Too much of a good time? Never.

Yesterday was a fun day. My friend arranged for a bunch of us to go on a tour of Sweet's Candy Factory. I told the kids about it a few days before we went to get them pumped up for the big event. They were so excited! I was a bit nervous that maybe they were too excited, expecting Mr. Willy Wonka himself to take us on a rowboat through tunnels of psychedelic candy goo and chocolate waterfalls. Fortunately, they were quite happy with what they got, which was a big warehouse stuffed full of boxes o' candy and machines outputting lots of sugary goodness. There were people there too. But no Oompa Loompas, just in case you were wondering.

No tour would be complete without each and every person being handed a hair net. Even 3 month old babies. The baby hair net even had an elastic to go under his little double chin. Too funny. We weren't allowed to bring cameras inside the factory so once we got outside, I shot this one of Spencer. It was so bright out, he wouldn't open his eyes. Isn't that hair net hilarious?



Pretty much the key to a successful tour at a candy factory is to stuff each and every person full of candy. They managed to do just that. Before the tour even began, the waiting area had a table full of free samples. On the actual tour we sampled jelly beans, chocolate caramel turtle things, dark chocolate orange sticks, and taffy- all fresh off the assembly lines.

The kids had a great time, especially Taylor. He even asked questions. I was impressed. Lately I have really been noticing how much older he is getting. His comprehension is amazing.

Sara, Taylor, and Livvy wearing their hair nets and holding their bags of taffy.



Me with my kiddos.



This is the entire group of kids! This was like a flashback of a bad family picture (babies screaming, some kids whining and other kids running out of the picture.) Good times, my friends!



After the candy factory tour, we stopped by Dave's office and went out to lunch. We went to the Dairy Queen right by his office. We don't know how this particular DQ stays in business. We are always the only people there! I tell ya what though, Dairy Queen knows how to make a mean chicken sandwich. I love their flame thrower sauce. It's killer! Add that to the fact that they have fry sauce and I am totally sold.



After lunch with Dave, we ran a couple errands (a totally awful trip to Michael's Craft Store where the kids were begging for everything. "No, Taylor, we cannot buy an entire bag of glue gun sticks". They don't even know what stuff is but they want it. And when Sara had to go pee, all 5 of us, including a shopping cart, crammed ourselves into a handicap stall. Awesome.) .

We then made our way to Copperton Park to play some more with our friends.

It's so nice to send the kids off to play and sit on blankets and chat with friends at the park. It beats folding laundry and watching Caillou all day. Plus, we had to take advantage of what was probably the last really nice day of the year! The rain (and snow!) is coming!!

Taylor posing with his buddy Jakey.



Sara is so funny. Here she is with her friend Mary. I should start calling her "Mother Earth". She is always outside collecting twigs, flowers, grass, fallen leaves, and any other earthy thing she can get her little hands on. Her favorite thing at the park (besides the swings) was to walk around collecting leaves, which is great, until she wants to bring them all home.



Dave was commenting last night, "wouldn't it be nice if all our kids stayed Livvy's age". Of course that would be absolutely craziness but there is just something about a 2-year-old that you just want to eat up. She is so cute ALL.THE .TIME. Even when she has her hands in her poop- she's still cute, just a tad bit unsanitary and stinky!

She loves to swing. She would sit in there all day even if no one came to push her. I pushed her a little and other moms took a turn as well. Even moms we didn't know took a turn. Lucky little lady.



Liv has dare-devil tendencies that freak me out. She climbed the stairs to the top of the slide, hopped on and came down a million miles an hour, landing flat on her rear in the wood chips. She was totally fine, got her little self up off the ground and did it all over again and again. No sweat off her back but maybe just a little off of mine.



Here is maybe a little more perspective on the slide thing. See her tiny baby body at the top of those big slides? geesh.



But see the joy? Totally worth it.