Make an indoor farm / city!!

It has still be hovering around 100 degrees here - whew!!  I'm ready for winter I tell you!  

Even the cats don't want to move........

Don't worry, when the sun goes down and it cools off a bit, they get frisky and run around and play!

Anyway, my oldest is still at camp and my little one wants a constant playmate.  So we built an "indoor farm / city."

 He got very creative with adding trees and fields full of different crops.

Big trucks loading hay bales - what excitement!!!

Spraying a field of soybeans......I think.......

At one point, he had LEGO guys helping out.

Fill 'er up!  Yes, that is supposed to be a gas pump - I did not major in Art in college - can you tell???

"Bridge over troubled water"..........OK, so maybe that was Simon & Garfunkel :)

Apparently, this is me - driving an Audi and living in a blue house!!  OK. 

The city is getting larger and larger.  Even has a tunnel under the bar stools.

 I have a feeling we'll have this one around for several days!

One HOT day!!

For the past couple of weeks, we've had really hot weather.  Staying around 100 degrees - too hot for me and the boys to go outside.  I am not a hot weather person at all - give me snow any day!  My sons are the same way. 

My oldest has been at camp all week, so my youngest has been "bored" and wanting a playmate all of the time.  

OK - think, think, think.....I have laundry, cleaning and a list of other stuff to do.......

Here!  Let's play with bubbles in the sink........

First, he gave some of his tractors a bath!

 Tupperware lids make GREAT Lilly pads.......

He was content for over an hour......and I got the majority of my "list" done.

We had just come back in from filling the "ever evaporating" bird baths - note the sweaty hair and red face!

This is his token "hot outside" attire - a really BIG Angry Bird shirt and undies!  ALL DAY LONG

What has your family been up to during these hot summer days??

Small gift for end of school

At the end of the school year, I try to do something special for my sons.

I am definitely NOT the type of parent who pays their kids for grades!

(But that is a whole other soapbox topic for a later date.)

It is usually something small, but meaningful.

Especially with boys - they need a lot of encouragement

a lot of "I'm in your corner."

a lot of "I've got your back"

a lot of "you're going to face a lot of pressure during your school years, but I'm always here for you"

With all of the influences and challenges they face everyday,

they need to be guided and right now my husband and I

are trying very hard on making our relationships with our boys solid.

Now is the easy time to do that, so when they get older and the challenges

become more difficult, they'll feel safe and confident enough to talk honestly 

with us about anything. 

I found this bracelet in a Christian bookstore the week school got out and I gave it to my oldest as he finished second grade.  

Just an "I'm really proud of you - you really did a wonderful job." 

I see so many ways he's becoming a very insightful young man and is 

aware of so many things.  

He really loved it (especially since it was "boy-ish" and not girly.

He had a fun time showing his friends his new "bling" :)

A simple Cross pattern on the front:

On the back is written:

"They are not of the world, even as I'm not of it."

John 17:16

Do you do anything "special" for your kids as they move up in grades???

Would love to hear.  

If you give a Mom a Muffin

If you have kids, I'm sure you've read the book "If you give a mouse a cookie...." and others in that series.  I heard this poem at a MOPS meeting this year and wanted to share it.  

If You Give Mom a Muffin

Author: Beth Brubaker

If you give a mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her
she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook
("101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger").
The cookbook is setting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The checkbook is in her purse
that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two-year-old's diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.
She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her
that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are...If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

We all have days like that!!!  Hope your's is going well today!