Groundhog Day

Oh the busyness of summer!  I always look forward to this time of year (summer) thinking it will be so nice to have calm summer days with no committments.  I do wish that described our days, but summer instead seems to be so busy!  I asked my sister-in-law the other day how her summer was going.  She responded, "It feels like Groundhog Day."  You remember that movie, starring Bill Murray, where he wakes up each day and literally has an exact repeat of the day before, and it keeps going on, and going on, and going on.  Well, I have to agree with my sis. that this summer does feel a bit like that.  My kids seem to have lost their interest in our "summer plan" and the newness of summer and our summer store have also worn off.  We've done a few projects, but we've also taken it a little easy this week.  I need to revamp my plan so that it feels new again.  We did do these . . .

They're called String and Paint pictures.  Basically, you use varying sizes and styles of string or yarn, dip them in paint, and pull them through two sheets of paper to make a design.  Here are ours in the process . . .

 . . . and were finished.  They are fun and turn out different every time. 

I can't help feeling myself looking forward to more structured, organized days once school starts again, and yet, I know then that I'll wish again for these more relaxed summer days.  I guess the secret is to learn to enjoy each moment, knowing that they'll each have joys and frustrations, just like each stage of our lives.

Listening

Anyone else out there remember these tapes?  

I grew up listening to them, and I LOVED them!  (You can still purchase them here.)  Several years back, my mom gave them to me for my kids to enjoy.  And they DO!  These books and tapes tell stories to teach 12 different values, like honesty, happiness, integrity, dependability, etc.  Super fun!  And because our car has a tape player (yes that's right, our car is so cool that it plays tapes!) I bring them along and my boys listen to them most every errand we run. 
Well, the other day, I decided that it was my turn to listen to something I wanted to, and so I popped in a tape by Sheri Dew called Famous Last Words.  It was not new.  In fact, it was an address she gave at a BYU Women's Conference back in like 1999.  But, her message was so pertinent to today, and it has really stayed with me.  She talked about Satan, and how he is attacking the family.  She talked about how he knows that if he can destroy families, he can destroy societies and God's Plan.  Isn't that SO true?  The Proclamation to the World says that "the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets."  That's a pretty powerful statement.  I can't deny that I think the disintegration of the family is the #1 cause of most of the problems in the world today.  And Satan knows it too.  He knows that if he can get a family to spend too much time involved in good things, that they will forget about and neglect the most important things.  He knows that if he can get families to desire worldly things, he can get a mother to leave her children for another to raise in order to enter the workforce and acquire the money to buy those "things" that the world says are so important.  He knows that if he can distract us from what is most important in life, he can deceive us.  Like the scripture says, he truly is leading many "carefully" away. 
As I listened to this tape the other day, Sheri said, "Satan knows exactly what he is doing!  Do we?  Are we sleeping, or are we creating places of security where we may insulate ourselves from his advances?"  I really liked thinking of the home as a place of security.  That is exactly what I want to do as a mother-protect my children from Satan's advances.  She went on to say, "If there were ever a time when the Lord needed righteous, determined, women who can distinguish between the adversary's deception and the voice of the Lord, it is now."  If there were ever a time when the Lord needed his daughters to be alert to what is happening in society, and to defend the sanctity of the home and family, it is now.  If there were ever a time when the Lord needed us to have a clear vision of who we are, where we are and what is important, it is now." 
Then, after having this all in my head for a week or so now, I listened to a speaker at church on Sunday talk of his work as a teacher in an alternative high school.  He spoke of the disintegration of the homes and families of the children he teaches, and how the lives of these children are affected by the choices of their parents, many of whom are drug addicts.  Satan knows what he is doing, and he knows that one little choice he can get us to make when we are young can and will effect generations to come. 
I read this article the other day, and I am determined NOT to regret my decision to be at home.  I know that by being home, and teaching my children, I am creating a place of security for them.  And I feel in my heart that this if right for me.  I loved the closing line of this article.  The author stated, "even when everything we read and hear and see is sending us the opposite message, simply raising your children, being a mother and a wife, is enough."  And I would add that not only is it enough, it is vital, in order to thwart the plans of Satan and protect our children and our families. 

Whirlwind of Fun!

So, we just got home from spending the weekend with my husband's family and having a family reunion.  Whew!  I'm exhausted!  I always find it funny how we (or at least I) so look forward to a vacation, but it never fails that I need a vacation once I get home. 

So, really quick, I wanted to share what we did for our craft last week.  It was a lot of fun and super easy.  We made shirts, using fabric crayons (I bought mine at JoAnn's) and plain white shirts I found wherever I could get them cheap. 

 The kids just drew a picture of their choice on a regular sheet of paper, using the fabric crayons.  (Keep in mind that it will be reversed once it is ironed onto the shirt.)  They need to color as dark as they can.  I even went over them to make them darker before we transferred them. 

 Then, you just iron the picture onto a shirt.  Here are the finished products.  Super fun!  The boys were pretty dang proud of their creations! 

Alright, so onto the family vacation.  My husband's family lives about three hours away.  We used to get there to visit more often, but as we have had more children and our lives have become busier, it seems we only get there a few times a year.  So when we go, it is like trying to fit in 6 months of memories into 3 days of time.  Wow!  We had fun!  Here are a few of the things we did.

