Slime

Parker has been bugging me to make slime for a while now. I finally relented. It’s pretty simple….glue, water, borax and food coloring and it provides minutes of entertainment. Yes, I said minutes. My kids are pretty much always more interested in the process than the result. Oh well. Now he can quit hounding me until the next project he sees on YouTube.

I Pledge Allegiance….

Parker and his lovely friend Lainie were given the honor of leading the Pledge of Allegiance at the school board meeting last night. Each 3rd and 4th grade class gets a turn to pick 2 kids for this honor. Parker is a really good student and a good citizen (at school---home could use some improvement) and let’s be honest, it doesn’t hurt that his dad is the vice president of the school board. This is the kind of thing he usually doesn’t want any part of, but he stepped up and did a great job. Lainie is a natural leader and entertainer, so she was right at home in front of an audience.

And this is the amazing Mrs. Brown who nominated them for the honor. She is retiring next year so she will not be Jack’s 3rd grade teacher (sob.) What a blessing it is to have teachers you adore!

And just because it’s bugging me—our school colors are red and white. Why are the junior high lockers purple? Of all colors—purple!?

Signs of Spring

The weather last week was pretty nice. The snow melted leaving behind lots and lots of mud. Which ended up in my house.

Up the stairs…..

Down the hall……

Into the bathroom.

Yes. I flipped out. I just stood with my mouth hanging open for a while. I felt like crying. I wasn’t even sure where to begin! I vacuumed first which actually picked up most of it. Then we got out the spray bottle which took up the rest. The little blonde boy is the guilty party. The dark haired big brother was kind enough to help out with the clean-up (primarily because the shooting action of a spray bottle is similar to the shooting action of a gun and he would never turn down the chance to shoot something.)

Welcome back spring….even with all your mud.

Jack & Stella

My sister and her kids visited this past weekend. Our kids love each other so much. This is Jack’ own little version of heaven…laying on the couch, taggie in hand, covered by “favorite covers” (that’s what he calls his special blanket) and snuggling with Stella while watching TV. Life is good.

The Snow Fort

This child would gladly live in Antarctica. The moment he gets home from school, he puts his snow gear on and heads outside until it is dark. The temperature does not seem to faze him at all.

We live at the end of a cul-de-sac, so the plows push the snow from the whole street into our neighbors yard. This bring complete joy to the kids. Parker and his buddy, Nash, (along with a little bit of help from their younger sibs) have built this amazing fort this year! They guard it like Fort Knox too. They don’t want anyone messing it up.

They say that bucket is their toilet. I HOPE they are kidding. I’m glad they are enjoying the snow so much because the rest of us are so over it!!!

Orpheum Children’s Museum

The boys did not have school today because of a teacher in-service day. I had heard that Old Navy had 40% off clearance and I wanted to hit Forever 21, so I knew we MUST head to Champaign. I used the children’s museum there as a bribe. If they were good while I shopped, we would go to the museum. This was our first trip there. It is pretty small, but it was cute and they had fun. A big bonus was that we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Sand table with blue sand that sticks to everything.

Lego Darth Maul!

Teamwork!

Tornado

Hmmm….not too sure about the bearded dragon

Ahhh…brotherly love.

There we go….that’s more like it!

And for the record, the Old Navy sales were AWESOME!!!!! So worth the trip and the boys endured my shopping quite well!

Cardinals

It was miserably hot. And the Cards lost. Parker wouldn't hold up the sign. However, it was still a good day at the ballpark.

Tubers

Enjoyed a great day on the lake. This was Parker and Jack's first time tubing and they LOVED it. Usually they are very reluctant to try things like this, but they didn't even hesitate. It was very nice to not have to twist their arms to try something fun!

Night and Day

This was our Christmas card picture. Jack's head has been photoshopped onto this picture from another one taken the same day. (Thanks Michelle!) I ordered a bunch of cards and then only sent out about half of them. I just couldn't get into it this year. I really love this picture though. Honestly, could they be any different!? And it's not just appearance. They are different in every conceivable way. In fact, I don't think you design two kids who are more different. That's fine with me. It keeps things interesting around here.

East Peoria Fun

Travis' 13 and Under team had a tournament in East Peoria this weekend. It was very, very humid and stormy. We only played 2 games and went 1-1. However, Parker and Jack got to spend tons of time in the hotel pool which is one of their favorite things to do. Several of the families were going to the "Burger Barge" and Parker was dying to go. It was a total dive and I wasn't loving the idea so Parker says, "Let's just go. It's probably one of those places with lots of stuff on the walls that we can look at so we won't get bored." He must have heard me say that a time or two. We did go and it was a dive and the food was wonderful! They have every kind of burger you can imagine. I had one with fried portabello mushrooms and some kind of spicy sauce. It was heavenly.

Our hotel was right next to the Par-A-Dice riverboat casino and Parker and Jack couldn't wrap their brains around the fact the cruise ship doesn't move. They wanted to go, but also couldn't understand how it is not entertainment for a 7 year old and 5 year old!

Anyway, in spite of the bad weather, we had a great time. We also met my dear friend, Maureen and her two little boys for lunch. Of course, I didn't take any pictures because I'm dumb that way. However, we are in agreement that the funnel cake fries at Maid-Rite are to die for!

Rainout....again.

Parker's ball team gets rained out practically every week. This baseball season has been crazy with the rain. My poor husband is in charge of scheduling for the whole league so every rainout is like a giant puzzle of trying to reschedule games. There are close to 100 teams and at least 10 or more games every night so it is a huge task to make everyone happy. Remember to be nice to the volunteers who make things like Little League baseball possible for everyone else. That's my PSA for the day. :-)

Little Artists

After seeing Angie and I work on our canvas' for Teacher Appreciation Week, Parker has wanted a canvas to paint for his room. A BIG one. Michael's had them on sale this week, so I got a 2 pack and let them go to town. Parker fquickly found out that it's hard to get what you see in your head onto your canvas and that it can get really old, really quick.

Jack is not naked. Well, not completely. He has underwear on. The minute we are in our house, he strips down to his underwear. I am concerned that being in clothing for 7 hours of school next year will be the end of him! He is more of an abstract artist.

Parker had me write "Cardinals" and he intends to paint it using camoflauge. I think he finished the C and the A.

The are painting on the floor of our hideously messy and trashed sunroom which will soon be cleared of most of the toys so that we can actually walk around in there. YIPES!!!!