Too Hot

We only spent an hour outside and Corin told me he was too hot and wanted to come inside. They really didn't do much outside anyway, were kind of playing and walking around aimlessly and were gettting red in the face really quickly. So we came in and did watercolor painting, which they enjoyed. They were quiet and spend an hour painting. Not all summer days have to be spent outside.

Rhubarb Chop Chop

My boys LOVE to use my Pampered Chef Chopper! Anytime I need to have something chopped up (usually its garlic, but these pictures are of them doing the rhubarb for the Strawberry-Rhubarb freezer jam I made today) they are always wanting to do it.




The rhubarb courtesy of our home teacher who got it from his in-laws home on Father's Day and his mother-in-law was my senior seminary teacher and the only seminary teacher I can remember having (Sister Irey for those of you who read my blog and would know who she is) Why did he bring us rhubarb? Well, on Father's Day they gave the men pie, just as they did for Mother's Day. Shane happened to be talking to James Suckow (again some of you may know him) taking about loving Strawberry Rhubarb pie and them having some. James mentioned that his father-in-law had a HUGE amount of it in his backyard and said he'd ask him when he went over if he could have some. Well, Brother Irey was gracious enough to let James cut some for us (Sister Irey thought it was just a crazy weed) and he brought us some when he came home teaching that next week. So, I decided that I wanted to try my hand at making freezer jam instead of making a pie out of it. Shane had never tried Rhubarb in its natural, raw state, so he decided to try a piece. My thoughts were "I will get some great facial reaction pictures" because what I remember of its taste as a kid (our neighbors had a plant of it and we'd be "brave" and eat it raw) was that its REALLY sour!

And this is what I got

NOTHING!! I kept clicking the camera too and got nothing!

Declan wanted to try it so Shane cut off a small piece for him. I was SURE to get some great pictures of him

And again, I got....

NOTHING! He liked it!

(this was the cutest picture so it made the cut for the blog)

Hot Summer Day

We spent quite a few hours outside in the backyard today. Here are some of the activities the boys came up to play.

Played in the sprinkler

But Declan didn't enjoy being sprayed by it

Played in the muddy, makeshift sandbox and they could actually get into it since they had no shoes and swim suits on

They loved stomping and splashing in it

and digging in it, of course

Playing with the sprayer on the hose

Of course spraying our brother was quite an enjoyment

 you can't hide

Corin used the bucket as a "shell" as he called it, to protect himself

Made a pool in the wagon

 filled the bucket

 and dumped the water into the wagon

Had "a dink" as Declan put it

Another Just Go With It Moment

I posted about one I had here and today I had another one. So when we got home from Sprouts I told the boys they could go outside to play for awhile before lunch. We don't have much in our backyard for them to play with so I wasn't surprised this happened. The little plastic pool we have that is out makeshift sandbox still had water in it from the rainstorm we had on Sunday and Monday. I told the boys that I didn't want them to play in it and get dirty and muddy. Well, my boys aren't always the greatest listeners AND they are curious boys AND staying away from mud is just TOO HARD, so they did get into it. Instead of getting onto them, I just let them play. They were having SUCH a great time in it, why cause myself fights and problems. So before lunch we did have to have a quick bath to get all the sand off and out of their hair (Corin even said "Mom we need a bath, we are all messy")

Royality

 Happy Father's Day to my wonderful Husband who is my King with his boys who are our little Princes.

Ladder

Shane was up in the tree trimming off some dead branches and of course the boys had to climb up the ladder.

Just Go With It

That is what I had to do.

The boys where playing outside today while Shane was on the roof getting the swamp cooler ready for use. I was upstairs in our bedroom doing some much needed cleaning and organizing. I came downstairs and outside to see that Declan was soaked. Both Corin and Declan had turned on the hose. So, we just decided to put on their swim shorts and get them sunscreened.

I went back inside to keep working, Shane was still on the roof. I came back down to check on them and saw this

Little Stinker was very proud of himself that he took off his swim shorts!

So, again I just went with it. I had the thought, that if it was Corin at this age I'd be putting his shorts back on.

They made a pool in the wagon



"I Walk"

 down the slide



Helping Daddy

Room Decor Project

 I decided to do a project with my boys to decorate their new room. I haven't been too into doing too much decorations or things on the walls previously in their room (or I guess my own bedroom for that matter. The only place really with decor is our living room), but thought they'd be in this room together for a number of years and thought something needed to be done. And also I pretty much just I wanted to since I got an idea I wanted to run with and execute. They painted a poster board in colors that I wanted as accent colors (the burgandy and chocolate brown of course and the other side of the boys comforters are tan, so I got that color too. I also already had light blue, green, yellow paints from Corin's old room the went with his crib set so I thought why not use those colors and tie together both room color schemes.), then I'll cut them up (keeping them in order) to fit in 8x10 black frames (found at the $1 store) with just a little space in between to give that broken, but looks like it goes together effect. So, today we did the painting outside. I don't have many really scrubby clothes for the boys to wear to paint in so I found an hand-me-down shirt for Corin that would work and a stained white undershirt that used to be Corin's for Declan. We just wore underwear and diaper, respectively, and bare feet.

Once we got the first one completely painted they were still into painting so I pulled out another poster board, however they got to the end of painting this one more quickly (think the novality of painting wore off) so its not completely painted. I may cut the painted parts out and frame those as well to put on their wall.

After painting we cleaned up the paints with their bowls and sponge brushes and drop cloth then went to clean off.

Which quickly became play in the water time.

 and get a drink

Declan started shaking like crazy because he was cold, so we dried off and got some clothes on. He was still shaking and Corin said he was chilly so they got their blankets and crawled up on the couch to watch a show while I made lunch

When I get it all cut and framed I'll post a picture.