3 Ideas for Good cheap summer fun

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The simplest items can entertain kids for hours. They don’t have to cost a lot, but it helps if the item is something they haven’t used for awhile. It’s the “newness” that gives it the biggest appeal.

1. Sidewalk chalk is something I haven’t had for several years (one bad messy memory ruined it for me.) But I broke down and bought a huge bucket for $5. The kids were so excited and I was impressed with their huge murals.

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Then I noticed that their art extended all the way to our covered entry where rain would never wash it off.

2. So I offered them the opportunity to paint 🙂 An icecream bucket of water and a $1 set of paintbrushes were all we needed for fun, fun, fun.

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Plus, I got my porch cleaned off 🙂

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3. Now that the weather is warmer, the kids can make forts from old vinyl table cloths, twine or rope and clothespins–outside. Your house stays neat and they are happy away from the TV.

My Newest Student and a Tip

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I have the flu :(. It started when I was at the emergency clinic with Dub Saturday having a two week old toothpick removed from his foot. By the time I got home I had a high fever, chills, and couldn’t stand without the room spinning. I called my mommy :). It seems like no matter how old I am when I’m sick I want Mommy. So when Dub insisted that I drive him to the ER instead of Darren, I totally understood.

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As painful as the experience was for him, he loved the wheelchair.

Today Darren is super excited about getting the patches on Caleb’s new scout shirt. He kept asking me if I felt better as the day went on, and when I didn’t have an instant recovery from his great care, he carried my sewing machine down from my studio and set it up inches from my bed. That way HE could do the work and ask questions if he needed. What an amazing guy!

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Changing the subject… Here’s a money saving tip. I saw on pinterest that if you put the roots of purchased green onions in water they will grow. You’ll always have fresh onion tops to use as needed. I tried it and it works! The outer edges don’t grow so I plan to peel those off and see what happens. This is great for my Plus menu subscribers since they can eliminate green onions from their shopping list!

Homemade Baby Food

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Heidi made a huge Hoagie sandwich and Grant decided it was for him.  He ate quite a bit of it, lol.  I had to find her something else to eat.

The Best News!

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The following is not the best news…..that comes at the end, lol. Grant has the chicken pox…I think.  Fever for 2 days, spots starting in the diaper area, spreading all over….  He was pretty miserable before the spots broke out yesterday evening.  But feels a lot better now. This is perfect timing for us.  I hope this doesn’t sound mean, but it would be nice if Brandon and W.D. come down with it soon.  Then the whole family would have life time immunity.

Eating Mulberries from our trees

My Green Beans and Okra are up.

The sweet bell peppers have blossomed–the chili peppers have not.  Maybe they won’t cross-pollinate?

Our house in Kansas City is listed for sale!  4 bedroom 2 full 2 half baths.  All new inside…..you’d love it.  And it’s priced to sell.

And the best news of all:

Mark is coming to build out my office shelves tomorrow.  We’ve been busy all weekend priming and painting the cut boards.

I ordered 200 of these last night to organize all my fabric with. It saved me more than $380 to do it this way than to buy the boards manufactured for organizing fabric. I found the idea from pinterest which took me to Smashed Peas and Carrots.  Check out the inspiring photo below.  Click on the blog title to find out more.

Mulberries

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The kiddoes are picking mulberries off our tree in the back garden. They got about a quart with more to ripen soon. I’m trying to post a photo from my phone. Crossing my fingers that the wordpress app will work this time.

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Grant’s First Birthday

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Don’t forget to enter our giveaway here. The winner will be chosen Friday, May 4th.

It doesn’t seem possible that my baby is 1.  The past year has been a blur for me, but I wouldn’t do it differently if I had the choice.  I never felt quite myself this past year.  I don’t think it was depression, but more like a case of being seriously overwhelmed.  When I think about what we accomplished–new baby, school transition, moving, progress with remodeling two homes, plus the kid’s activities with soccer, orchestra, church plays and choir performances, and travelling for Darren’s ministry–it’s not a wonder.  There were good times too, but I felt like I was constantly reminding myself to take a deep breath and just go with it.

For Grant’s actul birthday, we went up to church and played games with our Twirties (twenties and thirties) group.  It was fun and Grant enjoyed it too.

