My new favorite picture

I don't know why, but something about this picture speaks to me, and makes me giggle. Last week when we were finally setting up the pool, I decided to play around with my new camera a little. The boys of course couldn't wait for the pool to fill up before they started playing in it, so they became unwitting photo subjects. The focus is a little off, but I just love Rowan's gleeful look, and Grayson's disgruntled one. I also actually like that the stream of water is more in focus than the kids, the catalyst for the action. I can tell this new camera is going to take some figuring out, so be prepared for more pictures, lots and lots of pictures.

11 year old scout camp

This weekend Paul and Fuller got to go to scout camp. Fuller said "It was fun." When pressed for details he added, the hot dogs were good, knife safety was boring, and the five mile hike was too long and hot. He did say he got the best night of sleep ever, although Paul would totally disagree. Apparently everyone didn't quiet down until almost midnight, and the bunks had LARGE spiders and crickets in them.

Flashback Friday- Children's Fashions- One Pattern Three Ways

I decided to take a break from picking on my own 70's fashion statements, and shift my focus to Paul's family. We recently came across these pictures of Paul and his brother Jason. I'm going to have to give Paul's Mom the benefit of the doubt on this one because 1) it was the 70's and 2} they were living on Guam at the time. Maybe the pattern and fabric selections on Guam in the 70's just weren't that good.

Paul refers to these as their "lady bug" outfits.


And is it just me, or are those girl hats?

Luckily these two little cuties would look good no matter what they were wearing!

How do I love thee...

Happy 15th Anniversary!

Grayson's big day out

A few years ago my parents took Fuller to the Evergreen Aviation Museum, and he just loved it, and loved having Grandma and Grandpa all to himself for the day. They decided that when Grayson was old enough to really enjoy the museum they would take him. Yesterday was his day. He was so cute. He had been so excited about going, but when they showed up yesterday morning to pick him up he was so quiet, and almost shy. I realized later that he's never really gone anywhere without Paul or I or at least one of his brothers.

He had such a good time with Grandma and Grandpa! They took him to McDonalds for lunch, (which I know they would never pick on their own), looked at all of the cool stuff at the museum, and then treated him at the gift shop. He came home with a model kit to build a Harrier, and Grandpa even stayed and helped him build it. He also got a cool t-shirt and some little airplanes that he picked out for Fuller and Rowan.

He said his favorite plane was the Spruce Goose, and he really liked this blue angels plane. He insisted on taking my old camera with him, so he could take pictures of whatever he wanted.
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! You totally made his day!

Cousin Campout- Potholes State Park

This weekend was our annual camp-out with my sister and her family, something we really look forward to every year. This year the best part by far was going out in their kayaks, and swimming in the lake. The kids stayed in until they were exhausted and we had to make them get out to eat.

















































Paul talked me into taking a kayak out, and I'm so glad he did. It was so peaceful, and it was nice to get a few minutes of quiet.


I just love it when Paul smells like sunscreen and DEET!

The grown ups had fun just hanging out and talking


Potholes campground is such a beautiful place, with long stretches of soft grassy lawns, perfect for croquet, track ball, and running around. There are also big shade trees, just perfect for napping under. The kids found plenty to keep them busy at camp-


like demonstrating karate moves


snuggling

showing off muscles




having junk food



sleeping


cooking yummy dutch oven meals




doing puzzles

playing cards










The kids all gave fishing a try, but unfortunately the fish weren't biting nearly as good as the mosquitoes were.


Our last night there was an amazing sunset! The view from our campsite was obstructed by trees, so all of the grownups decided to walk out to where we could get a better look, Grayson was the only kid who wanted to come. He really wanted to take some pictures of it, he is so observant and artistic that way.














The Jones'



We made the mistake of trying to get a stair-step picture right before we left- guess which kid is grumpy.



Right after this we got in the van to leave, and the tears started falling. Grayson had so much fun he didn't ever want to leave!
On the way home I asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip had been. Fuller said the kayaks (and could we please buy him one!). Grayson said laying in the grass watching squirrels with Uncle Forrest. And Rowan just couldn't decide, it was all good, especially playing with Alyssa and Noah!

Flashback Friday- Cousins

I was recently reminded of this picture of my Grandparents, and all of the cousins on my Dad's side of the family (well all of the cousins born before 1973 anyway). I think this is the only time we were all together, at least I can't find any pictures of other large cousin gatherings. I was only about 5 on this trip to Wilbur, so I don't have that many memories of it. I do remember that all of the "big kids" got to sleep out in the garage, but I had to stay with my Mom and Dad. Funny that that's what I'd remember. So cousins,( I know some of you stop by here from time to time), please share your memories of this reunion with me. And while we're at it, if anyone (Jim?) wants to confess to putting the rocks in my pillow and the plastic snake in my bed, I'd love to hear from you.

FINALLY!!!

A warm enough day to play in the sprinkler!

And after waiting around all day for the UPS guy, he finally delivered my exciting package at 5:45!

You know it's a cold summer when....

Yesterday morning the boys were upstairs playing and I noticed that it had been really quiet for awhile. When I went up to investigate I found them all snuggled up in blankets watching "A Christmas Story".

