Chicago Trip

Owen returned on Monday (seven boxes of Legos heavier) from his trip to Chicago.  Definitely sad that it was over.  They all had a fabulous time.  Owen told us he'd like to live in Chicago when he's older.  Thank you Mike and Rosie for taking them on this FUN excursion.  We appreciate everything (even the million Lego-men arms, legs, helmets, swords, etc. that I have to keep away from Graham :)  The following are a few (of the 200) pictures that Owen took with the camera we sent.

Bridge over an interstate.  Hoping for truckers to honk. 

Mighty Mississippi River. 

Group picture--not sure where they are.  Iowa?

Great grandparents??  Just kidding.  This couple offered to take their pic,
so Owen and Raly took their pic (on their own cameras) too.  Funny.

White Sox game, driven to game in a town car.  Fancy.

View from Hancock Tower.

Also at the Hancock Tower.

Stocking up in case the Lego corporation goes under.

Navy Pier--no he didn't ride it :(

Dinner cruise aboard the Mystic Blue with Mike's cousin, Mary Pat.

Lego Land.  I think he photographed everything there.  This was my favorite.

Holy Batman!

Fun Weekend

While Owen was galavanting through Chicago, Miles and Graham packed up and headed to Lebo to hang with the other grandparents while Adam and I went to Kansas City for the Kenny Chesney concert.  Miles was very proud of this surf board he bought (I figured it was worth it since he'd been using everyone else's at the pool) and ready to use it at "Grandma's Pool."  

The concert (and time with friends) was a lot of fun, and Adam survived the heat :)  We had good seats on the floor at Arrowhead.  My favorite part was the Kenny Chesney/Zac Brown hoedown at the end. We ended the night with a strange bus ride through Overland Park--very random.  

I have only bad pictures to share, as Owen had the small camera and I certainly wasn't taking the good one in.  Phone cam it is.

And They're Off

Lucky dogs, Owen and Raly (cousin from Denver) set out for Chicago yesterday.  Grandpa Mike and Grandma Rosie are taking them on an "eight-year-old" trip.  They spent the night in Des Moines before continuing on to Chi-Town today.  On the agenda:  White Sox (Socks?) game, Lego World, Navy Pier, dinner on a boat on Lake Michigan, and American Girl Doll Store.  Sounds like a blast!  Sidenote:  Miles plans to go to Grandma Jean's for Diet Pepsi.  He's been looking forward to it for as long as Owen has Chicago.

The travelers, ready to go.

Brotherly love, a few hours before Owen left.

Cool Pool

We met up with friends last week at Northview Pool.  It was just recently renovated, and the kids thought it was wonderful.  I really liked the layout--one big pool with various different features in different areas.  Miles was a little too short for all but the green "family" slide, but he did go down it about 100 times. Definitely looking forward to attending an upcoming birthday party here!

Fish

We've pretty much been swimming every day this summer.  All three boys love the water--it doesn't matter if it's a fancy water park or cement hole with water.  They've taken a few private lessons to work on their strokes.  Both Owen and Miles have become strong swimmers for their ages.  Owen has free range of the pool, and Miles needs only minimal supervision.  We have an underwater video camera that we finally tried out the other day.  Here's a little footage taken from 10 feet under.

HEY!

Pay some attention to me!  Since I can't scare you by crawling on the fireplace or chewing on markers, maybe I'll go dump out the dog water.... AGAIN!

Kitchen Redo

I finally talked Adam into a kitchen makeover.  No tearing down walls or building on, just a facelift.  I've always wanted a white kitchen, and figured it would be a good idea to do it in this house since we probably won't live here forever.  That way if I decide it was a mistake I'll know better when I get my "forever house."  It wasn't awful before (actually it had been updated shortly before we moved in five years ago), just not my taste.  It used to be sky blue, which I hated, and I was still in the red/brown phase in 2006, so red it became.  We did get a new stainless stove and fridge soon after moving in, but the old dishwasher (which I painted faux stainless), microwave and sink were still in use.  We also put in new windows and blinds.

