This past weekend my sweet almost 8 1/2 year-old received a wonderful Light of Christ award that he's been working towards since the Fall as part of his Scouting.
But, don't let these sweet photos fool you. Although he's a sweet kid, he's still just a goofy 2nd grader.
Case in point:
Our 12+ year-old washer finally gave out last week. I wasn't surprised. We'd never done any maintenance on the thing and pretty much ran it ragged with loads upon loads of laundry. Hubs and I had been talking about getting a new washer/dryer set soon anyway, so it was kind of a blessing in disguise.
So Friday afternoon we headed out to Best Buy to look at washer and dryer sets. We were 99% sure of the one we wanted on Friday night but still I just wanted to think a bit longer. I am not sure why I actually even needed to do that since I knew I would leave the decision up to the hubs who is better off at deciding things like this!
Friday evening we headed back out to Best Buy on our way back from dinner. We made the purchase and setup our delivery. I was SO excited!
Today was finally the day. Can I just say this thing looks SO much more beautiful in my laundry room than it does on a showroom floor?! I am LOVING it thus far. And, as witnessed below, my kids are loving it, too. I am just glad I ran to grab my camera in time to capture some of this fun they were having with our new Whirlpool Cabrio Platinum washer! Who'd have thunk that an appliance could make children so giddy? Not me! I can't wait till we get our new dryer later this week!
Here's to new beginnings!
Now that baseball season is over for my kids, we're seeing our oldest hanging out and about with his new equipment for tackle football.
Don't know who's more excited about it - me or him!! Are you ready for some football?
During a recent game of Uno, the kids and I came up with an invention to make our game-playing much easier. You see, in the game of Uno each player receives 7 cards each. Well, as an adult even I sometimes have trouble fanning my cards out so that I can see them all the same time, so of course my 7 and 5 year-old struggle to hold all of their cards out, too.
It was decided we would come up with a remedy for this very serious problem! Because what you need to know is that we are a family who LOVES to play board and card games together to pass some of our lazy summer afternoons.
Hmm....perhaps we should add it to our summer to-do list.
At any rate, I'm sure Hasbro will be calling any minute because this cute little card holder makes playing Uno soooo much more fun (especially with little kids)!
First off, we cut 4 box flaps from a large cardboard box.
Then took a sheet of brown construction paper and a ruler to mark off strips that were about a ruler's width.
This allowed for about 4 strips to be made per piece of construction paper.
Then we taped two strips of the paper together so that it spanned the entire width of the cardboard piece we'd cut earlier. This strip would be where the cards would be tucked into. You'll see how this works later.
After measuring the width of the cardboard, the excess from the strip of paper is cut off.
Then, we side of the strip to the edges of the cardboard piece. We used just regular Scotch tape on our first card holder, however, we found the clear packing tape worked best for subsequent holders. Duct tape would probably work just as well!
Next, we took packing tape to seal off the bottom edge of the strip of paper to the bottom edge of the cardboard flap.
Finally, VOILA! We've got a card holder!
. . . And, two very happy Uno players!
Don't you just love the ideas kids come up with these days? We ended up making 4 of these card holdersand have used them a few times for playing Uno. I imagine they will work for other games where cards are needed, too. Sure beats me having to fan out the cards for my kids every 5 seconds during game play!
It was Nathan's final day to wear his school uniform as a First Grader. My, how he's changed in just 9 short months since he started on this journey!
He's so bummed that school is ending, saying often that he wishes he could keep going everyday to see his friends, his teachers, and of course, to play kickball at recess!
I wanted to capture him one last time for this school year, in his school uniform. This is what I managed to snap during drop-off this morning.
Of course he immediately found a friend of his as he exited the car. They walked up the steps into the school together. And, yes, he's carrying the Target goods I recently told you about.
And now comes the hard part -- trying to keep his wonderful noggin challenged enough so that he doesn't grow bored this summer! Have I mentioned how not-cut-out-for-teaching I am? Maybe that's why adore teachers so much. Anyway, I am hoping to come up with some sort of system of scheduling our days of the week so that we can still focus on academics, religion, free play, and other educational goals. So, here's to summer!
