The Red, White & Blue!

This year Michael was on-call over the 4th of July so he had to stay home while I went down to be with Ga-Ga & Pa. 

Ga-Ga & Pa had actually had the kids since the night of the 1st. It was nice to have a bit of away time from them and it was good for them to have quality time with their grandparents! 

At first we weren't sure if Uncle Ry and Aunt Stephie were going to be able to make it, but they did and it was so nice to see them. Uncle Ry manned the grill for us! 

The hosts with the most! 

I wanted to get some cute pictures of the kids where the lighting was better, but the poor kids are being almost blinded by the sun. 

I bought Ella's dress from an ad I saw on Facebook a few months ago. It was supposed to be a Mommy and Me set. I still haven't rec'd mine and I'm pretty sure I never will. Oh well! She loves her and it's so cute on her! 

Owen didn't want to wear his hand-print shirt from last year so he chose this Red, White & Rock and Roll shirt! 

Zeke LOVES his hand-print shirt and wears it all the time. He had brought it to Ga-Ga & Pa's and then he wore it in the sandbox so it was dirty. 

I've been so impressed with how well the hand-print shirts have held up. The colors still look vibrant! Since they still fit the kids this year I thought it would be silly to make new ones...that and the Kuch's couldn't join us this year and I would have been sad making shirts without them. I do have a design in mind for next year though! 

Stephie was still recovering from a recent surgery so she was tired and they wanted to head home. 

So much fun celebrating with family! 

I just love all the red, white and blue clothing and decorations!!!!

Mom and Dad have beautiful patriotic bunting they put out on the front porch rails....it looks so nice!!! 

So much so I thought it would be fun to take pictures with the kids! 

I love everything about this picture except that Michael isn't in it! 

In years past we've taken the kids to Safeway and bought some fireworks, but this year was more subdued. Since Michael was home and the Jack and Ella had Summer Learning the next day I didn't want to spend the night or stay super late. In fact we left at 9pm and it wasn't even dark out yet....Owen was crying his head off in the van! He wanted to stay so bad! Next year will be back to normal since Michael for sure won't be on-call.

The kids did get to enjoy seeing some fireworks that the neighbors were shooting off. I'm not a huge fireworks fan...especially when kids are the ones light them and they haven't been taught. One girl had a lit Roman Candle and pointed it into the crowd honestly not know that it was going to shoot a firework out. Totally ridiculous! I was just waiting for someone to end up going to the hospital. In fact later that night there was an ambulance that came and got someone from the neighbors right next to my parents...not because of fireworks though. We think it might have been an overdose! 

I thought I would try for individual pictures again! 

Handsome boy! 

Love that cute braces smile! 

My boys! 

Ella carting Zeke around! 

If you saw my post on FB you'll know that the caption on this picture is...."Jack you know I just farted on you!" 

Like I said we stay until 9am and then it was time to head out. It wasn't a normal 4th of July, but it was memorable and next year will be even better! At least I hope there won't be any tears from my oldest!

Miracles Do Happen & Value Village Finds!!!

 Let's just start out with Charlie is a poop! Maybe I should rephrase that...Charlie is a cat! That should explain everything! He is not a lap cat...AT ALL! Michael wanted a lap cat so badly and we got an anti-lap cat. 

On Saturday July 1st Charlie was outside all night long. This is not unusual...he's outside all night most nights. On Sunday he was so tired though. I don't know if he was chasing bunnies around all night or what, but he was just plain tuckered out. The kids were at Ga-Ga & Pa's so he was able to really go into a deep sleep. He had curled up in his house or attic as Zeke likes to call it on his cat condo. 

He's so cute all curled up in there, but it would be nice if the cat actually snuggled with us!!! I was walking by and decided to put a blanket on Michael's lap and just see if Charlie would lay with him. In order to get Charlie out of his house I had to unscrew one of the platforms from the cat condo. Michael was sure that me doing that had already stirred Charlie enough that he was not going to stay with him. 

But look....miracles do happen people!!!! 

He actually stayed with Michael for over 2 hours!!!! 

I took these pictures when I was heading out the door to go shopping with Kim. He's such a cute cat...I just wish he would realize that cats are supposed to snuggle!!! 

Anyways...Kim and I went shopping at Value Village...it was 50% day. I had been wanting to look for more T-shirts and shorts so I was excited when she texted me asking if I could go. 

I found some fun stuff for the kids as well. The cute Bermuda shorts and fun festive tank top are of course for Ella. I saw those right when we walked in the door. I found 3 pairs of Old Navy jeans for Jackson....he is awful with jeans....for $1.75 a piece!!! Then I found these really nice sandals for Owen...they don't even look like they've been worn. They were only $5. I really didn't need to get Zeke anything, but I couldn't come home empty handed since I got the other 3 something. He could really use a few more short sleeve shirts so it was nice to find this Avengers shirt that looked brand new! 

In June I went shopping at Value Village found a few shirts and have since realized that I really like Mossimo brand. They are comfortable and they fit nicely. I like them so much that I actually bought that purple one twice. It was only $1.25 so why not!!! 4 of the shirts I bought that night were Mossimo! In all I got 7 shirts, one pair of shorts....the greenish ones until the coral shirt and then a white sweater cover up. The grand total for 16 things was only $39.11!!!! Yay for another successful shopping adventure! Plus it's always nice to spend time with your best friend chatting about life! 
 

