We're Back...With a Mac (Gasp!)

Well, we're back in the blogging business.  After many months of computer difficulty and two pathetic PC's in a five year period, we bought a mac.  I can barely believe it and I am trying to stand it, as I am traditionally not a mac fan.  But we are hopeful that this one will outlast our PC's and maybe it will even grow on us.  After spending a lifetime trying to figure out how to upload video to Blogger with the new computer...here you have it!  The only Black Friday deal our family scored was a free yoga lesson from Uncle Bobi.  Coming up next on the blog...wait for it...CANDLE-KAZAAM 2012!!!  Kicking of this Friday!

Straws & Connectors

Well, lookie.  I am finally updating this blog.  Your welcome, Dear.  Just a quick post to spotlight a great product...Ainsley recently acquired a 400-piece set of Straws and Connectors, and I highly recommend!  These things are affordable ($25ish for this set) as well as great fun!  They don't take up much space to store and they allow for use of the imagination.  Ainsley built herself a house from scratch...no instructions other than her brain.  Fun stuff!  As we approach the holiday shopping season, you might want to mosey on over to Amazon's website and pick up a set for your kiddos or nieces or nephews...maybe even your spouse.  Larger and smaller sets are available as well.  Our family approves this message! 

"The Best Day of My LIfe"

 Imagine this.  Your grandparent's family business purchases an abandoned Chinese restaurant.  The previous owners basically left everything inside.  Among the remains are two big toy/candy vending units.  Your just so happen to have a large number of quarters at your disposal.  In the words of Ainsley, this senario is called "THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE" and this was her reality!

The girls cranked, cranked and cranked some more!  We didn't let them get any candy, as it's been sitting there awhile and the place is filthy, but they did score several rings, necklaces, trinkets and best of all...fake mustaches!  It truly was a blast for them, and a memory I'm sure they'll not soon forget!

Dad also scored something pretty amazing for his garage decor.  What could possibly be better than a poster of a cat in asian inspired clothing, preparing to devour a plate of sushi?  This is a gem!  I came home with nothing...which is quite fine and dandy.  I was just fine with simply witnessing the members of my family on "the best day of their lives." 

Summer Loves

I have not been doing a very good job of regularly posting on this blog.  Life has been busy with tasks that aren't fun to photograph, like painting stairway walls, waxing wood floors, shoveling landscaping rock and running errands.  Chlorophyll borophyll.  Here are a few pics of recent summer loves that were taken between episodes of mundane taskery.

Yessss!  We have our first pet monarch butterfly of the season!  His name is Juan Pinon (long story.)  We (meaning us girls in the family) LOVE raising monarchs each summer!  So far we have Juan and his sister, Jessie.  I'm hoping the dry conditions will have no effect on our ability to find many more caterpillars.  Last year I think we raised eight.  We're looking to top that number this year. 

Dang it, sideways picture!  Drives me nuts.  Anyway, another major summer love this year has been Grandpa L. and Grandma L's kittens.  This little, yellow fellow, Sandy, has been a particularly friendly and wonderful kitten.  Ainsley cannot get enough of him!  Poor Bennett has had to steer a little bit clear due to her major cat allergy, but she's enjoyed them from a distance. 

We have loved some aspects of the weather...good for swimming, pretty sunsets and on the above occasion some amazing sunlight spilling through multiple breaks in the clouds.  The picture does it no justice!

We've also loved summer fun with cousins!  We are so glad that A. and L. moved closer to us...so great to see them a little more often.  And little S. always keeps us entertained and on our toes!  New this summer, all the cousins have enjoyed rides in Great Grandma E's Model T that Grandpa C. restored.  Great Grandma E. drove this car when she was a teenager.  Super cool! 

Sneak a Peek

Here's a peek into the lives of two very different girls!

Every day Ainsley is a mama.  Most recently she's been loving on a sleeping hedgehog baby she bought from Aunt C. at our garage sale together.  She even made the baby a carrier from a slip and a scarf belt.  What a good mom!

