Project 365: Major Catch-Up

Monday, May 16

Still enjoying our time with my sister and her kids while they were in town.

Tuesday, May 17

Because I was lacking one, Cary sent me this one she took of the kids at my parents' house. I love them so!

Wednesday, May 18

Today, the kids and I, along with Cary and her kids plus our parents met Tracy in Little Rock for lunch (and a bit of shopping). Look out, Papaw, T-Rex is coming to get you! "Grrr...ahhh!"

"Powww."

Thursday, May 19

Cary and I took the four little ones to story-time at the library this morning. Sissy was "reading" to the others...

...while they sweetly "listened." My nephew (far left) had brought the binoculars (a must-have for any library outing obviously) with him.

Today, Dash surprised me with the "art gallery" he set up. First, he had a picture of a fire-breathing dragon.

He also made a Lego sculpture.

Friday, May 20

Sissy had her end-of-the-year music recital at the arts academy she attends. I didn't get great pictures because I wasn't using my flash. But that's one of her best friends staying next to her.

Saturday, May 21

I took Sissy to a friend's "Orange" birthday party. Fortunately, we do own plenty of orange clothing, in the form of Illini gear, so she was set. The goody-bags were super cute: homemade orange play-dough, a clementine, and a mango organic sucker tied in a bag with an orange ribbon and orange pinwheel.

Earlier that day, I had driven to Searcy for the second day in a row to attend the state home school convention. As usual, I came home with too many books from the used curriculum sale. However, it's hard to pass up such fun stuff that can be as low as $.50 or $1 a book. I also found some of the necessary curriculum to be used at our homeschool co-op.

Sissy had went with me on Friday to spend the day at the workshops, etc. She was, of course, as mature and sweet as she always is at events like this (even when she has to sit quiet and listen for an hour). When we walked into the big gymnasium with all of the vendor booths set up, she gasped, "This is amazing!"

Sunday, May 22

We got a new television for the living room. Yes, we had a perfectly good one already, but it was pretty small up on the wall. I had to squint to read the channel guide. So the extra excitement was now having streaming Netflix capabilities. Love all of the learning shows. Of course, I say "we" are enjoying it, but in over a week I still haven't had an opportunity to sit down and watch a single show.

Monday, May 23

Dash fell asleep while waiting for his brother in the car line at school. He wasn't wearing a shirt so he had wrapped himself up in a blanket. Sometimes he will walk through the house buck naked, then other times he is sooo modest.

Tuesday, May 24

It's one of those days I ended up taking no pictures. (Maybe because I missed Ryan so much while he was away on business for 3 days!) However, Ryan's being a good sport and allowing me to post pictures of some of the funny texts he sent me that night from Texas. He was really excited because his business obligations were finished early. (Usually, he has meetings until bedtime.) He was going to see Thor by himself; I was so happy for him! However, first he was spooked by being the only one in this huge theater. Then, they stopped the movie (because of a tornado warning) and made everyone move to a center theater to wait out the warning. Then, he spilled his popcorn. And I'm sure he was really excited about that popcorn. Bless his heart.

Wednesday, May 25

Dash came across this iron-on flower. He brought it to me with a piece of tape and attached it to the front of my shirt - to make me look pretty. I need all the help I can get these days.

Thursday, May 26

The kids had been beeeegging to bake something, anything. So we made chocolate chip cookies.

And they asked if they could be the waiters and serve them to us. Ryan and I sat on the couch while they took our orders on little notepads. They were actually pretty creative with their offerings.

Let's get a close up of those bad boys.

#1 - Cookie with chocolate frosting: you can't go wrong with that.

#2 - Cookie (It had a sweet little bite taken out of it - plus some cookie dough on top. That was ingenious, if you ask me. It was really good.

#3 - Cookie Dough Ball

Friday, May 27

Ryan took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda 2 at the theater.

Upon their return, Dash was interested in practicing his own "Kung-Fu" the rest of the night.

Saturday, May 28

Pretty excited about our 3 day weekend, especially since Ryan was gone most of the week! We made a rare move by going furniture shopping in Little Rock. (We need better couch seating now that we have the t.v. in the living room!) We enjoyed frozen vegan treats from Whole Foods after we went out for lunch (at Lilly's DimSum, Then Some).

Sunday, May 29

More furniture shopping today. (Big purchases take a lot of mulling over for us, but we wanted to take advantage of Memorial Day Sales.) We also enjoyed another lunch out and a little walk outside afterward. Ryan took this picture of Tornado because he looked so cute (and old), walking with his hands in his pockets.

Monday, May 30

While cleaning a little house this morning, I took pictures of Sissy's stack of art papers she brought home from the last day of class (since I obviously can't save them all). These are a few of them.

Project 365: Enjoying the Little Things

Wednesday, May 11

This is where Tornado can often be found in his free time: at the table in the "homeschool room," making "silly pictures."

Thank goodness for Dash who keeps our plants and flowers watered.

Thursday, May 12

Sissy gifted me with this stack of papers, all created so thoughtfully and lovingly.

Friday, May 13

My sister Cary and her kids arrived to spend a week. We looked at old pictures a lot, and for fun, she tried on our Mom's wedding dress.

There has been much fun going on here (and at Googie & Papaw's house here) lately with the walkie talkies.