After going through Michael's closet I decided I should have picked up some stuff for him as well. Good thing the sale was still going on on the 4th of July! I ended up finding him a pair of Wrangler Jeans that don't look like they've even been worn...half price they were $10. I found two pairs of Dockers shorts that are in perfect condition...half price they were $4.25 a piece. I also found him 4 t-shirts!

After looking for Michael it dawned on me why not go shopping for back to school clothes. 50% off already low prices is going to be way cheaper than even shopping at Wal-Mart! I found Owen 3 short sleeve shirts and 4 long sleeve shirts. The one in the middle on the left is the best. It says..."Warning...my awesomeness will blow your mind!" It has a shark shooting laser beams out it's eyes...the laser beams are pizza. There is a stick figure riding on the shark...oh and the shark is on fire. The stick figure is holding 2 pieces of bacon. There is also an alien riding in a cheeseburger spaceship. It's totally ridiculous that's why it's perfect for Owen.

I got 3 shirts for Ella. I love the one that says, Smart, Honest & Kind. It reminds me of the movie The Help even though she didn't say exactly those words. She said...You's Kind, You's Smart, You's Important! 

I only found these two shirts for Jack, but he really has a ton of clothing so I'm not too worried about him. The white and blue Old Navy shirt only ended up costing .89!!! 

Zeke is in need of short sleeve shirts. I found these two and they were right up his alley! 

I also found this cute dress for Ella, but didn't notice the train had a hole in it until I got to Ga-Ga's house. Nuts! Thankfully you can exchange things at Value Village within 7 days. 

On Friday July 7th we had to run some errands so we stopped at the Value Village in Southcenter and I found this cute dress. At first Ella did not want it, but then once she put it on she seriously wore it for 3 days straight! When the exchange was done I only had to pay .28!!! 

So in all for the second shopping trip on the 4th I got 22 pieces of clothing including the dress with the hole and I only paid $65!!! I love getting deals!!!!

Happy Birthday To My Man!

Happy 37th Birthday Michael Martin!!!!

Even after all these years you are still my favorite person to spend time with.

Even after all these years you can still make me laugh! 

Even after all these years you can still push me to step outside my comfort zone. 

You are an amazing man! You keep pushing yourself to learn more and more...especially when it comes to your work. You are so intelligent, but you aren't arrogant about it. You have a confidence about yourself, but you aren't afraid to admit when you don't know something or if you were wrong. 

 

You are an amazing provider for our family! God placed you where you are and you just thrive at what ever you put your hands too. He blesses you for sure! And even after all these years half of the pictures with you in them you have your eyes closed! 

You might have a few more gray hairs....I love them....you might have a few more aches and pains....you might feel like your to do list is never ending, but you are the best. You are the best husband, the best father, the best friend, the best worker and the best person I know! 

I love you babe! 

Happy Birthday!!!

1957 Chevy!

Back in 2008 my dad built over one of the raised garden beds in their backyard and made a truck sandbox for the boys. It has been SO cool and all the kids have loved it.

The engine part even opened up exposing a V8 engine! 

This is right after Dad finished it. Owen was such a little baby here. The sand looks so dry and nice! 

Last couple of summers the truck sandbox had really started to show it's age. The pile wood roof of the truck had started splitting, the lower boards were rotting out and the sand had pretty much ruined the wood from the inside because it was always wet. 

Now that Pa is retired he had some time to actually work on fixing it. I had no idea what he was going to build, but I knew he was so excited to show the kids.

He even put Ga-Ga to work!!!

Here's the 1957 Chevy...unpainted of course!

The front hood and the trunk are actually storage containers. Dad took one of the lids in to the hardware store so they could match the paint to it. 

All 4 lights in the front actually turn on. They are those push lights. 

Ga-Ga slaving away in the sun....anything for her sugar bears!

Pa putting the black paint on the bottom portion of the car. 

Pa was able to keep the original wheels that he used for the truck sandbox. 

A few years after building the truck sandbox they bought a playhouse to go on top of the other raised garden bed....you can see it in the background. Since the sandbox got a makeover they figured the house needed one too. Mom is painting the shutters to the house the same color as the car. 

Here it is all finished! It truly is amazing!!! The chrome pieces look so nice and add that little extra touch of authenticity! 

The door handles are what you use to lift the roof off to expose the sandbox portion. 

Pa lined the roof of the car with a tarp and then painted it to match. Hopefully that will help it weather better. 

The Chevy emblem is actually from my Grandpa's 1960 Chevy pickup!!! 

Once you take the roof off it's now a convertible! 

In order to stop the sand from rotting out the inside Pa got these 4 plastic containers. Each of the kids has their own sand area to play in. It's perfect!!!! 

The first time we got to see the new sandbox was on July 1st. We were bringing the kids down to spend 3 nights at Ga-Ga & Pa's.

We don't have a sandbox at our house anymore....we have cat and it turned into a giant litter box because kids wouldn't shut the lid! This will be so nice for the kids to have something at Ga-Ga & Pa's that they don't have at home. 

Owen was super proud of his castle with a moat that he built. I'm sure there will be hours and hours of entertainment to be had. Pa sure outdid himself this time!!!