On Friday (Fieldtrip Friday) we took a fieldtrip to an art museum.  They had a display of shoes.  I have to say, I don't necessarily agree with what others call "art" but it was fun to see what some have used to create these shoes and some of the crazy designs.  This is a few of us outside the museum, since we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. 
                                      
 So, I love (no wait) LOVE the 4th of July!!!  Growing up, I always thought the celebration was for me, as my birthday is the next day.  To me, it is a holiday that never disappoints.  You know how sometimes at Christmas, you work like a maniac to make it special, but sometimes, the "feeling" of Christmas never comes.  Well, the 4th is always amazing to me!  Watching the fireworks is is tradition and I love every minute of it!  So, we had to do a few crafts and activities to make it extra special.  For our craft on Monday, we did firework art.  You simply take acrylic paints and thin them out.  Then drop a small amount onto paper.  Then, using a straw (it was easier when the straw was cut in half) the boys had to blow on the paint to make it "pop" into a firework.  It was pretty fun. 

 We also made these fun hats, by cutting stars from card stock and attaching them to a straw.  Then, we just stapled the straws at varying heights onto a headband.  Voila! 

 The boys wore them when we did our "parade".  It was just my older two and two cousins, but we let them wave flags and throw candy to the grown-ups who lined the sidewalks as the spectators.  They thought it was fun. 

 Here are our ducks lined up for our duck races.  We had to damn up the gutter to make a river for them to float in.  Ultimately, they didn't want to stay afloat on their bottoms.  They just bobbed around and we had to use the hose to spray them down to the end. 

 But we sure cheered loud! 

 We got back just in time to head over to see the firework display at our fairgrounds.  I've gone each year of my life (minus the one on my mission) and it is one of my favorite traditions.  It wouldn't be the 4th without it.  The show was awesome! and it sure makes me grateful for the freedoms we enjoy. 

 So, today was my birthday.  I had grand plans for pampering myself, but life as a mom requires some flexibility, and I have yet to get my pampering in.  But, we did celebrate with a cake (made of fruit) and presents.  I figured that we had had enough candy and junk over the last 5 days to last a while, so a cake made of fruit was perfect.  We'll do a party with my family when we do Chad's birthday next week and I'll have Dave make me a real cake then. 

 Dave and I were able to go out together while in Boise and do a little shopping.  He did surprise me with a beautiful flower (my favorite kind even)!  Most of all, I just enjoyed the time to spend with family and feel like the queen for a day. 
                                     

My Weekend

 One of the advantages of living in a small town is that our airport still has limited security.  For our field trip on Friday, I took the boys to our local airport to see a plane land and take off.  You can look up the arrival and departure times on your airport website.  We just missed the plane landing, but we did get to see the passengers get off and watch from above as the workers removed the baggage.  Then, we raced to the baggage claim to see the bags come down and circle around.  Our airport has only one terminal and one baggage claim, so that makes it pretty simple. 

 This is the boys standing above on the viewing deck.  They loved riding the glass front elevator up and down to get to the viewing deck.  (Sorry for the amazing picts.  The boys were too busy looking out the windows at the planes too look at me.) 

 This is the airplane we saw take off.  We actually watched three of them, but I'll spare you the other picts. 

 Then we made a brief visit to the Japanese Gardens just outside our airport before heading to the car.  The gardens have lots of fun trails to walk on and hills to climb, which was super fun for the boys. 

 In all, it was a pretty successful field trip.

So on Friday night, we wanted to go camping.  I LOVE camping, but the honest truth is that if I am not going for more than one night, it is way too much work.  Due to other commitments we had on Sunday, neither Dave nor I could be gone, so we had just Friday night to camp out.  So . . . we set up camp in our back yard.  We called it Camp Hallea. 

 Dave is always the fire builder.  We placed some cement pavers in the sand box and built the fire on them. 

 It served the purpose.  Of course, we had to roast marshmallows,

and this guy-Seriously!  This is one of those GIANT marshmallows that is seriously 4 times the size of a normal one.  He ate the whole thing! 

 

 And here was our campsite. 

So the advantage of this kind of camping is that there is no packing involved.  Greyson got to sleep in his own bed.  (That is SO worth it!)  Indoor plumbing.  If we forgot anything, it wasn't far to go and get it.  No checkout time.  It's Free! 
We'll get up in the mountains here pretty soon, but for now, this was pretty fun.

