Summer Activities

Well, summer has most definitely begun for us. We've already had our big camping week (since we couldn't find another week available all summer.) The big spawn got to bring some buddies along, as sort of an 8th grade graduation celebration.

Now summer school has begun with babysitting classes and my big spawn attending driver's ed classes (gulp!)
We always try to have some sort of family project through the summer too. Kind of a "keep your mind working" class of sorts. It's really hard to think of great activities for teen/pre-teen boys to do that they'll enjoy during summer and learn something. Well, some years are far more productive than other years, but I have a good feeling about this year. We're having a cooking class/cookbook writing class. The boys are really taking the lead on this which I think is awesome! They've come up with a bunch of recipes that we enjoy as a family and that are requested frequently. Then they are making the recipes, testing them, measuring carefully, writing out the recipe, typing it up, photographing the finished product and when summer is over we'll publish it as a cookbook.

We did our first submission today. Magic 7 layer bars. I honestly don't know where this recipe originated, we've made it forever and I know tons of others who do too. I would venture to guess it was on the back of some packaging. Anyway, here's what they wrote so far. They will be adding family anecdotes and such to it too later

Magic 7 layer bars
4oz. of butter (that's a stick)
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 oz. of chocolate chips
6 oz of butter scotch chips
1 1/3 cups coconut
1 can of sweet and condensed milk
1 cup chopped pecans (optional, but Mom says we should to give it an ounce of nutrition)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Melt butter in a 9X13" pan. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbles over butter, mix well, pat it in to the pan with fork. Do this really hard so you get a nice crust. Top crumble crust with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and nuts. Then sprinkle coconut on top. Drizzle the sweet and condensed milk over the whole thing. Bake 25-30 min until browned a little on edges. Cool then cut into squares. Prep time: 5-10 min. Cook time 25-30 min.

I just copy and pasted what they typed. I'm not sure if I should leave in typos and spelling errors, or have them fix it. They're cute, but it is supposed to be teaching them something.

Pictures

Some pictures from the last few months in no particular order.


Lore working his abs on the beach on Amelia Island FL


Amelia Island Florida. Levi and Liam looking for shells and Shark's teeth

The boys' favorite "Cookie" Peppermint Kisses. Recipe here

Advent calendar. Inspired by this post on Allsorts we fill it with activities. We did really great this year. We accomplished all of our tasks but one. We didn't get to gaze at the stars the night we wanted to because of clouds.

Chubby Hubby Bars (Inspired by Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Flavor which is my hubby's favorite.) Recipe here

For Thanksgiving this year, we made a Thankful Tree. And we added to it all of November.

Veterans day skydiver at the school!

Making fresh pasta with my boys was way too much fun! This is Liam and his gloppy mess.

Here's Levi's mess before he got a nice ball going.

Sugar cookies are always fun.

My niece Clover's doll in progress. She has super curly blond hair and bright blue eyes, just like Clover does!

Away too long!

Wow, I can't belive it's been over a month since my last post. Life outside the internet just sort of got away from me. I should be posting a bit more regularly now that the kids are on their way back to school next week.

We took the last week to enjoy some time together (also we had some bugger of computer and internet problems.)

We went camping finally! Tim's been working so much he had a really hard time getting away, so we really needed this.

We took a train ride (new to all of us,) to Chicago and did some touristy things there. We visited the Sears Tower (have I mentioned to you all how afraid of heights I am?) We went to Navy Pier (Have I mentioned how deathly afraid of piers, bridges and heights I am?) We went to Shedd Aquarium (Have I mentioned I'm allergic to fish of all kinds and the trainer didn't wash her hand before shaking mine ?? Yep that sucked!) We went to the LEGO store, rode trolleys and took taxis. Lots of these were firsts for the boys, some were firsts for Tim and myself too. Overall it was a lovely trip, but I definitely realized how much I love home. It was far too loud in Chicago for me! The train ride was wonderful and we're trying to plan another one soon. I should have pictures when I find where the boys put their camera.

We are going camping again this weekend for Labor Day, then the kids are back to school.

Oh, I received my GORGEOUS Doll Quilt from the Doll Quilt Swap 4 on Flickr.

