Showing posts with label Summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Summer. Show all posts

Friday, August 12, 2011

Camping

We were able to get away last week for what was our first camping trip of the year. Usually we have already had a trip but this year has been odd and we are just now getting around to camping.

The weather was gorgeous and it was so nice to escape “life” and have a chance to just be together and regroup before diving into school next week. I was able to get in some reading, make all my kids reading lists for the new school year and even listen to some wonderful podcasts on my IPod. We all had a wonderful time and the babies even did great.

We had such a good time we are actually hoping to sneak another trip in at the end of the month and then next month we are so exited for our annual trip with my brother and sister in love. I can’t decide what I love more, having my feet in the sand at the beach or camping in the middle of beautiful pine trees! Its pretty much a toss up!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Yard week

random 561School starts next week so we declared this week “yard week”. The kids and I have been working outside deep cleaning the yards every day. We have pruned trees, pulled weeds, cleaned out flower beds, hedged all shrubs and bushes, and planted ground cover.

It has been so fun to work all together getting this done. Fortunately we only have to do this twice a year. Normally we wait til fall to hedge everything and winter to prune all the trees. I decided it would be great to get it all done it one big swoop! I’m sure the trees will still need a major pruning when they go dormant but for now it all looks pretty good.

We are working diligently to get it all done by Friday then we are going to celebrate by having a make your own pizza night with ice-cream sundae’s and a movie!

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Every job needs a manager

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random 558 Even Shylie got her hands dirty

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Garden decorations

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Summer Fun

sunflower Looking for fun things to do this summer with your kiddos?  We love having free or inexpensive outings with our kiddos!

Regal theaters are doing their Summer Movie Express again this summer on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings for only a dollar.

The Kids Bowl Free summer program is also going.  We did this last summer and had a blast! For only $24.95 more you can get a family pass for up to 4 adults and they can bowl all summer too. We definitely got our money’s worth out of this!

And for those of us who want to feel like we are still keeping us with some educational activities then the Barnes & Noble Summer reading program is for you!

My kids have already started swimming, even though the weather hasn’t gotten the memo that summer is supposed to be here!  We will also be doing bonfires, sleep outs, picnics, camping trips, and lots of bike riding.  We really love the summer months around here and like making the most out of them.

Duane has been off for a couple of weeks since the baby’s birth and will be home for a couple of more so we are excited to start our summer off with him here!  We’ve been working on some projects around the house, gardening, and I’ve been working on finishing up some sewing projects and of course lots of holding and snuggling babies. Summer will go by fast and before we know it we will be back to our school routine.  So for now we’ll live life loud and enjoy our summer! Yay for summer!!!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Camping and computers

There is a very good reason why my little corner of cyberspace has been quiet. We headed out last Thursday up to the mountains where there is no phones, appointments, Internet, or anything else man made, but only the beauty and quietness of God’s creation. It was a wonderful and timely get away. Before we left we dropped both, yes I did say both , of our computers off with our computer guy to work on why we were gone.

We got one of our computers back today so here I am trying to peck out my thoughts on our little vacation before I forget.

Our trip started out rather interesting and had the makings of going South real quick. The week before we left I had 5 children go thru a day of the stomach flu. I thought everyone was fine because no one else had gotten it for three days before we left. Well, I was wrong. About 3 am the first night Shylie threw up. Let me just tell you how horrible a tent can smell when someone throws up in it! Ugh! Thankfully I had brought our Complete Virus with us so I gave her 5 doses immediately. She threw up once more then fell back to sleep and was fine in the morning.

Once again I thought we were safe, but a few hours into the next morning Shelbie started not feeling well. I started her on some doses of Complete Virus right away. She started feeling better and decided to eat some lunch. Bad idea! Within a few minutes she wasn’t feeling well and got sick. We did another round of Complete Virus and she slept in the tent for a couple of hours then woke up feeling better. I am so glad we packed the CV in our first aid kit! We ended up using it on my sister too when they came up and her stomach didn’t feel quite “right”.

Saturday my best friend and her sweet family came up to spend the day with us and Micah and Lynette also came up and they stayed the night with us. It was great to have all my favorite people with us!

We spent most of Saturday just hanging out at the Lake. Mike and De Anna rented two paddle boats so the kids had a great time paddling around the lake. My kids get along really well, but they loved having their cousins there with them! We had a great time hanging out later in the night around the campfire. Shyloh brought up about 150 glo sticks for the kids. They made bracelets, necklaces, hats, and a couple of them figured how to tape them to there bodies to make silhouettes. That night we hung a bunch in our tent and it looked like Christmas!

Our weekend was wonderful. Lots of relaxing, swimming, fishing, snake hunting (um, I wasn’t involved in this!), and hanging out around the campfire. Shelbie and I even snuck in some quiet time to listen to another fabulous sermon from Paul Washer!

We came home Sunday afternoon and quickly unpacked and jumped in the pool to cool off. Thank goodness for take n bake pizza’s so I didn’t have to come up with dinner ideas. Before I went to bed that night I had already conquered 7 loads of laundry! We all slept really well that night!

I must say I really loved going all week with no computer. I realized how much it sucks up my time for more important things. When you have free time and no computer it is amazing what you can come up with to do.

The rest of our week has consisted of swimming, a wee bit of school planning, (I’m going to kick that up a notch next week!), a little bit of school shopping, (did you check out Staples deals this week?? And Dollar Tree didn't disappoint again with some fun things!), and enjoying my garden। I really am amazed at how quick the summer is going। I still have so much to get done before school starts and so many fun things I want to do with the kids.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Summer fun

There are several fun free things going on this summer. For those whose children have summer off from school this is a good way to keep boredom from creeping in. For those of us who still have school (yup, we do school most of the summer and please don't tell my children that there is such thing as summer break!!
Shh, it's a secret. scuba diving)
we can use some of these activities to count for reading and p.e. The movies will just be a fun treat thrown in. I can't quite figure out how to make them count for school!

Regal theaters are doing their free family film festival again this summer on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.
Free bowling between 9am - 9pm
Barnes & Noble Summer reading club
Borders Reading Program
Hebuddy.com Summer Reading Club

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Summer??

I think my children are a bit confused. They seem to think summer is here. Um...do they notice the green color of the water? Duane hasn't even started cleaning it yet. I should have taken pictures of their blue lips and chattering jaws.








Yesterday was our 19th anniversary. The girls made us this cute cake. ♥ So sweet!