decoupage crazy

The kids have gone decoupage crazy. It started with this box...

And them the madness spread.

These are just the beginning, I am not sure how many more have been made.
It is pretty simple and fun. All you need is a box, some tissue or colored paper, and Mod Podge. You can also add glitter or other random elements to your box (see the horse in second photo).

Kindergarten here we come, here we come...

Yesterday was the last day of Preschool and tonight is Graduation. I can't believe my little girl is ready for kindergarten already!

I forgot to take picture before we left the house of the teacher gifts, so I quickly shot these in the parking lot before dropping Lu off.

Jess, I ended up going with your idea and made apple shaped sugar cookies. It is impossibly hard to get lemon frosting to turn red, so they were pink apples :)

Here is Lu with her teacher. We have had such a wonderful time at this school over the last 4 or 5 years! Although I am looking forward to not having to drive to and from 3 times a week, we will miss everyone there!
Congratulations my little Kindergartner!

weekending...a little late :)

I realized today that I had about 100 photos on my camera that I had not loaded to the computer. Friday I watched my friends 5 kids for the day and was taking pictures and composing a post in my head, but somehow I never found the time to sit down and post, and next thing you know, It's Wednesday and I can't figure out where the last week has gone!

Anyway, some good friends of ours invited us to go out on their brother's boat (that they are keeping in their back yard), so we headed over to City Park on this gorgeous day. The boys went out first and almost immediately the motor cut out.

They got it working again, though and had a great time.

I love this picture of Regan and Tallulah. Regan is such a good big sister, watching out for her siblings and excitedly showing them all sorts of new things.

I don't know if you can tell, but those are snails in the grass there. Tallulah was pulling them off and trying to coax them out if their shells :)

Addie had a blast just wandering around in the grass, occasionally trying to escape down to the water.

Regan got the last ride of the day. It was so nice to set aside my to-do list and just relax with friends. Something we really should do more often!

preschool picnic and more decluttering

Today was the end of year picnic at preschool.
The kids had a blast riding the ponies, jumping on the moon bounce, playing with bubble and eating pizza til their hearts (or stomachs) content. We were not sure the picnic was going to happen as there was a major storm that drenched us to the bone as we were arriving at preschool this morning. Luckily it passed quickly and the sun came out and dried up all the rain (and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again).

After lunch we came home and I went back to work on my decluttering/organizing of the house. Today I hit the boys room/laundry room/pantry. I have big plans for this room that include a nice big storage island that I will build out of Ikea book cases and a sheet of plywood. Pictures to come.

Between the book shelves I cleared off on Monday and the work I did in the boys room today, I had accumulated quite a pile of giveaway stuff (I don't do yard sales, too much work) so I loaded up the car and drove it to the CHKD Thrift store down the road. It feels so good to have just a little bit less stuff in the house. I can't wait to purge some more. I feel my life getting easier already :)

I am considering selling these, although I really hate to do it. We just don't have the room for them in this house and who knows if we ever will.
I have no idea how much to ask for the pair. They are one of a kind, designed and hand made my yours truly (and my dad), but they have been "loved" and are not without mark or ding. When they were in the girls room they were just mounted on to the wall at the head of the bed(s).
I am so loving that we have taken this month off school The weather has been beautiful and the kids have been practically living outside. Best homeschool decision I've made all year (along with joining Classical Conversations). Hope you are having a wonderful May too!

today

I'm baking a cheesecake

watching my garden bloom outside my kitchen window

cleaning off my bookcases

new curtains

When we put in our new windows last year we took down the blinds and I did not want to hang them again (I despise those cheap plastic venetian blinds). The Hub's was not cool with the sheer curtains and no blinds but I was not sure what I wanted for curtains yet.

When we painted Regan's room and I made her new curtains I took her old ones and hung them in our room, just until I figured out what I wanted. Well, I am still not sure what I want, but I could not stand of those ill fitting rainbow curtains in my bedroom another day...

So, last time a went to Walmart I bought 2 $5 flat sheets and sewed myself some white curtains!
(Sorry the picture is so dark, our room is on the east side of the house and I took this in the fading evening light).
I think I may add some red ric-rac to add a bit of color to them. but I am loving having those rainbow curtains down! Don't get me wrong, I loved those curtains in R's room, just not in my own room :)

What have you been up to this weekend?

bowling

Someone from one of our homeschool co-ops had a coupon for a free bowling party. The kids have only bowled a few times, but they love it, so I signed up as soon as I heard about the party.
Our neighbors came along too and we all (well, most of us) enjoyed 2 hours of free bowling.

