Highlights from a lazy Saturday

1. Let the kids have friends over to play while I stayed in my pajamas and looked up inspiration for my parents 50th. December will be here before we know it.
2. Showered while Joseph napped
3. Did a super quick clean up of my house when I thought someone was going to come over and then they didn't end up coming, but I am glad I thought they were going to because nothing makes me clean my house faster.
4. I did puzzles with Gracie and discovered that she can "sing and move like Mariah Carey". Don't worry I took a video. It mostly looks like this:





A lot of head tilting and hand motions.

5. I drew pictures for her to paint and painted a little myself. My recipe cards!




5. We had the Penrod's over for swimming and pizza on the grill. And Jason shaved his chest hair into a heart and had I not been in the pool I would have taken a picture.
6. Went to bed at a decent hour.

the end and the beginning

I just dropped William off for his last day of 1st grade. This is exciting because I have been wanting school to be over for awhile now. I got this idea from a friend on instgram, there are chocolate covered strawberries in those bags.

The colanders were $1.99 at Cost Plus World Market! And, yes, William has 4 teachers.

William is pretty excited, William is also sunburned. He had a swimming field trip yesterday and swears they put sunscreen on him, but this is what happens when he is out there all day.  So today is my last day to prep for summer vacation. It requires prep because as the school year goes on I think of things I want to work on with the kids but with school there just isn't time. Summer vacation is the perfect time for this, but last summer I wasn't ready for it when it came. We didn't have a good routine and it was over before I knew it. We need a plan.

I wrote this up one day while I was looking at pinterest and making plans. I showed it to William and he was pumped (this was my attempt to make cleaning the house and eating healthier seem like fun). I don't want them to spend the whole summer watching movies. What I need to add there at the bottom all fat and huge is, "good attitude". We do all these things pretty well, but not without a heaping dose of attitude to go a long with it.

William made this chart...and then later scribbled on it and crumpled it up when he was mad at me (see what I mean? Attitude). Anyway it is his chart for earning the "Best Summer Ever!!!" When he and Gracie would do something he thought was good he would give them more points. While the math doesn't exactly add up, I do think we deserve to have the BEST SUMMER EVER!!!

Here are some of the plans:

constellation jars

and maybe let them build a fort and sleep in it with this in the room. like camping, but easier:)

awesome paper airplanes

me on the map

I haven't decided if I am just going to have them draw each place, or have a black and white map for them to color, but I do know if will involve google earth.

painted wooden spoons

along with a 

cardboard puppet theater

condensed milk painting

and maybe an adorable fairy garden

terrariums 

and other things like swimming, splash pads, embroidry stitching, packing healthy lunches, making story books and home videos. Should be tons of fun.

Oh, and I will probably make these ^genius things ^ for a road trip to California to see some of our favorite people, Brett and Natasha & co. 

(taken last summer, I think I should always pose with my hand on my hip)

 On a side note - if you like twitter and you like to laugh, you should follow Natasha on twitter  (@natashalevinger). I had kinda given up on twitter and then was on there again (kinda by accident?) and found myself scrolling through just to find all of her tweets I had missed and then reading them outloud to Russ. She is one funny lady and Brett is really funny too. I am convinced they sit around their house all day just laughing at each other (and their hilarious children).

So,summer 2012, please do not disappoint!!!

dress it up

I wear cardigans a lot and I like them to say in place, but they don't. I saw a friend once wearing a cardigan with two adorable pins on either side connected by a chain and thought it was so cute (and useful) and it wasn't long before I was thinking "I could make those". You may have noticed me wearing them in my pictures at Florence and the Machine. Well in case you are interested I am going to show you how I did it and it was surprisingly easy. 

I went to the thrift store and got all these earrings. This isn't even collecting over time they were all there at the same time and there were more I wanted too, but I told myself to calm down.

The I grabbed some (cheap) chain that I think I got at walmart forever ago. I am sure most craft stores would have it. Then I cut two lengths: one 5 inches and one 6 inches.

Then slide the chains of the ear ring post then put the post through your sweater (or whatever it is you want to pin it to) and then put the back on. The backs that are pictured seemed to hold the best. I thought the post would poke and bother me, but it didn't and I had not problems with it all night, and my sweater stayed in place!

Then I had to take a picture to see which one I liked best. I went with the green, but can't wait to wear all of them. 

So there you go. I hope this helps someone out there.

Homemade Christmas gifts

Here are some pictures of some home made gifts we gave to Russ' brothers family this year. I got all my ideas from pinterest, but made my own patterns for each of them.

fish

I found the fish in the toy kitchen. William decided to cook them.

The wings I attached to a little sweater and I put fray check on the ruffles. Other than that, it was essentially the same as the online tutorial.

Then Russ cut some blocks that were scrap wood from the play house.

I hope people like getting handmade gifts as much as I love giving them.

Christmas surprise

 Russ isn't a builder, he really hasn't built much. So I suggested that he build a playhouse for the kids for Christmas he was a little skeptical. I showed him the Ana White website where he could get free plans and he  decided to give it a go.

He really didn't have a lot of time to work on it because of his work schedule and holiday stuff so I was a little worried that it wouldn't get done. Luckily my mom and dad and brother Mark came out one day to help build  or watch the kids so I could paint.

By some miracle it was ready on Christmas eve. 

We told the kids that Russ was building a shed for his lawn mower and it was covered by tarps once you could tell what it was so they were not sure what there present was when they opened their eyes.

But they were excited once they figured it out.

Even Joseph was so excited.

It was a lot of work, but so worth it. It will give them a reason to play outside more and I love that. I don't think they play outside enough.

Well done Russ, well done.

Counting down and crossing off

 Only 5 more days until Christmas! (the exclamation point is for excitement and disbelief). There is still so much to get done, but we have been steadily crossing things off the list. For example my large yarn wreath.

We were also able to get a decent looking picture using the timer on the camera and Christmas cards are sent out. whew. Today I barely got teachers gifts wrapped in time (meaning no time to take a picture).

Yesterday was Russ' day off and the entire day was devoted to finishing the playhouse that Russ is building for the kids. My brother Mark came and helped and my parents came over and helped watch the kids so we could get it all done. My Dad even did my shopping at Costco for me. Blessing I tell you, all of them. The playhouse is done! It just needs a few finishing touches on the inside. After all the work was done yesterday we went with some more of my siblings to see Mission Impossible at the IMAX with the biggest screen so we could see the 6 minute trailer for Dark Knight Rises. The trailer and the movie were good.

There is still so much to do, but I am confident it will all get done without things getting too crazy. I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season and that things aren't too crazy.

I think I am going to let myself lay down and relax for awhile today cause I am really tired.