A Day of Fun

I just thought this picture was so funny and cute, I had to post it.  Jackson sleeping with his blanket all tucked around him...so cute!

This is also just funny.  I'm one of three girls who are in charge of the crafts for the moms in MOPS.  So we met to discuss ideas while the kids played.  There were 6 kids and we pretty much just let them have full-reign while we were in the kitchen.   This is what 6 kids can do unsupervised...

They somehow got up high and got most of the games down with ALL the game pieces all over the place.   Ahhh kids.

The day of fun I was referring to in the title was a day a few weeks ago when we had Eliz and Ben here all day, and our friend Henry here all morning.  I knew they would all be here so I tried to plan a few activities to keep them all entertained.   First up, wet sponge tag.

Then I realized the only sponges I had were "used" and that would NOT work, so it became "wet washcloth tag."  Still fun!

What a cutie pie!

Then I had this idea to freeze these tiny soldiers in ice and I thought they could slowly chip away at them and it would take them forever to get out of there.  I had to put the straws in as well to hold the soldiers down in so they wouldn't float to the top. 

Well I realized I didn't want them to all have adult hammers b/c that would just be an accident waiting to happen with me all by myself, so I told them to be creative.

They threw them on the ground and it took all of 2 seconds to get them out. 

Here's a group photo of them all!

Elizabeth used some art supplies to make a very cute crown for herself. and dressed like the queen.

Last but not least, we played with our mini parachute.  The kids LOVED it.  We don't use it much but when we do it's a blast!

Oh, I guess that wasn't really last.  We then made fruit pizza...(Just cookie dough and then cream cheese/powdered sugar frosting with fruit)

and then made a giant robot out of boxes.

Jackson helped by reading :)

I had been planning to do this all summer and had saved some boxes, but finally gotten around to it when E and B were here.  Thank goodness I did because my boys really could have cared less.  They participated a bit and then were off playing.  I just need to realize they don't love crafts!!!!

Elizabeth did though, and so did Ben to an extent. Here she is with our finished product. They named him "Bostin."  He's still sitting in our family room!

Phew, the end to a very fun, and slightly exhausting day!

Summer Fun

Snacks and crafts...

Playdates with friends...

saving the world...

taking time to smile for mom...

dressing up in mommy's socks...

marble art...

All part of summer! 

Random Stuff and the A WONDERFUL PRESENT!!!

We finally got all four kids together in their camp-read-a-lot shirts!

The week before Father's Day we came over to my parents house and celebrated his birthday and Father's day.  We took a pic of the four kids holding signs that say "we love you gpa"  We even got Jackson to hold one!

Elizabeth surprised me with the MOST WONDERFUL PRESENT!! She MADE this blanket ALL BY HERSELF for our soon-to-be daughter!  We're most likely going to be going with the name Claire (that's been our name for a girl since I was pregnant with Cooper!) and she had the idea to make her baby cousin a blanket all on her own!  She picked out the materials, cut out the C, and sewed it on by herself!!!!!  Our daughter is so so lucky to have such a wonderful cousin and I can't wait for them to meet!  Isn't Elizabeth just amazing??!!   Thank you Elizabeth!!

While the kids were waiting to swim at gma and gpas they did a little caterpillar craft for the Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

They all concentrated so hard and painted the entire egg carton, even Jackson!

This was just hilarious.  So one night Ryan was out of town and I was having girls over for craft night so I put the kids to bed just a little early and then was getting things out.  All of the sudden I hear Jackson calling "mom, I need you!"  I go in there and he's standing on his bed covered in white stuff (can you see it all over his legs, shirt, arms, face?) 

He had taken a brand new bottle of lotion and put it all over himself!  He's never done that before!  He looks very serious because I tried really really hard to have a stern face and not laugh.  (He's just so funny I typically laugh even when he's naughty which is NOT good, he thinks he's just a hoot now!)  So hopefully he learned his lesson, and I of course laughed over it with the girls when they arrived.

I just had to end on this cute picture of my boys!!

Grandma's Camp Read-A-Lot

My kids are very very fortunate to have wonderful involved Grandparents on both sides.  Unfortunately Ryan's parents live in KS, but my parents live here so we are able to see them quite often.  My mom was a teacher before we were born and LOVES to read, so she came up with a really cute idea for the kids this summer. 

My parents have a pool and we swim there a lot in the summer, but after we put sunscreen on the kids they always have to sit and wait for the sunscreen to soak in for awhile.  My mom now is going to do "Grandma's Camp Read-A-Lot while they wait!

She reads them books and then they do a fun craft/educational activity about the book.

They also received circles to write down each book title they read on it.  As they read a certain amount of books they get prizes, so they of course love that! 

Here's Jackson's

And Cooper's so far.

Each kid got a shirt to wear during the camp.  Adorable!

Jackson was nice enough to pose for me.

This is a really horrible picture but it's showing a really fun new thing my mom got my dad for Father's Day.  It's a projector you can attach to your ipad!  They're planning on watching movies while we swim and doing fun movie nights outside.  Woo hoo!