Animals & School & Random

Here's a domino creation that Nathan "insisted" I take a picture of! He's so great!

I visited Nathan's class at school this morning. He was anxious to show me exactly "how things were done". Right now they are in 2 groups. One is working in the hallway on some math games, and Nathan's group is inside reviewing some math for a worksheet later this afternoon. His teacher is wonderful! If you look behind the whiteboard that they're working on you'll see that she has painted the entire wall behind her with chalkboard paint! It's awesome!

Despite what you all may think..... we did see other things besides Hugh Jackman at the farm! The kids loved seeing all the animals! Deer, Goats, Sheep, Emu, Horses, Peacocks, Llamas, Donkeys, and even more that we didn't see!

Nathan was keeping an eye on this little goat who eventually pushed her way right out through that little fence! I turned her right around and got her back in quickly, but all the kids around thought it was quite the emergency!

Even Gary was able to feed the goats!

Gary really loved meeting Thomas the Train!

As for Felicity, she just sat as happily and prettily as could be! I just love the bows!

We rode the tractor up into the orchard to pick apples.

Nathan, as always, found a bug! This one (which is now in our freezer with the others) was a great looking stick bug! How in the world does he find these things!!

Hugh Jackman!!!

Okay, so today a bunch of us Moms took our kids to CT to go apple picking. Guess who else was there...... HUGH JACKMAN!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://celebritybabyscoop.com/node/27992?fid=25830 Here's the link, and I was standing about 10 ft from him at this point. You can see Hunter in the background of the one I posted.

Then later on we ended up right next to him in the orchard picking apples! I talked to him for a minute and we laughed, then my 2 yr old actually touched his leg to get past him! I don't think I'll ever bathe him again! Such excitement!!!!!!

Castles and Kings

What a great project we did today! The boys were entertained for literally hours this morning working together!
Cardboard boxes I've been saving from random places (no I don't buy "citrus punch")!!

Gary loved being near us all, and insisted on sitting IN one of the boxes as he colored!

Big plans!

We have over 2 dozen random partial gallons of paint in the basement that came with hte house. Nathan did a great job picking the colors we needed.

Gary had to be right in the thick of it all! Helping as best as he could!

drying on the grass in the backyard. The plywood you see in the background will be the base. The boys each made 2 castles each, and then they'll go on the plywood that they've painted with moats and grass etc!

I love my boys!

Happy Days!

Here are some happy days we've had lately!

Boys taking a break from jumping to have a freezer popsicle! They play so much on that trampoline it's incredible! Everyday afterschool!

Last night we had such a great time at Ben's concert. The band played ONE song and ONE song only, and it lasted the entire concert -- 1 hour 15 minutes! Sounds awkward, but it was seriously amazing! Seriously!! Ben played really well! It gave me a chance to dress up, and the boys were so well behaved! Nathan especially really enjoyed it, and after the concert he went right up to a musician and told him what a great job he did, and how he was his favorite soloist of the night. Then he talked to the director for awhile too, and told him things he liked about it. I was so proud of him!! We had a great time together.

Tonight we had two neighborhood families over to watch a movie. SO much fun!! The two little kids were in bed already, but we still had 7 kids watching "Bedtime Stories" together. Fun, spontaeous, bonding, wonderful.

oh, and in case you're wondering-- yes, I rearranged the tv room. I LOVE IT!

And my very happy day was going to CT and what you see above you is actually 3 quilts! Yay!!!!!

Really cool idea!!

Okay, if you look carefully at the bottom picture then you'll see that the "bookshelf" chair-rail is actually a raingutter! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I wish I had a room that I could do this in! Someone please use this idea!!!

I love dirt!

This morning I transplanted 9 Hostas. I've been waiting for a good day to do it, and today was just right! So out of the full sun and into the shade they went!
I love having my hands in the dirt! There's no better feeling than working with the earth!

Every family needs a little red wagon to help with all their yard work!

Love it!

I can't wait to plant impatiens around the tree in the spring.

Lego Love!