And look who has emerged from the storage closet...Ainsley's main man, Cardboard Brian!  He used to be such a wonderful husband and then he kind of went missing.  We'll pretend he was on a long business trip, working hard to provide for his family.  Well, he's finally back!

And now on to Miss Bennett.  One look around her room has again yielded many odd and entertaining scenes.  Remember when she recently cut up her old undies?  The waistbands have a new decorative use!

Her surfer statue has grown a substantial pipe cleaner mustache.

And her panda sleep mask has Tangled hair and a scarf. 

Last but not least, the rubber fetuses are snug in a t-shirt scrap bed.  Sleep tight, little ones!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

The last week and a half or so were busy, busy, busy for us!  Dad was on a canoe trip in MN and the girls and I had quite a bit going on.  Here is a glimpse into some of our activities!

We stayed at Uncle J and Aunt L's house to just hang out and also to help with their garage sale.  Bennett and Ainsley enjoyed selling cookies and lemonade with A and L!  Three cheers for cookie profits!

There was also the required viewing of "The Swan Princess."  These girls LOVE that movie and LOVE to watch it when they are together!

While the little girls watched the movie, this big girl played dress-up!

Uncle J and Aunt L have a pond in their neighborhood, which means they also have a bazillion frogs!  J caught this huge bullfrog in the driveway while we were there.  The photo doesn't do him justice...he was GIANT!

Bullfrog!!!!!!!!!

The girls enjoyed some tasty Casey's doughnuts for breakfast before we started the sale up on Saturday.

After we left Uncle J and Aunt L's, we headed to a surprise birthday party for our friend Renee.  Other than the birthday girl and her husband, we really didn't know anyone at the party.  The girls were a little put out by the fact that they had no one to play with.  Then to make matters worse, we forgot to bring our bag chairs and we had to borrow from some kind strangers.  Bennett's chair was teeny tiny so it was hilarious to see her pulled up to the table to eat.  I was laughing.  She was not!

Ah, but after a bit, the girls got to visit with the birthday girl and they also made friends with a few little kids who were also at the party.  Once they started playing all was well!

Back home the next day we celebrated Father's Day with both sides of the family.  Grandpa C and Grandma D decided to spend their Father's Day putting up their new pool!  We are all thrilled!  Here are the girls swimming for the first time.  They got in as soon as the pool was full...the water was FREEZING but they didn't mind!

And I put this photo on because I think the placement of the pool is hilarious.  I guess three stall garages are overrated.  Grandpa decided that he really didn't want to have to level out a spot in the yard and put down sand so he just built a platform for the pool in the driveway.  What sacrifice for the grandchildren!

Happy Campers

We kicked off the 2012 camping season with friends last weekend!  Here are some photo highlights.

How many men does it take to chop wood?  At least three, and apparently a handful of children as well! 

Before our tent went up, the dads decided to play a little bit of "parachute"' with the littles. 

How many men does it take to put up a tent?  Again, it appears to be three, but in an amazing turn of events it appears they chose to READ THE DIRECTIONS!  Now that something you don't see everyday!

There were smores, of course.   But we did some "out of the box" versions...red, white and blue star marshmallows, Peeps, Reece's pb cups.   All were yummy!

Bennett took this lovely photo of the sun setting over the lake.  Ahhh....

 Dad had lots of help with lighting as he blew up this air mattress in the dark.  Several flashlights and headlamps....It was almost a mini light show!

There was swimming...

...and more swimming.

There was great food and convo with friends, big and little!

And there were sandy muddy undies!  Bennett will not be using these in her next underwear quilt!

We had a fantastic time!  And here is a group photo of the next generation of campers!!!

You Won't Find This on Pinterest!

Repurposing at its finest right here...

Bennett and Ainsley each got new undies this week.  They love new undies, and really, who doesn't? 
Bennett asked me if they could cut up their old underwear, as much of it was either getting small or falling apart.  Sure!  Why not?!  I did not know that the cutting would be taken so seriously and would result in some (ahem) wonderful creations.  First, we have headbands. 