This is how Addie started out, and she was more or less content in the stroller for the first 45 minutes, as long as I did not look at her.

Tallulah got two strikes in a row! That little dragon next to her is the coolest device! Makes bowling a lot more doable for a 4 (almost 5) year old!

When she was no longer happy in the stroller we moved to the ball racks.Her stay there was short lived and I spent the next 30 minutes keeping her from running straight down the lanes!

The big kids were having a blast. Our lane was a pretty rowdy bunch, lots of dancing, cheering and screaming... I am sure the rest of the group loved it :)

Max is quite the bowler...he knows just how to use those bumpers for optimum scoring potential :) He won the first game and was a close second in the next (just behind Lu with her 2 strikes).

And this is how we ended our outing. Seems that trying to contain a 16 month old in all that excitement, during nap time is not the best way to spend an afternoon, for her anyway. She was so worked up that she did not even fall asleep in the car on the way home... until we were 1/2 mile from our house, of course.
And just because I am sure you are all dying to see another picture of Addie... The kids were playing Library the other day and failed to put the ink pad away. Adelaide was tickled pink to find it out for her enjoyment :)

on monday

I packed a picnic lunch (the kids have been begging to go on a picnic) and took the kids to the strawberry patch.
It was sunny, 70 degrees and there was a nice breeze.
The kids complained the whole time that it was soooo hot and they were burning up and they just wanted to go home...
Really?
Some friends met us there to pick and they finally got over their whining, well at least I did not hear any more of it because I went to pick :)

When we were done I attempted to get a picture where all 5 kids were at least looking my general direction. It's an exercises in futility really, but I tried anyway... in vain. Here are the results of the little photo shoot.

teacher gifts

Every year it seems like the end of the school year sneaks up on me and I am racing to come up with some idea for a quick and easy, handmade teacher's gift. (In case you are wondering, I do homeschool my kids, but Tallulah goes to preschool 3 days a week as well. She will be homeschooled full time starting this fall.) This year I am happy to say that in my attempt to be more organized I actually remembered and put teacher gifts on my to-do list.

I have had these little baskets on my (long) list if tutorials to try for quite awhile now and yesterday as I was looking through my Tumbler Archives for gifts ideas I decided to give this tutorial a try. I had plenty of scraps to whip up the two I needed for Preschool and the baskets turned out super cute.
Now I just need some ideas for what to fill them with, any suggestions?

happy mother's day!

(my s-i-l, me, my mama, and my two sisters)

(my m-i-l (with baby Addie) and her hubby)

(my step m-i-l and my f-i-l)

still quilting and more random stuff

I'm about half way done with the quilting and then I just have to bind my quilt and I'll be done! Yay!

When I got Addie up from her nap today and brought her into the living room she immediately started motioning toward the couch and all the kids sitting and watching a movie, she wanted to sit with them too! Too cute!

We finished up another trimester of school today :) We will take a 4 week break and then jump back into math and writing for another 8 weeks then another 4 weeks off before we start the new school year. This is our first time schooling year round with 3, month long breaks. So far it seems to be working well for us, I will have to let you know for sure come September.

I recently read Organized Simplicity and am now reading Large Family Logistics. I am hoping to spend the next few weeks implementing some of the strategies from these books. I am generally not a very disciplined/scheduled person but I am seeing the necessity of some form of routine as a homeschooling family of 7.

We also have some fun stuff planned for the next few weeks like bowling, The annual preschool picnic (which includes pony rides and a moon bounce) and visiting with family.

Well, a certain one year old is crying in front the refrigerator trying desperately to get the door open to get some milk, so I better sign off!

random thoughts

I stopped drinking Coke.
I am on day 4 of a caffeine withdrawal headache, although, it is barely a roar today, nothing compared to the first day.
Without the Coke I am totally jonesing for sugar.
I've given up Coke before but don't ever remember my body craving sugar so badly.
For lunch today I had Steak ums, fruit salad and a slice of strawberry pie.
It was my second slice today.
I ate two slices last night.
I licked the whipped cream bowl after lunch.
I played with paper while the kids did their school today

The kids were fooling around in Sunday school, so we decided to have them write apology letters to there teacher.
You can see how excited they were to write these. I think it was a brilliant idea from my hubby though, and one we will use again, should there ever be a need :)