Living On Less

That is my new mantra: Living On Less.  And I usually enjoy it.  I actually love creating my budget each month and seeing where I can scrimp in order to leave more to put into savings.  It is so empowering to watch a debt balance decline, and then pay it off in full.  I love creating a yummy, nourishing meal out of nothing when I have spent my grocery budget for the month and I am forced to cook with what is in the house.  This summer, I have even set a goal to drive as little as possible, and we ride our bikes everywhere.  I have used less than a half tank thus far and feels so good.  (I'm sure it makes then environmentalists happy too.)  It is honestly SO FUN!  So truthfully, today, I was having a pity party.   I received several invitations from friends to go and do some really fun things.  There's a girls night out tomorrow at Chili's, and a group of friends invited my kiddos and me swimming at an aquatic center today.  Another invited me to head out of town to a splash park, and I swear every neighbor I have is headed camping and I am super jealous.  It isn't so much that I can't afford to do these things, but rather that the money left in my budget for the rest of the month is allocated for other things. 
So instead, my kids and I set up our own splash park in the back yard.  Even I went on the slip and slide, and it was much less crowded than the aquatic center would have been. 
A friend reminded me today of the popular saying, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."  I Love that!  It describes how I feel about living.  Sure, I get rid of things (I hate clutter).  But, we make due with what we have.  When I redecorate, I re-purpose what I already have in the house, and simply make a room feel new.  And I enjoy altering and embellishing clothes to give them new life.  Try it sometime . . . it really is quite fulfilling. 
So, I haven't always lived like this.  In fact, for a long time, I have lived quite the opposite.  Budget???  What was that?  And if I didn't have enough money, I always had a credit card.  Dave and I would spend independent of one another and not be accountable to each other for our expenditures.  I didn't really see the need of saving for a rainy day, because credit cards were for a rainy day, and at our house, it seemed to rain a lot. 
I'm not really sure what changed.  It seems that one day, I (we) just realized the error of our ways and started to make changes.  Dave even bought me The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey for Valentine's Day.  (He's so romantic!)  But seriously, it is a great book. 
So, if you're reading this thinking how sorry you feel for me, don't.  In fact, if you haven't reined in your spending yet, give it a try.  You might just discover how fun it is to live on less than you make and become debt free.  We're almost there!  Won't you join us?

A Few Summer Fun Ideas

I just had to share these fun ideas we have enjoyed this week as part of our Summer Plan.  As a kid, we would always make "rock animals" when we went camping.  We'd find rocks, glue them together to resemble an animal, and paint them.  I ran across this cute idea, and thought it so reminded me of those cute rock animals from my childhood.  These are "Rock Pets."  

I had each of my boys pick a rock they wanted to use.  As I have 3 boys, there are always plenty of rocks (and sticks) around our yard.  I had told them ahead of time what they would be used for so they had a bit of an idea what size and shape to pick.  Then, they each decided what their "pet" would be.  They both wanted to do a monster.  They painted the rock one main color.  Then we added a mouth and teeth with another color of paint. 

 We finished them off by adding googley eyes and hair out of yarn.  The pig has pompoms for the ears and a button for the nose. 

 Here they are with their creations.  I had a niece and nephew in town and they joined us for the project.  We had a lot of fun and I think they turned out super cute.  Now, they are on display in our front flower beds for all to see.  This morning, my oldest got up and went and sat on the sidewalk in front of the rocks, and just looked at them for a bit.  He is pretty proud of his "pet." 

This next project we did for our "Tastee Tuesday."  I wanted to make homemade ice cream and I thought it would be so much more fun if the boys could "be one with their work."  So, I found this recipe and thought I'd try it out.  It was super easy and fast.  We needed ice cubes, rock salt (I took mine from my water softener brine tank) and two sizes of ziploc bags.  (I used the slider zip top bags, but next time, I'd use a regular zipper bag.  The seal was not very good on the slider bags and kept popping open.) 

 So, in the smaller of the two zipper bags,  place 1 cup of milk, 2 Tablespoons sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.  The recipe called for half-and-half but I just used what I had and it worked fine.  My youngest even chose chocolate milk and it was great.  Then, seal the bag. 

 Place it inside the larger zipper bag and fill around both sides with ice and rock salt.  Then, let your kids roll it around for five minutes and . . .

Voila!  Ice cream!  It really was that easy, and I was surprised to see that it froze that quickly.  I did snitch a taste or two, and it was super good. 

Report on Summer Plan

I have been working on my summer plan.  You can read about it here.  As the summer has progressed, I have realized the need for some major flexibility regarding our daily activity.  Initially, I had intended to have our activity each day before lunch; that way, we would have the afternoon free to play with friends, work around the house, etc.  Well, I have discovered that I need a little more flexibility in my day than that.  So, we just fit in our activities when we can.  Basically, we are just flying by the seat of our pants around here.  Here is a recap on the last few weeks since we started. 

Our local library had a display of stuffed animals the boys enjoyed seeing.  They could even touch them.  This was in place of our story time for Thinking Thursday. 

Just couldn't resist putting this picture in.  Greyson was feeding himself spaghetti. 

These were our second Monday craft project.  The boys made these for Father's day.  I used Plaster of Paris and just some metal molds, marbles, and whatever else I had around the house.  The plaster was less than $5 and dried super fast.  It worked great!

We also made suckers which my boys sold at our yard sale.  Chad made $8 selling suckers!  I taught them how to make popcorn with an air popper.  I tried to convince them that that was the real way to make it, but they wholeheartedly disagreed, since the only poprorn they have ever had was made in the microwave.    Finally, we have spent a significant amount of time running in the sprinklers and sliding on the slip and slide.  My activities are usually at our home, free (or very cheep) and we just fit them into our day as we can.