Tie dye.

Heading out the door in a few but wanted to post this pic of the boys in their new tie dyed tees:

 

My mom sent this great tie dye kit for my birthday and we tried it out over the weekend. Rinsed and washed everything Monday night and the boys immediately grabbed theirs yesterday. Here they are modeling one of the two each of them made (okay, I did the application of the dye, but they directed the colors and placement). Dude. Tie dye is fun. I've never actually done any before and may need to do some more before summer's end. ;)  

In other news, we had a lovely time miniature golfing on Father's Day. Micah cracked us all up. He'd tee up and hit the ball in turn, just like everyone else. Then he'd immediately pick up his ball and walk to within inches of the hole...place the ball on the ground again...hit it in (which, amazingly, sometimes required quite a few strokes)...and then proclaim himself the winner. Funny boy.

This week, Noah's in soccer camp in the mornings. Next week, Asher will do the same. Asher's finishing up swim lessons this week. Both will be in swim lessons in the afternoons starting next week. Trying to figure out how to get my scrapbooking assignments done with the changes in schedule. But so far so good. Okay, out the door now...more later! 

Winner!

Congrats and thanks to EVELYN who is the winner of my Album in a Year giveaway!! (Evelyn's was one of the many email "entries.") I'll email you to get your mailing info, okay?

Whew. Okay, off to bed. This new schedule thanks to soccer camp is going to take some getting used to. Oy. Oh, and sorry to anyone I owe emails to...like I said, adjusting. :) Hope to settle into a routine soon...and will update when I do.

Super quick reminder.

Yes, I'm up unusually early for us. Noah starts soccer camp today...wish us luck. :) Anyhow, just wanted quickly to remind you about my Album in a Year giveaway. Details here. Remember, your layouts need not be month in review layouts, simply inspired in any way by the column. Off to wake the boys...

Happy Father's Day!

First off, a quick shout out to my awesome father-in-law...happy day to you!! Hope the package made it there safely. We'll give you a call in a bit. :)

Now, just a couple layouts I did for Nathan for Father's Day...

 

(The journaling for this one is on the back and doubles as my Father's Day card for the year.) And here's another one I did just for fun because I couldn't help but take the picture and knew immediately what the title would be:

 

I did another layout for my dad, but am not quite ready to share that one yet. Suffice it to say, I hadn't really been looking forward to Father's Day this year...my first Father's Day without my dad (and, unfortunately, it did create a lack of enthusiasm about the whole thing for me, such that I didn't plan as much as I might otherwise). But. Last night I had an epiphany of sorts. I realized that, though obviously I'd prefer to have my dad here, Father's Day really is all about celebrating fatherhood...and there's absolutely no reason I can't do just that even without my dad. I can still take this day to be thankful for the many years I did have, for the lessons learned and the life shared.  So, today, alongside going with Nathan and the boys to play miniature golf and probably some other fun stuff, I choose to remember the father my dad was. I am so blessed.

Happy Father's Day to all...and especially to those who have lost their dads too soon. 

Friday the 13th...

So I totally didn't notice the date until just now. Heck. Frankly, I'm impressed with the fact that I remembered that today is Friday. :)  Anyhow, just a few random things to share:

1. I did it. I <gulp> joined a gym. Okay, not really joined. I signed up for a "starter" program...six weeks of basically a trial membership. But, each week I also have a consultation with a personal trainer to teach me how to use the machines and how to exercise smarter and give me homework and all that. I figure if that can't get me into a routine and motivated it's not worth joining anyhow, right? I start next week.

Incidentally, this was all brought on by the swim lesson debacle. Did I tell you about the swim lesson mess? Ah, yes, I did. At least partially. You see, after that first week, I ended up just taking Noah out of swim lessons altogether because they couldn't find room for him in the level he should be in and wouldn't let him in any of the other levels (all very understandable, though frustrating due to the poor customer service situation). So, Asher continued going and I started looking for other options for Noah. Turns out the gym just a few blocks away offers swim lessons during the summer for non-members. Who knew? And, of course, while I was in there signing him up, I got roped into thinking about this Quickstart thing. Because, really, if I'm going to be there two days a week anyhow for the next month or so and if I sign Asher up also, that means I only really have to worry about Micah and I can then workout while the boys are occupied either with swim lessons or in the child care area. Which brings me to my next topic...

2. So, today we went to the gym so that I could finish the paperwork for Asher's swim lessons and for the Quickstart program. (Earlier in the week, I'd signed up Noah and managed to not make an impulse buy on the Quickstart thing...instead taking a few days to consider. Yay, me!) While I was taking care of that stuff and getting a tour of the place, I put the boys in the child care area to see how that will go...they're not really used to stuff like that and wanted a bit of a trial run. As I expected, they did fine. In fact, Noah and Asher can't wait to go back. Why? Well, in the bigger kid area (ages 6-12) they have a number of Wii's of course.

Yes, as I type, they're both updating their Christmas lists (yes, we keep them year-round around here to save me the headache of constantly telling them "no" in toy stores...instead, we simply tell them to put it on their list...helps with prioritizing also, lol). They both, obviously, want a Wii. (I should note here that we have no video games at all in the house. That has been a deliberate choice, as certain boys...certain oldest boys...are a wee bit obsessive when it comes to things like that.) We'll see how this goes. To date our policy has been that they're welcome to play approved games when we're out and about, we just don't own any. I may have plenty of "help" with my motivation to exercise more, eh?

3. Micah, who had to be separated from his brothers (and this is the only real down-side to the whole thing) played in the little kid area just fine. When I picked him up and we walked next door (really there's only a half wall dividing the two areas but Micah can't see over it) to pick up his brothers, he discovered what they'd been doing. And was immediately jealous. This is how that went:

Micah: "Me want to play! Me want to play like brothers!"

Me: "I know you do, Micah. I'm sorry, though. You're just not big enough yet."

Micah (immediately, without even blinking): "Me is growing! Me is growing every day!!"

How do you argue with that? ;)

4. Finally, on a non-gym note, the boys and I picked this up at Hobby Lobby earlier this week (using the weekly coupon it was just $9). (Sorry for the bad pic...too lazy to take a better one today.)

 

Assembled it this morning and they set to work coloring. I'm thinking this should keep them busy for awhile, eh? 

So. What did you do this Friday the 13th?