Enjoying Summer

We've been loving summer.  The public library has proven to be a great source of entertainment.   We are rather bookish folk around here, so we cannot have enough books.  We went to the library on Tuesday for a play.   We watched the play and checked out books.   The check out yesterday was on top the books we checked out on Saturday and the Wednesday prior.  I'm encouraging the kids to return books they are done reading.   I'm fine with reading the same book 16 MILLION times.   I just want them to understand that if they don't enjoy a book, take it back and look for another.   The afternoons after library time are quiet!   My daughter takes off with her stash of books to the nearest flat place and starts to read.   I found her reading on the stairs yesterday.  That is where she stopped to take off her shoes and that is where she stayed.  I reminded her the couch was much more comfortable.   At the end of the chapter, she moved *giggle.*   I laughed because whenever I ask her to do something while she is reading she says, "Let me get to the end of the chapter."   I was am a major bookworm.   I empathize. 

We have also been doing some school work.   My daughter is still miffed at the fact that she is out of school for the summer, but we have "school" everyday.  I continue to tell her until we have acres and acres of crops to pick, she can do 45 minutes of school.   We are reviewing her spelling words from the school year, working through some math review, and playing some logic games.  My son is working though his age appropriate math stuff, doing some early reading and phonic stuff, and doing the logic puzzles with his sister.  We are also working on memorizing scripture.   We are also doing a different literature study every week.   This week we are reading How to Make and Apple Pie and See the World.   Yesterday, we have pantomimed the story.   Monday we looked at the places the main character visits on a map.  Today, we spent 4 hours away from home going to doctor for my son's ear infection, getting the medcine, eating some lunch, and visiting my grandmother.   No school today.   Tomorrow we make APPLE PIE!   My kids love to "help" to cook.   They are very jazzed about the prospect of making and apple pie.   Of course, they are also jazzed about eating the apple pie.

I found some fabulous websites today for kids projects.   The first is a play dough project.   I have a pretty good playdough recipe.   I'm going to compare this one.   I noticed that the play dough is dyedI've always shied away from dye because it tends to stain the kids hands.   We'll give it a whirl and see how it goes.   If my kids have blue hands, you'll know why.  :) My daughter also loves these scratch boards, so we're going to give making these a whirl.   The ones we have used before are always store bought.  

I've been working on a quilt for a cousin.   I've been stuck for the last few days because I have to add fabric to my backing fabric before I can baste and quilt.  I don't like doing this so I've shelved it for a few days.  I finally pinned the fabric tonight and started making the binding.   For any non-quilters reading this, I just spoke Greek, sorry.   In English, I'm about halfway through.  The top is done.   It is pretty cute, very unique.   I love it!  I was thinking about my projects lined up.   I have to do:
A quilt for Grandmother,
A quilt for my roomie from college whose baby is due in Oct.
A quilt for my house TX themed.   I've only had the fabric 5 YEARS!
Curtains for my Mom
A sock Monkey for my son and daughter
A purse for me
A duvet for my sister-in-law

A dress for myself
A tree skirt, I have fabric for it left over from making my Mom's, I don't know who will get it.
A scrappy Christmas quilt...unknown reciepent
A travel quilt, had the fabric for about 4 years
I'm sure I'm forgetting something...

Some of my projects have been put aside due to one cross country more or another.   I still can't believe we make two cross country moves in 2 1/2 years.  We just found out that we will not have to move cross country again.   As of right now, we are not moving to NYC.  Whew!   Of course that could always change at a moment's notice.  I'm off to sleep and hopefully get closer to finishing that baby quilt tomorrow. 