Old kitchen (with some test paint).

Old kitchen workspace.

Old kitchen, bar side.

Old kitchen, plus high chair that has since found a new home at the Say's.

Here is the new and improved space:  lighter paint--of course, it is tan Sharla--throughout the upstairs (done by me), painted cabinets (thanks to Brad Ficke and his crew), new countertops (Home Depot), new sink (Adam's contribution), and backsplash (by Jake Zeka).  These were the "planned for" items.  We also ended up with all new plumbing and garbage disposal, dishwasher, and microwave.  I also found some covering for the sliding doors going to the deck.  Better late than never--wonder if our backyard neighbors will miss looking in???  And, I bought new bar stools (gift to myself for all the painting I did :) and made a new curtain.  

I'm on a home improvement spending freeze, so any remaining projects I come up with this summer will have to fall into the "free" category.

Projects Part 2 & 3

I take a lot of pictures.  Fortunately I stopped making prints in 2009 or I'd have a whole closet full of photo albums.  So, another one of those undesirable jobs was putting the photos I had developed into albums (done) AND sorting five years worth of pictures that are on my computer.  This was actually kind of fun--easy to delete the extra poses or meaningless pictures, and entertaining to go back and look at the kids when they were younger.  

I look my whole library of photos and made each of the boys yearly folders with pictures of them taken from age 2-3, for example. Now they can go through and look at them when they want AND they are organized (with many of them filtered out) for me.  I've been saying I should do this for at least three years.... DONE!

Next up:  school papers, certificates, birthday cards, etc.  I love that my kids bring home so many papers from school and daycare so I can see what they are studying and how they are doing, however, we would need to invest in a storage shed if we kept everything.  Here's how I sort.  1.  Throw most papers away daily.  2.  Really good artwork gets displayed in their room or taken to work by me.  3.  Items worth keeping (interesting things they write/draw, certificates, projects, etc.) get put in a file like these in their closet.  

At the end of the year, I go through the box and decide if I still think it is an item worth saving.  If so, I put in the "2nd Grade" ziploc bag.  

I also have a ziploc bag for 1. Money (special coins, savings bond coupons, etc.), 2.  Medical  (baby height/weight, etc.), 3.  Certificates/Programs/Special Events, and 4.  Miscellaneous (odd ball items like things from friends or stuff made at home).

And finally:  Birthday Cards, Baby Cards, Holiday Cards.

And then it all goes back in the storage container and into the storeroom.  This is Owen's, but they all have one.  Not bad for 8 years.  

I love plastic boxes!

Projects Part 1

I didn't make a written summer "to do" list, but I've got it in my head.  I'm getting close to being able to show you my big kitchen reveal, but for now I'll start with the projects that fall into the categories of "undesirable" and "mostly free."  I made myself a deal (do you make deals with yourself too?) that if we made some upgrades and changes to our kitchen, then I'd get all of the other "undesirables" done too.  Here's project #1:  basement bathroom closet.  We (as in Jake Zeka) updated the bathroom this winter with new floor tile, sink, toilet, and light fixture.  We also added new white baseboards and I painted it to match the rest of the living space in the basement.  I did not paint the closet.  And while it's not that big of a deal, it bothered me.  Plus I didn't like how the stuff in there looked, but where else do you store a humidifier, first aide supplies and cleaning products?

Before

After

Here it is after a couple of hours of painting (with help from Miles) and fabric storage bins from Home Depot, $25.  Don't you like how the tan handles match the paint?  It doesn't happen very often, but occasionally HD will offer something I like better than Target.  Sorry Target.  What's in the baskets you wonder??  1.  First aide supplies.  2.  Travel bags and supplies like small toothpastes.  3.  Cleaning supplies.  4.  Hair cutting tools.  I like the look of soap and towels (minus the mismatched ones that moved onto rag status), so they got to stay out in the open.  Unfortunately I had to keep the humidifier and plunger, although I strongly considered throwing them out.  

