New Goals!

You might remember back in May when I posted about the kids goals for their money. Since then both Owen and Jack have saved up enough money to get the toys they were working towards. Owen got his tank and Jack got his pirate costume. Ella of course picked the most expensive toy out of the three of them. Her dollhouse cost $32 and of course we have to factor in tax as well so she basically needed to save $35. That's a lot of money for 3 year old!

 

 

 

She also isn't the best when it comes to doing her jobs. She does do them, but she complains and the more she complains the more money I remove from the total she can earn. It occurred to me that since she hadn't experienced the whole process that she wasn't getting it. She needed to actually take her money in and buy something so she could understand that money equals you can buy stuff. We decided to offset what she had earned so she could experience the buying process. By the time we got around to going to Toys R Us she had actually saved $26! I was so proud of her. So off to the toy store we went....only to find out that all the dollhouses were GONE! I was so sad for her. We were in SouthCenter and the next nearest Toys R Us is in Tacoma and we still had other stops to make. So we decided to let her look around and pick out something else. She wasn't too bummed...I think I was more sad than she was. She ended up picking out a purple Leapfrog laptop. So now she's back to saving for her dollhouse and if it's not their the next time we will definitely go to another Toys R Us.

 

Since the boys have each reached their first goal they needed new goals. So while Ella was looking so were the boys. Jack decided on this super cool Rescue Bots 2in1 toy. It's pretty spendy so it might take him a while.

 

 

Owen found these cool Power Train sets. He wants to get this basic one first and then upgrade...

 

 

to this set! He has quite a lot of saving to do as well! He did have his eyes on a remote control boat that's almost as big as he is with a price tag of over $100! Thankfully the age range started at 8 so that dissuaded him!

 

 

It's been a great process teaching our kids the value of hard work and earning money to buy the things that we need. They really are understanding the we don't just go out and buy whatever we want...we have to save for things!

Car Ramp!

Uncle Ry and Aunt Stephie got this cool car ramp for Zeke last Christmas. I knew he wasn't big enough for it then, but now he is!!!

 

 

He knows just where to put the cars and let them go.

 

 

It's so cute to watch him stand up next to it since he's barely taller than it!

 

 

Hey there....yes Mommy is taking pictures of you AGAIN!

 

 

Handsome cheeser boy!

 

Thanks Uncle Ry and Aunt Stephie!!!

How Do You Get A Picture Of A Group Of Kids!

We were at a park a couple weeks ago and they had this nice play rock that wasn't too far off the ground so I thought it would be nice to set Zeke on it and get a picture of all the kids together. I hollered at the kids to hurry and come sit on the rock.

 

 

This ones not to bad except that Logan hid herself behind Ella!

 

 

Zeke is already melting down!

 

 

Come around to the other side Logan!

 

 

Hey the camera is over here!!!

 

 

There almost all looking!

 

 

Getting bored lady!!!

 

 

Zeke must have done something cute!

 

 

Last ditch effort....can you guys cover your eyes and do peek-a-boo!

 

Starr you are a super hero with your picture taking skills!

Biker Chick!

Ella got his bike from her cousin Paige back at Christmas time, but for some reason the training wheels that were on it would not stay on correctly. Now that Owen is riding without training wheels Michael was able to steal them from Owen's bike and modify them to fit Ella's. By modify I mean drilling a whole through the metal without the use of vise grips. Yeah I wouldn't recommend that in the least....Michael pretty much got beat up by a training wheel. The things you do for your kids!

 

 

 

Riding her pink princess bike in a pink princess tutu! Duh!!!

 

 

Practicing her facial espressions - Angry!

 

 

Happy!

 

 

Mad!!! Ah those lips...they are going to get her in a lot of trouble!

 

 

She wasn't too sure about riding around...she still doesn't have pedaling down. She never rode a tricycle so she's starting from scratch. She's fine when she gets going, but she kept pushing her feet backwards and then she'd stop. She also can't start herself...she needs a little nudge to get going.

 

 

When she is going she spends most of her time doing this. Were gonna have to work on getting her to watch where she's going or she's going to end up doing what her mother did and run into the neighbors motorhome with her handlebar and break their headlight!

 

 

Towards the end of the evening she was having fun and didn't want to come in. Now I can't get her to go back out and try again!

Pretend!

She walked into the kitchen and said, "Mommy I wanna pretend I have boobies so I can be a mommy and feed my baby!" She then pulled up her shirt and pushed out her rib cage and said, "See this how you get boobies!" So we went into the playroom and found her some "pretend" boobies...aka Fisher-Price stack and roll cups.

 

 

 

Modeling her pretend boobies!

