Our Messy Summer

Our list of Summer activities has proved to be harder then I thought. Don't get me wrong the girls are loving their Summer but it's me that needs some more ideas. So this is the start to a Messy Summer program I am going to do. I have heard a couple of ideas from friends of fun engaged activities that they do with their kids to keep them occupied. Generally if any idea includes a mess I avoid it. It's not that I am such a clean person, it's the opposite, it's the fact that it's hard for me to clean, so the bigger the mess the harder it is. All that is about to change.

I want your ideas, of good messy activities you do with your kids (or just any activity). My goal is to try it, and post photos of the fun we had. So I guess this is even a way for some moms to give ideas they would never really want to do, and I have to!

Please get the ball rolling and send any ideas you have, we are ready for fun!

Beans...

This is an activity that my friend Mindy shared that her girls absolutely love. I don't have photos so I apologize.

Objective: Buy a bag of beans (or open some from Food Storage) and get out cups, bowls, spoons, any type of containers you are okay with the kids playing with. Then give them each some beans and let them work. They dump, fill, spill, and eat (watch the little guys) to their hearts content.

Results: Wonderful! When I first gave them their beans, and the bowls, at first they just looked me like "what now?" so I said "Just play" they quickly figured it out and did whatever they wanted. The kids loved it. I have gotten repeated requests.

Time occupied: about an hour!!

Mess rating: 4 stars - I had determined before I started I would not get upset when they got to the point of just dumping them on the floor (you know they just have to!) so after ALL the beans had been dumped on the floor I had the kids help clean up, problem solved. This is a great one, because YES it's messy but it's no permanent mess. Unless you include that each time you sweep you will find at least one bean, somewhere!



Body Paint...

This is one that I just came up with spur-of-the-moment when my girls brought me a jar of water based paint. I of course was like "no, not today, we will paint later." Then I thought to myself, Why not today? As I went to the garage I saw a big box that we were throwing away and instantly realized I had found our canvas. Stripping down (I didn't have Jaya take any clothes off thinking she's old enough...Big mistake) we got to work. I gave each their own plate of paint, and once again said "just play"

Objective: I initially thought they would paint just their feet and walk on the cardboard,

but kids will always out think you, and so of course the entire body got painted.



Results: Success. Earlier that day we had gone to a musical show put on at the library. As we were painting Jaya looked at me and said "Mom this is even funner then the music show!" I gave myself a pat on the back. I do just have to put in a warning. Those with smaller children, beware they do put EVERYTHING in their mouth. You could have a child like this...

Time Occupied: With the swimming included it was 1 hour. Just painting 30 min.

Mess Rating: 5 stars. This tops the scales of mess (so far). The clean up was great though, we just happened to have a kiddie pool that the girls just jumped into and swam till the paint came off.

PLEASE SEND MORE IDEAS, We are ready to get MESSY!!!

Little Mama

As I was cleaning up my house (I know it's a new thing) Jaya came in and said "Mom, I think Eden's really tired." I have cut out Eden's morning nap, so she does get pretty tired and grouchy in the mornings. Jaya then said "She has her blanket and her binky and I have been rocking her in the toy room." I told her that was nice of her, and then Jaya said she was going to go rock her some more. I crept behind the two, too watch. What I saw was just too cute! Jaya was literally on the floor holding Eden rocking sideways. Eden was just loving it. I grabbed the camera and caught a couple of pictures. They of course heard the flash and moved a little but you get the idea. I want my girls to be excited about being mothers someday, it looks like I will have no problem with Jaya, she already loves mothering Eden.

Elf or Munchkin?

We were busy running around trying to get out of house, I should rephrase that: I was busy running around trying to get out of the house (my kids are NEVER in a hurry). As this story will prove to show. So I was packing up my purse, putting on shoes, talking a mile a minute, when Baylie comes up behind me, giggling. I turn around, about to tell her to find her shoes, when I see her like this...

I couldn't help but giggling too. I stopped all rush for the door to get the camera. I am trying to be better about catching these kind of moments, which happen all too often when I am too "busy" to enjoy them. Not this time, I am still laughing about this!