The girls cut and cut for a large portion of an afternoon.  "We are making an underwear quilt!" they announced.  Yes, we'll see, girls.  As the next morning arrived, they immediately resumed cutting.  Maybe they are serious about this quilt.

And then began the arranging of the quilt squares.  Indeed, they are serious!

We ran a few errands after the quilt squares had been cut and arranged.  I did not realize until we arrived at our first destination that a panty headband had made it's way out of the house.  Fortunately, Ainsley was willing to leave it in the car while we were at the store. 

Bennett likes to hand stitch things, but decided that Grandma D's sewing machine might be handy for this project.  I told her I'd sew the squares down to a scrap of an old t-shirt for her.  First of all, I am not a sewer.  And second, I was not finding it necessary to invest much time or precision into an UNDERWEAR QUILT!  I quick slapped this puppy together...

 ...as you can tell by the stitchery on the back side!  Wow.  This is something you won't find on Pinterest!

 Slop job done, and we still have two delighted girls!  They love their underwear quilt.  Bennett is planning to hand stitch a tiny underwear quilt from the smaller set of quilt squares.  Then we'll have two!  Goodie!!!

And isn't it funny how children get attached to the strangest things?  Here is Ainsley, already cuddling with the underwear quilt.  It would not surprise me one bit if this quilt becomes a treasured item.  I can already here one of the girls asking, "Can I take the underwear quilt to school for sharing time?"  Um, no.  I have to draw the line somewhere.  This will be a stay-at-home treasure.  Silly girls and their out-of-the-box craft ideas!

Random Tee Jamboree 2012

The first (hopefully annual) Random Tee Jamboree took place last night, and oh man, was it fun!  A little back story...we'd been wanting to have a party that had the word "jamboree" in the name for quite some time, just because it's a fun word.  This spring we decided that it would be great to have as many of our friends as possible join us in wearing their favorite or craziest or least likely to be worn in public or whatever t-shirt for a party, thus naming it the Random Tee Jamboree.  We had a good response to the idea, which I guess means everyone has a shirt they would normally not wear in public but secretly want to...well last night was the night!  Here are a few photos!  I have many others, all of them so good, but in order not to blow up my computer I'll just share a few!

Sweet bear face shirt!!!!

 The children represented well!  So many fun shirts, and I think the kids all had a great time playing together.  And just for some perspective, the two boys beside Bennett are the same age/grade as she is.  A little size difference!

It was so fun to hang out with so many incredibly awesome people!  I think we ended up with about 80 friends in attendance.  There are tons of awesome people in the world.  These are a few of the best!

Random Tee 2012 was just a plain old fun gathering.  It was also a sort of BIG news announcement-type night!  This little man's shirt says it all!  Baby #4 for his family is on the way!

And another HUGE announcement...Baby #4 on the way for these two as well.  What a sweet suprise to many!  And, uh, again...her shirt says it all!

Another highlight of the evening was the presence of Parker, the 10-week-old teacup Pomeranian puppy.  Ainsley, among many others, is in love!  He was an awesome little dog and he is officially welcome at all parties!  So darling!

With so many people and so much activity, we used a megaphone for announcements.  Grant and a megaphone = still not very loud!  It did help a lot, he is just not a loud talker.  Given that I am, I guess it's a really good thing he isn't!  We balance each other out.

Here was our youngest tee wearer...oops I caught her in a blink!

Another great kid's tee...love her smiling eyes!

These two had some of the most colorful shirts!

And this friend won "Best In Show" and the "Key to the City" prize.  His shirt was kind of morbid and depressing, but being that he is a native Ottumwan, it was somehow hilarious and okay for him to wear it.  Oh Dan!

And finally, a slightly innappropriate shirt on the right and a homemade shirt on the left.  I post this picture because when I took it Levi was mid-laugh about something.  Fun photo!  There was a lot of smiling and laughing all around...I hope our friends had as much fun as we did!