grandma came :)

Grandma came for a visit and we have been busy partying all week. We spent a gorgeous day hiking around Penitentiary Glen, played at the park, went swimming, enjoyed the beach, and went to the ZOO. The best part of the week was having Grandma here to celebrate Ethan's birthday. She also watched the kids so Scott and I could go out on a date, and last night we all went to the Opera to see Scott's cousin preform. It was so fun having her here and the kids are already missing Grandma too much.

HaPpY ALMOST 4th of July

I feel like we have already celebrated the 4th!! It has been a party every night this weekend, but I'm just so happy that it is summer time so we wouldn't have it any other way. I'll work my way backward through the weekend.

Sunday

Molly in her special 4th of July dress made from an old skirt of mine. I love how this one turned out, it makes me want to turn all of my skirts into little girl dresses.

Saturday

We just went to a little spray park, but the kids loved it. Barbecue, then it was off to see fireworks with friends. I was worried that the fireworks would scare Mitch, but he loved them.

Now it's off to see more fireworks tonight and then beach all day tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!

say BALL

Last week Mitch started saying BALL. So I'm sure you can imagine how cute it was to stick him in a giant ball pit and watch him go crazy.
We went to the science museum this week and ALL of my mini's had fun.

oh the possibilities...

I've seen so many online tutorials for repurposing clothes. It has been on my "to-do-list" of thing to try for probably 3 years now. Since the whole sewing thing is new to me I was hesitant, but I finally tried it and it turned out okay.

I took an old skirt of mine that never really fit and I never wear, and made this cute dress for Molly. She really loves the idea of using Mommy's clothes to make new clothes for her. So I went through all my clothes and now we have a pretty big stack of future dresses. Don't look to closely at it, but I think it turned out okay and she couldn't be more proud to have a dress "made" by mom.

Father's week

For father's day this year we did a week long "candy bar card" of sorts. The kids and I snuck a different treat (with a cheesy saying) into daddy's lunch everyday. It was exciting for the kids, and it took Scott until wed. to figure out what we were doing.

we don't have a working printer right now so I had to make all the tags. That is why they look so bad.

Then today we gave him these pictures in a frame!

I found this cute free printable that I made into a card.

These silly kids couldn't ask for a better DAD!

Happy Father's Day

the weekend

Molly finished up soccer. She is so proud of her medal and has worn it since sat morning.Ethan wants to live in this tree. Actually he practically does already.And then there is Mitch. This is a pretty typical picture. He is always eating. You would think that we don't feed him by the way he is always scavenging for food.

On Sat the kids picked "sumo" out of our fun bucket, and it was hilarious.
I'm not sure this is the smartest thing to encourage your children to do, but it sure was funny. We were all laughing pretty hard, especially Mitch who wanted to jump in and play with the big kids. Ethan had a hard time being gentle and Molly was like a little turtle that couldn't get up after being knocked down. This activity definitely needs parental supervision, but the kids loved it.

bucket list

As a way of keeping my own sanity, the kids and I made a fun bucket. It is full of fun little activities we can do when we get bored this summer. And so far it has been successful ( fingers crossed because we are only one 1/2 weeks into summer!!)

So far we have picked; Milk painting


Alphabet Bingo. Molly made that face EVERY time I called one of her letters

Finger painting.
which for Mitch was more like body painting
Bubble wrap hopscotch
We learned that you have to wear socks to do this or the bubble wrap will stick to your feet.

We also picked Hide&Seek one day and on another we ran through the sprinklers.

Things still in our bucket: Make own bubbles, magnet fishing, ice block melting, backyard bowling, swimming pool, make frozen bananas, make a sandbox, slip-n-slide, glow-in-the-dark party (this one is for night of course), go on hike, take funny pictures, chalk city, marble races, sumo wrestling, game books (from $1 sec. @ target), make sidewalk paint, play dough, water balloon fight, library, make a bird house, make Popsicles, service day, grow grass heads, crazy paint day, balloon basketball, secret kindness day, make cookies, write letters, giant bubbles, make sponge bombs, have an easter egg hunt, icecream party, hot rocks art.
Majority of idea came from pinterest and grandpa kory.

I NEED more ideas!! Please tell me about any and all ideas you have for the summer because I think we will make it through these ones pretty quick.

My backyard

Can I just tell you how happy it makes me feel that in the summer my favorite place to be is my own backyard. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the summertime.

new old window

Living in Ohio has really given me a love for antique windows, probably because they are somewhat easy to come by. Over the years I have built-up quite the collection (5 and counting). This is my latest addition and I love it. I am still working on making a wreath to hang in it but for now it makes me happy.

almost running

Grandma and Grandpa requested a video of Mokey walking. It was hard to film since he is so fast. Enjoy :)