Swim In

I had a great time at the zoo today with a friend and her boys.   Thank you very much dear friend for a treat of going to the zoo on your membership.  It was fun to just hang out with you for a while.  I don't see her as often as I would like and it was great to catch up.   She was one of the first people I met when we started attending our church.  At the zoo, we also checked out the new Dinosaur exhibit.I would say the kids were pretty unimpressed.   They zoomed through it.   Luckily, we could back through later.  My $6 paid for two trips through it.   My daughter's favorite part was being sprayed by water at the end.  The weather cooperated beautifully by not raining until we were in the car to leave.   It was an overcast, might I say, cool day.   Yea! for a cloudy cooler day in my neck of the woods.  

After the zoo, I went to Hobby Lobby on my quest to find lavender, green, and brown fabric.   I found something that worked, but those are not the "in"colors right now.  My fabric selections were few.   She will have something unique and beautiful and be very different from the rest of the crowd.   I love uniqueness, so I celebrate this with her.

My hubby and I've been praying over a major decision.   We just don't feel like we are hearing from the Lord.   I have a feeling we must be missing something and He is speaking and we are not listening/hearing.   I keep praying for clarity and wisdom and open ears!

Lovin' Summer

I love the laid back days of summer.   As of last Thursday I kissed 5:45 goodbye until the Fall.   YEA!   Now 7:30 or 8:00 feels like I'm living the dream of sleeping late.  So far I've checked the public library offerings.   There are a ton of fun things to do.  Yesterday we went to the library and checked out a ton of books.   After we schooled in the afternoon, the kids had a quiet afternoon of reading.  

After our reading time, I made my daughter help me clean out her side of my studio.   What a mess!   It is so much better now!   We are ready to start making more messes!

I've got some fun fabric in my studio that I need to use for something.   I'm planning a quilt for a cousin.  It is in the colors of lavender, green, and brown.   Hobby Lobby has some cool fabrics, so I'm going to check those out.   I have the aforementioned fabric because I asked the cousin and didn't hear for about a week as to her color choice for this little one.   So I did the logical thing and bought pink and brown.   The  next day she e-mailed me her colors: lavender, green, and brown.   The pink and brown is so versatile I may turn it into pillowcases for gifts.   I'm heading back to Hobby Lobby to see if I can find fabulous stuff in purple, green, and brown.  If I don't I'll head to Joann's next.

I've been up an hour and have accomplished nothing but drinking my morning cup of coffee.   I'm off!

Animal Crackers Breakfast

Yes, I just ate animal crackers for breakfast.   We are grocery poor here.   We've been so busy with company and sick children that I have not made it to the grocery store.  I could've eaten Cheerios like a good little girl and gone on with my day, but I couldn't do it.  I plan to go to the grocery tomorrow after I drop my daughter off for her last day of Kindergarten.   She has been sick, but seems better today.   I'm hopeful she'll get to enjoy her last day of school.   She and her brother are upstairs playing right now.

I've been thinking about the summer and how to be purposeful.   My goal this summer is to not fritter the days away.   I plan to go to the library every two weeks and find some new and exciting books.   The Outdoor Theater always has fun kids stuff.   This weekend marks the opening of the public pools and splash pads.   I want to have low cost FUN this summer.   We won't be going to the zoo.   I let our membership laspe with New York having over our heads as a big question mark.   We plan to make a trip to Alabama this summer for the annual family reunion.  There is a local theater company performing two shows at our church this summer, so I hope to make that as well.   I think I may try and make the museums on free days.  Living in a large city, I need to take full advantage of the museums.   The free hours are usually only a couple of hours, but that is all the kids usually last anyway.   I've missed my daughter while she has been in school this year.   I hope to have a blast with both of them home this summer.  

Carpe Diem!

A Pile of Receipts

I sit here with a pile of receipts in my lap.   My husband and I track our spending down to the penny.    Life has been crazy that I think I have about a month's worth of receipts to enter.   I try to do it about once a week.  My plan was to go to the grocery store this morning and do this later, but my daughter ended up with a fever this morning.   She is home from school and I'm staring at a pile of receipts.   I've thought about those people who don't spend but about $100 in a month as a challenge.   That would cut down on the receipts, but what would we eat?   Tracking our spending is good because we can plug holes where money runs out and it shouldn't.   It is painful to do all the leg work for it.   I guess it is like going to the grocery store and spending $30 on $200 worth of groceries.   You have to do the leg work to get the reward.  

