Monday, September 23, 2013

celebrate youth

madison school district does a huge back to school party every year. they do it in one of the parks. they have free sack lunches, free carnival games, and raffles. the best part is that we live less than a block away from the park they do it at!

 elizabeth doing the climbing wall. she didn't get very far, but she had fun!

taylors turn on the climbing wall. he got 3/4 of the way up! in flip-flops!
 free train rides!

 waiting for our turn on the train.


bouncy house fun!

 face painting! ice cream





 minion!


balloons!

this one's a double yolker

in truth, there are 2 eggs in the bowl. do the math.

holey hose!

something ate my hose this summer. i was not happy!
i put duct tape around it, and that works for about 2 weeks. then i have to reapply it.

canning

 LOVE these beautiful peaches!!!

cousins

i discovered one day, that i have cousins living in my ward. he's in the bishopric and owns the inexpensive movie theaters in town.

anyway, we were at the space derby, and trying to entertain kids during the lulls.



aren't these just the cutest little girls ever!!

cool dude!



such a cutie! and turning into such a delightful little boy!

garden tic-tac-toe

we had a few birthday parties the kids were invited to this summer. as funds are always tight, i had to think of something inexpensive and fun that the kids would enjoy getting. in perusing pinterest, i found a perfect project. and the best part is that it will work for both boys and girls!

 these are the ones i did. ladybugs, and bees. you find 4 sticks to use as your board, and have fun!

taylor wanted to do the ones for his friend. his bees aren't done yet, but they still look good for a 9-yr old!

painting

the landlord has given us free rein to make any changes/alterations to the house that we want to. he told us that as long as we don't burn the house down, he doesn't care what we do.

in light of that, we have painted the front room. 

we have an accent wall, which i actually like. this is a picture of the corner. showing both the accent color, and the main color.
shaun is painting above the stairs. we didn't have an extender, or a ladder, so he duct taped a 1x2 to the brush, and painted that way.
while we were painting, shaun mentioned that his professors would be proud. he's using a bigger brush (2 inch), and painting from farther away. (in school, shaun was notorious for painting with a 5 bristle brush, and painting super close to his canvas.)

space derby

this summer, we lost nearly our entire scouting unit. leaders and boys. since it was an anticipated loss, they had planned accordingly.

they combined pack meeting with another ward. and so, taylor had his first ever space derby. and i think it was the leaders first space derby as well. there was a lot of trial and error and shuffling to make things work.

 trying to get the rubber bands fully inserted. and you can see his paint job here. he did it all by himself!
 the start of a heat. taylors is in the middle.
 the race!
and...he won second!!

Friday, September 20, 2013

brrrrrrr

today was picture day at school. i made the older kids take baths last night. taylor went first, and then elizabeth. elizabeth complained that the water was cold (it happens sometimes. taylor is his father's son, and likes his baths/showers extra warm).

this morning, when i climbed in to take a shower, i discovered that my water was also cold. yesterday, michael apparently turned the thermostat on the water heater down when he was "helping" me do the laundry. 

Thursday, September 19, 2013

baking monster

as yesterday was substantially cooler than it has been, i took the opportunity to do some overdue preparation baking.

i made 4 pizza crusts.
i made 32 pretzels.
i made a batch of caramel corn.
i made a double batch of granola bars.

it was quite the productive day!

mouse, mouse

ashley and i were reading a book last night. there were pictures of animals and the sounds they make. she pointed to the mice and said, "mouse, mouse!"
i'm in a funk. i have tons a pictures to go through and make posts with. i have lots of everyday things that i keep meaning to post about...........

and i can't ever seem to get around to doing any of them