy dinner of grilled pork chops, rice pilaf with cherry tomatoes, and a salad, my family had a game set up for me in order to earn my presents :)

Have you ever seen the TV game "Chain Reaction"? The gist of the game is to figure out a chain of words that fit together. An example would be...   "Bike-Seat-Belt-Buckle-Up"

The catch is, you only get one letter at a time and you must guess the word after each given letter. As soon as you figure out "Bike", you get an "S" under the word "Bike". You only have a few seconds to guess what the "S" could be. If you guess incorrectly the other team has a chance. So then one more letter would appear... it would look like this...

"Bike"

"Se"

So for my birthday, I was up against Collin and Kaitlyn. We played about 15 rounds, but I finally won all my gifts. But they sure put up a good fight :)

Dave was a great helper...

 

I love, love, love, the color scheme; white, black and gray with black filigree. So mom took that idea and ran with it!

 

I'm so blessed to have such an awesome family!

great things can come out of a yahoo groups!

-flash back six years ago-

There once was a girl named Meagan, who met a girl named Rebecca. 

Rebecca told Meagan about Southeastern Guide Dogs and how Rebecca became a puppy raiser.

Rebecca encouraged Meagan to visit Southeastern Guide Dogs.

Meagan was hooked on puppy raising. 

Thanks Rebecca!

This is Rebecca and her latest (sixth!) puppy, Joe. Joe was called IFT (in-for-training) a few weeks ago and since Rebecca and her family live out of state, Meagan and Rebecca couldn't pass up an opportunity to see each other again and meet each others pups!

And who doesn't celebrate a handsome guide dog puppy going to "college" without cake?!?

*Update on Joe* Joe passed his hip, elbow and knee x-rays and is moving onto formal guide dog training! Congrats to Rebecca, her family and of course handsome Joe-Joe!