Here's my best closeup. SheltonDHW made it for me. She also sent along some yarn and a needle book and a lovely embroidered card. Pics of those are on my flickr, you can see the yarn a bit though.

What else have I been up to? Well, soccer has begun and hit us full force. 3-4 games a week, plus some practices. It's a town over, so that's a bit more running than we'd like, but the kids LOVE it, so that's what matters. And it's only through mid October.

That's about all I can think of right now. I'll have to go through things better, I know I'm forgetting something.

Weekend Fun

Well, I'm very happy to report that all we did was blow our power supply, so my husband found and installed a new one and we are back in business!

The weather in Wisconsin has been weird, just like a lot of the Midwest right now. We were smack in the middle of everything that hit Wisconsin. We were unable to get to our house Thursday night because all of the cities between where we were and where we lived were completely flooded and you couldn't get south. (We were less than 30 minutes away.) Our boys were safe, but stuck at Grandma's, so we ended up bunking at friends' house on Thursday night. Friday we spent assessing damages and trying to find a route home that wasn't flooded out. We did and found, it wasn't too bad where we were, even though we received the second highest rain total of the area. All of the neighboring cities were flooded though, so we decided, this was the perfect time to go visit my brother and his family 4 hours away from the flooding.

We had a beautiful weekend, and I got to spend some wonderful relaxing time with my nieces, brother and sister-in-law. I actually miss them already. We'll see them again in 2 weeks though, and until then I can look at the pictures we took.

Ambrosia picking flowers



Clover sitting with a very furry uncle Tim

While I was unable to use my computer, I was invited to take part in Bella Dia's Thoughtful Friday. I thought that would be fun, so even though this isn't Friday, I took this picture on Friday, so I thought I could do a belated one.






Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.
-Voltaire

Quilt Expo

My big fun grown-up trip this year was going with my Mother-in-Law to Quilt Expo. We had a wonderful time! It was so nice to not have kids hanging on me and just to enjoy all of the beautiful quilts and the gorgeous fabric porn. I was really good, and only bought a yard of fabric and a fat quarter of fabric, but I plan to order a few things after seeing some of it. Anyway, I took some pictures, but of course the pictures don't do the quilts a bit of justice. I will however post a few of them here for all to enjoy.

This is so much neater in person. All the intricate pieces.

I love the whimsical applique

Uhm... yea!

This one I couldn't believe didn't win. It's gorgeous!

All of these feathers were done individually on water soluble stabilizer with thread, then put on. It was stunning!

This was a compilation piece done by a school of children

How beautiful is this. What a wonderful piece of art.

I love the quilts on a quilt... The quilts were all free hanging from the quilt too.

From Wisconsin, in Wisconsin, Love Wisconsin. Must take a pic of the Wisconsin quilt!

One piece of fabric, but just look at that quilting!

My husband's favorite picture.

The hair was 3D with a little sparkle!

And my most favorite quilt of all

These pictures do it no justice at all. It is a time quilt. It is a calendar, the blue has time words quilted in it. Everything on this quilt has meaning. 60 seconds in an minute, 60 minutes in an hour, etc... but when he flipped it over to see the back!!

Oh, my!! There were clock works in the back, and the quilting matches up PERFECTLY! I am so inspired and in awe of this quilt!

These aren't nearly all the pictures I have, but it's a good many of them. We had a great time and are already planning another trip next year!

Heeeeelllllooooooo!

I feel like I have been missing from life for so long. I am feeling much much better now. I still have my ears plug now and then which is annoying (especially on the phone!) but other than that I seem to be all better.

Quick recap of my last few months whle being sick and recovering.

Soccer (Liam)

Soccer (Lore)

Apple Picking at my Dad's

Yearly trek to the Dells

Camping

More apple picking

Canoeing

Oh, did I mention soccer?

All of the monkeys are back to school.

We are planning out our Halloween costumes (very big deal in our house!)

I'm trying to plan for Christmas & the winter holidays since they are beyond crazy in our house.

My dad and step-mom just celebrated their 14th anniversary yesterday.

I went to Quilt Expo with my mother-in-law, and had a great time. I am hoping to post pictures soon of that.

AND

that's about all I can think of.

We're Back!

