Flashback: Sebastian's Birthday Party

Time to start in on some of our vacation pictures... there are a LOT of them, so I'll share over the course of a few days. Way too many pics to put in one post.

I figured since our trip last week started with Sebastian's birthday party, that was a good place to start for pictures as well.

This year he wanted to do a book-themed party. And of course, the cake master of the family did it again. She put together a seven-book cake for him based on the Harry Potter books. Very fun!



Other than looking like I'm shoving fire up my kid's nose and in his ear, I like this picture. :)


Meagan waited impatiently during gift opening. They weren't allowed to get in the (freezing cold) pool until her brother was finished opening gifts. She wanted to s.w.i.m.

And because the water was less-than-warm, they all snuggled up for body heat once they got out. I think their Daddy might have dozed off here.




After party festivities, Lucas' brother and his wife hung out for the evening. We sat in the back yard and played dominoes (which was one of the gifts Sebastian had gotten at his party). It was a ton of fun, although Lucas won EVERY single game and fondly dubbed himself the domino master or something super humble like that. I love that man.


Again this year for Sebastian's party my kids ended up being the only kids to show up. :( I always hate that for him. I know it's disappointing for him when people come to Meagan's but not his. I think, though, he is outgrowing the big family party anyway, and next year may be a combo smaller family / friend party. He's pretty excited about the prospects of that.

Ten. He is ten. Can you believe that? *sigh* Six more years until driving. Eight more years until he leaves the house. Gah! I guess I better be sure to enjoy the time while it's here!!

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The High Price of Freedom

Life is slowly finding its way back to normal, although with the schedule we have for the next few weeks, 'normal' may not fully return until August. At any rate, I spent a bit of time catching up on getting layouts posted this morning. Here's one to share with you. I did this for this week's dare... still a few days to play along!



journaling: "the unfortunate truth of freedom is that it comes at a great cost. liberty cannot be enjoyed without the sacrifice of those who believe in it so strongly. we then, as the recipients of such freedom, should do all we can do to remember and honor the price paid by so many.
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as we sat on the field in the midst of this historic fort waiting for the fireworks display to start, we couldn't help but wonder what those men who once fought here might think of our current-day customs. i'm sure it never crossed their minds that one day people would gather in this field for recreation, to bask in the liberty so often taken for granted, and to intentionally send bombs into the sky for fun."

(Click here to view full credits)

Hope you had a lovely 4th! We did! We did NOT get to see an organized fireworks display as I had hoped, but we DID get to see lots of homespun fireworks shows going off all over the place around us. Everywhere we looked there were sparkles lighting the night sky. We sat out and watched them all until about 10:00 when the mosquitoes got too bad to stand. Blech.

We had friends over for dinner. He grew up somewhere around where we grew up. She is from Peru. She had the joy of being introduced to poppers last night. The kids (and the big boys) had a great time blasting each other - and, well, anyone else who got in the vicinity - with handfuls at a time. Pop pop pop pop!! Good fun. And sparklers. Of course the sparklers! Good times! I'm so thankful for the freedom we are blessed with. So thankful for the joy of sitting out on our deck and enjoying nights like that with friends and family.




So thankful.


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and now an air card

we went from wi fi (medium fast) to an air card (not fast at all). we will be home late late tonight, and while i've had a fabulous time visiting with everyone, i must admit i'm more than a little excited to be reunited with high-speed internet service! :)

we have stopped off at lucas' aunt and uncle's house for a few days of visiting before heading back home. we're on day 2 (well, maybe 3 really, if you count friday evening) of aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. it's been a great time! lots of washers and corn hole and tractor rides and croquet. all good stuff.

like i said, we should make it home sometime late tonight. i've already managed to get all but maybe 2 loads of laundry done (which is a HUGE accomplishment with the giant suitcase FULL of muddy messy clothes that we had). we should be able to jump right back into the swing of things without losing those few days to getting caught up and unpacked.

tomorrow we have friends coming over for the 4th for a cookout and sparklers and whatever else. i promise i will eventually get around to posting pictures and things more interesting than my random ramblings, but with company coming tomorrow, it may not happen 'til later in the week. in the meantime, i'm hoping to be able to see some fireworks somewhere... whether tonight before we go or tomorrow. i hope we can catch some. maybe. maybe not. but i hope. anyway, enjoy your holiday weekend! i know we will!

