The Car that Went Nowhere

For part of our summer learning sess, we made rubberband cars. The kids colored and labeled their wheels and they were so excited to put it together and race. I saw a video online and thought this was going to be such a fun project. But sometimes the things you see on TV doesn't always work out in real life. No matter how much we tweaked it, it just wouldn't budge. So the kids were gracious. They ran around the house and played. Just being together was enough!!! 

                       


















They did such a good job coloring and designing. So creative these kids!

Rock Candy

During the summer, we got together with some friends and did a little learning. I saw this on Pinterest and it reminded me of my 2nd grade class. I don't think it was edible, but it was still pretty cool to watch it grow. Maybe we were just growing crystals as oppose to rock candy. Who knows, that was quite some time ago. This however is devourable! Although I have to say it uses a lot of sugar! It puts into reality of how much sugar is in our candy that we buy from the stores. Since we don't see the process, we don't think about it. It definitely made me rethink candy. 

We made a simple syrup. Rolled our chopsticks in sugar. Poured some of the syrup into our jars, mixed food coloring into it, stuck the chopstick in with a clothespin to hold it from hitting the bottom of the jar and that was it! The instructions said to let it sit in a sunny spot uninterrupted for a week, but ours were not growing big enough. We let it go to 3 weeks and it was perfect then!  

Magnus with his favorite color.

Our friend with his all mixed up.

A cutie with hers!

Cutie's sister with hers!

And of course Soph's.

Yum!

I loved this project, but my tongue did not. I made the mistake of rubbing this on my tongue and the rough edges were not kind to it. Maybe I'm not cool enough to eat this!!!

Gone Fishin'

We took the kids to Hagemann Trout Farm to do some fishing. Their website basically said that it would be a guaranteed catch. I was excited to have Magnus try his hand at fishing. He has wanted to do it for quite some time, but time was never on our hand.

I imagined that he would be coming home with enough fish that I would have to freeze some for later. High hopes! It ended up, Magnus and his dad fished for 3 hours with help from various people there, switching to different parts of the lakes, and even help from the owner. He got 1. It was about 6 inches long. He was so excited. I'm thankful he caught something! We came home and he was thrilled to cook up his catch!

Odin+Toilet

Odin has a fascination with toilets. Which is probably typically for children of this age. It must be the water. So tempting. One day we left the bathroom door open and the next thing you know, these wipes have made it in. Sometimes there's nothing you can do, but laugh at life with little ones! 

Odin's Favorite Game Spot

Odin loves to play peek a boo. His favorite place to play is in our room with the curtains. That makes everything more fun!

Going behind the curtain

You can't see me now

Now you can

Peek a boo or as Odin knows it Wauk Er. That's the Cambodian version. One time while we were playing, I said peek a boo instead and he gave this strange look of, mom I don't understand what you saying. Once I switched back to Cambodian, all was well. Laughter commenced!

And sometimes when he is tired of that, he looks out into the yard. Longing to go out and play. Love this boy!!!

Beach house vacation

It's interesting that you don't realize that you need a vacation, until you go on one! We had a great time here. Although we all suffered varying degrees of a cold. We had Emily come over one day and spent some time with us and we had one of our friends come hang out at the beach too.

First time in a hot tub and they really enjoyed the communal hot bath!

This house had all sorts of games in the closet. They liked this too!

Love the joy and fun you can give the kids, just by bringing some sand, water and friends together!

Odin unsure of the texture of sand. 

Ah, vacation is so so good!

4th of July Shirts

We have a tradition here that every 4th of July, we make our own decorative shirts to commemorate the holiday. We start by looking at some images online, printing the image, then tracing the image onto freezer paper. Once I cut out the intricate parts because little hands are not allowed to use an x-acto knife, we are ready for some fancy shirt painting. Funny thing is, we don't veer very far from year to year. And whatever big brother wants little sister wants also. So fireworks it is! This year, last year, and probably next year!

Big brother

Little sister

And the littlest one!

Joey Moving on Up

Oh our nephew Joey. He has a voice and enthusiasm of Eeyore. Loves his Uncle John and always bugging his dad to take him fishing. So thankful for him. He sure adds a lot of laughs at our get togethers. Now look at him. He's starting middle school this fall. 