Because I am the mother of boys

- I know the differences and features of different dinosaurs, cars, video games and weapons
- I occasionally find things like light sabers nestled in the covers of my bed
- I get a twinge of sadness every Spring when the Easter dresses appear
- I have watched Sports Center
- I have learned that there is an "art" to good belching
- I have gotten a lot of practice cleaning bathrooms
- I know that baseball coaches think it's proper to wash "cups" in the dishwasher (EWW!)
- I could be a referee for boxing or wrestling matches with little or no training
- I have large quantities of Spray-N-Wash on hand at all times
- I am never bored, worried yes, bored no
- I don't ever have to worry about fixing anyones hair but my own
- I get cards with monsters and aliens drawn on them
- I have Spiderman band aids in my purse
- I sometimes get a snack request with a pirate sword pointed in my direction
- I have watched "There Goes a Bulldozer" more times than any human being should ever have to
- I have learned that there are many different definitions of "clean"
- I accept that being attacked by a "bear" is a great form of affection
- I laugh a lot!

Father's Day

We had a nice, and low key Father's day. We went to church in the morning, relaxed and played in the backyard in the afternoon, and then had a lovely dinner in the evening. My parents and my brother joined us for dinner, and the kids just loved having them here. They showed off their Dance,Dance Revolution skills, but couldn't get Grandma or Grandpa to try. But after dinner they got everyone to join them in the backyard for croquet.
I'm very lucky that Paul doesn't get too worked up about what I do for him for Father's day, because sadly I do very little. Paul is an absolutely wonderful Dad, and I'm so thankful to be raising children with him.

It was also nice to be with my Dad, who is a really great Dad, and I'm so thankful for him.


Poor Uncle Jim, Rowan thinks the best way to play with Uncle Jim is to attack him.


Of course the boys can't just sit and relax, they have to act like goof balls.

It was so nice to just spend the evening enjoying the company of people I love.

Mmmm......

I sent Paul out yesterday morning to find me some fresh strawberries, and he came back with two flats of the sweetest most delicious berries I've ever had. I spent the afternoon turning most of them in to 10 pints of freezer jam. It's finally starting to feel (and taste) like summer!

Flashback Friday- My Dad

I have a wonderful Dad, and watching him with my boys gives me no doubt that he's pretty much the worlds best grandpa too! I have many fond memories of doing things with my dad when I was growing up, but reading with him is one of my favorites. Between my Mom always taking us to the library, and my Dad reading me countless stories, I had no choice but to love reading. I am so grateful for that. I have very clear memories of my Dad reading story after story with me. I'm sure at some point he must have said "enough", but I never remember him saying no to a story. Thanks Dad!

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Anxiety and Elation

This year has been quite an experience for us, full of many ups and downs. I think the fact that neither Fuller or Grayson ended the school year with the same teacher that they started with is evidence of that. The past few weeks they have also been having that hard combination of lots of fun activities, and lots of stress about the future.(They are their mother's children after all.) Fuller has been super excited to move on to sixth grade, and get to leave his current school. But he's also been nervous about changing classes every period, and forgetting his locker combination.
Grayson has been having stomach aches and trouble sleeping. I think his terrible start to first grade is all coming back to him now that he really has to face the prospect of going into second grade. He really loves the teacher he has now, and I'm sure would stay with her forever if possible. In fact he's been asking me what he would have to do to be held back. This morning for the first time ever he refused to get out of the car when I dropped him off, he just shook his head. I think having to say goodbye to his teacher and friends just seemed too hard to him. After some encouragement he did get out of the car, but he sure took his time walking in to the building. I went to his class Luau later in the day, and he still seemed to be in a little bit of a funk. I so wish that he could just enjoy himself, and not have such a hard time.
He did have fun this last week though, on the day before the last day of school we joined Grayson's class on their field trip to the park. As you can see by Grayson's hooded sweatshirt it was cold and sprinkly. But is was funny to watch him run around like a maniac with all his buddies.

Here he is with the surfboard he made at their party, and with the best first grade teacher ever!



This is the gift for Grayson's teacher, it has the apron I made her inside. But what is really sweet in that huge heart-shaped paper necklace Grayson had me tape to the front. He stayed up working on it, when he was supposed to be going to sleep. It was really important to him, and he wanted to do it all himself, and say what HE wanted to say.


I think I probably made a major faux pas with Fuller's teacher gift. He's had 3(or 4 depending on how you count them) teachers this year. He was a little miffed I didn't make something cool for him to take his teacher, like I did for Grayson. But at this point it just seemed silly. So I did go and buy flowers for him to take to the teacher who is there now. But then I come to find out that ALL of the teacher's he's had this year came for the end of the school year to see the kids. OOPS.
This is Fuller's absolute favorite teacher, the PE teacher.

They have a healthy Duck vs. Beaver rivalry, and like to give each other a hard time about it during crossing guards.

I got to go to the 5th grade DARE graduation today. It was really weird to look at the 250plus fifth graders and think that they are the class of 2015. They'll be grown up before we know it.
But at least for now, he isn't too grown up to enjoy our traditional last day of school ice cream trip.

Attempting Applique

I decide to take the June "Apronista" challenge and attempt to do some applique. Here is my finished project:

There's definitely room for improvement, but all in all I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

For the vegetable shapes I just looked on Printmaster and selected simple pictures of vegetables that I could use as patterns. Then I went through LOTS of scrap fabric practicing.











I have a feeling applique will be turning up on other future projects.