"To Live Will Be An Awfully Big Adventure"

Last summer our family started a tradition. I'm a big reader and wanted to help Josh's kids get excited about reading since it is something they struggle with. I decided that I would read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to them last summer and then we could have  a "party" when we finished it. By party, I just planned on getting them Willy Wonka bars to enjoy during while we watched the movie, but seeing as how one of my dream jobs is to be a party planner, I tried to add a few details to make it more special:

 

Willy Wonka's Hat

Themed Table and Assigned Characters

Breakfast for Dinner theme with blueberry pancakes (in honor of Violet) and chocolate gravy

Then we finished off the party by watching the movie with some Willy Wonka bars as planned. The kids loved it so much I decided to do a second book for the summer and we chose The Secret Garden.

Themed Table with assigned characters

Dirt Cake

 

Garden Fruits and Veggies 

This summer I decided our first book would be Peter Pan. It's my favorite children's book (and one of my favorite Disney movies) so it was an easy decision. Not to mention, it's the theme of Asa's nursery so I knew I'd have decor to use without having to buy too much since I do these on a small budget. Josh read them the book and even acted some of it out to teach them how to use their imagination. They finished this week so we had our party tonight. I did a little more this year in getting us all a hat or accessory for a costume. Then I told the kids to go put the rest of their costume together and they did a great job! I had a tough time coming up with themed food this year with the whole no bread thing, and lack of food in Peter Pan. I told the kids we would just have an imaginary dinner like the Lost Boys did ...lol. In the end, Josh and decided to do some pirate themed foods for dinner along with a few food items that we could tie back to the book. We even taped the kids fingers together on one hand to make "hooks" that they had to eat with. (Thanks for the idea, Kristine!) Here are some pictures:

Themed Table and Characters

"Children know such a lot now, they soon don't believe in fairies, and every time a child says, 'I don't believe in fairies,' there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead.”-Peter Pan

I realize there was no parrot in Peter Pan, but in following the pirate dinner theme, I cooked chicken legs and called them parrot legs

Ditto with the "octopus"

One of the few food items I remembered from the book. Peter brought them peanuts after they had their imaginary feast

Tink's Wands, fruit kabobs with marshmallow stars

I froze candy fish in the ice, but the food dye in the fish stained the ice so you couldn't see them inside like I planned. However, when they melted the kid's loved to see the fish "swimming" around inside. Gotta love Plan B. :)

I couldn't leave Asa without a pirate drink now could I?

Dessert

Jaleigh as Tink

Brandon as Peter

Aidan as John

Love them

The host of our pirate dinner, the feared Captain Hook!

Their reaction when seeing their Dad as Hook for the first time!

Hook was terrified of our little crocodile

Enjoying dinner together. Hook had to be extra creative to eat

I was Tiger Lily

I can't think of a better first picture of us 3 than this, can you? ;)

We had a great time tonight! The kids are enjoying the movie as I type this. Next week we plan to start our next book for the summer, Alice and Wonderland. If anyone has any ideas for the party, I'd love to hear them. Also any ideas for future books are welcome (ones that have movies are ideal so we can watch it afterwards). Thanks for stopping by and sharing in our fun. I hope the kids have great memories of how fun reading can be and how fun it is to use their imaginations. No better place to do than than Neverland. :)

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Whew! What a busy week we've had. I'm so ready for July when the activities slow down. I totally get why people only let their kids do one activity each now. We started the week with Josh building the bunk beds for the boys. Is there anything my husband can't do? The beds give the boys much more space in their room and is one we can add a third bed to when Asa is older. We were able to add an extra dresser and the boys still have more room to play. Josh is still going to add some shelving/storage, but here's a picture so far. Ignore the messy beds please:

We have a lot going on in June. To keep us all on the same page and prevent the kids from asking me every day or hour what they had going on, I bought a dry erase calender that keeps us organized:

Tuesday mornings Aidan goes to the library summer reading program. Tuesday afternoon Jaleigh and Brandon do. On Wednesdays Jaleigh and Brandon do art class and this week Jaleigh had cheerleading camp every day. Not to mention swim lessons for all of them every night this month. They are loving swimming lessons and learning so much. I highly recommend them! Thank goodness for Gram helping out since there are a few scheduling conflicts. Not to mention with her taking and dropping off, I don't have to load and unload Asa ten times a day. Car seats are evil heavy....lol Here are a few pics of our activities this week:

Aidan learning to dive!

