Rainbow Craft

We did this really easy rainbow craft today. I got the template from this site. I love this site. There are so many really great activities and ideas here. I even got Jake to participate today.

The 3 younger kids used watercolor paints, Jake used markers and I used crayons. For the clouds we glued cotton balls. The 3 younger kids also had to use glitter glue on their pictures as well just because it is "so cool!"

We took down the chicks that were sitting in the flowers and replaced them with the rainbows. We needed to change the scenery a bit in the kitchen.

Our Day In Review

We had a busy day today. The kids played in the pool and gave the car a wash. This picture was actually of the little boys washing the car yesterday. Tony did a great job of washing the car today. He got all the spots the little boys missed yesterday! It has been so warm this week the kids have been in the pool non stop.We decorated cupcakes. I seem to have accumulated quite the collection of sprinkles and colored sugars and of course they all need to go on the the boys cakes!We actually spent some time at the table making a craft. All four boys sat down at once and didn't argue for like 10 minutes.We played with Playdough and painted with watercolors.We baked bread and within 10 minutes almost 1 loaf was completely gone.I actually got out with my husband, a friend of ours and my 2 oldest sons to see the new Transformers movie tonight. It was a nice little break after a long day.

Our Current Project

It seems like there is always something going on around here. Our dryer broke last week, but thankfully Will was able to fix that Monday night.

Now, here is the next big project we have started. Thanks to our friend Jason (and his dear wife for letting him be at our house the last 2 nights) we are putting in a new dining room window.Our window was so rotten that I could see the outside from the inside. Yeah, that is not normal. So, after shopping around for a while and lots of guidance from Jason we decided on a window and he and Will have got it in! Now, it just needs to look pretty again!(sorry for the dark picture, I will take a better one in the daytime. Right now I have a big blue tarp covering it so it doesn't make for a very good picture.)

Here is what we found when we tore the old window out. GROSS! I still get the goosebumps when I look at this picture.

My recent conversation with Brodie

Brodie: Hey Mom, Maybe when Drew takes a nap Jake can play a game out here (in the living room) and Tony and I can play the Donald Duck game in his room.

Me: We'll see Brodie.

Brodie: Oh yes!!

Me: I said we'll see Brodie.

Brodie: Yeah, mom I like that idea.

Me: I'm sure you do Brodie.

A few minutes later...

Brodie: Mom, when Drew takes a nap maybe Tony and I can play the Donald Duck game in his room. Tony says if I stop asking maybe you will say yes...

Zoo and Mud

I took all the boys to the Zoo today. It was really hot but we all survived. I did take my camera but there wasn't much time for photo ops while chasing the little boys around! I did get some good ones of them feeding the fish! The only time they stood still for a few moments! This was our first trip to the Zoo with out the stroller. I think that maybe we have graduated. I forsee that going up on Craigslist here shortly. Too bad I didn't figure that out before our garage sale. Oh well.The highlight of the Zoo for Drew was watching the diver clean the fish tank. He sat there and watched and waved to the diver for a really long time. He thought that was really cool! He also really liked the giraffes. Brodie always enjoys the monkeys. Tony was happy because we got to watch a sea lion show.We ended up eating a picnic lunch there at the park and then headed home.

This afternoon the boys and Will had a squirt gun fight outside and then Will had to take a call (he is on call this week) the neighbor let the kids swim in her pool so the older boys went over there while the little boys continued to play here in the yard in their pool while I worked in the garden. They realized what happens when you mix water with dirt. Mud. And boy did they have fun with that mud. At first I was going to stop them and then I thought, nah, they are having way too much fun and they are getting along so well! I just hosed them off when they were done. Drew was in Heaven.

Under the Sea

We needed to add some new decorations to our walls. Since we will be going to the lake next month we decided a fishing scene would be appropriate. I inherited a large box of sequence that came in handy for this project.

I cut out fish shapes from different colors of construction paper and let the kids smear glue all over them. Then I let them get a handful of sequence and they sprinkled it over the glue. We ended up with some pretty neat creations.

Tony decided to do all of his with markers. He did great and even made a turtle and crab. We completed the scene with seaweed.

Freedom

2 great things happened today! Jake got his haircut and his cast off! Yahoo for both! I am not sure which one I am more excited about!

This was him at the doctors office when I told him I wanted to take a picture of them cutting his cast off. And I quote "This is the most ridiculous thing you have ever done Mom." I embarrass him so bad.

I never did get a good one of his new hair cut cause of his stocking cap. I know, a stocking cap in 80 degree whether. I will never understand 13.

Ahhh...

Finally I can get back to some sort of normalcy. Garage sales really are so much work! I do enjoy doing them but every year I do them they seem to get harder and more labor intensive! I question once again after hauling everything in Saturday evening fighting back a migraine, whether it is worth it and if I will do it all over again next year. I am sure I will. :)

Thank you to everyone who helped set up, tear down, work the sale and watch the kids. I know it is alot of work!

Garage Sale Status Day 1

We survived Day 1 of the sale. It went pretty good. We got rained out this afternoon. Had to closed up about 2:15. We will see what tomorrow brings. We will open bright and early. The weather is suppose to be much nicer. I am off to bed. If I can get to sleep now I will get a full 6 hours!

My Day

I am living, breathing garage sale right now. I will be glad when Friday is here! I really, really hope the weather stays nice.

I had a super busy day. Here is the short and sweet recap.

This morning the younger 3 kids and I got some errands done. Cans to the redemption, stopped at Target and then spent some time playing outside. I started making some banana bread to sell at the garage sale this weekend.

We ate our lunch and got Jake and his friend up to school for weight lifting. I attempted to give the kids a nap then. Which finally did happen for both kids for a very short while. While they had quiet time I split my time between baking and working in the basement on sale stuff. I even read a few pages of a book! I am reading "Keep Chickens" by Barbara Kilarski courtesy of my sister. Yes, we are seriously considering getting some hens. And now that I know for sure that we can legally have them on our property I am pretty sure we will be getting some.

Anyway. After naps Will got home and he and Tony headed off to go fishing for a few hours. The kids and I decided to head out too and we went and walked around Shoppers which is a Farm and Country store. Then we headed to a park where the kids could burn off some energy.

When we returned home they played in the yard while I weeded the garden and picked some lettuce and even a few strawberries. I continued to bake...Once bedtime hit for the little boys I continued to split my time between the garage and the oven. All said and done (at 11:30 pm)the garage is looking pretty good and I have made 44 mini loaves of banana bread for the garage sale and 1 large loaf for breakfast in the morning. I know that some of the mini loaves will be eaten by us this weekend but hopefully I will have some buyers too! If not...I know it won't go to waste in this family!Now, I am going to go join my babies...

You know your tired when...

you make your morning coffee the night before, the same routine you do every night before going to bed. Only this time you sit down with your jammies on to check your email before bed and what do you smell? Brewing coffee. Doh, I turned it on.

I'm Tired...

and maybe a little bit crabby. At least my basement is actually looking like a garage sale now. I worked on it all weekend. I am having my sale this upcoming weekend so everyone pray for great weather because my sale depends on it. We have so much stuff!

I have lots of families participating. My garage is filled to the brim and I don't even have everything here yet! I am actually pretty excited to see how it turns out. We always have a good time at our sales. It is SO MUCH work, but fun too.

I also got some more weeding done in the garden. I swear as fast as I get them out more grows. We have gotten a lot of rain this weekend so everything, including the weeds are growing like crazy.

We had Wills parents and sister up Saturday night for dinner and cards. Tony was happy because he got to go home with them and spend the night. Sunday the little boys got to play in the pool for the brief period that the sun was out.I am exhasted so I am going to relax a bit. Have a great night and try and have a happy Monday.

Week in Review

WOW, I can not believe it is Friday already. I have no idea what happened to this week. I have really been slacking on the posting lately...sorry.

The boys both had friends over this week. On Thursday we went to Living History Farms with my sister and her kids. That was really fun and we will definitely be returning soon since we weren't able to hit all of it. There is alot to see. I am not sure who was more tired in the couple hours we were there me or the little boys. Brodie came home and took a 3 hour nap.

Tony had a baseball game Thursday night and has his last game of the season tomorrow.

I have been busy working in the garden all week. I have gotten lots of weeding done and Tony and Jake helped me rake and carry grass over so we could use it as mulch. Things are growing pretty good. I just planted a couple more melons today. I will be so excited when we can starting harvesting! I have already been able to pick some lettuce.


Today I also got the East side of the house cleaned up. I picked all the weeds and grass and laid down some mulch. It looks so much nicer. Will spent most of the evening moving around all the dirt that he and Jason hauled a couple weeks ago. He filled some holes and spread it around all the uneven ground. Hopefully we will be able to get some grass planted there now. Drew was his shadow the whole time. Will had his shovel, Drew had his shovel. Will had his rake, Drew had his rake. Will had the wheelbarrow, Drew had his wheelbarrow. You wouldn't believe how dirty this little boy could be and just how happy he was to be that way.

Our First Camping Trip of the Year

Ok, well it has been like 3 years since we last camped. I think the last time we went camping I was pregnant with Brodie. This was Brodie and Drews first camping experience. All said it was lots of fun. Not that it wasn't stressful at times. The first night it rained and we forgot the tarp for the top of the tent so at 4:00am Saturday morning we were loading sleeping kids up in the van and trying to shove all our pillows, blankets and bags into the back so that they didn't get soaked. We ended up driving back home (45 min one way) to get the tarp and some extra towels. It was quite an adventure! But aside from being cold, tired, and wet the first night it was nothing but uphill from there!

There was lots of great memorable experiences. I have so many pictures that it was hard to pick just a couple, so I didn't! I have lots of them to share! Everyone likes pictures right? Here you go...

This was our view from the tent. We camped at Lake Aquabi in Indianola Iowa.
Of course the worms got all the attention. I have no idea what is worse for a worm, getting strung on a hook or getting man handled for hours on end by a 2 and 3 year old.Brodie pleading not to tear the worm in half. He loved the worms so much!Drew Bugs first fish!Tony spotted a turtle sunbathing on a dead tree.Ad usual Dad spent most of his time fixing up poles.Coffee from the campfire and homemade apple turnovers!The six of us went on a boat ride on Saturday.After our 4:30am wake up call I had some tired boys Saturday afternoon. Will went into the tent to put Drew to sleep. Will slept, Drew came out and hung out with me!Fun at the beach.The best times are around the campfire.We had a great time and the kids think we should go every weekend now! We definitely want to get in as much as we can this summer.