We Survived!

We survived our fist day of Summer break home with each other. We were actually pretty busy. Of course I really didn't see Jake till about 1pm since him and his buddies retreated to the basement to play video games and watch movies. They actually spent a lot of time outside too.

The 3 younger kids and I played Playdough for about an hour in the morning. I think this is the first time Drew hasn't tried to eat the dough. That is a milestone because he has tried to eat it the last 10 times playing with it! Tony and I got some weeds pulled in the garden in the afternoon while the little guys slept. Will came home and we decided to cut Drew's hair which ultimately led to his first buzz cut. I think he looks really cute! I wasn't sure I would be a fan of the "buzz". Then we did our part to stimulate the economy and took the kids out to dinner at the Leaning Tower of Pizza in Ankeny. We then went to the library to check out movies and books and then ended up at Marble Slab Creamery for dessert! It was WONDERFUL! We had a good night and celebrated with the boys for passing all their classes with A's and B's and doing a great job on some pretty big projects they had at the end of the year for school.

Today the goal is to just get ready for the sale tomorrow. It doesn't look like the weather is going to be very nice but I am hoping they are still wrong. At least Saturday looks great! My SIL, Jen and I are going to go get our hair cut this afternoon. I am pretty excited for that, it's grown alot in a couple months. Ok, I am off to get busy reading the new construction books to Brodie! Have a wonderful day...

The kids survived their last day of school. It rained all day so Jake didn't get to play in the kickball tournament, instead they watched movies all day...seems like a waste of a day. I thought he was gonna cry when he came slumping in the door. He is really disappointed to be done. He bounced back though when he had 2 friends over to spend the night.

Tony on the other hand took off in a sprint as soon as the bus dropped him off. He was excited to be off and even more excited that he received multiple awards at the awards ceremony that day. It is really unfortunate that I didn't go to that. I hope to go to more events next year. The 2 most important awards were the Citizenship Award "This certifies Tony Figgins is awarded this certificate for great character and valuable service at Norwoodville Elementary School" it also came with a pin. The other great award was the Presidents Award "presented to Tony Figgins for Outstanding Academic Achievement" complete with another pin and a copied letter from the President! Needless to say he was pretty pumped about these!

Well today is the last day of school for the older boys. Tony is thrilled, while Jake is totally bummed. He is Mr. Social and really loves school for the friend factor. Today at school for Jake they are having an all day kickball tournament with all the advisories (homerooms) competing. Then they are also having a pizza feast for lunch. Jake said they are just messing around all day and that everyone is in charge of bringing some kind of food. He is to bring Mt. Dew for drinks. Glad I am not a teacher there today! I remember the last day of school...it seems like forever ago...

We had a nice Memorial Day weekend. Saturday night we splurged and we went out to dinner and watched a movie at home with my step brother. Jake and I hit up some garage sales that afternoon and did a little grocery shopping. Sunday we went to Will's moms and stayed the night up there and played cards and ATE and Ate an Ate. We always have a such a good time when we go up there. It was nice and relaxing and good to get the boys out of the house.

Now this week I have to get prepared for our final garage sale. Of course now it is suppose to rain all Friday and Saturday so we will see what happens. I really hope it doesn't so that we have a good turnout and get rid of everything. I also have to start thinking of things to do with all my boys for the summer. Jake is pretty easy and just want to hang out with his buddies, but Tony is a little more difficult to entertain. I have a few things up my sleeve so we will see I guess.

The pictures I picked are of Brodie and Drew "helping" me bake banana bread. Brodie did well till he saw that Drew was having way too much fun throwing socks all over. The other picture is of them sitting in the rocking chairs my grandpa made for the older boys eating their snacks. I just think they look so big sitting there. Then the last picture is of Tone with is ribbon at the relays for school.

It has been a relatively quiet week for us. Tony's game got called Monday due to rain and he only had practice on Wednesday night. The other nights were we free! We got some gardening done and other odds and ends and even squeezed in a movie night. We all went to the Y as a family the last 2 nights. Can you believe gas?? It is KILLIN' our budget. It is probably a good thing it is raining this morning so I don't waste gas going to garage sales.

We have no plans for the weekend so far. I think Will might try and get the boat out or at least get it prepared to go out. He really isn't hyped on this weekend since everyone will be out probably. I am hoping to get our herb garden planted and the rest of our garage sale stuff marked and ready. I also want to start working on Jakes room since Tuesday is his last day of school and the start of summer around our house.

Well, I hope everyone has a safe and restful Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy the bits and pieces of good weather we are suppose to have!

We had a good weekend. Friday night we had some friends over and enjoyed spending the evening outside watching the kids play. It was a beautiful night. Saturday we started off with Tony's ball game. Then Will had to work concession stand most of the afternoon. I mowed when he got home and then he took Jake and Tony back to the ball field because they were having a fundraiser night. There was games, food and then they played "The Sandlot" movie on a big projector when it got dark. They didn't get home till 11pm but had a really good time.

Sunday the little boys slept at the same time so both Will and I got some yard work and gardening done. It was nice to be able to do that together. We had family pictures that evening at my moms. Let's just say that was a challenge. Hopefully we got some good ones. Thankfully the weather cooperated.

Looking forward to another busy week. This is the last full week of school for the boys. They were suppose to be done this Friday but have to go back on Tuesday after Memorial Day to make up for a snow day. Seems silly but I guess it has to be done.

