Saturday, August 31, 2013

Angle Lake Sprinkler Park!

Before school started I wanted to make sure we got out to the sprinkler park at least one more time. I knew that there was a new one at Angle Lake so I thought that would be fun! When we first got there it was still a bit chilly so the kids played on the playground toys instead. Then the sun came out and they were dying to get over to the water!
 
 
There is this giant bucket that DUMPS waters on the kids. It was great! The boys loved it!
 
 
I loved that it had this cement wall around the water area. After almost losing Logan at the park in Kent it was a nice visual barrier for Logan to know that she couldn't go outside that wall unless she was going to our blanket.
 
 
The girls loved walking and balancing on it!
 
 
I was trying to get a good picture of the boys getting soaked, but since this was a new park to me I didn't really know where all the water features were so once I snapped this shot of the boys....
 
 
I got water DUMPED on me! I was holding Zeke, but thankfully it hit me more on the right side and I was holding him on my left. It was so funny! I was soaked!
 
 
Zeke absolutely loved the water! He is my water baby!
 
 
Logan and Ella had lots of fun too and usually they don't want to get wet at all.  

 
They both kept sticking their heads in the water and getting wet.
 
 
Silly girls!
 
 
The bigger boys would just sit down and do a countdown waiting for the bucket to dump the water out!
 
 
At one point Zeke went over and checked out the holes where the water shoot up from because they stopped and then went they started up again the water was shooting up his swim trunks!
 
 
Getting under the water umbrella!
 
 
Logan was having so much fun just letting the water hit her tushy! Silly girl!
 
 
Look at that big ol' belly!
 
 
Hey happy boy!
 
 
We had a great time at the Angle Lake sprinkler park! If you haven't been yet you should check it out!

Friday, August 30, 2013

Bye Bye Stained Cushions!

About 2 years ago I recovered our dining room chairs...let me rephrase that I recovered 4 of our 6 chairs...I never got around to recovering the captain chairs. Since then kids have struck again and they are awful. Since I started using Norwex the chairs have looked better. They clean up so nice! But that still doesn't keep kids from being kids. They are always spilling or wiping something on the cushions.
 
 
Really it was silly of me to covered them with just normal fabric. Then someone...seriously I can't remember who suggested that I recovered them with pleather or something that could be wiped off. Genius!
 
So the other day my Mom and Dad came over and Mom took me to Joann's so I could choose the fabric for my chairs. Mom bought me 2 yards of this burgundy vinyl. It matches our accent wall and curtains in our dining room perfectly.
 
 
The best part about recovering the chairs this time around is that Michael and I did them together. We work so well as a team. I cut the vinyl, he unscrewed the cushions. He stretched the vinyl and I stapled, he screwed the cushions back on and I wiped all the yucky stuff off the chairs. Great team work!
 
 
The first night we only recovered 2 chairs and the next time we finished the other 4. They feel so nice and clean and I'm so happy thinking that the next time Ella spills her milk all over her chair it's not going to be a big deal...at least for the cushions! :)
 
Thanks Mom!!!

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Crafty Mood!

Pinterest strikes again!
 
Since decided to send Owen to school I've been thinking about 1st day of school pictures. I've seen so many cute ideas and I want to do quite a few of them. Then I saw this cute idea of taking a big shirt and putting the kids in it every year on their first day to see them grow into the shirt. I got a 3 pack of white shirts at Wal-Mart and got to work.
 
First I ironed on some of my Stampin' Up Fabric Adhesive to some black fabric. Then I cut the fabric out using my Big Shot.
 
 
 
Since Owen is more straight laced I just went with the simple classic look.
 
 
Since Jack is wilder I decided to use the cut out boxes for his. I love this look.
 
 
My friend Angie gave me this plain red shirt so I used this one for Ella. I wanted hers to look more feminine so I angled the letters to give them the rounded look.
 
I still have another white shirt so I could make Zeke's, but just thinking about that makes me a little ill! First off he's my baby and second off he'll graduate in 2030! I'll be 50! Let's not go there yet!
 
 
My next project involved sewing. I hadn't sewed in a while and I was itching to. At Casper Babypants my friend Kim packed her families lunches in reusable baggies. She's made me one...with laminated cotton so you can wipe them out or put them in the dishwasher. I didn't have any laminated cotton, but I figured I would make some for dry goods and then if they get dirty they can just be thrown in the wash. I had this shirt that I tried to iron on our churches summer kids program logo onto it...yeah didn't work so I knew I could use it for another project.
 
 
I also had all this cute Stampin' Up fabric.
 
 
I cut out the fabric and the t-shirt and pinned them right sides together. Then stitched them up and made a reusable bag.
 
 
They were super easy...no Velcro just a flap that folds over.
 
 
Cute fabric with cute coordinating lining!
 
 
I ended up making 2 bigger sizes and 6 snack sizes. I still want to order some laminated cotton so we'll have bags to use for sandwiches or anything that could get messy. It will be nice to not use so many Ziploc bags. I also might make some more for gifts....they are so cute and so easy!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

New Park!

I don't know about your kids, but my kids like to go to new parks. They really don't want to go play at the same park over and over. So I'm always looking for new places to take them. One day on the way home from The Y I looked over and saw a park I had never seen before. Owen saw it too and asked if we could go. At that time we needed to get home for naptime, but a few days later I decided to take the kids to check it out.
 
 
This is the first time we'd been to park since Zeke started walking more. Even though it was a park for bigger kids it was actually great for him too.
 
 
He had so much fun climbing and crawling all over the place.
 
 
Just the thought of crawling on this stuff makes my knees ache! Ouch!!!
 
 
He was a on a mission to get over this little bridge. It's like he knew the slide was on the other side.
 
 
Hmmm...I'm not sure about this slide thing!!!
 

Big brother to the rescue!


Weeeeee!!!

 
Owen took Zeke down a couple different slides.
 
 
Zeke still wasn't quite sure about going down them, but he never cried.
 
 
Cute happy boy!
 
 
While Zeke was climbing and crawling the bigger kids were having a great time too.
 
 



 
The kids actually really liked this park...in fact I think they might want to go back again!

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Silly Walker!

After going to the sprinkler park in Kent Zeke finally started taking steps on a more regular basis. He can still get where he wants to go faster if he crawls so he normally crawls most of the way and then gets up and walks the last couple feet.
 
 
Zeke's favorite things right now are balls. He LOVES them! He could play with balls all day long. In fact I posted a video on FB of him kicking a ball before he started walking! For some reason I can't figure out how to post videos on my blog anymore. :(
 
 
Michael and I joke that when he does walk he really does look like a "walker" from The Walking Dead. He might be a little zombie baby for Halloween!
 
 
Happy little "walker"!
 
 
I love this little guy!
 
 
On this particular day Jack had been dressing up in his Knight costume and I thought it would be funny to put the helmet on Zeke.
 
 
He thought it was pretty funny too!
 
 
Hey get this thing off of me!!!