Team Work!

This weekend was Randy's weekend on the roster to mow the church yard. This was his first time on the roster & he had an idea. He suggested that I come with him & he would let me ride the riding mower while he trimmed. Then he would use the push mower to help me finish up the yard. I thought this was a great way to knock it out in no time flat. However, I was a little concerned about how to keep the kids entertained....

No worries, though.... we came up with a plan...

The kids got to have the entire church parking lot to themselves to ride like the wind! And let me tell you- Jackson especially rode like the wind! There is a slight hill in the lot & he was loving it! He would fly down the hill & coast up the walkway to the front door & then come back.

It took a little more enticing for Eli... he isn't a fan of the helmet. We don't make him wear it in our own driveway - only when he is out in the neighborhood, etc. So immediately we got Grumpy Gus...

After a pep talk (& promises of lunch afterwards...) we got a happier face!

Right before we were finishing up, Randy was blowing the grass off the parking lot & sidewalk. He yelled for me as he went around the back of the building. When I came around he said, "A surprise for the kids... show them this!" I was so glad I brought my camera along (for another stop today) because Randy had found this adorable little turtle!!

Eli wanted to hold him, but if you can believe it- Jackson wouldn't!


However, they both immediately wanted to know if we could keep him. My husband was no help because he was all for it! Um, NO! I have enough mouths to feed & bodies to care for. I don't need a turtle! I asked Eli what we would do with a turtle? And his response: "Put him in the crate with Zack!" Well, that would fix my dilemma because we wouldn't have a turtle anymore! ha! He was really cute though & we held him & took tons of pictures of him before setting him loose in the woods again...



I have to admit that if I didn't already have a cat and a dog, I might would have considered keeping him. He was just so cute!

Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better!

It is amazing to me how competitive males can be!


We were over at Rebecca's house Friday night when all of the sudden, I look over & Jackson is doing a headstand. And he held it for an outrageously long time. I was pretty impressed. I had no idea he could do an headstand- much less hold it for a crazy insane amount of time for a 7 year old.

About 30 seconds later, Randy says, "That's no big deal. I could do that when I was his age." Hmmm, that was when you were 7- can you do it now? 29 years later?? Do you think he tried?

Of course he did! He is a male. He is competitive!We laughed so hard! He could still do it! And he also held it for a crazy amount of time! Then of course, we had to get a picture of Jackson right next to him- doing it together!

I hated that all i had was my camera phone because I would have liked some good shots of this! But oh, well! You take what you can get!

A Few Projects

I have not been very busy on the sewing machine since finishing that quilt back in March. But recently, I have done a little of this & a little of that, so to speak. Here are some projects that have helped fill the time over the last couple of months....
(all these are camera pics, so sorry for the sometimes dark, grainy quality!)

If you remember the pics of the boys from Easter, you might remember their bow ties. Well, I made them the day before with some scrap fabric. They were pretty easy, so I see more of these in my future!

Now, this next project has nothing to do with sewing, but it will lead to it... so just follow along with me for a moment! I saw some simple plaques made from 1 x 6's in an etsy shop & immediately knew I had enough materials in the garage to duplicate it. So, I worked on 3 of these over a few days for teacher appreciation week:

They were soooo easy! And the shop was selling them for $40! (Gasp!!) Well, a couple of days before sending them into the school, I realized that I made one using last years teacher assistant's name (Bennett!), instead of this years. Seriously, my brain was fried that week. I couldn't make another one because a friend had borrowed my Cricut machine (which I used for the lettering).

Hmmm, what was I going to do? I had already sent in a little something each day that week & these were for Fridays gift. I couldn't just drop the ball on the last day. (Well, I could've.... but I wouldn't!)

So, I got online & started searching for something to inspire me! I had some apple print fabric leftover from my kitchen curtains that I could use & between this tutorial, some borrowed velcro & interfacing from Rebecca, I made these!

I used the apple print as a liner on the inside...
They are supposed to be just big enough to hold keys, cell phone, wallet, etc for a teachers bag, pool bag, beach bag, etc. You know how you hate to dig around for that stuff in the bottom of a big bag- voila! This solves that problem. I added some hershey kisses & a note from myself in each one.
I liked it so much that I made one out of some shark material for our pool bag this summer. I used a zipper for mine though!

