Independence, Missouri

Stephen’s parents were in town for a few days.

They are going on a church mission to Independence, Missouri.

What a great example they are to us!

 

The girls are already writing letters to our new missionaries.  We sure love them!

Summer Reading

We enjoy summer reading!  I try and read a chapter book out loud during the summer.  We take the book on hikes or vacations, we snuggle in my bed to read, and we read at night on our trampoline….

This summer we decided to read “the Borrowers”.  Love it so far!  I chose it because of Rebecca’s book club.

She begged all winter to do a club for the summer.  She has planned all of it.  She talked with her school librarian about good books for her club.  She knows what she wants to feed her club guests and what to do with each book.  It should be fun.  Here is her invite she made and handed out to friends.

Ash and I are working hard on her reading.  She cracks me up with her comments.  She is determined to read LOTS of books a day to finish up the library summer reading program.

  

We are also working on our scripture reading with our summer chart.  I did date nights as a reward last year, but this year it’s a little money incentive when they complete it.  Money tends to motivate.  :)

So we are reading and enjoying books!  Do any of you have any favorite read alouds?  I would love to hear of any favorites.

Quote of the Day

“When we forget ourselves, we usually do

something that every one else remembers.”

Fairy Houses

I picked up $1 wooden birdhouses from Michaels for the girls to create fairy houses.  I wasn’t prepared for how many HOURS the girls would spend making, creating and playing with them. 

We first painted them and then accessorized with legos, thimbles, glitter, seashells ….  A favorite is Kaylee’s tea party table that she made out of a spool of gold thread and a mirror compact….

Rebecca has a little checkered picnic cloth with a Polly Pocket spread of food by hers.  The garden is filled with fun shady spots.  Jerrica’s house is in the dill forest.  The ferny little dill plants add such a cute backdrop to hers.  I just hope my garden survives all of this fairy play.

 

Each of the girls’ houses is so unique.  We have sidewalks that are made out of half of a ruler, buttons, marbles and coins.  Ash is quite proud of her feather chimney and jingle bell doorbell.

My marigolds that I have mixed in with my tomato plants are actually “giant yellow TREES” for the fairies.  Pretend play is so much fun.  I think the reason it was such a hit is because they made their houses, the setting is in the garden, AND just because it’s fairies.  I am amazed at how much time they have spent on this!  A few minutes of helping them has given ME hours of my own free time.  :)

I found the idea for fairy houses at Lil Boo Blue.  You can see her post HERE.

Physical Activity

I always worry about the FIVE areas with my kids, and that I’m filling them – social, emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual.  Well, last week was filled with a lot of physical activity.

Rock climbing….

 

Wednesday Tennis Lessons….

 

All Week Basketball camp…..

Swim Team Mon thru Fri…. 

Jerrica’s Tuesday morning Soccer Camp…..

We swam almost every day last week as well as practice on goals and baskets until well past dark here at home.  The little girls are always up and down the road on their bikes.  I just love seeing them so active. 

I feel like by working on the physical aspect, the social is also being helped.  Not to mention that emotionally their self esteem is being built up.   Now to mix in a little more of the other areas…..

Father’s Day Booklet

Last year a friend of mine made an amazing book for her daughter when she graduated from high school.  She took pictures of family, friends, teachers and coaches holding messages for her daughter.  I LOVED the idea and want to remember it for when my kids graduate.

We made  a mini one for Stephen for Father’s Day.  The kids and I each held up a couple of different message cards.  I then printed them up as 4x6’s and made them into a little booklet.

There is just something about the fun, sweet expressions of the people holding the messages.  It captures the ages and looks of the kids.  I think it even fills the book with a little extra LOVE.

So grateful for special holidays like Father’s Day to celebrate those that we love!

Photo Shoot

Last week I squeezed in a fun photo shoot of a cute little toddler.  It was actually my TENTH photo shoot of 2012!

Kaylee let me use her to get my locations all scoped out and settings all set.  She never ceases to amaze me with her expressions.  I felt like Big Foot was stomping thru the Brush Oak, stalking ME!  :)

 

Stitches

Wrestling with older siblings

A sharp corner

Trip to the ER

Five stitches

Concern of a concussion

Not a single tear or cry of pain at the ER

Brothers and sisters praying at home

Quick trip to Target to replace blood soaked PJ’s, a gum prize,

and a supply of band-aids and neosporin to care for my baby

One sad momma  :(

Tie Dye

I’m still trying to catch up from the month of May.  Last week was still busy with friend parties and play dates.  I did sneak my kids away for a few projects and family time.

Tie dye is a favorite every summer.  We have done t-shirts, library bags, and socks.  This year we did T’s again. 

 

Kim came over with Mallory and Baley to join in the fun.  They brought yummy ice cream treats.  I should have made them come back with their finished shirts to take a picture with us.