 

Side Note: Zeke completely weaned about a month ago. It's the end of an era!

 

 

Free Slurpee Day!

On 7/11 I had already planned to take the kids to Steel Lake Park so we just made a stop at 7-11 on our way. Well actually we tried to stop by the one closet to the park and then I noticed there were not 1, not 2, but 3 twelve passenger vans from The Boys & Girls Club parked out front and there was a crowd of people waiting outside. I was not going to wait that long with 5 small children for a teeny tiny free slurpee. So we headed back towards our house and stopped at another 7-11 and there wasn't a car in the parking lot! SCORE! After getting our free slurpees....I bought a big one for me, we headed to the park.  

 

 

Zeke and I sat down to have lunch while the other kids ran around and played.

 

 

Jack worked up a thirst playing. Owen is a complete nut and if you're not convinced....check out his wardrobe choices!

 

 

 

See...nut! :)

 

 

Logan got to enjoy most of her slurpee until Jack accidentally kicked it over when he was running off to play!

 

 

Mmmmmm!

 

 

 

Zeke has definitely been going through a food strike. He doesn't eat very much at all. I'm constantly having to play around and see what he'll eat. For instance...he doesn't like apples cut up he wants to eat them like a big boy. Sheesh!

 

 

This was our view of the Steel Lake. I ended up texting this picture to Michael with the heading...maybe one of these is our future home??? That's one of our dreams one day....to live on a lake! Not happening anytime soon though!

 

 

Time for hide and seek!

 

 

Can you see Jack?

 

It's been fun planning outings with the kids this summer. I saw that a lot of people on FB were making summer bucket lists and while I didn't actually make a list I think we've done quite a few things I would have put on a list if I had made one.

BIG Gulp!

Last week I took all 5 kids to the cheap theater to see The Croods. I asked the kids if they wanted to go and if so they would have to pay their way. It was only a $1 afterall! I splurged and bought the large popcorn and a pop....both come with a refill. Thankfully my neighbor Rachael and her two girls came with us. It was nice to have an extra set of hands and eyes. It was her girls first time seeing a movie! I meant to get a picture of all the kids sitting in their seats eating popcorn, but by the time we got them all situated the lights were dimming. I did come prepared...surprise surprise...I brought brown paper lunch sacks and put popcorn in each of those for the kids and then I went out and got a refill on our popcorn before the movie even started. I also brought in Zeke's portable high chair so I would have something to strap him into. Only probably was he wasn't happy about it and spent most of the time in my arms or crawling around on the floor in the back of the theater. Even though it was crazy it was fun!

 

Of course right before leaving we stopped and got a refill on our pop.

 

 

 

Later after naptime I put Zeke on the counter and he zeroed in on the cup so fast. He was so happy!

 

 

The thing is practically as big as he is!!!

 

 

Gulp glup!!!

 

 

Ehhhh....all gone!

Bye Bye Baby Curls!

After getting sand everywhere we brought the kids home and decided to shave all their heads. Whenever we do that Ella always ask...."I get my head shaved too?" She doesn't like being left out!

 

After weeks and weeks of hounding me Michael finally won and I decided to let him shave off Zeke's baby curls!

One last look at the curls!

Zzzzzzzzz!!!

You know Rice Chex taste better with some hair on the side!

Bye bye to the last curl!

Such a handsome bigger boy!

He didn't mind that those curls were gone one bit!

Look at that cute head!!!

Sand In Places We Never Thought There'd Be!

A week ago after dinner we packed up the kids and headed down to Dash Point. We never go to the state park because we don't want to pay so we always go to the little beach right next to The Lobster Shop. Parking is limited, but we can always find a spot. It was really a perfect evening to be at the beach!

 

 

It's a little bright huh Zeke?

 

 

Weeeeee!

 

 

Aunt Linda bought Ella this sunhat last summer and thankfully this year she is okay with wearing it!

 

 

I love the beach! Love that sailboat out there too!

 

 

Hmm...this stuff again!

 

 

Cute Jackers and his button down dress shirt and shorts! He's so cute!

 

 

Ella showing off more than she bargained for!

 

 

Look at that cute face! I love his Tow Mater teeth!

 

 

Not far from our blanket there were these trees that some other kids had dug out around and made a secret hideout with.

 

 

Cheesin' on top of the trees!

 

 

Down in the hideout!

 

 

I made it Mom!

 

 

Look at me!

 

 

Daddy soaking in some sun!

 

 

Running with determination!

 

 

Handsome boy!

 

 

Then I decided to have the kids bury me!

 

 

Then Owen wanted to be buried too!

 

 

And then Jack....hence the title of this post! It was fun though!