feeling a bit nostalgic

Perhaps its because I'm getting close to 30, or maybe because I've reconnected with friends from my childhood era. Maybe its simply because my 10 year reunion is set to occur next month. Whatever the reason, I've been reminiscing about my childhood. Now I can't keep this to myself, so I had to get my kids involved. Which we have been doing by making toys out of trash.
When I was in elementary school, probably around 8 or so, I made my own doll house out of cardboard boxes with furniture made out of tissue paper. I even cut up an old shirt for blankets and dyed them different colors.
It wasn't entirely because we were poor. I had two Sylvanian families and only one house. It felt selfish to ask for another house, so I improvised. Does anyone remember these things? I had the Slydale family and the Evergreen family. I even had some teenagers and grandparents for the bears, plus two kids and two babies. I would run a whole lifecycle with these my bears. It would start with the two adult bears and they'd get married and have kids and I'd keep running the story until they were old. I want to say I even had funerals for them, but I really can't remember. Anywho, the Slydales needed a house so I built one with cardboard and packaging tape. I spray painted the outside blue and the inside white. I remember getting into trouble for using too many cotton balls and tissues for the beds and spilling some dye on the carpet.
This is what I'm doing with my kids. We have beds, a table, a couch, a TV and pictures for the walls. As soon as I finish up the eggs, we'll make a toilet. I think I'm having way more fun than the kids.
Just as a side note, don't look at the Sylvanian family website too long. Before you know it you'll be buying a house and furniture and a family to go with it. I think the Moose family is adorable. Or maybe its just me who really really really wants to buy this for me ... I mean ... my daughter.

Now Open for Business

We finally got the walls all textured and painted. The kids have been asking to get the rug back into the room so they can play in it better. They were so excited, in fact, that they built a fort on the rug (with a little help from me). The new wall coloring makes the room look like the rest of the house, and without the faux wood paneling, the project has an anti-climactic feel to it.

Now if we can just get the trim work done...

July 4th Weekend Update

What can be better than having a day off? A day off of home projects! We were hard at work on the playroom this weekend, and made a significant amount of progress. We even got the older two kids helping to prime the walls, and Mr. S helped by keeping the floor clean.

As of now, we actually have paint on one wall, and it is starting to look like a normal room. So much work just to get it blend into the overall house.







And just to make it fun, we still have a whole week worth's of work to do. We were talking about how much work we got done, and we came to the conclusion that since only one of us was working at a time, we didn't do much more than we can in the evenings when the kids are asleep.

Too Smart For Me

Today at dinner we were teasing the kids (as usual). Chad asked for a vote as to who wanted to keep the desert I made. He and the kids raised their hands. Then he asked who wanted to throw it away. I raised my hand. I told the kids I win because my vote is worth five points. G-man shot back that his vote and Kiwi's vote are worth ten, so they win. That kid is so smart. Gone are the days of blind faith and obedience. I've taught him well.

Our Dad

In honor of Father's Day we made up a song. Chad, we're glad you don't smell too bad. Love you!


Who can guess where the tune comes from? I'll give you a hint: he's bald and talks like a girl.

Adventures in California

We spent the past week in Anaheim celebrating Chad's birthday and graduation. Thankfully his 30th birthday coincided with his graduation so we could justify spending way too much money. We went with Laurel, Bill, and their three girls who are about the same ages as our kids. It was nice to have another couple to help watch kids so we could take turns going on the fun rides. We got a few crazy looks when it was our turn to watch the six kids (all under the age of 7). One lady told us we could do our own reality show if they were all ours. Here are a few of the highlights of the trip.

1. Saving money on the ticket by going on Chad's birthday. The added bonus was everytime a Disney employee noticed his button they wished him a happy birthday. Same rule applied to any teenagers standing in line with us. Great fun to watch my husband be embarrassed. Unfortunately that was about the only benefit. The birthday button did not come with a free pass to skip to the front of the line.




2. Lunch with the Princesses. If you have a girl and go to Disneyland be sure to have lunch at Ariel's Grotto in California adventure. The Princesses come to your table and take pictures. We saw Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, and Jasmine. They also teach a little dance to the room. G-man even got into it, even though he tried really hard not to enjoy the girly stuff.














3. Teaching Kiwi to pee in the Ocean. What is it with little girls and deciding they have to go pee 5 minutes after arriving at your destination.

4. Pooping adventures with Scooch. First poo fell out of his diaper in the lobby. We had left the wipes in the car and ended up wiping it up with an empty Goldfish cracker package. Then in a brief moment of diaperlessness he managed to lay one on the floor of our room. I blame Chad. This day also included a Kiwi pee accident in Laurel and bill's room and the Beach incident. It was just one of those bodily function full days.




5. Watching what a one year old finds fascinating: balloons and fish.

















6. Playing the little kid Shuffle at Legoland. They have so many stinking height restrictions at that place. It was a pain to find a ride in that park that everyone could enjoy. It seemed we were always trying to find more adults to go on the rides with the kids. Definitely something to try again when the kids are older (and taller).









7. Finding opportunities to take black mail pictures of G-man and "Sugar Plum" (she came up with her name herself). Sugar Plum is 9 months younger than G and about 4 inches taller. Her parents are quite tall and his parents are not. They had a lot of fun together, holding hands, whispering in each other's ears. Laurel got some good shots of the two of them with their arms around each other. G-man was looking forward to spending time with boys at the end of this trip.

8. Listening to G-man scream on Space Mountain. We had taken him on Splash Mountain and Matterhorn before this. After Space Mountain he refused to go on anymore Rollercoasters.










9. Watching these tow friends together. Two four year old girls walking hand in hand through the Haunted Mansion line was too cute. So was their reaction to the Haunter Mansion ride.











10. This picture. Classic. I wonder how many other people took pictures of my backside.

What Chad is doing now that he has graduated.

Finally getting rid of the wood paneling. Who would take the time to drywall a room and then cover it with fake wood paneling? This stuff is so ugly. I think after this room is finished we can say the inside remodeling is done. Now we'll have to move on to the outside. I missed our home improvement stuff while Chad was in school. Its kind of fun.