Saturday, May 14

Farmer's Market day! (We even went to two of them.) We also went to the library, to eat and visit Tracy at Boulevard Bread Company, to The Green Store, and Whole Foods. Sissy likes to accessorize with ribbons, which is what is around her neck.

We also walked down to the river where Peabody Park is located, near the River Market.

Sunday, May 15

Fun with a teeny turtle found outside. We also found a teeny bunny rabbit in the middle of the road the other night, and we had to huddle it up in my scarf and put it under a bush nearby.

Sunday was a nice day altogether, visiting with Googie, Papaw, Tracy, Cary, and the kids. We even played a little basketball. I loved how much Dash giggled as Ryan and I played a little 2-on-2 against him and Papaw.

It's like they're riding go-karts or roller coasters, the amount of enjoyment my kids receive by riding the lawn mower with Papaw.

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That's as far as I can go right now; I'm panicking because I think I've missed a day somehow! Drama!

Project 365: a look at our week

Friday, April 29

This was the day of our Royal Wedding Viewing Party. Coverage can be found on my other blog. It was fun! (Sissy still had her black eye.)

Later that day, the kids were being very sweet today with each other. The little ones made a "cuddle island" for their big brother - a circle of blankets, sheets, and pillows for him to relax upon and read.

Although they unmade some beds, pulled most clean blankets - even pillowcases - out of the closets, etc., I didn't really mind so much because they were playing so creatively and cooperatively.

And then it took a turn for the worse. The next time I checked on them, Sissy had added a gazillion toys to the mess. Sigh.

Saturday, April 29

This was the day of Tornado's firefighter competition I already posted about.

Sunday, May 1

The kids - especially my 6 year old - had been asking lately to fix a meal all by themselves. Finally, I relented for lunch this day. This is exactly the meal that was set before Ryan and me. (We even got to sit right next to each other!) Salad (which I think was just plain lettuce with whole baby carrots on top), LOTS of toasted crostinis with melted Daiya (and a couple had some cream cheese on top, as well), some olives and grape tomatoes mixed in, and some leftover pan-fried tofu. Obviously, it was all delicious because it was prepared with such love. My jaws were all little tired from chewing so much crostini and baby carrots. Thank you, my sweet little chefs.

Monday, May 2

my 10 year old, playing at the train table

Tuesday, May 3

Soccer fields are still flooded and closed, and in lieu of practice, we had our last team get-together at Play World.

Wednesday, May 4

I think I have the perfect picture for this day, but I can't get to it right now. Will post another day.

Thursday, May 5

Sissy picked a few tiny plants outside, gathered 3 cups out of the cup drawer, added some water, and put in her plants. She was very proud of her beautiful vases.

Last day of homeschool co-op for the year!

Friday, May 6

One of our babysitters took the two little ones to Jump Zone today to give me some cleaning time. They returned from their outing with these Mothers' Day flowers for me.

And a sweet card they signed!

Saturday, May 7

Thank goodness the fields were dry now and the weather was lovely for Dash's last soccer game of the season.

Once again, we will dearly miss watching him participate in an activity he enjoys so much - and we'll miss the team he has been (blessed to be) a part of for two seasons...but it will be nice to have our Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings free for a few months.

running through the end of the game tunnel

last Big Cats team huddle

On the way home, he begged me to see my camera for "just a second. This is going to be really funny...okay, now look at the picture I took." (Oops, as I was just editing, etc., he saw this picture on here and exclaimed, "Don't put that on the blog! I'm embarrassed." Well, that's my job, Honey.

Sunday, May 8

This is what Sissy put together for my Mothers' Day gift. Ryan helped her make an envelope out of construction paper, which she decorated. She filled it with "treasures" from her room - ribbons, a necklace, Silly Bandz, and coloring pages. I love it!

I had a really nice Mothers' Day. (Also, Dash had made a lovely bar of soap for me on his last day at homeschool co-op and also made me a beautiful, sweet card.) At church, Tornado and Sissy made me cards. Dash informed Carrie (who was watching them after Sunday School ended and helping the others with their cards) that he wasn't going to make me a card because "he'd already gotten me enough for Mothers' Day." Ha!

We met my parents and sister in Little Rock for supper and also spent a little time with them at Barnes and Noble. (Mom & Dad bought us each a book. How nice is that. Except that she's MY mom, and she got me way more than I got HER for Mothers' Day.)

Monday, May 9

Dash finally got to give me the flowers he'd gotten (with my parents' help) at Sam's when we were there last week. He was trying really hard to keep it a secret the whole time we were shopping by hiding it underneath the cart. (I may or may not have noticed this.) When Mom was paying, he took me over to "show me something" in order to distract me. It was all very, very sweet.

Which only sort of makes up for the little booger that he was all afternoon today. In his defense, he was really tired. He fell asleep for the night at 6:45 after Ryan got home, had a talk with him about his behavior, and sent him to bed.

Tuesday, May 10

Dash and I had a really nice morning together, just the two of us. (Brother was at school, and Sissy was at her art classes.) We worked on his schoolwork together, then went to Wal-Mart and to Story-Time at the library, where we also checked out these books. He was happy that he could tell Daddy he had a "super good day," and was enjoying his "good consequences," which they had discussed the night before.