hotel wi-fi

that's how i'm hooked up right now. it is 11:00 at night, and we are all chillin' in the hotel room. we've been traveling. it's been an adventure! i have taken a bazillion pictures. i have not taken time to really look through them or do any photo editing of any kind, except for the few that i took on the first day of our travels. so i'll go back in time a few days and share those with you.

traveling is always good for a bit of sight seeing.


after we checked into the hotel and dumped our stuff, we headed out to grab dinner. there's a steak n shake right outside of the hotel, so we took advantage of 'kids eat free on weekends.' steak n shake tasted YUM. although i was DUMB and ate a big giant milkshake, and now my stomach is angry at me.

but besides that... yum!
don't they look cute in their hats?




we've been to visit my dad and nancy every day so far this week. we get to see them almost NEVER, so this has been a very new experience for the kids. and they LOVE it! they are BIG fans of their grandma and grandpa! and their 50 cats and 1 dog.

like i said, i have tons of pictures. but they won't fit on my blog in their current size... GIGANTIC. i will edit and upload. soon. or maybe not soon. but when i get a chance and have decent internet connection again.

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Easy Summer Smoothies

On our quest to learn better, healthier eating habbits, we've been trying lots of new things. We've especially been looking for creative ways to incorporate fruits and veggies into snack time.

This post doesn't help the veggies any, but it sure has a yummy dose of fruit. In an effort to use what was on hand and make something tastey, I've come up with two of the easiest smoothie recipes ever. The kids absolutely loved both of them!

CHOCOLATE COVERED BANANA SMOOTHIE

3 cups of ice
3 cups of dark chocolate almond milk
3 or 4 ripe bananas
whipped cream (if you like)

In a blender, add the ice, almond milk and bananas. I just put everything in whole, no necessary preparation. Then blend on high, until ice is crushed and bananas are pureed into the mixture. Easy as that!




They guzzled these down and ask for them often. What I love is that I can partake of these as well because there's no dairy. And the health benefits of the almond milk are quite a pleasant perk.


MIXED BERRY SMOOTHIES

3 cups ice
1 cup milk (or original almond milk)
3-4 cups mixed berries (we used strawberries and blueberries)
1/4 cup sugar
whipped cream if you like

In blender, add ice, milk, berries and sugar. Blend on high until ice is crushed and berries are pureed into the mix. Again, these were a huge hit!



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kids were here - day 14

day 14 - june 21

kids were here - day 13

day 13 - june 20

kids were here - days 8 thru 12

day 8 - june 15


day 9 - june 16


day 10 - june 17
the kids used hexabits to make pokemon characters... pretty creative i thought.


day 11 - june 18
and then left the hexabits all over the floor


day 12 - june 19

rainbow polkadots

My scrapping has really slowed down this month. Maybe something to do with having three kids at home all the time and a traveling husband? Maybe? But I did manage to find time to do a layout the other night, so I thought I'd share.



journaling: these are the taken-for-granted elements of daily life. the bed i've made a thousand times, the pillows that are always on the floor. Meagan's room as it is in Ohio, with her polkadot sheets and rainbow comforter, her purple unicorn pillow pet, and an assortment of pink & green all over the room.
(Click here to view full credits)

I know it might seem like an odd thing to scrap, but I have my reasons. I can remember all of my childhood bedrooms... sort of... but for a place that is supposed to be the personal haven of every child, I don't remember much.

The earliest bedroom I remember was at the apartment my mom & I lived in when I was pretty little. It had white furniture with little pink rosettes, a matching comforter and curtains, and a little pink and white vanity chair. I remember a few of the toys I had in there, but I can't really remember much about it.

Then there was the yellow room when we first moved from the apartment to a house. Eventually that yellow room became the pink and blue kitty explosion that I 'loved' so much. Then when we moved again I think I went with blues - sunflowers on blue & white stripes.

Our kids' bedrooms have been well-photographed. Partly because I take way too many pictures, but also because we've had to take so many pictures for moving and selling houses and such. I figured it would be fun to put those rooms into the pages of our albums. Personal spaces, after all, are a substantial background element of growing up.