Primarily we had a wonderful time. We hit a bit of a problem at the end, but we're all well, and we were only set back a bit, so I want to keep it on the positive note.

This was our first time taking all 3 kids on a long car ride, and I was a bit nervous, but they did wonderfully! There was very little bickering and they were all playing and being helpful to each other!! We re-listened to Harry Potter 6 (in anticipation of the new book coming soon.) They worked on their superhero projects, they played a few travel games (boggle, ziggity, chess, and uno are the current favorites.) We also made an I Spy Bottle, which they really spent a lot of time with. It was a little over 10 hours there (plus stops.)

We went to a park a little over half way which the kids loved.

you can't tell, but they are standing on a tiny little podium like the ones behind them.

Lore was deeply thinking about how to catch the ducks that kept illuding him.

We checked into our hotel and the kids all headed for the pool.

The second day (Friday) we checked out some local areas. And then enjoyed the Meet & Greet at the fairgrounds for Ironstock.

Saturday was the first official day of Ironstock. The boys found the children's area quite entertaining. They found oodles of things they wanted in the Vendor's Ally. They met some new friends, and even enjoyed some of the Demos, creating new wishlists of things they wanted to make for the upcoming haunt season.
We watched the coffin races and the boys all gave it there best during the tshirt toss.
We were all pretty hot and pooped and the boys really wanted to go swimming so we opted out of the Weasel Ball for family time. I guess our costumes will wait until next year!

Sunday the weather was much more mild. It was cloudy and we got a bit of rain. I didn't affect the amazing demos though. We learned so much. Liam purchased a dragon adorned box. Lore purchased a neat resin skull and a resin skull keychain, Levi purchased a skeleton figurine. Levi and Lore also purchased marshmallow guns. We had planned on these being a project this summer, but they HAD to have them. So I guess we'll do it with Liam.
We made a mini coffin racer (which is like a barbie sized soapbox race with a coffin theme.)
Ours did really well, but we bounced a bit on the last 2 runs, and popped over the partition. I don't know exactly what place we took, but we had lots of fun anyway!

More swimming Sunday after the rain passed. We packed the van and were ready to get under way in the morning.

Overall a great weekend! We weren't planning on going next year, as I think we need to see more parts of the country and if we only get one vacation.... but after being there it is really hard to not go back. We'll have to wait and see.

I will have more pictures and such uploaded later. I'm still settling in.

We are heading to Indiana

We are heading to Indiana, we are leaving on Wednesday night. We have gone for the last 2 years to a festival for haunters called Ironstock. We went alone the first year, we took Levi the second year, and this year all 3 boys are coming! It's a 10 hour drive each way! I'm hoping the boys won't drive us all nuts! I had all of these grandiose ideas for crafts to make to make the trip easier, but not enough time, so we'll due without. The boys decided on Saturday that they now wanted to make a coffin racer (go to Ironstock website click on activities and you can read about it.) So we quick through one together Sunday. We probably won't win, but enjoyed making it. I'll try to post some pictures of it before we leave. Everyone's getting excited, the boys are all packed and their suitcase is already in the van!

Hot Granny Scooter Action!

Well, it's been quite busy here. And unfortunately the blog suffers. So here is a bit of catch up.


The weekend of the 9th we had my sister's memorial. Her ashes were buried in the cemetery of the cutest little church near my father's house. It was a lovely morning ceremony. After the ceremony we went back to my dad's house to celebrate an early Father's Day. We brought our tents along. We had my sister's daughters all there. My brother, his wife and their daughter camped too. It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend!



My brother, his wife (she's preggers, how freakn' cute is she!) and their daughter






The kids all climbed the apple trees.







Alyssa upside down in the tree








Levi in the tree










We found a turtle cruising through the yard behind our tent!












A friend of ours brought over their puppies. (Planning a birthday party, forget a clown or magician or any other entertainment, rent puppies!!) They went crazy! It was certainly puppy love!

Sleepy Puppies

Group Shot

Lore with a puppy (Liam in the background)






And lots of fun just hanging out, playing bocce, on the swings, and playing on the wagon.

Ambrosia doing Yoga

Liam with the telescope

Alia pushing Lore in the wagon




Ambrosia on the swing



And last, but not least, hot granny scooter action!