So about 2 months ago the boys got a postcard in the mail from the Lego company. It said that a master Lego builder needed their help to build an 8 foot lego Yoda. Well, the boys were thrilled! There was no need to mention that I'm sure every other boy in the area who receives the Lego magazine probably got one, too! To them it was their help that was needed!
So yesterday afterschool we headed off to NJ to help out! There were instructions at each table as to what they needed to make, and then they would give their completed part to the lego master! If you look right behind Ben's shoulder you'll see the 2 foot model of Yoda, which is sitting on the bottom part of the 8 foot model.

Dan the lego master! After they gave him their completed blocks he gave them a voucher to redeem at the Lego store for a certificate. They were thrilled!

Indiana Jones the lego man with my happy boys!

First, I have to show you the cutest little kitchen helper ever! Isn't he sweet! Gary loves bringing a chair over to where I'm working to "help". So last night we were having spaghetti & meatballs, Hunter made us each beautiful individual salads, so I started rolls to go with it all. Well, the boys had a "catasrophe" and when I turned back it was just in time to see Gary dump a whole glass measuring cup full of water in. Yes, we went with the frozen-ready-made-garlic bread instead.
And here's my latest project! I've been working on it for a couple of days. Someone had given the boys one of those magentic calendars with dates, and then you put on whatever activity magnet that applies to that day; like "soccer practice" or "school field trip", etc. Needless to say, most of the activities didn't even apply to us, and it was never used properly anyway. Well, I've hung on to it for over a year now -- now that I've found modpodge I know why! I seriously have always wanted a set of these, and we've had so much fun since I've put them up! (Annie had a friend over this evening and I even caught her friend playing with them!)

I just cut 1" squares and rounded their edges, then wrote random words! I customized a few

like "celestial kingdom" and our names. It was really fun!

I did 2 coats of MP, and had planned on doing a 3rd, but I was so excited

to put them up that I just couldn't wait any longer!

Come on over and play!

Hunter put this up! So cute!

Oh my stars....

School has begun, so I haven't posted in awhile, but I have been busy! I promise!! First I want to update everyone on my craft table. I posted a picture awhile ago of the "new" tables I got on craigslist. Well, here's what they look like right now! Doesn't it just say...... "come and sit here and be busy!" ??!!

Just full of projects and ideas and possibilities!

If you look carefully on the front right corner of the table you'll see my lastest project... Stars!!

I drew a star on cardboard, and then cut some more pieces to make it 3-D. I used clear packing tape to put them all together.

Pretty neat, huh?!

Then I mod-podged random fabric scraps from Felicity's quilt that I had made her! This was my first ever mod-podge project. It was pretty fun. Super easy, and I can't wait to do something else with it!
I made three of different sizes. 12", 9", and 6 ". Once I'm finished, I'm going to hang them on the wall above her bed with some ribbon!

Christmas on my mind.....

A friend of mine asked me to show her some pictures of the Christmas Stockings I made for our family.
Well, here they are! Each one is different. I just cut out the stocking shape that I wanted, and then did a "flip and sew" method of random pieces. Super easy, super fun! I put some white fleece at the tops, and I'm going to add a ribbon to each one before it comes time to hang them.

This project took me a long time to do. Not because it was difficult, just because life seemed to get in the way! I finally finished them in time for last Christmas. We were spending it with my parents, and what do you know -- the one thing I forgot to take with us was "the stockings!!" So, they'll finally be debuted on our mantle this year!!

Good Friends & Neighbors

We have been having such a great time with our friends these past couple of days! Between the 3 families we have 10 kids all 8 and under. Here we are at the playground up the street with Alex and Caitlin.

Each park in NYC has a water feature. It's so nice for the summer time! Just enough to get plenty wet!

This is our dead-end street! We block it off with cones and parents, and let all the kids ride bikes!

These next few pics are taken of the kids in the big magnolia tree in our front yard.

They have a blast climbing together!

Sean, Aiden, Hunter & Nathan

Sean! It just happens to be his 6th birthday today! Happy Birthday!!!

Hunter and Aiden

My monkey-boy, Nathan!!