occupied

So I had this elaborate plan to keep the boys occupied this summer.  About the second week of summer I realized that we needed some structure, but I went a bit overboard planning themes for each week, making spreadsheets and tables outlining activities we could do, Bible verses to memorize, lessons and centers to create, books to go along with the themes, field trips to take, etc.  The daily schedule is actually still attached to the refrigerator.  That's great because it reminds me not to waste my time with it again next year.  And on the floor of the pantry is this tub of materials that were to be used with all of these activities.  Until today it had not been opened all summer - fun things got in the way....you know, the pool, playing outside with friends, going to Grandma's, going on vacation, Phineas and Ferb, etc.

But today Ethan was so bored (incredibly he didn't announce that this was the worst day of his life like usual) that he went looking for something to do and found the tub.  First he pulled out one of those eggs that hatch dinosaurs when you put it in the water - great!  Occupied for about 15 minutes.  Then Elliott came down and found an invisible ink pen - way cool.  That tub kept them busy for at least an hour - now I'm wondering why I didn't get it out sooner.

But theses traffic signs were the biggest hit.  Just look how you can re-decorate with them.

Love that it says "Elliott Get Out".  It's Ethan's room, and apparently he had Elliott write it for him.  So funny.

And they go perfectly with the sign that has been hanging on Elliott's door for about a year now, letting us know that we should not enter.

And what 7 year old's door is complete without a "road kill" warning sign?

Gotta love the creativity - and, hey, they practiced their writing skills!

p.s.  I wanted to share a book that I bought in my excitement about doing a Bible lesson everyday.  I do actually use this pretty regularly.  It's a devotional book that features a question that kids ask/wonder about each day and then answers the question with a verse and commentary and then also has an activity to do.  It's not very deep itself, but it always sparks more conversation and questions and opportunities to talk about God and our faith and build character, etc. - a good starting point.  Here it is:

One Year Book of Fun and Active Devotions for Kids

one more week

School starts for us in one more week.  Where did the summer go?  I still want more time with my boys to just hang out and enjoy some carefree days (yet I admit I'm ready for them to go back at the same time).

The boys just got back from my parents' house, so after we ate dinner we spent the rest of the evening on the patio, playing games and cooling off in the water.  I was really tired but still wanted it to just last a little longer.  Our last Sunday night together before the chaos of fall begins. 

Over the past few weeks I've also gotten the bug to get organized for back-to-school.  It hit me like a train last year and it was all down hill from there, so I'm determined to be ready when it happens this year.  Brian and I worked on a few projects this weekend and there are more in the works for the coming days and weeks, but I thought I'd share what we've done.


This is where everything gets dumped when we walk in the door and I create piles of papers to deal with "later".  I'm determined to have a better system this year.  So here's the before......

and this is the "after"

 This is now the "action" basket I guess.  Every paper should fit into one of these file categories temporarily and then find a permanent home each week.  The categories are:  office, respond, discuss, bank/errands, file, Elliott, Ethan.  Then the white expanding file in front is for any coupons that we get and want to keep.  They are organized by the month they expire.  I used to organize by category (restaurant, grocery, places to go, etc.) but I'm trying this because the coupons would always expire before I remembered I had them.  Plus it makes it faster to purge what isn't useful anymore.

Then behind the basket is this...

My attempt to keep essential information in one spot where everyone knows where it is.  It's pretty empty right now, but it has page protectors ready for papers and tabbed dividers all ready to go.  It does already have some school information in it (current newsletter, layout of school, dismissal procedures, etc.)  I'm planning to put the kids' school schedules in there once we get them this week and any other school papers we need to access.  Right now the tabbed sections are schedules, school, cleaning, medical, emergency info.  Very excited to see if this is helpful this year.

Okay, time for bed.  Have a great day!

makin me happy today

Right now our house is a mess.  I mean it's actually been like this for about a month now, maybe longer.  Ever since I had the brilliant idea of moving things around in the office which turned into re-painting the room, building a desk (which I love by the way), reorganizing, finding a new desk for Brian, etc.  Which means that all that was in the office has been making its home in the dining room and living room for weeks now.  I like organization and order and as clutter-free as possible.  This was not it.  So we've finally moved most everything back into the office but had an orphaned dresser which Ethan said he wanted.  That meant rearranging his room and moving furniture out - what to do with everything?  Anyway, thankfully that only took a few hours today.  Today.  Today was supposed to be the last day.  The day Brian's desk was going to be here and we would get everything put together and I could breathe in that breath of uncluttered air.  Guess what?  The desk was damaged when we got it home.  So back to the store it went.  Hopefully next Monday.  No big deal.  I was just hoping.

