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!!!

Soph's First Sewing Item

This was hand sewn by Miss Soph! She made this one day while she was waiting for Magnus in his fencing class. She was so proud of herself!!! Although she couldn't figure what she could do with it. So I looked in my purse and gave her two pennies and told her that she could use it as a coin purse. That got her excited again until she realized that two pennies wasn't a lot...

Look at the dirt. It's been in the bottom of my purse for a while. Somehow my purse is a holder for her coin purse!

 "Yeah, I made this!"

Kicking her leg up for me to capture it. Because it is the cool way to take a photo!