Friday Funnies

As I was going to kiss Asher goodnight before I went to bed, on an out of town visit this summer, I found him like this:

I will keep the owner of these unmentionables anonymous to protect the innocent. But, apparently, these had been in a stack of clean laundry in the room that Asher was sleeping in for the night. I guess he thought they'd make a great accessory!

When I went to ask him the next morning what he was doing with that "thing" on his head, he said, "I was just being an Indian."

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Last week we visited the nursing home, and Mrs. M. was the last stop on our in-room visits. She is one of my favorite residents to visit. We were talking about pregnancy and she was reminiscing on her three pregnancies. And then she said, "You don't look pregnant...well, not in your stomach anyway...but your arms sure are getting plump."

Jordan, I guess you have your work cut out for you ;)

The Summer of Celebrations (part I)

Will a post a day, keep the haters away?  Our crazy schedule is finally starting to settle down some and I've got a whole list of things to blog about from this summer and a bunch of posts already written in my head...so over the next week or so, I'll try to catch up!


We started out our summer going to several weddings and throwing some showers...


We went to Austin for my college roommate's wedding...but, unfortunately, I didn't have a working camera...and these are the only ones that Cate captured:

Lindsay and Jim are precious together.  I love the way that Jim cares for Linds...the way he watches her when she tells a story...the genuine interest he takes in her is, maybe, what I love most about watching the two of them.  He loves her very deeply-it is so evident.  And I am so thankful for that.   They were married on Lake Travis (man! I wish I had pictures!) It was such a beautiful wedding-the venue, her dress, every detail of the entire evening was so elegant yet comfortable and fun...so Lindsay.  (We love you two and are so thankful to be in your lives!)

We spent the whole weekend with the Shipley's at Bella & Pop's house.  It was so refreshing to be able to just hang out and relax with such dear friends.  We ate well (thank you, Bella!) rested a little, and played Settler's of Catan MUCH!!  Cate and I kept Ryan and Charlie up late one evening re-telling just about every story that we could remember about the other.  I've known Cate since 7th grade...since we were 13!  (I just did the math here...wow...that's half of my life!) so, there were lots of stories. Lots of stories the husbands had never heard before and lots that they had :)  Thankfully we're not the same silly girls that we were in high school-or even college, for that matter.  The Lord has grown us both so much and I'm thankful for the ways that He has used Cate to refine me.  I'm also thankful that my best friend married someone that my husband adores.  (I guess it was kind of a pre-requisite, but I'm glad that Ryan wasn't just "pretending" in the whole screening process :) I can't imagine spending weekends with the Shipley's and feeling like I had to check in with Charlie constantly to make sure he was "okay"...in fact several times he'd disappear and I'd later find him playing pool with Ryan.  I don't have a picture of them from that weekend (remember...no working camera!) but here is one I stole of their18 month old, Eli, from their blog:

And one of us from Cary's wedding...which was well over a year ago.  (Put an Apel/Shipley photoshoot on the agenda for our October visit, okay?  This is just ridiculous that I can't find any pics of all of us!)

(I know, I know...back when I had long hair and our babies were SO little!)


The following weekend, while garage saling, I found a super deal on a point and shoot camera that Chelsea talked me into getting.  (My BEST gs purchase of the summer, Chels! Thanks for making me go back!)


And later that evening, we went to Charley and Lauren's wedding.  This precious couple is oh, so dear to our hearts.  Charley first walked into our little Moss Street rental house for Hope Group back when I was super fat and pregnant with Asher and we squeezed about 30 people into our 900 sq. ft. home. 

We loved him so much that we made him stay in our group for a few years.  After he got back from Fish Camp one summer, he started telling us about this girl, Lauren, that he'd met.  He told me that I would love her and that in some ways we were a lot alike. (I thought he was just trying to warm me up to her...)  But, we quickly got to know and adore Lauren (and Charley was right...on more than just our wardrobe choices...we hit it off instantly), soon after they got engaged, and she was a staple in the Apel home this past Spring. 

We're so proud of them-for their maturity and boldness- (we were definitely not there when we first got married) as they desire to love and seek after Jesus with their lives.

She even become "our Lauren"...you see, when a college girl tends to spend a lot of time in our home loving on our kids, helping me prep for dinner, folding laundry, knowing where the clean dishes go...the kids and I just sort of bond to them..and they become "ours".  Kind of like our Emily, our Blaire, our Madeline...I guess we're sort of possessive that way. (Sorry Charley, we love you and all, but I think you understand...and you are married to her, so you've got that going for you!)


And oh, how we miss her!  It's sometimes tough living in this transient town where you invest so deeply in relationships and just when you're completely comfortable...and never want them to leave...it's time for them to move away.

Whenever McKlayne couldn't see Lauren, she'd say, "Where's my Princess Lauren?"  She wanted to be next to "Princess" Lauren all night.  Her "princess" obsession is only growing...

Speaking of Em, we got to reunite (and share some news) with her (I stole some of these pics from her Facebook.)

