To Your Stations

When you live in Arizona the summers can be a little tricky. It really is too hot to let the kiddos play outside very long, but you really don’t want them just being TV zombies.

This summer I didn’t really have to worry about planning things for the kids to do. Big J came up with a plan on his own.

Every other day during the week the kids have “stations”. They have it organized so each person starts on a different station each day and each station lasts one hour. When I say organized, I mean organized. They printed up a calendar with the rotation schedule and everything. They set the timer and just rotate throughout the day with breaks for lunch and chores.

The reading station:

I love this station. There are days that they are reading for 3 hours. How awesome is that.

The whatever station:

This station is, well, whatever. The computer is real popular during this time.

The Wii station:

Surprisingly this has been one of the more popular games at the Wii station.

Even with the boys.

Yeah I had to bribe him to let me post a picture of him playing the game, but it was well worth the money it cost me!

Since this is something they came up with on their own it is fun for them and since it is every other day there is plenty of time for us to go and do other things.

Doodlebug Giveaway

Click here to enter the give-away!

Thursday’s Child – You Do The Math Edition

With 2 parents and 5 kiddos it seems 1-on-1 time is rare and at times might only consist of me taking one kid with me to Target (whether they want to go or not).

This week a even more rare event happened…Roo had Big Daddy and me all to herself for the evening. She won a ticket to a Diamondbacks game at school this year and we debated taking the whole family, but decided it would be more special for Roo to get to go by herself. As the middle child she seems to get the short end of the the alone time.

So off we went to the game.

This is Roo and Big Daddy headed for escalator to get up to our seats.

Being the Daddy Girl’s that Roo is this night was perfect for her. The only thing that would have made it better for her was if she could have had a Daddy-Daughter Date, but no way was I being left out of the fun.

It was a beautiful night for a game. Inside the stadium was a little warm…not unusual for Arizona in July.

We were a little late for the game and by the time we got there the concourse was pretty empty.

We did stop and grab a few snacks for the game. I mean really, what is a baseball game without a hot dog and pretzel? I just wished they had Dr Pepper instead of Pepsi, but I guess you can’t have everything.

We were up pretty far but had great seats for watching the game.

Our section even made it on the jumbo screen during the “Show your Fry’s card” – which we now know is a total scam. This is the camera man waiting until the middle of the inning to film our section.

Roo had more fun just being there than actually watching the game, not unlike me someone else that was there.

We had to tell her the Diamondbacks had won and then she started clapping. Pretty funny.

And here are our Diamondbacks.

As we left the stadium we saw the police on horseback. That might have been the highlight of the night for Roo.

Well that and the cotton-candy. She actually saved some so she could share with the other kiddos. That is just like Roo, concerned about everyone.

The light-rail ride home was pretty late and she was pretty tired, but she stayed awake the whole time.

Roo thanks for being a good student and winning tickets to the ballgame!

And for letting Dad and I come with you and having a really fun night!

Do As I Say…

I really don’t like going to dentist…no really, not at all. The last time I went I was pregnant with Ham and the only reason I went then is because I was in pain. I needed some work done then that couldn’t be done when I was pregnant so they told me to come back after I had the baby. Yeah I still haven’t made that appointment and Ham is 2 1/2.

I am determined that my kiddos aren’t going to be like me. They go to the dentist every 6 months. Like clock work.

This is the kiddos with their dentist, Dr Ball.

This is the second visit where we haven’t had any cavities. Considering I am their Mom that is amazing.

5 kids, 108 teeth and NO cavities.

4th of July DIY

I was having a hard time finding something for the girlies to wear on the 4th of July this year. We used to do the Old Navy Flag Shirts every year. How can you beat $5 for a shirt? But really how many t-shirts do you need with a flag on the front. And then I waited until the last minute thinking I could still find something I liked. Wrong.

So sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures…time to get out the sewing machine.

I saw this cute t-shirt on Family Fun.

But I thought I would do it my own way.

I found basic white t-shirts at Target.

Then in their $1 section they had these cute bandanas.

I cut the bandana into 12x1 inch strips.

Then I took the easy way to mark the middle of the t-shirt. I folded it in half and pressed a crease.

Then I pinned the strips of fabric to the front of the t-shirt. I just eye-balled the distance between.

I made sure to double pin each strip at the crease so I wouldn’t end up with wonky bows.

Then stitched each strip of fabric on the crease I had ironed.

Here it is all stitched, but one more step needed to be done before tying the bows. I threw it in the washer and dryer to fray the edges of the bows.

Ta Da!

It took about 1/2 an hour to do both shirts.

Plus I had enough leftover strips of fabric to tie bows for the girlies hair.

I used a bunch for LaLa’s cheater’s french braid or ladder.

My mind was racing as I was making these. How about black t-shirts with orange, purple and green bows for Halloween? Or for Christmas a red shirt with white bows? and that would work for Valentines.

Happy 4th of July

 

Wordless Wednesday - Sisters

Allen Designs Goody Giveaway

Michelle is having another give-away over at Allen Designs.

Go check it out!

There Are Rules

I am not sure what this chair did.

But apparently whatever it was earned him a little time out.

Late Night Fun

What do you get when it’s late at night and you have a couple of bored boyz, a bike, a pathetically small bike, a leftover board from some project and a couple of hammock boxes?

Some late night fun.

And after this particular jump?

A nice case of road rash.