Nathan recently brought home a fairy tale project he completed at school. I SO had to giggle at his storytelling and imagination! The jist of the story goes like this:
Lonely boy loses five dollars. Two nights later lonely boy loses one dollar. Lonely boy sets up a camera to spy on person he suspects is taking said dollars. Lonely boy finds out it is a robber. {gasp!} Lonely boy sets out fake money to trick robber. That night, robber takes fake money while lonely boy keeps real money. They all live happily ever after.
Seriously I have no idea why my kiddo is writing fairy tales that have to do with robberies and money, but I still found it entertaining! I think we're all ready for summer break, though!
It's back. The busy season of baseball. This morning was a chillax one with a bit of sleeping in for me. That is, until I was woken up to wipe a butt and then woken up again later because my kids were hungry.
I figured that was a good reason to finally get out of bed.
So after a nice little breakfast and some rockin' out to tunes from some of the artists at our favorite festival happening next weekend, it was time to start thinking soccer. William had his final soccer game of the season today. It was finally a nice enough day to be outdoors, thank GOD! We spent most of this soccer season out in the cold wind!
After soccer, we decided to grab a late lunch (with coupons in hand, of course!) at Chick-fil-a. Yum! My favorite fast food joint, fo' sheezy! I enjoyed some nice convo with my hubby while the kids played in the play area and got even more of their energy out. Which is always nice.
Then the kids and I headed out on our own to canvas our 'hood with signage for the festival next weekend. It's our yearly tradition. Fun, fun! The kids came home even more worn out and decided to veg out and play Club Penguin online until their evening baseball games.
And then it was time. Baseball. Ahhhhhh! I was disappointed I couldn't see both games but Nathan's game was at 7 pm as was William's. Darn you, schedule!
I did, however manage to get a photo of Nathan before he headed out for the fields.
At any rate, it was totally fun watching my lil' big guy play. He and his teammates had a blast!
William had a fantastic game! He was super stoked about catching a ball that was thrown to him just right in his glove! The crowd cheered! I saw him out there sort of doing an instant replay with his glove while grinning from ear to ear.
Recently a friend and I were talking and she mentioned how she thought t-ball was boring so she didn't sign her son up. At the time she said it, I kind of only thought, "well, I'm certainly not signing my kid up so that I can be entertained, so it being boring to parents shouldn't really be an issue!" I mean, if I only signed my kids up for stuff that piqued my interest, I think they'd spend a good amount of time in computer and web design classes! But now, after this weekend, I can honestly say this t-ball thing is anything BUT boring! It's actually a little more exciting for us as parents because unlike coach pitch or machine pitch boys' baseball, these t-ballers hit the ball nearly every time! SO UN-boring! So excited William is getting a chance to make new friends that will soon be in Kindergarten with him --- the kids were SO cute to watch!
After the two 7 pm games, we headed over to DQ for a LATE dinner with kids and of course some ice cream! It has been a loooong day, but so NOT boring! Grateful that the warmer weather and summer sports are in full swing!
This afternoon the 1st graders hosted their annual Mother's Tea. It was the cutest thing ever! I was seriously in tears before the event began.
Nathan came out into the hallway and found me wandering around with the other moms and chatting it up. He jumped into my arms and then gave me the sweetest hug. Then it was off to his classroom.
Um, yeah, see that poem book above? That's what started the tears. So cute! There was one verse of a poem in there where Nathan wrote, "My mom loves the computer, family, and house." And, although they aren't loved in that order, he is spot-on with naming them! What's even better is that at the back of this poem book is coupon (ya'll know how much I love couponing!) redeemable for dishwashing and laundry folding. Score!
We had some yummy afternoon treats, that's for sure! Even though the chocolately browines were for the moms, I of course gave Nathan a bite.
It was lovely that the kids all served the moms. Too cute! I had an excellent server!
And, we did a lovely little craft together! I should also mention that after school Nathan came home and immediately started working on a similar craft for William. It was very sweet!
Afterwards, the class performed a sweet song and then presented us with the most beautiful "forever bouquets" -- watercolor paintings of flowers -- as our special gift! Oh, how I wish I coud stop time for just a bit and enjoy this time before getting into the years that lie ahead with all of the complications that come along with growing up.
I am so grateful for the amazing teachers and school that we are a part of! It was a fabulous day and a treat for all the moms!
Simply copy & paste the code below!