A few days after all this, I got an urge at about 9pm to recover my ironing board. I HATED the fabric that covered it before & so I used the existing drawstring & velcro from underneath & traced the ironing board onto my fabric. In a little over an hour from idea to finish.... I had this:
Excuse the nasty iron & messy room. I needed to clean the room & i REALLY need to clean the iron!!

One last project to share that we made for teacher appreciation week as well... notepads from the kids art. This was a simple project that I took to the FedEx Copy store & they worked their magic. I used this tutorial from Brown Paper Packages & the teachers LOVED these the best, judging from their responses!
I will be making more of these I am sure! So that's what projects I have been up to lately! I have a few more posts with some fun pictures coming up.... So check back soon!

New Experiences

So for many reasons, we decided to let Jackson start riding the school bus a bit. Yes, it is only 5 weeks until the end of the school year, I know. I have resisted putting him on the bus despite the convienence of it for many reasons.

1) I hated riding the school bus. It caused me great anxiety when I was in middle school to ride the bus. And I didn't ride it long. I was always afraid I would miss getting on the right bus in the afternoon & that there wouldn't be a seat for me.

2) I am perfectly available to take and pick up my child. So why would I put him on the bus if I was available?

3) I am not a fan of buses because I think not-so-great things happen on school buses everyday. There are bullies, there is potential language from older kids, there are NO seat belts... the list could go on & on!

However, I have really been looking at every possible angle on how to cut corners financially because gas & groceries are about to kill our budget. If I am honest, they already have. They aren't the only things either. Randy's insurance has changed to an HSA with a $5K deductible. Yes, you read that right- i said $5,000! And with his medical history- we will max that every year. So, I have been forced to look at cutting corners where I can. And, I have been forced to see that riding the bus will save me in gas mileage everyday of the week. I have a 10 minute drive to the school, so that means just in driving time I have 40 minutes a day in the car. And then when you factor in the carpool wait- usually about 30 minutes from start to finish, then I have 1 hour & 10 minutes everyday in gas mileage. And when Jackson has been asking to ride the bus off & on since Kindergarten... it just made sense. So, this past Monday I filled out the paperwork in the front office & today he rode it for the first time this morning! He looked so timid that I came in and cried for a few minutes. It just hurt my stomach to think about him on a school bus. But the driver was very nice & she sat him in the seat just behind her to keep her eye on him! And his teacher told me that she would be responsible every day to get him on the right bus. (Apparently this is her afternoon duty).

I got out my camera to catch the bus this afternoon....

He was very proud when he got off the bus!
(Meanwhile, I was behind the camera doing my nervous chuckle thing for the sake of not crying!)
I am not going to lie. I am still not comfortable with it. But I feel like it was a choice I had to make. I also had to consider all the members of my family when making this choice too & Eli came to mind immediately. He hasn't had a full nap since Jackson started Kindergarten because I always have to wake him up to go get Jackson. So this will be a positive for him as well. And I hope that one day I will be able to stretch a full tank of gas to last me a week! Here's to wishful thinking!!
After we came in the house, Jackson was telling me all about his friends from school who ride his bus. He named at least 7 kids that I knew between his class this year & last year. So, that made me feel a little better too. Knowing that he knew other kids on the bus besides Katie & Farrah who live in our neighborhood. He was very excited about the bus!

My little boy is growing up! (tears....)

Bubbles!!

I have continued to fiddle around with my camera over the last month, so I decided it was time to post more of the pictures. I really needed to clear out my data card!! Here are some pictures of the boys blowing bubbles. They are mostly of Eli, because he was the one blowing them alone one day. But then on another day I caught Jackson doing the same!

Not sure what happened to cause the vignette (I think my shutter speed was off...) but I liked the result!

I loved this shot that I caught of him trying to pick up a bubble!

And here are a LOT Of bubbles that Jackson was blowing on Easter Sunday at Peto's house! He is the master of bubble blowing, I guess!

Sleeping Amid Chaos

Just dropping in a for a moment to show you what I found when I went in to check on Jackson before bed tonight. I got my camera initially because I thought this was a classic Jackson moment. The boy loves to read & reads everynight in bed (without our suggestion of it!) before falling asleep. Tonight, the book was still open & it was one of my old favorites: Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Then I took a closer look & realized that the child was sleeping amid 5 blankets (wrapped in one like a cacoon!). There were also 4 books in his bed & 3 pillows if you count the pillow pet!

