July 27th & 28th found Claude and me headed to LaGrange. It was time to enjoy the Mini-Marx's.

Hayden lost his first two teeth. He actually had to have them pulled because their roots were so long they were not giving up their place in his mouth. And, he already had two permanent teeth coming in to fill that space. Something had to give and the dentist made that happen. Hayden was a trooper. He had those teeth pulled and then he even had a friend spend the night that night. Great job Hayden!!

Claude scored a Kindle Fire as a promotional gift when he got his hearing aids. It arrived that week. He downloaded Angry Birds (which must be the most important game to little ones nowadays). Bailey curled up on her favorite cushion to play Angry Birds while Hayden enjoyed the Wii. He saved his money and purchased the next Harry Potter game. It is actually great fun to watch him work this game. I'm absolutely, unequivocally not any good at playing the Wii games. Andie was able to get a lot of errands done during this time. I managed to get another square crocheted for the baby afghan I'm working on.

Now Bailey's attention span was a little shorter than Hayden and she needed outside time. Out we went for a little fun in the back yard.

When he arrived in LaGrange, I mentioned to Andie that I really wanted to find time to take Hayden and Bailey to Dairy Queen for a meal and ice cream. The Mini's ears picked up on that from whereever they were in the house at the time.

As the afternoon wore on, Hayden realized he was hungry. He assured me we should make good on the Dairy Queen idea. I told him we couldn't go until Andie came back with the car full of car seats. He suggested we call her and encourage the completion of her errands. I called her and she was in the checkout line of her last stop. This appeased Hayden.

As soon as Andie entered the house, Bailey started her chant, "Let's go to the Derby Queen!!"  Read that carefully... Bailey is turning into a real Kentucky girl.

After a great dinner and some ice cream for dessert, the kids went upstairs to get in their pajamas and prepare to show me the new family reading chair. When they were all ready, they yelled downstairs for us to head upstairs. This is what we found.

This was a purchase for Andie and Michael's anniversary. It is a chair and a half. It was ordered from a company in Indiana. First we got some fabric samples that Andie picked out on-line in the colors and types of fabric she thought she might like in this corner. The family picked the fabric they all liked best. Then they picked the style of chair. The order was placed and within a week or so they had two boxes show up at their home. The company cuts the frame out of board from the pattern you select, they cut the fabric you picked and sew it up in pieces, they pack these items and the cushions with the air sucked out of their packaging into the boxes and ship them to you. If you have any issues, you just call and get a replacement. They have been excellent so far with this process. Hayden and Bailey helped Andie put the chair and automan together and put the fabric on it. We purchased a hardback edition of Alice in Wonderland for a family reading. The chair is a success and is quite comfortable. The cool thing is that, when Andie wants to change it up a bit, she can order a different set of fabric covers and change the entire appearance.

Now it was time to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Andie had craft ready to make and the Mini's each got their own Olympic torch. Game on!!!

Saturday morning began with chocolate chip pancakes and three crafts.

The first craft was playing with magnets. Here is Hayden enjoying his magnet.

The second craft was an attempt at a hovercraft made with an old CD, a balloon and the cap from a water bottle super-glued to the CD. The difficult part was getting the water-bottle cap glued to the CD.  The idea is to blow up the balloon, place it over the bottle cape (which is pressed closed). Then you set the CD on a hard surface and open the bottle cap. The air goes out the bottle cap and makes the CD go into the air like a hovercraft. This is Bailey counting to 30 as she holds the cap in place.

The third craft was something called Cloud Dough (I think that is right). It is made of flour and baby oil. The kids just made the mixture and enjoyed using cookie cutters and shaping it with their hands. It just smelled heavenly. Hayden asked if they could eat it. The answer was, "No, it is for the outside of your body, not the inside."

While the Mini's played, Andie harvested her garden spots. She came in with a carrot that Bailey planted. She handed this tiny carrot to Bailey. Bailey placed the carrot by her head and said, "What's up Doc?" Such a kid.

The remainder of our afternoon was spent at the Oldham County Aquatic Center.

Hayden has been taking another round of swimming lessons. He has learned to jump off the diving board and go down the tall slide. He was so very anxious for Claude and me to see these feats of daring. Here is my pathetic picture of Hayden going off the diving board.

Yep that splash in the water is my grandson. It gets very hard sometimes to watch and take pictures at the same time.

Here are a few more pictures of the water fun. Bailey is in the purple striped swim suit. Hayden has on a white T-shirt with sleeves over his swim trunks.

When we got ready to leave, the kids were shivering. We wrapped them in towels. While looking through their the bag of kids stuff Hayden brought we found a sweater Bailey shoved in there at some point. Here she is curled up on Claude looking too Cha-Cha for words.

Back to Casa Marx to change our clothes and we were off to Sadieville. A wonderful visit. I overheard Hayden say to Andie, "I think we should do this once a month."  I love my family.