Jaleigh cheering

Brandon jumping off the diving board

 We've also been doing "school time" every day (ok, almost every day). We are trying to focus on  time, money and multiplication and it's been a challenge. I'm shocked at some of the basic skills the "new math" doesn't teach. I SO am glad I'm not a teacher. It's hard to stay patient when brains seem to erase overnight.  We use Brain Quest workbooks, which I cant say enough good things about, and flash cards. I think the kids are slowly but surely getting it.

The clock and times tables posters plus a map of the US that I hung up for them only because if I were a teacher, I'd be a social studies/history one...lol. Next year maybe Josh will let me off the hook on math and I can teach on the Civil War. ;)

Workbook time

An extra special activity this week was working on Dad's Father's Day gift. I found a frame for only $25 at amazon and figured it would be small, but it's huge. We decided to put a picture of Dad with each child, a letter from each of them saying what they loved best about Dad and their hand prints (or footprint in Asa's case). I think it turned out great! My favorite reason for "What I love most about Dad" was from Aidan who said, "I love when we watch MacGyver together." We also made my Dad "McPaw" paintings. I'll have to hide this blog from Josh so it won't give away the surprise. Sure hope he loves it!

We have dinner and swimming tonight at a friend's house, a birthday party tomorrow for our cousin Paisley and then a busy father's day of church and dinner with my parents. Next week things will be slower since cheer camp is over and we have nothing planned next weekend or rather nothing we have to leave the house for. We will finish reading "Peter Pan" this week so I'm thinking we will do our party next weekend. I have decor and costumes ready, but I still need themed food ideas.  I'm thinking of doing these, but still need suggestions for the main course:

Pirate ship jello

Tink Fruit Wands

Thanks for stopping by to read about our busy week. We had fun, but are all pretty exhausted. Some of us more than others.....

Seeing the Elephant

During the Civil War, soldiers used to speak about “seeing the elephant.” The "elephant" being battle, combat, being under enemy fire.  Well, after my first week as a mom of 4, I can safely say I too have seen the elephant. :)

Josh, Asa and I left Hobbs around 5:00 in the evening on a Friday for the long drive to Colorado to pick up the kids. We took Asa because Josh’s parents and grandmother were there and that way they could meet him. Luckily, he did well. He slept most of the way. Asa is a better traveler than me.  We got the kids, spent Saturday with his family and left Sunday morning.  Our first day back was Memorial Day so I was thankful to have Josh home to help as we unpacked, went through last summer’s clothes and replaced them with new clothes for this summer, made meal plans, shopped for groceries, set up a pool, went over the Chore Store and Behavior charts etc.  Tuesday, we woke up to a house with no Josh and 

the impact was felt. I was used to staying up all night with Asa, but sleeping when he did so I was sad to find out Josh’s kids didn’t take naps anymore like they did last summer.  What’s up with that? Maybe I should add it as one of their chores? ;) Also, we hadn’t had to cook since the baby was born thanks to the generosity of others, so three meals a day was my biggest challenge.