Most of the blankets were on the other side of him - underneath the comforter. I tell you, it made me claustrophobic just looking at him! I snapped one last picture from the other side before finally leaving him alone (he already stirred once while I was in there!)

Only Jackson! (Because Eli is VERY persnickety about his blankets being just so.... he could never sleep amid this choas!) This just shows one more way Eli is like me & Jackson is like Randy! They sleep the same, & we sleep the same! Randy burrows into the blankets & pillows, whereas I have to have the covers just right or I feel uncomfortable!

Mothers Day Tea!

Today was the Mother's Day Tea at the preschool. They served us muffins & strawberries along with our tea after the kids all sang a mothers day song to us. It was really cute. We had a homemade tissue paper flower corsage made by the kids & a little handprint artwork at our seats. And of course they had these fun little 'fill in the blank" papers where they ask the kids about their mom. This is always my favorite part because the kids answers are so funny!

Here were Eli's responses:

My mom is as pretty as a flower.

She weighs 12 lbs and is 11 feet tall.

My mom's favorite place to go is home.

I think mom looks really funny when she does nothing.

My mom is so smart! She even knows how to put the TV on!

I like it best when my mom hugs me.

I wouldn't trade my mom for my toys!

Thanks Buddy! I like it best when I give you hugs too!!

New Neighbors

Do you ever feel like the Lord put someone in your life that you needed just at the right time? We have lived here for almost 2 years and even though we have friendly neighbors, no one is our age & we don't really have anyone we hang out with or have much in common with. But about a month ago, we had new neighbors move in across the street. Well, technically they are across the street & over one house, but that is just a technicality! I had the opportunity to introduce myself when they were out in their yard one afternoon after school & I hadn't realized at first (before this particular day) that they had children. Two girls & they are super sweet girls too. We hit it off pretty much immediately. It turns out that we have a ton in common. Not just me & Kim, but Randy & Troy as well. This family moved here from England. Troy was stationed in England because he is in the Air Force (which is also how he ended up here - Seymore Johnson Air Force Base) but here's the cool part: He is a weapons combat instructor. Randy was immediately intrigued. They talked guns forever! And Kim & I have talked for hours about the kids, photography (she's a professional photographer), & anything else that comes to mind. We are women, we don't needs guns for a topic of conversation :)..

We have had a lot of little afternoon playdates between their yard & ours ever since. Kim came over one day & gave me some pointers on my camera.... I am hoping there will be more of that because i need it!

It has been really nice to have another couple around our same age in the neighborhood. Their girls are 5 & 2, and Jackson especially begs to play with Farrah (the oldest)... who is in Kindergarten at his school...

I think there may be a slight little crush going on!

One interesting point is that Katie (the other neighbor's child in the picture above) and Jackson both have a little jealousy going on over Farrah. You know the saying, "three's a crowd?" Well, sometimes when Katie goes over to play at Farrah's, Jackson gets upset (usually because Katie leaves him high & dry & takes off over there once she sees Farrah outside, because K is allowed to roam the neighborhood, our kids are not). But when Jackson is playing with Farrah, Katie gets the same way. She wants him to play the exact same game (like the bike thing they were doing one day in those pictures) that he plays with Farrah & if he doesn't squabbles pursue. It has been interesting to watch how the kids behave & are learning the ins & outs of social behaviors & how to be a friend, even when it isn't easy to understand that every family has their own sets of rules. And as a parent, I have found it difficult to know what to say to Jackson. How to explain that it is okay for Katie to play with Farrah some days & him other days and the same with him & Farrah & Katie. There is no rule that says you have to play with ALL your friends at the same time. However, you do have to let your friends know when their words or actions hurt your feelings or else they will never know. (But Jackson will NOT tell Katie when his feelings are hurt.... we are working on it!!)

Eli, on the other hand is more casual about the whole thing, really. He just wants someone to ride their bikes with him. He doesn't really care who!

Friends!
And here's one last picture of Eden, their youngest who is a child after my own heart- She prefers to be barefoot most of the time!

I see lots of playdates in my future!