Weeding

A few days ago I set a goal to get my flowerbed weeded. The timing was perfect, and I actually had willing kids to help weed (even the neighbor boy joined in.) I set to work, I was weeding quite fast and was very pleased with my progress. I was pulling the weed vines off the fence (sorry I don't know there name) when I saw a hive, the instant I saw the hive and thought "Oh, there's a hive!" I saw the faint flicker of a black bug and all of a sudden my arm was searing with pain. I had been stung. I instantly got the kids away, and started for the house.
I knew there was something that you were supposed to do for stings (some mixture to put on it) so I needed to call my mom. I went to open the backdoor to discover it was locked. I knew there were no other doors open and I knew I had left it unlocked. In pain and anger I looked at the kids, demanding to know who locked the door? Wisely they all denied it. I knew it had to have been Jaya and called her on it, which her reply was "Mom, now we can go through the window!" (This was said very happily.}
We spent the entire weekend going through the window, because the backdoor kept getting locked. During the weekend I blamed Darrin, but now I knew the truth, and it was Jaya!!
So back to being locked out. As punishment (to Jaya) I sent Baylie through the window instead, I didn't want to give Jaya the satisfaction of getting what she wanted (am I too mean?), so with hurt throbbing arm I heaved Baylie through, and made it to the phone.
Well the kids followed me in the house, not out of sympathy or worry, but out of hunger. So I now had a whining crowd starving while I am just trying to fix my arm! After 3 string cheeses, Eden waking up, changing her diaper, and then getting her snack, I finally got a hold of my mom. I found out the mixture is: baking powder and water, I created a paste and put it on. At this point I wasn't sure I even needed it anymore, but it really did help.
As I was telling her the story, she had no sympathy either, just laughter as I related to her being locked out. She said I must write it down, that someday it will be funny, I have to admit it's getting funnier.
On the bright side, the door has not been locked again, without my constent, this whole week!

Whose turn is it to pick?

Whose turn is it to pick? This is a question I hear every night after I have laid my girls down to bed. We have started a daily ritual of letting a different family member pick the breakfast the next day. They can have whatever they want (that's in the house). We have run into a few protesters (mainly from Baylie she would have cereal everyday if I let her). So the system is great for us, and is one of the few things that I consistently do. Darrin is the lucky one, he gets two days, Saturday and Sunday (those are the only days he eats breakfast with us).

By now I can pretty much tell you what each member will pick, before they do, here's the menu:

Jaya - Grandpa Mush - if your not sure, it's a Darrin family tradition...breakup graham crackers in a bowl, pour on malt o' meal (brown sugar is our favorite), then I add a little milk (mainly to cool it down) ENJOY!

Baylie - Like I mentioned before - Cold Cereal - she did branch out this week and requested waffles!

Eden - Too little still, so I fully use this to my advantage and pick something easy that I want to do, generally Oatmeal packets.

Darrin - Anything that involves Bacon, so pancakes, french toast, eggs, but there must be bacon.

Me - My all time favorite breakfast is Biscuits and Gravy, with scrambled eggs. YUMMY!

It has been a little embarrassing when we've stayed at other people's house and the girls have insisted it's their turn to pick!

Kids say the darndest things...

Last year I kept track of the funny things that my kids said and did on pieces of paper, and then we would read them whenever we wanted to review our funny life. The girls loved it. As for this year, I am more determined to publish my blog (family journal) so I have to start this section.

Eden has learned to fold her arms for prayers and is doing really well. The other night during FHE she was walking around, with her arms folded, during the prayer. I hear Darrin start snickering and look up (after the prayer) to find Eden face down on the floor, still with her arms folded. She tried to get up but couldn't because she had no hands to push up on! - June 08

We were on the way to pick up Darrin for lunch, when I told the girls where we were going Jaya said "Are Dad's pals, I mean...Dad's buddies going to be okay that he is coming with us?" - June 08

Yesterday Jaya asked me the following..."Mom, if we have a boy baby next, can we name him Butterscotch?" - June 08

Staying Cool

The warm weather has finally hit our area, which is pretty late but I am not complaining, it was nice to actually have a spring. Yesterday was probably our 3rd day of good heat.

Day 1 (Saturday) we were gone all day and didn't know what our house was like.

Day 2 (Sunday) Darrin and I were both sicker then dogs and we stayed home ALL DAY, it wasn't till around 3pm that Darrin couldn't take the heat anymore and woke me up to get in the air-conditioned car and go for a ride. After returning home we suffered through it, with fans and opening all the windows for the night-time cool. As you may have figured our swamp cooler is not working very well. If you ask me it wasn't working at all, Darrin wasn't convinced. He insisted if I turned on the pump first thing in the morning it would work, that it needed a good amount of time to wet the pads. I wasn't so sure, I could FEEL hot air pumping into our house. Something was seriously wrong. I think it was divine intervention that made Darrin sick on Sunday, so he could really feel the heat of our house, and look into the problem further. But, this was all on Sunday and he was sick, so the fixing wouldn't have to wait till AFTER work on Monday.

Therefore, Day 3 (Monday) the girls and I were home suffering through. What did we do? Here's our tips on staying cool:

Take a nap

This is step #1 - if your asleep you can't complain, but proceed with caution because you will wake up HOT and usually a little more grouchy then when you feel asleep. (Apparently, this also works much better, with no covers, and little clothing.)

Eat or Drink something COLD

Get Wet

When all the above steps fail to keep you cool, just get wet...

Hello Hair!

Well I have to say I LOVE the colors in my hair. I used to be so daring (when it comes to hair) but since I've had children I haven't even messed with the colors (I heard that you just don't know what colors will come out when your so hormonal from pregnancy). So after playing with my new do, I have realized that I have missed something in my life and that is COLORS in my hair!