So today, I will review our spending and play UNO with a sick little one.

"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it".  Psalm 118:24

We are also praying through a big decision.   Please join us in praying for God's perfect will.

What to Say on a Sunday Night

It is a quiet Sunday night here.   My son has a stomach bug, I think.   He threw up twice Thursday, but has been fine until this evening when the other part started.   Of course, I find this out after we've been to family birthdays.   Hopefully no one else will come down with it.  My daughter seems to be fine.

I was hoping for a quiet week.  I wanted to work on some stuff to finish up a card project for Kidslink Downrange that our MOPS group is doing.  I actually got on the computer to cut out some hearts with my digital die cut machine, but instead I found myself reading blogs and looking at FB.

It is rodeo time where I live.   We watched the rodeo parade on Saturday.   It was a long parade, so we didn't stay until the end.   We did see several floats, marching bands, and trail ride teams.  Jason and I are thinking about taking the kids to the livestock show.   The rodeo itself can be pricey because the ticket to the rodeo also gets you into a musical performance.   I'm not sure that the kids would be able to handle all that.   Sitting on tractors and petting animals is more their speed.

Our car is working now.   I'm not too confident in it continuing to work, but time will tell.  Jason and I were hoping to start remodeling the house, not buy another car.  I may be living with paneled walls and a 1960's kitchen a little longer.   I am just thankful to have a house regardless of how it looks.   I look at the pictures from Haiti and Chile and see people's lives destroyed and I am thankful.

I just wanted to write a quick update.   I am hopeful that my son's illness passes quickly...no pun intended.

Never a Dull Moment

In the space of a weekend, one car has some electrical issues going on which has rendered it useless.   The other got as screw the size of Texas in the rear tire.   Tonight about 10:00 my hubby and I changed a tire together.   It was fun to joke about a normally not fun situation.    He was headed to work to attempt to get a couple things done for a morning meeting.   He parked in the parking garage at work got out and heard hissing sound.   He got back into the car and drove home.   Thankfully, he was able to get it home before it was completely flat.  So the question remains, will it is a fixable tire or do we have to spring for 4 new tires?   We were trying to eek about a few more miles on the current ones.  Will we also have to buy another car this week or can my hubby get the electrical issue worked out.  As he works on the car, I'll get to be the assistant.   I am working on a skirt for my daughter, but I don't think I'll get much done on it this week.  Sigh...

My daughter said the funniest thing the other day.   She said, "Girls are so much more dramatic than boys."  In her case, yes.   Sometimes, I think my husband is a bit more dramatic than me.  My son was pretty dramatic this afternoon.   I am training for the Aid Sudan 5K.   My husband was heading to the auto parts store.   I took the kids to the park to run.   My daughter rode her scooter, my son, his glide bike because I just didn't want to deal with the big boy bike while I ran.  I wanted to put him in the jog stroller, but he wouldn't agree to it.   He didn't want to go to the store with my husband because my run would put him home sooner than my husband's trip.  In truth, he really wanted to sit upstairs and play with his tractors and not go anywhere.   I won the battle, but not the war.  We made it to the park and he is going slower than humanly possible on his bike.   I keep shouting encouragement to him, circle back to him and talk to him...no dice.   He is not interested.   Finally after one lap around the park, he starts crying and whinning.  I call my husband in desperation to see if he can rescue me or if the run is just not salvageable.   Jason hasn't let our house yet and comes to pick the kids up.    My daughter decides that complaining was just contagious and she can stay with me until I finish my run without complaints.  So we finish.   My son wants to stay, but doesn't.   I finish my run and my husband has not left yet with my son.    My son finally decides it is ok to leave me and that we'd meet again at home.  Lesson learned, the kid is going in the stroller, like it or not.  My daughter and I had a great time together.   We decided that next time she would ride her bike because I run faster than she can scoot.