Drew came through his surgery just fine. We were actually home by 8:15am yesterday morning. He was pretty groggy for the first hour or so and then he took a really long nap and was totally fine. He was playing outside yesterday afternoon. It is amazing how well he seems. Today he woke up a little croupy but other than that he is doing fine.

I went to Tony's field day at school today. He won 3rd place in the potato sack race, the 3 legged race and the T-ball hit. He had fun and was able to come home with me when he was all finished. I got to some garage sales this morning. It is is a beautiful day so I am off to get some work done outside before out friends come over for dinner. Enjoy the evening...

We got the garden done!! Brodie and I finished this morning while Drew took his nap. Brodie does really well being "careful" Drew...not so much. He just stomps through everything. Brodie will walk through saying "be careful". I fenced off a little area just for him to dig in. I figured that way I could spare maybe a few plants! I am glad to have it done and for now it looks really nice. We will see what happens.

Drew has his surgery in the morning. We have to be there at 6am. That means I have to get up at 4:45am. So, I am off to relax for a bit before I go to sleep. I will update everyone on how it went tomorrow. For now, good night.

We had a busy day today. I FINALLY got my garden tilled yeah! I got about 1/3 of my planting done. I still have a ways to go. I definitely think I should have made it bigger. We will see if I can maintain what I have this year though. It always ends up being more work then I remember. We have quite a variety of plants. Trying some new things this year (like eggplant and some hot peppers and some herbs to name a few).

Tony had a piano lesson and baseball practice tonight. Then Will, Dad, Grandpa Campbell and I went to Jake's last band concert of the year. It went really well. He did a great job. I think I am going to have him take some lessons over the summer so he doesn't forget anything. He has been first chair most of the school year so I would like him to keep up the good work.

I posted a picture of Tony and his solar system project he did with Will for Science class. He had to make a model and write a paper. It turned out really awesome. The other picture is of Brodie sleeping. He was getting into his closet getting things out when he goes down for his afternoon nap so I have been telling him "Stay in your bed and don't get things out of the closet." Well, when I went in to check on him today he had gotten under Drew's bed and gotten the trucks out and fell asleep with them! At least he stayed out of the closet! Too funny. He even put all his Binky's in the dump truck.

Well we survived our garage sale and did AWESOME! I can not believe the amount of stuff we sold. We had a constant stream of traffic the entire time almost. It was great. We still have a bit of things left over and my neighbor and my mother are both really wanting us to do one more so we are planning for May 30 and 31. Then we are DONE and will haul everything left over away for someone else to use or sell.

Drew had his ENT apt last week. He is scheduled to have tubes put in Thursday morning at 7am. The surgery sounds very easy and shouldn't take very long at all. I am happy to be having this done and hoping that it will make things better for him. He has had ear infection constantly this year. The doctor thought he was a very good canidate for the surgery.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day. The guys made me waffles for breakfast with my new waffle maker! The waffles were complete with whip cream and strawberries. It was yummy. I got lots of things done around the house I wanted to do while Will kept an eye on the kids. Brodie handed me my card and said "Happy Birthday Mommy!". Cards and gifts always go with birthdays in his little mind!

Jake went to STOMP yesterday at the Civic Center. He is part of ETS (Educational Talent Dearch) at school and was 1 of the 6 chosen out of 60 at his school to go to this show. He also got a free dinner at Spaghetti Works afterwards. He had a great time at that. I was so proud of him for getting picked. He had to fill out a form as to why he should get chosen and apparently it worked!

Well off to start another week. Hoping to get some gardening done this week and some things planted finally...if my garden would ever get tilled...

Wow, I can't believe it is May 7 already. This last week has flown by. I have been incredibly busy. We are having our garage sale starting on Friday. So far they are forcasting no rain for that day. We need to have NO RAIN because the majority of our stuff will be in the driveway. I have put in many late nights preparing for this so I hope it is worth it.

The garden is ready to be tilled again. We got all the grass dug out. I am excited to plant. The boys have had a great time with their dumptrucks and shovels back there. I think I will have to leave one little area for them. Tony wants to have his own little area as well so I might need to make it bigger!

We have enjoyed the beautiful weather so much! We have spent a lot of time outside and the kids have been sleeping great! Tony had a ball game Monday night. They lost but it was a good night to be outdoors. Yesterday Brodie and I got a ton of weeds pulled in the flower beds. Jake has loved just running around outside and playing down in the gully pretty much every day after school.

Well off to start another day. Brodie has swimming this morning. That always wakes us all up real quick getting into that cold pool!

I went to Jacob's last chorus concert tonight. It was the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade chorus and then they had a musical Guys and Dolls Jr. It was great. I was shocked at how good the kids were at this age group. There was some very talented young people on that stage. Jake did great. We had to stop at DQ on the way home to celebrate with blizzards. He is not sure if he wants to be in chorus next year. Apparently he thinks the teacher is a bit crabby.

I finally got some work done in the garden. We moved it this year, so I have a lot of work cut out for me. We had it tilled the other day and now I am working on getting all the grass and roots out of the dirt so we can get it tilled again. The boys have been pretty helpful at doing that. Jake dug a gigantic hole right in the middle of the garden. He was bummed to realize that he would have to fill it all back in so that we could plant stuff.

Well I am not even able to think tonight because I am so tired, I guess I will go to bed...