Arts and Crafts!

We went to Ikea about three weeks ago and bought desks for the boys and I. Finally, the hobby lobby is starting to take shape! Its still kind of a mess. I need to make some tough choices about books to donate, the funny Army desk that we used for awhile, and the pub table. I love my pub table but it just doesn't work in this house. I had a nightmare a few weeks ago that Edward was making us move again. I swear, I'm not moving! We have bought furniture! I have unpacked boxes that haven't been unpacked in three years. I have painted. I've made curtains! This is the end of the road! And while the hobby lobby isn't pretty, it is organized well enough that I was able to throw together some "Crazy socks" for Max's crazy sock day. The boys and I literally did this craft in twenty minutes - start to finish! I love finally having our desks on the same floor and in the same room as our craft supplies! Hooray! And did I mention, that I am settled and I'm not moving!?

Hobby Lobby

I think the idea of crazy sock day was actually to wear mismatched socks - but since all of the boys' socks are white, that wasn't going to work for us. (Although, Kim might point out that I brought Max to Jazzercise with mismatched socks one day - by mismatched, she meant that they were two different kinds of white crew socks. They were the same from the ankle up - good enough for me. ;-) Love you Kim!)
Anyway, I got the bright idea to take an older pair of socks and glue a bunch of silly stuff on them! Max designed the left one and Nolen designed the right one. I did most of the gluing and glittering - not ready to let them use fabric tack - too permanent!


How cute is that? And yes, I did send him to school with his pants rolled up!

A Long and Winding Road...

Here is the back story. Max is in love with a squishy Stegosaurus which he has named, Stegosaurus. He also has a cool new Dinosaur Atlas that we looked at tonight. One section talks about dinosaur bones that were found in Hell Creek Montana and it showed a landscape that looked just like the State Park we visited in Glendive, MT while we were driving across the country when we moved from Alaska to Alabama. After a little googling, it turns out that Hell Creek is part of Makoshika State Park in Glendive! The very park that we felt so lucky to find during our trip. It was in face a fortuitous find. Each day we drove for about 6 hours. When we made it to whatever town we were spending the night in, we would look for something entertaining to do...usually a park, or a hotel pool or even a mall. When we got to Glendive, it was somewhat of a dive. It was a little disappointing after seeing Missoula and Bozeman. The GPS had a state park listed just a few miles from our hotel so we thought we'd check it out. Maybe it would be a good spot for the kids to run around. What luck! It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen! And now, how fun to find out that it is where they found a bunch of Dinosaur Bones! (P.S. If you're reading this and you're from the NW and you have known about the dinos your whole life, well, I'm sorry. They don't teach us this stuff in FL...too many republicans I guess.)

Edward's Second Home

Edward's dream is coming true! Our house has a one car garage which is almost enough room to store the tools Ed has acquired over the last few years. There is barely room to walk and certainly no place to work. He has wanted to add this garage since we moved in and now he's getting it! Hooray! I have been told that I am not allowed in the garage (as I am prone to putting things away and then Ed can't find them). The guys doing the work are doing a great job. They started a week ago today and here is what we have so far.

Smarty Pants

First things first - I am listening to Nolen sing, "Na na na na na na I'm gonna get in a fight." Thanks P!nk. Anyway,

I love the Brain Quest cards for kids. They're like flash cards but not so boring. Max wanted me to read questions to him from his set for ages 4-5 but I was putting away groceries and doing breakfast dishes. I told Nolen if he would read the questions to Max, he could have an m&m for each question he read and Max could have an m&m for each question he answered correctly. They are too cute! I think they sat there reading and answering for about 30 minutes! I'm so proud of them!

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New Year's at Nette's

Our next door neighbor, Nette, had us and half the town over for chili Sunday night. It was a great way to end the two week vacations from work and school. Nette is from Sweeden and she and her parents eat Swedish food (Swedish fish?) and practice Swedish traditions. Its fun to hear all about the dinners she goes to at her parents house. She has two teenagers, Lisa is 14 and Tommy is 16. Lisa has babysat for the kids a few times. She is very sweet and she just made cheerleading at Leonardtown High. I've probably scared her because I get so excited about it. haha!

Here is our babysitter Lisa (Nette's daughter) holding her dog Daisy and introducing her to Lara and Geoff's baby, Rowan!

Sweet sweet baby Rowan in her cute leopard outfit!

Proud parents Lara and Geoff. Also, Donovan and Hannah Curley - the kids who used to live in our house.

Erin Curley and husband Jason hiding behind her, Nette's Dad and Nette!

Around the House

The boy pile!

I asked Ed to cut down some tree branches about a month ago.
I failed to drag them down the street to the neighborhood compost field so Ed finally loaded them into Dale's truck and hauled them away. Thanks Ed and thanks Dale! The truck has already been used to haul stuff to the dump too.

At the JumpYard

After a few longish days at home, I wanted to get out of the house. I also thought it would be smart to begin weening Nolen away from the Wii and the PS3 since he will go back to school on Monday. I thought about taking them to see a movie but the theater here is kind of a bummer - especially since you're still paying $8 for a matinee! Luckily, our friend Lara had the genious idea to go to the Jump Yard! I wasn't completely sure it would live up to its Orlando counterpart that we visited in July - but it was great! There were plenty of things to bounce on, it wasn't too crowded and it very clean. They even had free WiFi so I got to sit there Facebooking on my iPod Touch. hehe! The boys had a great time. They were so sweaty and kept going to get drinks of water. It was exactly what we needed yesterday!



^ Stopping for a rest.
Look at that smile!

I even snuck into a few bounce houses myself! Why do kids get to have all the fun???

After the Jump Yard, I needed to pick up a few things at the Commissary since we were all the way out there. Nolen started pouting and saying he didn't want to go. I told him that if I had to tell him to stop pouting again, I would take 30 minutes of video game time away from him. That did it! On went the smile! He even made me a list while we were driving there and kept track of stuff for me while we were shopping. The boys were so good and fun in the store that I bought a package of Starburst at the checkout for us all to share! I don't usually do that but we really did have fun in the store. Nolen kept asking me what else we needed so he could write it on his list and as I put stuff into the cart, he would check it off. Have I mentioned that I love these kids???