Lebo Weekend

We spent most of the weekend in Lebo, visiting my parents and getting together with Sharla and her boys (waiting to steal some pictures from her since I was too lazy to get my camera out).  

We agreed to let Owen drive the mule along--just around the driveway.

Miles made Star Wars cookies with Grandma.  He started out making the characters their real color, but soon we had red Yodas and multi-colored Darth Vaders.

 Graham enjoyed looking for anything dangerous outside.  I'm sure he didn't sit nicely like this for long.

 Mmmm, Miles' cookies are GOOD!

 Newman enjoyed his freedom, but could have done without the heat.

 My mom bought the bigs a blow up bed and Sponge Bob sheets so they could camp in the living room. They thought they were pretty cool.  Only a grandma would pay $33 for S.B. sheets!

And, of course, we had plenty of great food.... as always!  And doughnuts, ice cream, Cheetos, chips, popcorn, and pop for the kids.  

"Who lives in a pineapple..."

My kids love this show (although we try not to let them watch it). I try to pacify them with Sponge Bob go-gurts instead. They were very excited when I introduced our very own Sponge Bob Square Pants. Wal-Mart PJ's. $5. Actually kind of cute. Sorry Miles they only go up to 5T.

Birthday Boy #1

The last of the birthdays.... Owen turned eight on June 20th (on vacation). We considered our visit to Disney his birthday celebration, and he was happy with this. He requested tuna steak for his birthday meal, and Grandma Rosie tracked down an ice cream cake in Orlando.

He was truly in need of a new bike. In fact, he'd been without one for a couple of months. His old one was too small and he broke the chain--it has since been repaired and found a new home at Debbie's (Miles' baby-sitter). We took him to Big Poppi's to get his first "nice" bike, and they told us he's ready for a BIG bike, the kind with hand breaks and gears! He is loving it, especially the "noise" it makes while he's coasting. I'm not sure what age I will let him take his own bike rides :(

At eight he LOVES sports, particularly baseball and basketball, is a great student (but has to be prompted to go read), enjoys Legos, computer/Wii/iPhone/iPad games, asks for lots of play dates, is a strong swimmer, eats like a pig, has big feet, puts up with Miles, and is a huge help with Graham.

New clothes (from Grandma Jean and Grandpa Harlan) and new bike (from us).

New shoes that he bought with his birthday money from Grandma Rosie, Grandpa Mike, Great-Grandma Eunice and his aunts/uncles Quint, Susan, Michelle, Rhett, Emily and Josh. Now that he's in the "old kid" shoe sizes, things aren't cheap!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July from these three firecrackers!

Birthday Boy #2

Miles turned five on June 22. It's crazy to think he'll be going to Kindergarten! He is quite the character, and definitely the most likely of our three boys to end up in the theater. Recently he has become the hungriest kid on the planet--must be growing. For his birthday, he picked out a K-State ice cream cake and requested tuna steak for his birthday meal (just like Owen did). There was absolutely nothing special that he needed this year, so rather than buy some junky toy just to have a gift for him, I told him he could pick his birthday gift this year. After a long time checking out the toys at Target he settled on a $9 Phinneus and Ferb toy (that he played with for about 15 minutes) AND new black Reebok Zag shoes.... that's my boy!

Five year favorites: granola bars, shoes and athletic clothes, drawing and coloring people, riding bikes, swimming, entertaining Graham, copying Owen, watching movies, playing with friends, copying words from random objects into his journal.

At five he can: swim and jump off the board without a life jacket or an adult, write letters and numbers, tell his essential information, get ready/eat breakfast on his own, sing many songs, remember every detail of things you tell him, make us laugh.

New Under Armor clothes from Grandma Jean and Grandpa Harlan. He has yet to spend any birthday money from the grandparents, aunts/uncles. I have a feeling he'll be buying some clothes when we go on a shopping trip. The dude loves anything he can wear. He had a bit of an attitude the day I took these.