Pre baby, we each did our own breakfasts, which I rarely ate (I know, I know). I made lunches for the week on Sundays for each of us, but Josh handled dinner since he was usually home before me. Not only that, but Josh’s kids have allergies and feel much better with no dairy, bread, pasta etc. So besides a few cheats for parties, we decided to stick to meat, potatoes, veggies and fruit.  The only problem in that being that there are not many “fast” meals. Last year, we lived off sandwiches and corn dogs for lunch and cereal for breakfast, now all that was out the window.  Josh came up with some creative ideas to help make it easier, but nothing is easier than cereal and corn dogs. For breakfast we’ve done smoothies or eggs, for lunch, I prepared all kinds of veggies so they could make their own salads and for dinner I decided to do crock pot meals so I could get it over with in the morning since our days are busy.  (Anyone have any good crock pot recipes with no noodles or cheese?) However doing that has made the mornings really tough. Trying to feed Asa, the big kids, clean up the mess, get Asa ready, prepare dinner and somehow take a shower has proven to be a tad overwhelming. So much so that my mom has come to help with Asa so I could shower a few days, especially a particularly bad one that involved wet beds, sick kids, crying kids and lots of spit up in my hair. I’m thankful Mom is off for the summer to help and take the kids to some of their activities.  

 This week, I did a lot of food prep on Sunday. It wasn’t fun to spend all day in the kitchen, but it made for a much easier week so far. Monday I was able to feed everyone breakfast, start dinner, and take a shower with no issues/help. Baby steps. :)  Last night Josh stayed up with Asa so I got 8 hours of sleep and didn’t wake up once. I got up at 5, got myself ready, Asa ready, a load of laundry done and all the food going before the kids even woke up. So when we had some morning incidents including a blown out diaper (through clothes, a boppy and onto the couch), it didn’t feel like such a big deal.  It’s amazing the difference sleep makes. So I think if I have someone stay up with Asa every night my days will be a breeze. Any volunteers?  lol We also came up with a schedule for Asa to eat on odd hours and our meals/snacks on even ones.

Friday night we had Jaleigh’s birthday so of course our AC goes out that afternoon. My husband put in some window units we had to cool off the house enough to house our guests that night and fixed it the next day. I think Jaleigh had a great time at her rock star themed slumber party. Afterwards, I had to thank my parents for all those years of slumber parties. They were crazy to let me have eight or nine girls over. Three were plenty over here…lol  Little girls are so silly after 10 pm. Glad they had a great time though, and kinda glad Asa is a boy so I don’t have to do too many of those in my life. Exhausting..lol. 

The kids have done great on their behavior charts and with their chores. They got to use the chore store for the first time Sunday. I’ll post more about that with pictures in the coming weeks.  Asa is doing well besides in the evenings when he has been colicky.  He had a few great nights until Monday when he and I spent the night driving around and crying together. Think we went to sleep around 4:30 and were up at 6:30 for the day. Thus, my appreciations for Josh letting me sleep last night. While I was driving and praying, God brought to mind the scripture in Psalm  121 “ I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” I went home to look it up and post it on my fridge as a reminder when I feel overwhelmed and had to laugh at the following verse:  "He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”  Glad to know that when I’m up all night taking care of my kid, I’m not alone. :) Anyway, Josh said Asa slept much better last night so hopefully some of the things we are trying help him. He really is such a joy.  I love to watch the funny faces he makes and my favorite thing is to watch him stretch as he slowly wakes up.  So cute! That is, until he realizes he’s awake and screams of course. Josh is such a great help even with his work and school, I couldn’t do it without him. We aren’t getting to spend much time together so we decided Thursday nights would be nights we could do something special together even if it’s just hanging out watching a movie in the living room. I’m looking forward to that. Also trying to find something I can I enjoy apart from the kids.  I’ve actually liked going to get groceries the last few times. Sad, I know.  I can’t let that become my hobby...lol. However, the first week I went, a newborn was in front of me in line and it made me cry because I missed Asa. I wanted to get out and when I did, I missed being home. Ah hormones.  Anyway, I spend a lot of time thinking about the last few chapters of my book I need to get written, but it seems anytime I sit down to do it, I’m needed elsewhere. I need to find a great new read for my Kindle. Reading is the cheapest best way to escape a little when you need to without leaving home.  Any good books out lately? 

Well, that’s all for now. I didn’t take many pics last week cause well, I was in over my head, but I’ll do better this week.  Here are a few from Jaleigh’s party:

Jaleigh and her friends

Aidan in his rock star glasses

Ready to blow out candles

Happy Birthday Jaleigh!