McKlayne quickly found Aunt Kelsey among all the strange faces.

And the kids danced the rest of the night away.

They decided that they LOVED weddings....or at least when they get to dance at receptions.

And we had to peel them off the dance floor when it was time to leave.

Friday Funnies

We were driving in our neighborhood...

A: Look at that brick house, McKlayne, the big bad wolf can't blow that house down.

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I walked into McKlayne's room and saw a HUGE dead roach on the floor. I screamed.

Asher comes running in, followed by McKlayne.

A: What's going on? Are you okay, Momma?

Me: Yes, there's just a huge roach...

A: {Spotting it}...Oh, McKlayne, look at it! That's impossible!

McKlayne: Can I kill it?

A: Nope, it's already killed.  McKlayne, it is huge! That is impossible!

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The kids were watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse:

A: Momma, Pete needs to settle down.

Me: How come?

A: Because he's being ugly to Toodles... (The mousekatool...whatever he is...some computerized robot thing?)

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McKlayne ran in the front door barely missing the sprinklers that were watering the grass: "Whoa, that was a close one."

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McKlayne and Asher were spinning themselves in circles around the kitchen, making themselves "dizzy."

Of course, McKlayne mimicking everything Asher says, chirped in with her own version every time she spun around..."Whoa, I'm getting BUSY..."

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And, I'll leave you with this one...that happened just yesterday as we were driving around town running errands.

A: Momma, how come you keep checking your face out, again and again and again?

Yup...I had been looking in the mirror, making sure my nose was clean, nothing was in my teeth, fixing my hair, etc...nothing better than your three year old calling you out on vanity.

Circus Carnival Party

(This week, I am going to attempt to catch up on documenting our summer so far.) 

I've been promising a post about Asher's Circus Carnival Birthday party since January. Since I was so busy making sure all the booths were running smoothly (at the party), I forgot to take many pictures!  So, I had to wait until the Circus traveled to San Antonio.  (After all that work planning Asher's party...and a lot of which Avery helped out with the week of...we hated to see all of it go in the trash, so we loaded up my brother's truck and shipped the circus to San Antonio. Perfect...I could finally get some pictures!!)


On Memorial Day Weekend, we went to San Antonio to celebrate my niece's, Brynn & Camdyn's birthdays.  My sister was so smart to combine their parties...I may have to do that next year and celebrate Asher's "1/2 birthday" with McKlayne's birthday.  (It is pretty crummy trying to plan a winter birthday.   Because all of our friends and family have so many kids...which we love...and we like to invite the whole family, the guest list gets long fast, which excludes having an inside party at our house!  Every indoor venue is terribly expensive to rent...and in College Station, you just don't have many options.)  We were planning on bearing the weather having the circus party in our backyard...which is pretty large, but the week of the party it rained and rained, leaving our backyard flooded!  Our sweet friend's, the Terry's, generously offered that we have Asher's party in their barn and we gladly accepted!


After much scrounging the internet for birthday party ideas, I found this site and it was my biggest inspiration for the Circus Carnival Party.  Charlie, of course, made the invitations:

Bags of peanuts and popcorn were passed around as guests arrived.  I ordered the bags from this Etsy store.


                             

I can't believe that I don't have any full-body shots of Charlie as "Charlie Brown the Clown".  (Does anyone else?)  He spoke in his best clown voice as made balloon animals for guests as they arrived.  (This totally made the party memorable, honey, even if you did scare a few kids.)

I had a LOT of help from childless guests.  Our siblings, and some other college students and friends helped us run the booths and pass out tickets, accordingly.  (We could not have pulled this off without all of your help!)  The booths included:

Face painting by Uncle Cary. (I didn't get a picture of him...this is Char from our niece's party with Stella...but look at Cary's masterpiece of the octopus on Asher's cheek below.)  The kids really loved this.

Spray Away:  Kids get one ticket for each ping-pong ball they knock off a golf tee with spray from a water gun.

(I don't have a pic for this one.) 

Lucky Ducks: A galvanized bucket full of water and rubber ducks.  The children pick a duck and look underneath to see the number of tickets they win.  Ten ducks were numbered 1-3.

Feed the Elephant: This was a big hit with the little kids. (Charlie painted this on a washing machine box and used a dryer vent for the trunk.)  The kids would place peanuts in the trunk to "feed the elephant" and raise the trunk until the peanuts dropped inside. 

Someone was inside the box to drop tickets in the other side of the trunk and when the child pulled the trunk back down, tickets would fall out.

Pie Toss:  My brother was such a good sport.  He allowed the kids to throw whipped cream pies at his face all day.  Once again, Charlie painted the "strong man" that Jordan donned.  (This station was also one of kid's favorites.)

Clock the Clown: My sister and I made these clowns out of plastic juice bottle (filled with water about 1/3 of the way) covered with fabric and styrofoam ball decorated with pompoms and pipe cleaners for the heads.  The kids got a couple balls to throw and got a ticket for each clown they knocked down.