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today

today has been a big day.

today my first-born baby turned ten. *gasp* how time flies! we are within a few years of total teen attitude invasion. every now and then i get a glimpse of it... just a glimpse. he is really a spectacular kid and he has never been one to give us much trouble. i would love to believe that trend will continue all the way into adulthood. however, i remember being a teenager, so i'm not holding my breath on that one.


his sister loves him so much.

and loves giving him bunny ears in pictures


this morning i got up and went to the grocery, spent $40 on various fruits and veggies, eggs, bacon, juice and milk. then i came home and made what lucas lovingly dubs the heroshima breakfast. the breakfast that explodes in our kitchen into one gigantic, intimidating mess. but it's good. it was bacon, scrambled eggs, omlets, toast and cinnamon rolls. just to clarify, we did not all eat one of everything...because we wouldn't need to eat for days if we all ate all of that. yum, it was good. we were stuffed. we went on about our day.

today was not only sebastian's birthday, but also father's day. we took lucas to best buy and let him pick out his presents. sometimes it's just easier that way. he ended up with a best-of collection of games for ps3. we also got each other anniversary gifts there. for him we got golden eye for wii with some fancy shmancy controller. for me, we got a cover for my kindle. i love it. i love my kindle, so i love anything that keeps my kindle safe and comfy cozy.



on the way home from best buy we stopped by dairy queen and got an ice cream cake to celebrate the birthday / father's day. reese's ice cream cake. delish.




besides all the fun and excitement, there was one thing that put a bit of a damper on our day. we had to take lucas to the airport and drop him off for his week of travel. we'll see him again this weekend for sebastian's birthday party, so at least it's only for five days this time. it's still never a fun thing to see him go. at least this time i didn't cry. i'm usually such a sap.

meagan fell asleep in the car on the way back from the airport, so she got a good hour nap. we'll see if she actually sleeps tonight. keeping my fingers crossed.

i think tonight i'm gonna see if the kids want to haul the lego bin up from the basement and plop in the living room and watch a movie or two while we sort through legos to rebuild kits. it's quite the undertaking, i know. it's been an ongoing project around here for weeks, and i must say i can't wait to have it done. only way to get it done is to do it.

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***

I'm losing my touch! *lol* Yesterday was the last day of gymnastics camp for Sebastian & Meagan, and I walked out of here without my camera. And worse, I didn't even have my cell phone with me as back up. So I missed the chance to get shots of their closing performances and awards ceremony. *shrug* Oh well. I thoroughly enjoyed it anyhow.

So, they've had gymnastics camp every day but Monday this week. From 9:00 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon. Can you imagine how tired they were? Especially Meagan. Every night she would go go go and then just CRASH. Hard. By the end of day 2, both of them were complaining their backs, arms, legs, stomachs, whatever else hurt... sore muscles for sure! So on the morning of day 3 I gave them each some ibuprofen with breakfast to take the twinge out of their muscles until they could get them warmed up. They both seem to be good now... just had to work through it I guess.

While they were at camp, Isaac and I hung out together. He did a lot of DS and wii, and I did a lot (a LOT) of reading. I finished the series I was reading... five books of brilliant, although sometimes disturbing, story telling. I am always amazed at people's abilities to weave stories together like that, and to then relay them in a way that others can be so utterly captivated. Good stuff.

Anyway, today life returns to normal. I no longer have my nose tucked in my kindle. The kids are no longer spending school-length days at the gym. The messes will resume. The work will return. There's laundry to do, groceries to buy, and a birthday to prepare for! Sebastian turns TEN tomorrow! Ten. Can you believe it?

Oh, AND yesterday Lucas and I celebrated our 11-year anniversary! I know he loves me because he took me out for Mexican, and it was his suggestion! That's a demonstration of love if nothing is... Mexican food is not on the top of his list of favorites.

I'll spare you all my mushy sentiments... there are many. I'll just say that I feel super super blessed by our last 11 years together. He is an amazing husband and father and friend.


goodness we were young.

Okay, I'm off to have a normal day. Have a great day yourself!

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Breath In...