I need to finish my Bible study I was working on before the tire change interruption.   Then I'll head to bed in time to be woken up again when Jason returns home.   At the end of the day, God is still good even through trials.  At least we have two cars when one car dies.   Yes, God is good.  :)

He Rides!

My son told us this weekend he wanted to a bike with petals and no training wheels.   The reason for his strange request was that he has been riding a glide bike for the last 9 months.   It has no petals or training wheels, you use your feet to push along the ground.   The need for speed encourages the kids to ride faster and learn balance.  They are unusual bikes, but are used a lot in Europe to teach kids to ride a bike.   We told him when he was ready for petals we would get him a bike with petals.   On Sunday, we went to the store and bought a lighting fast, Lighting McQueen bike.  After a few days of us holding on to his shirt while he was riding, Jason let go tonight.   He has the balance thing down.  He rode to the park near our house and back.   He rides so fast on the thing it scares me.   I'm waiting for the first big crash.  He is outfitted with a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, hand/wrist pads, but the thought of another broken arm makes my blood run cold.  I guess I just need to let him fall out of the chair at dinner again to break his arm again.    Gymnastics and glide biking didn't do it the first time, it was falling out of the dining room chair.  :)

Waiting

I'm waiting on a video to upload to fb.   I'm waiting for Jason to finish talking to his brother.   I'm waiting for a headache to go away.   While I wait, I'll tell about a fun thing we did today.   My daughter was invited to a party at a rock climbing place.   I was a bit skeptical that she would enjoy it.   She is never one to miss out on a party, so we went.   She LOVED it.   Surprisingly, she was good at it as well.  She scampered up the wall several times.  She almost made it all the way to the top that last time.  I did not climb because I did not wear the proper footwear.   I couldn't imagine climbing in loafers.   I rock climbed years ago and remember it being fun.  She can't wait to go back...I guess I'll have to see how I do since I am now 10 years older than the last time I climbed.

I also picked up up a two tier bookshelf on the side of the road today.   This week is heavy garbage pickup.   Every other month residents can put out large items that will not fit in their regular can.   The alternating months are for tree waste.  This month is residential garbage.  As I was zipping down a road close to our house, I saw this shelf that looked decent.   Of course I had about two seconds to evaluate it.   I didn't have time to stop, so I called Jason and sent him after it.   He picked it up.   When I got home today, I looked at it and it looks like it has potential.   It needs some minor repair work (Jason's job) and a coat of stain and poly (my job) and it is good to go.  Of course,  I don't need another project, but who can pass on a free shelf?

Yeah, I Know, it's Been Forever...Next Topic

This week I went to the Weather Museum with my daughter.   I didn't know there was a weather museum, but it exists.  It was pretty interesting.  I enjoyed three things.  First they had the kids pretend to be Metorologists.   They stood in front of a camera with a green screen behind them.   Next they attemptted to point to stuff by looking at the computer monitor in front of them.   Another cool thing was the tornado maker.   The kids could put their hands inside and feel a mini tornado.  Lastly the pressure experiments were very cool.  We went to the weather museum because my daughter's class is studying weather in school.   All the kids know a cumulonimbus cloud thanks to the movie UP.  They are learning high pressure, low pressure and precipitation.  Cool stuff!

While I was at the Weather Museum,  I picked up a brochure showing all the different museums in the museum district.   It gave their hours, cost, and free days.  I think I may try to take my son on a few more "field trips."

Tonight my MOPS group is making cards for an organization called Kidslink Downrange.  The idea is to send 8 cards in a packet to to kids whose parents are deployed.   As a group, we pledged to make 50 cards and have supplies to make 120 cards.

I'm off to prep something to mail.   I enjoy selling things on e-bay and getting rid of them.  I don't enjoy going to the post office and waiting in line FOREVER!