Feed the Lion: Bean bags were tossed into this lion's mouth. Tickets were handed out accordingly. (Char, our parties would be lame without your brilliant handiwork.)

(This also doubled as a good photo opp.) 

Lastly, my favorite booth was the photo booth that our dear friends Ryan and Sara worked.  (You've probably heard of us talk about them before.  We love these people.) I got the photo booth inspiration from this blog.

I hung a piece of fabric inside of a HUGE refrigerator box.  We had a box of fun dress up clothes and asked each family to take a picture.  We mailed these pics out with the thank-you notes.  This was another big hit!!

I didn't take a picture of the "Concessions" table, but we had chili and hotdogs with all the fixings, chocolate covered pretzel rods, lemonade and water.  

And...again, I didn't get a pic of the prize table, but imagine something beautiful like this:

Photo Credit

We had glass jars full of all kinds of yummy treats & prizes: groucho marx glasses, gumballs, twizzlers, M&M's, temporary tattoos, crazy straws, goldfish, and candy bracelets.  Each jar was marked with a number for the number of tickets that it cost.


Asher's cake was decorated with some of his plastic animals.  I found that clown on the unicycle at Dollar Tree and balanced him on top of some old peanut butter lids.

Charlie designed some really cool banners for all of the names of the booths and tables, including "Happy Birthday".  And because I would be clueless as where to start with all of this without a graphic designer/artist for a husband, we've made the files available for you to download and use.  Just click here and you can download a pdf with all the letters for the banners for you to print.  

Let me know if you use them! I'd love to see pics of your circus-carnival themed parties!

More pics from Asher's party:

And a few pics from the Currie Girl's Circus Party:

McKlayne did not want to give back the Minnie Mouse ears or the beads.  She wore them for half the party.  When I'd ask her if she was ready to put them back, she'd say, "No! I  Minnie Mouse!"

                   

I just adore him. Did you notice how much he matured in just 4 months?

Avery had a tattoo and nails booth where she painted the girl's fingernails!!

My sister, Kyle, took the following and said, "It's like I wasn't even there."

She's right.

I love these two and all their interactions...okay...almost all their interactions.

Friday Funnies

A little late...sorry, I haven't been feeling the best around here.


I just started throwing up...I didn't do that with either of my last two pregnancies. So, I guess every pregnancy truly is unique. The good news is, I don't feel sick at ALL in the morning or throughout my day (as long as I am continuously eating...I am snacking every two hours, it is ridiculous) until about 4 p.m. as I am trying to get dinner ready. Then right around dinner, I throw up and feel much better. At least their is some relief and I don't feel nauseous until bed time like I did before throwing up...I would feel sick all evening...so, for this I am thankful.


I'm also thankful for my sweet Charlie who has cooked more than half the dinners since I started feeling so nauseous. He is an expert at breakfasts for dinner, grilled cheese sandwiches and grilling.


Anyway, I know you didn't come to read about me puking...so...on to the Friday Funnies:


Before Asher went to bed, I was eating some Coffee Punch that was leftover from Ashley's wedding shower. (It's like the next best thing to having Blue Bell in your freezer and I don't even like coffee! I'll share the recipe below.)


And an hour and a half later, Asher was still awake, so Charlie went to go talk to him:


A: Daddy, I want to tell you a story.


D: You can tell me a short story, because you really need to be asleep.


A: OK... Once upon a time, Mommy made some coffee punch and saved some for me.


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Daddy takes McKlayne potty outside at the park:


(After tee-teeing while Daddy was holding her in a squatting position, legs out)


M: Daddy, I want to do it again.


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We were standing in line at the store a couple days ago and a beautiful young Asian teen with long hair piled up on top of her head was behind us in line talking to her friend.


McKlayne pointed behind me and said: Look, Mommy! There's Ni-Hao-Kai-lan! I see Ni-Hao-Kai-Lan!

(My kids don't even watch that show but I think they must see commercials for it while watching Wonder Pets?)


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Coffee Punch Recipe:


(Marylou gave me this recipe several years ago after she made it for my wedding shower.  Now, I hardly throw a shower without making this.)

3 c. strong coffee
2 c. sugar
1 pint cream (or 1/2 & 1/2) (2 c.)
1 quart milk (4 c.)
2 t. vanilla
 

Dissolve sugar into hot coffee and let cool. Add other ingredients.  


Pour into rubbermaid to freeze (at least overnight). Remove from freezer 2 hrs. before serving.  Mix and serve very icy in a punch bowl.  (One batch serves about 18 small punch cups.)

Friday Funnies: Scary Baby

Yesterday I went to the doctor.  I am 8 weeks pregnant.  My due date is February 19.

So, we told the kids they were going to have a new baby brother or sister.  Asher wanted to know why he couldn't see the baby in my belly and when it was going to grow.

I tried to explain using the magazine I received from the doctor's office:

The Concoction

Since everyone loved the last video so much, we thought we'd share another one: