I am really not trying to abandon my "mom" blog. Really I'm not. I am just having a little difficulty finding time lately to sit down and actually write something!

Here is a quick update on us.

We had a wonderful vacation in Minnesota. The weather was beautiful, the fishing was great, and we had a very relaxing time. I only wish it could have lasted longer. As soon as my dear husband can find time to transfer pictures I will give you all a little journal of our trip.

The boys are all doing relatively well. Brodie is battling a little problem with his plumbing. He has been having to use the potty quit often. We took him to the doctor Monday morning but there is no urinary tract infection, just inflammation they think. So for now we just have to get through it and hope that he recovers soon. He has been pretty miserable the last few days.

Jake and Tony are trying to soak up the last couple weeks of summer break. It is hard to believe that school will start again here soon. I have no idea what happens to the time.

Hoping to update again soon, for now I need to get some sleep.

Strawberry Craft

(I forgot to put glue in the picture)

This craft was inspired by Stacy. My kids loved doing this craft.

We cut out our berries from the backs of cereal and cracker boxes. We painted them and then allowed them to dry. Next we used glue and drizzeled it all over the berry and sprinkled it with bird seed. They look great! Now, I just have to find a place to hang them up!

Do you think they are excited?

This was the boys with their "Tacker boxes" last week when I told them I was working on my lists for our vacation to Minnesota. They grabbed their tackle boxes and were patiently waiting at 7:30 in the morning for us to leave.
This picture is of the boys and Great Grandpa Campbell. He brought over a tackle box full of lures for the boys to look through and divvy up for our trip. They were so excited!

Our Weekend

Here are a few pictures from our weekend. We spent the weekend up at Colo again. They had their Colo days. So we attended the festivities which included a parade Saturday morning. The boys got more candy than I think they ever gotten at any other parade. For a small town, I couldn't believe how much candy they threw.Then we walked around and looked at the blow up rides and all the tractors. We watched the kids tractor pull. In the afternoon Will, Tony and Jake's friend participated in the Twinkie eating competition. Unfortunately I was taking a nap with Drew so I was not there to witness or take photos of that event.

We had a fun weekend. Everyone was in desperate need of their own bed by the end of the weekend though, including mom.

When we got home Sunday I did a little work in the garden and was pleasantly surprised to see this.When I left Friday I didn't see any melons. Now, I have about 5 small ones. I also picked a batch of hot peppers and this little harvest of goodies.I love my garden!

Flag Craft

Here is a craft we did for the fourth of July. We made flags using construction paper and sequence. I cut out strips of red paper. The boys glued them onto the white cardstock. I cut out a small rectangle and had them smear on glue and sprinkle blue sequence on for the stars. They glued this onto the upper left corner of the paper. This was our version of the American flag.

Rock Painting

Here are the rocks the boys painted the other day. I have quite the collection of large rocks up by the house. After they painted them I let them dry overnight and then spray painted them with a coat of clear paint.
We did this activity with some rocks on our vacation last year and we still have them. It adds a little color to our otherwise dull rock garden.

Our Weekend

We had a great holiday weekend. It was nice to spend an extra day with daddy. On Saturday we headed up to Colo and spent the night with my in laws. We always have the best time up there. We grilled out and made homemade ice cream. Wills cousins came up and the neighbors came over. We enjoyed some sparklers and surprise fireworks! The neighbors have 4 kids close to the same ages as mine so they all have a great time playing. Of course we had to play a little Pinnacle and Boggle.
Here is the cake I made.Here are the guys..ahem..Jake working on digging post holes for Mom and Joels new deck. All the ladies sat and had great conversation! On Sunday we headed back home and up to my Dads to celebrate the fourth of July and my Grandmothers 76th birthday. Happy Birthday Grandma!Here is my Dad and some of the grandkids.Here is Drew and his cousin Nate having a grand ol' time on the swing.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July. We are headed up to spend some time with Wills family today and then back here Sunday to visit my family. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend.

July 3, 2009

Today felt like it should have been Saturday since Will was home all day. We spent the morning around home. I got the garden weeded and the older boys and Will helped with laundry and picking up the house.

This afternoon we packed a picnic dinner and headed out to Saylorville spillway. We found a quiet little place to fish surprisingly with only one other family down the way. We didn't catch anything but the kids ended up having more fun throwing rocks and skipping stones in the water anyway.Tonight we all sat down and played a game of Sorry. It took us a little while because as you can imagine there was quite a few interruptions. It started out with Will and Brodie on a team and Drew and I on a team and Jake and Tony. It ended with Jake, Tony, Will and I all fighting till the bitter end with Jake being the big winner.

After the Sorry battle we made homemade shakes. I LOVE this old Hamilton malt/shake maker that I got at Will's cousins garage sale many years ago. It still works great!

My First Picking

Here is what I picked from the garden today.
A handful of peas -the deer got to them last night :(
One lone grape tomato.
Some hot peppers.
An onion.

All the plants seem to be doing really well. The deer got in there last night and ate all the tops of the strawberries and some peas. Thankfully the strawberries are done for the season.

Sidewalk Paint

Here is one activity that the kids do to keep busy. Sidewalk paint. You mix equal parts cornstarch and water and add some food coloring. It goes on wet and drys like chalk. Makes for a quick and easy clean up too.

Summer Days

Yesterday was a busy day for us. We met my sister in law, niece and nephew out at Big Creek for some playing and a picnic. We hung out a little longer and the boys all played in the sand for awhile before leaving. After the beach we headed to Jester Park where we stopped and rented a Park Park. We picked out Wildflowers and Plants. If you haven't done so, check out the Park Parks from Jester. They are a very cool and FREE activity put out from the Polk County Conservation.We then went and checked out the Natural Playscape also out at Jester where the kids dug in more sand, played in the water and just had fun running around. You would have thought they would be pretty exhausted. We decided to head home after that. Drew did take a little nap on the drive home, just enough to get energized when we got to the house.Daddy was home when we got there and he and Jake took the boat out to go fishing. They were gone the rest of the afternoon and evening. The younger 3 kids and I stayed home and played out in the yard and in the baby pool. We also painted rocks that we will use to decorate the outside with.

We finished the night with baths and the movie Charlotte's Web. Tony and I then watched The Indian and the Cupboard, mom didn't quite make it through that entire movie.

Yesterday was one of those days that I felt completely satisfied with my life. I had a wonderful day with all the kids. I am so happy to have days like this. I was completely exhausted and I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.