Oh yea! So I got bangs too. So after years of no bangs, for all of you out there with bangs, what do I do with these things? I forgot how annoying they can be (I am constantly pushing them to the side) is this normal? Do I just let them hang in my eyes? Any tips? Maybe they should be shorter??

Bye Bye Brown...

I've planned for awhile now that when the summer came I would highlight my hair. Then in the fall I would dye it all back brown again. I'm going to dye it all back because I am too lazy to upkeep highlights. So I called my hairstylist this week asking her if I should do a blonde and a carmel, or a blonde and a red? She said let's do all 3! Really? She thinks so, so we shall see. I wanted to post some before pictures. Now I am really nervous though because you'll all be expecting some "after" photos and if it doesn't turn out so well I can't pretend it never really happened! If you don't see "after" photos for awhile you can just assume I wasn't so happy with the results.

my budding hobby

Okay, for those that see me regularly I want to apologize up front. I am going to AGAIN talk about some new idea that I am pursuing. For those that don't know me well enough to be annoyed then pay attention closely. I have started a new fun thing... I am now taking photos! I have been reading others blogs and it seems this is not such a new thing for alot of you. I think with the new digital cameras making things look so nice, some have joined the band wagon, and I am one of them.

I actually started this because I got roped into taking photos for a wedding reception my dad couldn't go to. I was so nervous, the night before Darrin and I went to borders and I read a whole bunch of books on wedding photography. I then said lots of prayers and showed up. So that of course sparked my interest in photography and a I had the bright idea that I needed a website. I read about a site where you can upload and set your own prices for photos and then everything is shipped to them. I got my dad to finance (it really was supposed to be for him.) I did put some money into it and then nothing happened. I realized I had just wasted money unless I did something. So I called a friend and took photos of her kids. Which then lead to another friend, and another friend. I haven't done too many yet but I am loving it. So now I am just really trying to learn more, and do more. Here are some pics from a recent outing at the park, I'm planning on making a photo frame collage in the play room with some of these. If you are interested in some other shoots I've done the link to my website is http://www.casephotography.smugmug.com/

Secret Garden

Saturday was our "Family work in the yard day". As for Family this is what it looked like, Jaya was playing outside with the neighbor boy and Eden was in sleeping. So I guess 3 out of the 5 isn't bad for family representation. It was Baylie that was so funny though. She was serious about cleaning up the yard. She got out her garden gloves, and borrowed a pair of "scissors" which were really pruning shears and went to work with Dad. I was in the garden weeding and was just quietly listening to them converse. Baylie was just non-stop chatter. I'm not very good about remembering all the cute things she said, but it was more the volume of talking that I thought was cute. She wouldn't stop. She told Darrin all about hippos, and of course there were some wild stories thrown in. She apparently found it too difficult to prune and stand so she went and got her little bathroom stool, which then lead to the realization that she could hide in the bushes and prune!

This is the picture of our roses, look closely you may see a little girl hiding in her secret garden.

Bruiser

The other night we were sitting around talking as a family. Eden was sitting on my lap, lunging forward then sitting back, lunging forward then sitting back, over and over again. I was holding onto her shirt as she was doing this. I am not quite sure what happened next, but all I know is she lunged forward and never came back. Instead she literally jumped headfirst into the coffee table. I looked right as she hit and fell to the floor. I was sure she had smacked the corner of the coffee table right in her mouth, therefore I was too afraid to pick her up, I didn't want to see little baby teeth and blood everywhere. Darrin ran over picked her up and rushed into the kitchen, asking "why didn't you pick her up?" I told him I was too scared to see (now guilt stricken). I asked if there was blood everywhere, and Darrin came out and said "I don't see any.' I instantly saw where she hit. She had a large bump across the bridge of her nose. Which as you can see has turned into a bruise creeping into the corners of her eyes. She was a trooper though, she let me hold an ice-pack on it, which helped a ton.

This whole event has lead me to wonder why didn't I pick her up? I keep telling myself I definitely would have if Darrin wasn't at home, but maybe I'm just saying that to make me feel better. I have realized I don't like to see blood, at least not lots of it. So even if I think there will be lots of blood, I don't want to look. Good thing I was never a doctor, and good thing my kids don't get more seriously hurt or they may just stay there till dad gets home!

Personality

I absolutely love it when my "baby" starts showing more of a personality. It's fun to see that there is actually a mind in there that is working. Most should know what I am talking about, when babies go from just smiling to deliberatly doing things. This of course brings on a lot of added work because now you have to respond but I do love to see this personality come through.

It started with Eden randomly wearing a necklace after she had been in the toy room with the older girls and first I thought nothing of it, because they are often dressing up, and dressing Eden up too wouldn't be that different. After several days of this I started realizing that she is dressing herself up. It's so cute to me, to see her cruising around the house with her bright blue beaded necklace (I think this is her necklace of choice). One day I caught her with 2 necklaces, one unfortnately had seen it's last days with the elastic broken poking out here and there, but Eden didn't care. (I secretly threw that one away). Anyway, my baby is growing up, and it looks as if she will be following in her sister's footsteps with the dress-up!