   

Jacob waltzed in from a friend party and created one of my favorite shirts.  It’s a total artist shirt with the shading of the blue.  The very bottom of the shirt is actually a very light blue, not white.

I love tie dye because you never really know what you are going to get.  Thanks for doing it with us Kim!  :)

Pens

We need to document our summer, SO we made pens one afternoon.  The real idea and directions are Found HERE.

We rolled and mixed clay together, creating a marble effect when you slice it.

You then squish the little slices all over your pen and bake it.  I forgot a tiny little step of taking out the ink first, and lets just say our first batch didn’t turn out so great … MELTED pens CRACKED clay.  I think the ink boiled inside them and got them too hot.

 

However the next batch was AWESOME!!!

  

Nathan’s Denver Bronco pen…..

 

Kaylee’s tri-color pen….

 

Some have asked how I get ALL my kids to participate in my little shenanigans.  Sometimes we pick an activity or project that everyone really wants to do, other times I may use bribery for participation such as Sonic happy hour or YoYogurt.  I just feel it is so important to have all the kids do things together.  They learn from each other, they get to know each other, they laugh at the funny personalities, and they work together.  Projects ROCK!  :)

Fruit Salad

I’m trying hard to make a variety of salads this summer.  I usually just make a toss salad or this “go to” fruit salad.  For some reason this fruit salad just compliments so many meals and is light.

I was talking with a friend as I was making it tonight, and she said that I need to post it on my blog BECAUSE I haven’t shared a recipe for a while.  So here it is.  :)

My kids also like when we do salad bar dinners.  We have bacon, ham or chicken, then a variety of vegetables, hard boiled eggs, olives, and cheeses.  Of course croutons and sunflower seeds are always a treat. 

My sister, Alesha is the queen of yummy salads.  Some of her recipes are my FAVORITE salad recipes.  Anyway bring on summer, I have my salad recipes ready…..

Real Cup

Nathan and Kaylee were in the soccer Real Cup Memorial Day Weekend.  The tournament ran from Thursday thru Monday. 

All of the other kids went camping with my parents up Conejos Canyon.  Stephen and I made it a weekend in Denver with the other two.  We ate at yummy restaurants, went to the Rapid’s game, chilled and swam at the hotel, and of course watched Kaylee and Nathan do their thing. 

   

Kaylee and Nathan play so differently and are fun to watch because of their different styles of play.  Kaylee’s team killed a few of the other teams in pool play, but lost in the semi’s.  When you ask Nathan how his team did, the reply was “uh, not so well…..”  His team lost all but the last game.

 

We sure had a fun weekend with the soccer kids.  However, I really missed the other kids.  They had a great weekend with my parents though.  

Thanks again mom and dad!

Firehouse BBQ

I have been crazy busy.  May always throws me for a loop with all of the end of the school year programs, parties, concerts…  Then Memorial Day weekend came and added to the craziness. 

Jacob asked if we could sometime get Firehouse BBQ from Blackforest.  He has been craving and asking for a while now.  So today amidst the chaos when Jacob asked again, I told Kaylee to take care of lunch for the rest of the kids and took Jake to the Firehouse.  We picked up our sandwiches, and headed to the Blackforest park.

Jake is quiet, but his smile and gratitude said it all…

It was awesome to lay there, taking in the gorgeous day, and spending time with Jake.  It was perfect one on one time with him.  I need more of that with him, especially since he has so much going on this summer.

One on one dates are also the perfect time for me to escape and just relax for a moment.  :)

Sure love you Jacob!

Summer Service Ideas

I’m updating my lists and ran into this post about service ideas.

HERE

Absolutely love the ideas!  Their family brought muffins to the public librarians, left a package of diapers on a bathroom changing table, dollar bills in the toy section of the dollar store, hand written cards to a retirement center…..  just awesome ideas!  I’m so excited for summer and the opportunity to serve!

Room to Grow

I planted my tomatoes inside the end of February.  When I set them outside in April, I had an extra one.  I kept it inside with my other seedlings thinking that if one of the plants outside died, I could replace it.  Well, none of the plants died.  In fact they thrived in their wall of waters.  I still kept the extra one with the other starts that hadn’t been set out yet.

This week I finished setting and planting EVERYTHING outside and still had this one little lone plant.  I looked at it and couldn’t believe how much different it looked from the others that I had planted by seed at the SAME time.

The plants I set out in the garden were given room to grow.  They could stretch their roots as far as they cared.  They could have sunlight all day, instead of just when it was shining through the window.

Of course I marched the kids outside to show them the difference.  I talked to them about how when we stay in our little, easy world, we can’t really grow and branch out.  Our lives are stunted when we don’t stretch and push ourselves.  We can grow bigger and be better if we venture out of our sheltered space.

I just can’t believe these plants were started at the same time, and how great the difference is.  It makes me step back and look at my life.  I want to fill a garden and not just a small container.  :)