Painting rocks!

Tuesday was a very fun day for me!  I was blessed to have Kelly and the boys come up and spend the day.  Jen brought the girls over a little before lunch, and the cousins could have a great time together. 

After a chilly start, the day turned warm, and we walked over to a little rock pile and picked several dozen flat (mostly!) rocks.  The kids scrubbed them and set them to dry in the sun while we had lunch.  Then the fun really began!  Each of the kids picked out several rocks.  We put newspaper on the deck and the card table, sat out a box of brushes and paints, and got to work.  There’s a game that you can play with these painted rocks – putting a name and a hash tag (#) on the rock and hiding them, then tracking them on the internet.  I don’t think that will happen with MY rocks, but I think Kelly’s family will do it – maybe even for a school project!

We all had favorite rocks once they were done. Chase liked his emoji rock.   Logan liked his shark.  Peyton, his Steeler rock.  Chris, I’m not too sure, but I think the sparkly one.  Autmn liked the green one with her name in silver sparkle.  Kelly liked her pumpkin and Christmas tree (so did I!).  My rocks were all pretty funky – not in a good way! – and I didn’t really like any of them.  Maybe the flag one, but Kelly’s was nicer!  Autmn got the idea to paint a bunch of small round rocks to look like M&M’s, with a few oval ones for peanut M&M’s!  I put them on a dish on a table outside the door.  They are very cute!  After we cleaned up the rock project, we walked down to the playground where the kids played a rousing but confusing game of softball.  We ordered Abie and Bimbo’s pizza for dinner, and Nate was able to join us.  We missed our Jen – she was at work!  (Sorry, Jen!)  I ended the day by going with Kelly and the boys over to Walmart to get them trapper-keepers.  They are home-schooling in the fall and won’t need traditional back-to-school gear like I bought for the girls on Sunday. 

It was a great day, one that doesn’t happen nearly often enough, but I was happy to have everyone here even for a little bit.  Already looking forward to the next one!  Love you guys!