(Click here to view full credits)

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kids were here - day 7

day 7 - june 14


the 'how to train your dragon' board game lying in the middle of my kitchen floor. for as long as i live i may never completely grasp WHY the board games must always land in the middle of major walkways. wouldn't a table or an out-of-the-way corner of the room be more convenient? better than having people step over and around you all the time?? no? *shrug* maybe proximety to family is of higher value than peace and quiet during game play.

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kids were here - day 6

day 6 - june 13



always signs of meagan lying around. but really, why WOULDN'T there be a giraffe in a sleeping bag and a duck in a carrying case in my front yard?

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have a seat!

it's done! my bench project! thought i'd share it with you...

i tried to find a good 'before' picture so you could get a good feel for the transformation. this was the best i could find. this is from late last august - 1st day of school. you can see enough of the bench to see how weather worn and gray it was.


here's what i did.
so, i took it apart and sanded it with a hand-held power sander until most of the weathered coloring was gone from the wood. i couldn't get it all off, but it was much better than it had been.
then i cleaned it with TSP and bleach water. and then let it dry.

i stained the wood slats and spray painted the metal parts. spray painting works best in light coats. trying to cover everything in one spray coat leaves the paint heavy in spots and can cause dripping or pooling. definitely don't be in a hurry and rush through the painting process. multiple coats is well worth the wait.



lucas had to help me reassemble - mostly because it was too heavy and awkward for me to manage alone. but also because i had no idea that i would need to put it back together in exactly the same way it came apart (like every single board had to go exactly where it was before, even though there were 3 boards all the same size and length and whatnot... lessons learned). next time, i will most definitely label the end of the boards so the labels won't show when it's all put back together, but so there's no question about which was is up, and what order the boards go in.

so i threw the cushions on that i found at Pier 1 and plopped down to enjoy it! it's my new happy place. it's perfect for reading, and it tuckes into a somewhat shadey corner of the deck, so most of the time, with the exception of a few hours of the day, it provides some shelter from the heat of the direct sun.


it's so bright and cheerful. it makes me feel happy. *happy sigh*

also yesterday i went over to meijer specifically to snag this wood folding table they had on clearance. somehow i ended up paying even less than i had expected. the clearanced price was $39.99. after tax, i paid a whopping $32 for this guy.

also got the retro green chairs on sale at meijer. i have plans to brighten up the table a bit with some lanterns and candles (that will double as bug repelants). just have to get around to getting them.

yesterday evening lucas and i sat out on our deck for the first time since we moved here. he sat at the table with his coffee and i sat on my bench with my kindle (side note, i've been totally engrossed in the fever series of books for the past week. i'm on book three. i have basically ignored reality for a good chunk of the time and just plowed through these stories. i'm a sucker for a well-written story, and this series is phenomenally done!) anyway, when we finally got up and went inside, i sighed a happy sigh and thought, 'this is exactly why i did this.' it was so nice to finally be able to use the deck that has been hanging off the back of our house for the past few months.

one more side note before i go... i looked at the new benches at lowes yesterday. they were around $100. i felt very proud of myself for the fact that i only spent about $20 to redo the bench we already had.

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kids were here - day 5

they played out on the back porch yesterday. it was a combination of lincoln logs (meagan and our neighbor girl) and legos (isaac). of course, since isaac was involved, there was a battle at hand. he organized his lego army to march on the land of lincoln logs. it was too cute really. i love the battle men all lined up in a row. i feel bad for the ones who don't get helmets *lol*.

kids were here - day 4

A residual tiger puppet. And crayons. There are always crayons laying around our house these days.

kids were here - day 3

The kids did a puppet show for us. They wrote a script, practiced, made the paper puppets and even used finger puppets and other stuffed animal puppets they had on hand. The play was called "Animal Tragedy" and was about work men coming in and destroying animal homes by destroying a field. It was inspired by the fact that the construction workers started digging in the field behind our house the other day.

kids were here - day 2

well, since we did so much clean up yesterday, i was starting to think i was going to have to take a picture of a clean room for my 'kids were here' photo. but they came through like always! :) their last 2 hours of the night, they finally got their act together and started really getting along. they found something to play. it involved our entire bathroom floor. and a whole slew of plastic dinosaurs and other various animals. it stayed that way all night, and is still that way this morning in fact.

no complaints from me. i will take a dinosaur littered floor and happy kids any day.


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