Great Lafferty Family Sleepover Adventure

The 4th of July wasn't just one day of celebrating for us. It was a whole weekend of activities. On the 5th, we all packed up our bags and trekked over to Lenexa for the Great Lafferty Family Sleepover Adventure. What's that, you ask? Well, all of us, including me and Cory, slept over with Cory's parents at Cory's parents' house with his sister Amber and her boyfriend Tom. It was one full house.

Pat and Joan (Cory's parents) had the whole evening planned out with myriad events and activities. Balloon toss, tie-dyeing, slip-and-slide, bubbles ... you name it was probably on the list. We were not to be bored during this adventure.

First up was tie-dyeing. Molly had actually learned how to tie-dye at Daisy Girl Scout camp this summer, so she was very excited to do it again. We all got pillowcases, and then I read the instructions that came with the kit. I don't know if it will shock you or not, but I am always the only one who reads instructions in this family for games, crafts or putting together furniture. Why everyone doesn't do this, I could not tell you. C'mon people. They have instructions for a reason!

Tom and Amber working on their pillowcases.

Molly and Charlotte. Charlotte was very concerned with the gloves she had to wear.

Showing them how it's done when you read the instructions!

Next on the agenda was the water balloon toss. We don't have that many pictures of that because, well, we were all throwing water balloons everywhere.

Charlotte and Molly staking out the water balloons.

Trying to get everyone lined up for the game.

Then: the bean bag toss.

Charlotte's skills.

Somehow Amber and Tom got on a team together. You'd think that would make them front-runners. You'd be wrong.

Molly was very serious.

Eh, I was not.

As we were finishing the bean bag toss, Molly kept questioning who was winning. Like constantly. I mean, I have no idea where she could possibly get that competitive streak from. Er, oh, yeah, perhaps it was my awesome display of parental modeling from the day before at the 4th of July race. Whoops.

Skating, packing and getting yelled at by an old lady

You know that saying that goes, "when a 94-year-old grandfather says 'jump,' you ask, 'how high?'?" What do you mean, it doesn't go exactly like that? Well, that's how the saying goes in the Lafferty family.

Cory's grandfather is 94 and is quite content being the patriarch of the family. He decided he was having a party for his birthday/launch of his book on December 22nd. (Yes, you read that part about the book correctly.) Thus, the whole family trekked to Wichita the weekend before Christmas for a two-hour party in a retirement home. It's what he wanted, so we were happy to oblige.

But, seeing as we were down there for the whole day on Saturday AND we had two young children in tow, we needed to find something to do for the rest of the day. Enter Google. In a few short clicks, I found a "Skating with Santa" event on Saturday morning. Perfect.

Remember, I had been wanting to take the girls ice skating? Well, this was a perfect solution. Plus, Aunt Amber was going to be in Wichita, so she could help with the skating. That meant, I could get some good pictures and not put my camera's life at too big a risk. Double plus, I found out my friend Terah was going to be in Wichita the same weekend with her family, and they wanted to come, too. It was a great plan all around.

Until the actual trip came around. See, as anyone who knows me can attest: I need my sleep. Like bad. I mean, I am essentially useless unless I get a full night's sleep. So, when it came to packing up for Wichita after several nights and days of Christmas get-togethers ... well, let's just say my brain didn't work so well.

I forgot pretty much everything. Including hats, coats and gloves for every single one of us. Not such a great thing to forget when you're going ice skating. I felt like an idiot. Christmas came a tad early as the girls got new coats and hats and gloves. Heck, even I got new gloves! Thank goodness Target was a mere four minutes away from our hotel.

So, freshly dressed with new outerwear, we headed over to the ice rink to skate with Santa. Luckily, despite the shaky start, we ended up having a great time.

Cory and Amber grew up with a pond in their backyard, so they spent many a childhood winter skating. I grew up in North Carolina, so my skating experience was much less extensive. I think I recall a childhood skating party or two, then a couple times as a grown up. With experts like Cory and Amber in my midst, I was able to trust them with the girls while I took pictures.  My mission was to stay upright to save the camera.

Seeing Santa before getting on the ice. Molly later said, "I think that Santa is a girl!" Whoops. We had to explain about Santa's helpers ...

The whole fam ready to take on the ice. Check out the girls' new coats and gloves. Pretty snazzy for a last-minute Target run.

I love this picture!

Girl time with Aunt Amber

A couple of weeks ago, Cory's sister came up from Ft. Worth, Texas, to visit. (I used say she lived in Dallas, because I thought it was all in the same. Plus, Dallas was the more well-known of the pair of cities. I've since been informed that there is a HUGE difference, and a certain person from Ft. Worth does not want to be mistaken for someone from Dallas. So, now you know. Feel free to take that little nugget of knowledge and run with it.)

Amber was actually in town for her high school reunion, but we got to steal some time with her. She flew in on a Friday morning, and was able to help pick up Molly from preschool. The minute Molly saw Amber sitting in the car, her face broke into a giant grin. Molly's face, that is. Well, probably Amber's, too, now that I think about it. And, you could just tell that Molly had been talking the teacher's ear off all about it as she beamed and pointed excitedly to our car. Having your aunt come into town (on an airplane!) to visit can cause quite the hullabaloo in a preschooler's day (in a good way, of course).

When Amber comes to town, you can guarantee the activities will be girl-centric. The last time Amber was in town, she took Molly out for an afternoon of shopping with Joan (Cory's mom). Molly came home with a brand-new ballet outfit, complete with sparkly skirt. You tell me, what little girl doesn't want a pink, sparkly ballet skirt? Not any living in this house, that's for sure. And, on top of that, Molly got to skip her nap. She thought she was pretty hot stuff.

This visit, there was no shopping excursion, but Molly did get something she never gets with Mommy. She got her hair french braided. I'm not quite sure how I missed learning that skill growing up (especially considering I always had a braid in my hair), but Aunt Amber is awesome at it, so Molly had her hair braided while I watched and tried to learn. Amber said I needed to practice on a Barbie to get the hang of it. So, what do you think Molly's been having me do when we play with her Barbies now? I'm getting better, but still not great on a live human child. I think they're too squirmy.

On Amber's last night in town, we were able to bust out the dance moves and boogie down in a Molly-style impromptu dance party. Cory's parents are re-doing their kitchen and getting new carpet in their house, so they had taken out all the furniture for the workers coming the next day. You take a huge empty room, big windows reflecting as if mirrors, a basket full of dress up clothes, and a hyped-up 4-year-old, and what do you get? Why that's right! A dance party.

Just wait, the pictures are as awesome as you think they are: