Birthday Re-cap!

Paige enjoyed a very special day last Saturday, her 6th (can it be 6 already??) birthday! The day started off like all birthdays should, licking the cake bowl.

She then moved on to the big task of decorating the basement bar area. With the scorching temps we decided to move the party to the nice cool basement.

Her request was for a “Princess-Puppy” party. So we made a puppy cake and tried to make the basement as “princess-y” as possible!

She has been BEGGING for a puppy for a very long time now. We always told her when we moved out to the country. Well, that was at the beginning of winter, so then we told her in the summer. According to her summer started a long time ago and we’ve had the question MANY times as to weather or not we are really getting a puppy. Any time we’d ask what she wanted for her birthday she’d sigh, roll her eyes and say, “you KNOW what I want. A real puppy. But you said not yet”. We did, we kept telling her in August we’d get one. Thanks to Kyle and Lacey’s dog she got the present she always wanted! Meet Oliver.

Chloe is not a fan of puppies, but since Paige is her BEST friend she decided that she would learn to like Paige’s dog. No matter what it took. I think she’s doing just great.

Oliver had to go back home for a few weeks as he wasn’t even 2 weeks old at the party. But Paige has already visited him so he won’t forget her and is now counting down the days to school starting ‘cause that’s when she gets to take him home.

Happy Birthday Paigey!!!!

Peetttyy Daadddyy!!!

 

Lookout Kara, Deanna, and any other hairstylists out there, we have someone that’s gonna give you a run for your money!

Yes, she practices on a bald guy. Since this means there’s no hair to stick the clip into she has to PUSH it into his head, good thing he has a thick skull!

“Peeettty Daaddy!!!”

Happy 4th!!!

My kids and I thought we’d help you get in the spirit for the upcoming weekend. Enjoy.

    

Spring Is Past, Summer Is Here

Okay, not really. But I’m optimistic that summer temperatures ARE coming and we will be able to go to the beach or OUTDOOR pool instead of the indoor one. I’ve had these spring pictures to share for awhile, well, since spring bloomed. Seems like I have a hard time taking a few moments to get them put up.

I LOVED this tree in bloom. While Jerem thought it looked nice he thinks the fact that he had to deal with weeks of sneezing and no benefit of fruit to look forward to, that a flowering crab is worthless.

I think the comment has been made on almost a daily basis by someone in the house “man, I just love living here”.

We had beautiful pink blossoms to enjoy out our bedroom window. This tree DOES have fruit, although I’m unsure what it is exactly. It was so much fun seeing our property come to life this spring. We looked at it, then bought it in the fall, so we had no idea what it would look like it full bloom. We’ve loved every minute of it!!

A.D.D.

I think I have it. For real. Although I think mine is the kind that plagues most mothers, I hope. Maybe I’m alone in this. The following pictures were not fun to put up, but I really don’t want to keep giving you the impression I’m super mom or something.   Because when I should be doing this….

Or cleaning this….

I decide to visit my new favorite site (ana-white.com) and find something to build. I will say in my defense, the weather has be beautiful here and with little ones outside at ages where an adult needs to be there too, it gave me a fun project to keep busy with.

 

Project #1: Child size picnic table. Total cost: 0.00. The top is an old pallet. There were a bunch here when we moved. And some scrap 2x4’s. That’s it. I used the power saw for the first time. Alone. And not just that but I successfully cut at a 30 degree angle. I’m not sure why that excites me as much as it does. The table is definitely solid and actually sets level. Once again, I surprised myself. If you knew, and I mean really knew me you’d know what an accomplishment that is. To get something level.

This little guy was my big helper for the week. He’s Kodiak’s (my extra I’ve had since Sept) older brother who was done with preschool for the year. He was pretty bored with just the little ones to play with, so I put him to work. He pulled nails, painted, and kept me entertained.

On to project #2.

Once again, a freebie. And once again, made out of pallets.

These were SO EASY. I couldn’t believe it. Just a couple cuts with a saw and a piece of wood in the bottom to keep the stuff from falling out. I’m trying to decide where to put them and what do do with them. I really like the idea of them hanging at kid level in the basement with books. I think with the barn wood down there it would look pretty cool. But with the cement blocks halfway up the wall I’m not sure how to hang them. So for now they’re just a fun project. I could just set them on the floor with books too. I’m sure some of you have some great ideas I’d love to hear! They could be painted, stained, etc. Right now I kinda like the character the raw look gives.

I’m super excited about Project #3, but that one is waiting a couple weeks I think. I need to go find the floor in my house.

Joined At The Hip

This weekend, or rather, this PAST weekend, not this COMING weekend, Jerem and Anson went down to camp for Father/Son retreat. This is their 3rd year going and every year Anson gets more excited.

Paige and I decided she needed a fun weekend too, so she hosted her first sleepover. Her and Chloe Olson are BEST friends. They are so cute to watch together, they can’t go one step without the other right there. Paige made a list of what they were going to eat and do. On the menu was:

Sparkling Grape Juice, Mac n Cheese, Rootbeer Floats, Donuts for breakfast.

Activities:

Painting nails, Playing wii dance, putting on make-up, dressing up.

 

Although playing Anson’s DS wasn’t on the list they got lots of time with it in!

Winding down for the night.

And..they’re out! they fell asleep at about 10 and got up at 5:50!! It was just too exciting.

Ready for church

 

 

Of course they had to do the “best friends matching hair” thing. Chloe declared she wanted to move in and become Paige’s sister, I think once she saw her brother and sister at church though she decided her family was okay and Paige could just be her “pretend” sister.

Project Day

 

The previous owners of our house left us a great swing set. The kids were so excited to have something bigger to play on. With all the wind lately I noticed the tarp on top was really getting shredded and not working so great. I remembered that a few years ago I bought some awning fabric in for a different project that never came to be. There were many times shuffling things around in the trailer that I thought about just pitching it, but couldn’t bring myself to “just in case”. So, I decided the cover for the playground was what I would tackle yesterday afternoon. (Notice my super heavy duty, park grade, yellow baby swing? My fun goodwill find for $5 WITH the chain).

I even did it right and sewed the fabric together instead of just overlapping it. Come on mom, I know you’re impressed.

In bit precarious of a position because no I did NOT do this right and get the ladder. About 10 minutes later I did because I was in fear for my life and didn’t want to scar my children forever by them seeing me fall.

All done! Now THAT was a workout!! I love it though. Not sure how long it’ll hold up, but I have plenty more fabric where that came from.