Those 2 boys sure look up to him.

The fam!

Buddies! Look at all that hair. Yuck, I say. It makes me think of sweaty pubescence boys and lack of showering. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!!!

And this is how our other nephew Jonathan celebrates his brother's achievements, feasting on watermelon. I think this must have been his 5th slice in the small time we were at the school. Love these kids!

Little Monkey

Ah, that Odin! I don't know where he gets this from. It went from a simple desire to look at things above his eye level.

                                                   To hanging onto it

To climbing all the way on

This is not what this toy is intended for. One day his grandma was watching him and she told us that he had climbed the play kitchen. I had never seen him do it so I thought, not true. Well what do you know, he did it the next day for my very own eyes to see! After a few weeks of climbing this, he decided he needed a little something extra. Once he was up, he would rock it back and forth. So dangerous! Then he thought, let's get give mom a heart attack! He climbed all the way to the top and stood there. Yikes! Now we have turned it around and it butts up against the couch. 

Another time, we left the kids bedroom door open. Once he saw this, he booked it there. Climbed up Magnus' ladder and made it all the way to the top. No fear! 

No more of his kind of climbing please. Such a mischievous boy!  

Soph's "Purse"

One day Soph was carrying this gift bag around. When we asked her what it was, she replied that it was her purse, just like mama's. And just like in mama's purse, there's a paper with a list on it! All the other stuff were things that are important to her. A couple of reading books, a couple of photobooks, a water bottle, Magnus' Chuck E Cheese ID, a pen and of course a panty liner. This girl makes me laugh! 

Raining Popcorn

Does it rain popcorn at your house? Because it does at our house! Especially when you have a boy like Odin, who likes to dump anything that he can get his hands on.

Yum, nothing like spilled popcorn!

Yep. That's Odin.

Promotion Night 2013

That time of year again. Where school is just about done. No one wants to do much because we have summer coursing through our bodies!!! This year we were treated to a performance by the Logoai family. They are an absolute treat! Worshiping their love for the Lord with all their might. 

 And here are my little ones. Growing and growing. That is what they are good at.

I love how Magnus knows where the daddy camera is at all times!

Pallet Repurpose Project

Our backyard is very plain and we have lived here for 6 years. Time to do something about it. Add something, anything. I began perusing Craigslist for free pallets. Our first one was from a house around the neighborhood. It had been used to deliver some fencing material. It was nice and sturdy. I was hooked and so excited to get more pallets. In the next weeks, there was a posting for a bunch of free pallets in Petaluma. I, eager to get more, asked John to go get some...It ended up being all the way out by the raceway. Um that wasn't exactly the Petaluma that I was thinking of. It was John's only day off and I sent him on a wild goose chase for some pallets that were not in good shape. The worst part was that his cell was dying as he was gone and we didn't have the charger in the car. I was a bit worried when 3 hours later he hadn't made it home yet. I don't know if I'm ever allowed to ask him to pick up pallets ever again! 

These are reassembled pieces of the pallet. This was a family effort. Magnus learned how to pull nails from wood and how to hammer without busting his thumb. It was a hard lesson.

In the end, this was a lot of work. I would do it again though. Magnus was able to glean a lot out of this project. Plus it does add a lot of colors to the yard. There are huge orange/yellow blooms of begonias, yellow alstroemeria, and purple flowers.

Our Own Planter Boxes

For the longest time, I have always wanted to make our own planter boxes. Every year it was always on the to do list, but it never made it because I was too impatient and would rather plan my plants right away instead of waiting for the boxes to be made.This year, I planned ahead and started in Feb! Yep that right! A whole 3 months before the officially planting season. But it worked because here we have them!!!

We bought the lumber at Home Depot. It was a long piece that we had cut to fit our yard space. In all we spent a little over $40.00 Not too pricey I say! 

These are lined with chicken wire at the bottom, just in case we ever get any critters that might want to eat up my goodies. 

I also put in a few layers of paper bags from Trader Joes to help with weed control. Hopefully that works! These are looking so good and because they are a little taller I don't have to stoop so low when I do have to work on them. A plus for my back! Hooray for planning ahead!!!