We usually keep 1st birthdays pretty low key.  Anything big makes the babies miserable.  Really, they just want their food and a nap.  And too many presents is torture.  One year olds want to play with the first gift they open.  To take it away just to hand them a new one to open….just to take it away…Well, they don’t see the fun in that.

I was tempted to skip the hooplah all together, but we had never had dinner guests in our new home.  So I invited my brother and his family and my parent’s over for Sunday dinner.  Just 3 gifts to open—almost too many, but just about right.

A MegaBlock  dumptruck from my Brother.

A ride on toy and shopping cart from my Mom and Dad.  (Grant isn’t quite walking yet and we’re hoping these push toys will help with his development.)

 We bought him a small electronic house from my sister-in-law at my garage sale.  It has a light-switch on it, Grant’s favorite thing, lol.

We let Grant play with each toy for awhile before Darren unwrapped and showed him the next item.  No birthday boy tantrums–yay!

He took his first steps on the day after his Birthday while being a noisy baby in the foyer with Daddy during his older brother and sister’s orchestra concert.  I missed it.

But I saw this! Lol.  He sure is a happy guy…most of the time.

Play mat disguised as a toy tote

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I saw this on pinterest:

We had a baby shower last weekend to attend and I stayed up late the night before making a fast version for the new mama.  I didn’t have time to do as much piecing and I rushed too much on the quilting, but with all it’s flaws, it’s still usable.

I love that you can tote all the toys in it, and then just spread it our for a clean place for baby to play.  Well done TickleandHide!  You can se their etsy shop here:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/TickleandHide?ref=seller_info

It felt good to be sewing again!  Even if just for a few hours.

Baby steps in the office

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It feels like progress is going so slow everywhere in my life.  For right now, Baby Grant just needs me constantly.  It has been bad for about 9 months this way, but last week he developed a fever and then a rash and has been pretty miserable.  I can hardly get a shower much less keep up with my housework and business chores.  I know many of you mama’s can relate!

But today, DH hung my thread cabinet in my office (after I painted it from brown to turquoise to match my curtains.  It had spilled in the middle of my office floor and stayed there for weeks and weeks until I could find a minute to deal with it.

Isn’t she pretty?

I love how she looks next to the chevron curtains.

 After this picture, I stepped back and thought, “ooh, I think I’d like to sew something…” But then Baby Grant made his presence known.  It’s not my season in life to sew.  So the sisters are wearing mail order Easter dresses on Sunday.  And I’ll wear something old.  It’s okay–we have choir robes :).

April Fool’s from Aunt Erica

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I can’t remember how long ago it was, but I had many fewer children–and they were much younger.  My brother’s wife invited us over for a very special dinner–one my children would never forget.  She announced that we would be having a backwards dinner and cake was the main course!  Then she carried in a gorgeous white cake with red and yellow frosting.  And served up thick slices around.  There were yummy red drinks with straws on the table too.  We only ever serve water at home, so when they see colored drinks–that’s super fun.

Oh my kids were sooooo excited!!!!  Until they took the first bite.  All the adults around the table were thinking how creative and clever Aunt Erica was…but the kids were really poised for a sweet yummy piece of cake.  And their mouth reviled at the taste of meatloaf and mashed potatoes with ketchup and mustard.  It was delicious meatloaf, but to a little kid expecting cake, disgusting.

Try your drinks, we encouraged.  Thinking they would get with the spirit of the meal and start to enjoy it.  But, no!  When the drink wouldn’t come up the straw (strawberry jello is like that, you know) we actually saw some tears.  Come on kids–this is fun!

And for dessert Aunt Erica served tiny taco salads that tasted a lot like icecream rolled in chocolate sprinkles in waffle bowls with green and yellow coconut shreds.

For months my kids looked suspiciously at anything Aunt Erica made.  It cracked me up how seriously they took it.  And thankfully it cracked Aunt Erica up too.  So every year she makes something new for April fools day.  This year it was Fish Sticks with Ketchup and peas.  Which tasted a lot like wafer cookies with peanut butter and frosted flakes dipped in strawberry jelly, with a side of sour apple chewy candies.