So I did get to Walmart today to grocery shop (sans boys - yay!) and at the very last minute picked up these flowers.  I don't think I've ever bought flowers for the house.  They looked like they would be fun to watch bloom and they were going to be ORANGE, one of my new favorite colors right now.  In cleaning the office, I emptied this glass jar from my Grandma Jenkins and I love how they look together.  I've been looking at this periodically all day.  It's one of the only areas of the house that seems peaceful right now.  Thanking God for that blessing of a little spot to just sit and enjoy the beauty He has given us.

the wait is over

The boys have been waiting (sometimes patiently) to go to a waterpark.  The plan was to go in March during our trip to Florida, but wouldn't you know it.....it was COLD there in March.  So no waterparks for us.  They were so disappointed.  That's almost all they had talked about before vacation.

Then Aunt Meemer, being the kind kind soul that she is, took them to Six Flags (separately, two days in a row....I mentioned how kind she is, right?) and they realized that there was a waterpark attached to it.  I'm thinking they were a bit miffed that we had not mentioned this to them before.  But Aunt Meemer, even though she is beyond kind, was not about to set foot in the waterpark (can't blame her - I wasn't too thrilled at going at first either).

So Monday we told the boys we would go to Six Flags and go to the waterpark FIRST of course.  They had a blast!  I almost won the slide race (but I almost lost a contact, too).  You contact wearers out there will empathize with my reasoning for being behind the camera and not in the shot below, and also why the Lazy River was my favorite part.

Anyway, this just screams summer to me and I wanted to share with you.

perspective.....

this has changed drastically for us in the past week.  What I thought was so important last Monday is suddenly so very very trivial.

Last week I watched a dear friend (whom I had regrettedly not seen in 3 years) sit weeping beside the casket of her husband, and I couldn't seem to think of one comforting thing to say. 

I watched three precious young boys' final farewell to their daddy as they walked out of the church behind his casket. 

I watched a mother's heart breaking as she said her youngest son's name.

I listened to my husband and some of our closest friends sob as the minister glanced at them and quietly remarked they would have one less fraternity brother.

We've cried uncontrollably.  We've laughed hysterically with our friends as we stayed up till 3am reliving stories about Chris (and hearing some for the first time, in my case).  We've wondered why this had to happen.  We've felt such regret for not getting back to see them for such a long time.  We've wished that we would all just wake up tomorrow and realize that it was all just a bad dream.  And our perspective has been changed. 

I think one of our other friends summed it up best when he said (and I'm paraphrasing).....

"You know, if Chris knew that there was something bigger and better somewhere else, he would want to be the first of us to be there." 

So true. 

learn to swim in the deep end....CHECK!

This was Ethan's one goal this summer, and Miss Kelsey came through for us.  He doesn't always show his excitement to others, especially when they are complimenting him (guess he's embarrassed), but he is utterly thrilled to be able to be in the "five foot" with his brother and other friends at the pool.  Thank you Kelsey!!!

And look at this picture I found from more than a few summers ago....doesn't seem possible that he's almost 6.

bird rescue

We have had a barn swallow nest under our deck for a while now.  I have to admit that it was a bit annoying to me in the beginning cause those birds just swoop in and out and leave little bird droppings everywhere.  I hadn't heard a peep so was convinced that there weren't any baby birds in there and that they could find a real barn to nest in (I sound like such an animal lover, huh?).  Well, Brian went out to mow the yard yesterday and found that the nest had fallen to the patio.  And I was wrong about the baby birds - there were 3 actually, but only one survived the fall.  The one sweet little bird that survived just sat on the patio looking lost.  It seemed so frightened and wouldn't move very much, but we couldn't figure out if it was because it was hurt or just scared. 

So we called the Wild Bird Rehab place (didn't know such a thing existed) and they told us to put some kind of container up to replace the nest, fill it with something soft like paper towels, and put the baby bird back in since the adult birds were still swooping in and out.

So the four of us did exactly that (and that little bird really could move, especially when there is a tall red-headed man trying to scoop it up with big yellow gloves).  Brian finally got it back in the "nest" and we went back in to see if the mom and dad would come back.  Soon we saw white paper towel strips floating in the air, so they must have liked our little Cool Whip nest.

This is what I saw this morning, and we couldn't have been happier.

Yay for the baby bird!  It looks completely normal.  Its parents are still very protective and don't like anyone getting anywhere close (and I don't like their swooping, so we have a pretty good relationship).  Elliott wanted to keep it as a pet of course, but our no pet policy was repeated to him again and I think he understood since he rolled his eyes.  Besides, I told him, it's illegal to keep barn swallows as pets.