life

Things have been busy here- I keep hoping things will slow down, they just haven't yet. Hubby left Tuesday for Idaho. Its just been me and the kids. Things have been going well so far. The weather has been super crazy here. A week ago Thursday we had an incredible lightening storm. Usually around here, we get a couple flashes, then its all over. Thursday morning, I saw lightening the entire trip to work ( 40 minutes). They were incredible flashes. That night, it was impressive. I didn't stay up for it- the thunder shaking my house did wake me. The national weather service said there were over 500 lightening strikes. We had an inch of rain in 13 hours. My grass is very nice and green now.

Here is a picture of my fire place mantel ( ignore all the junk- this is how my house looks like after working all week and not being home in the evenings.)
Last Sunday Thomas sanded the mantle. We are going to re do it. We aren't sure what we are going to do. We have been playing around with ideas. I want a bigger mantle- we may just build around the existing mantle. We think that the previous owners may have secured it with construction adhesive ( that is how they did the paneling). I dislike sheet rock/drywall work. SSooooo, we have to resort to other ideas and methods.

I am in charge of awards for my cub scout pack. At the last committee meeting, we discussed having the dens do den flags. I have been put in charge of organizing and helping the dens create one. I have an idea in my head, my goal tomorrow is to make one. I was at the scout store today getting my adopted son a merit badge sash, they had big wolf, bear, and webelos badges. So, I bought one of each. I think the flags will be cute when they are done. I also need to make two arrows for the Arrow of Light award. The one I have to get started on this week, as the scout has earned a TON of awards. His will probably be one of the most  complicated arrows I have made. I like a challenge :) I am hoping that it will be great motivation for some of the parents to be more involved with their scouts.
Here is the arrow of light. pattern I use. The parents and scouts seem to really like the arrows. I use lots of feathers and beads in addition to the stripes. I will be taking pictures to show them off.

Labor Day

Its been busy as usual here.
Saturday I worked, went shopping at Hobby Lobby,then we had family pictures done, then a friends daughter's wedding to attend. I got several Christmas presents for family. They had a really good sale on some of the things my kids and nieces have been looking at.
The wedding was cute. The bride and husband are so sweet. We had a great time.

Sunday we went to church, then I decided I would clean/organize our bedroom. That was an all night excursion. At least it is clean.
As I was cleaning, my husband and middle boys decided to work on the oldest boy's car.
He finally figured out what the bugs were.

This is the part that what causing the problems. It required a new PCV valve and 2 cans of throttle body cleaner. Car idles just fine now. Hopefully my hubby will have time to take it through emissions tomorrow so we can get it tabbed.

As I was watering my flowers out front, I discovered this in my pot.

I  haven't seen this little guy out front, I was surprised when he stuck his head out of the pot. He has gold markings on him.

As I was vacuuming earlier, my cats were working hard- ha ha ha.

Its been warm and humid here. I will be glad when the temps come down more. There is thunder and lightening forecasted for today and Thursday, so hopefully this crazy weather streak will end soon.

Crazy weather..

The last several days, our weather has been crazy. Currently, the temp is 65, with 100% humidity, never mind that it's 935 at night. Yes, I realize western Washington tends to be on the wet side, but not this much. We have gotten almost an inch of rain today. That's not normal. Yuck.
My kids start school Wednesday. The boys are excited. They are ready. Been trying to get the kids into a bedtime routine so it's not so tiring the first week of school. We've been working on it all week. They have been getting better. 
Matt's car is almost fixed. It appears we have a sensor that is bad. It will be cheap to insure, I'm sure the gas can't be worse  is better than the suburban.
My wave petunias have improved. I added fertilizer, they have really perked up. Maybe it is from the muggy weather though too.
Happy Labor day!

improvising

So, when we replaced our kitchen cabinets, one of the drawbacks was that they only had one shelf.
I went to the home improvement store, and purchased some nice wood, instead of whatever is cheapest-which is what I usually do.
My middle boys measured, cut and moved the shelves around so that we have more usable space in the cabinets.

 

 

 

I was happy with the results.

My newest hens have begun to lay eggs.

They are white.

They are smaller than the other eggs, but I'm sure they will get larger with time.
The boys made some new nest boxes yesterday too. The new hens were in them this morning when I went to clean out the coup.
My husband and other men-children are currently hanging new closet doors to the hall closet. Apparently son #1 thought it would be funny to tackle son#3. He didn't take into account that the MIIRRORED closet doors will only give so much before they crack. Normally when things break, it is son #3 &4. For whatever reason, it always  involves son #3. I don't know why, it just does. His response is that he is so Epic, all the interesting things happen when he is around. I have to give him props, at least it is a creative answer.

I finally have ripe tomatoes from my garden! I ate my first one yesterday. They were so good.
My plants are full, its just a matter of waiting for them to turn ripe.
My goals for this week are:
-Mix manure into part of the garden to prep it for fall planting. I want to see if I can really grow lettuce here year round. I plan to also plant kale and chard
-Get all the window washed.
-Go through my clothes, and prepare a give away bag.
-Make an appointment for my son's car to have the muffler replaced and to get the car through emissions so I can get it tabbed.

It will be interesting to see what I get done!



Ideas

So, RJ has decided on the food for his party. It will be a variety. We will have hot dogs, hamburgers, Mexican bean dip.. I am thinking of the them "Love knows no boundaries". I have to play with it in my head some more, so we will see.

Here is a picture of a marshmallow gun here 
These were at a party my kids attended, They had tons of fun with them.
I have been web surfing, looking up other fun outdoor games. I want kids of all ages to have fun.

My goal for today was to clean up the backyard, but we had quite a bit of rain, so that did not happen. I am glad it rained, my lawn really needed it. It looks greener already.

I bought some mulch, and will be spreading that tomorrow in the back. The party is in a week, and I really want the house to look nice and put together ( there's a joke, with 6 boys between the ages of 8-17).

I will post pics hopefully with weekend of my accomplishments.

Adoption party!

As some of you know, we adopted one of our foster kiddos the end of June.  Due to work, hubby's National Guard duties, Boy scout and Cub scout camps, we are just now doing a party celebrating his adoption.

I have been looking at Pinterest and the internet for ideas, but nothing has really jumped out at me. Most the ideas are based on girls and younger kids. RJ is 11. I want it to be age appropriate.

Then I had what I think is a good idea. I told RJ to decide what food he wants, and we will build the theme around that. I know I will buy pieces of PVC pipe for the kids to make marshmallow guns. I told him my thoughts, he seems happy with them. One idea was if we BBQ hamburgers/hot dogs, it can be an all American theme.  If he picks foods from around the world, we can use that and say, " love knows no boundaries". First things first, RJ has to pick out the menu.

The party will be the end of the month, just before school starts ( where has the summer gone already- I don't want it to start yet!)

I'll will have to begin looking up decoration ideas too. Think I'll head up to Hobby Lobby and check out their party supplies,along with PartyCity.

I will post my ideas later!

Catching up

     A lot has been going on here. The middle boys spent a week in Oregon at Camp Baldwin. They loved it. TJ  rode horses. He is now infatuated with them. They said there were lots of deer and chipmunks, and NO raccoons!
    My little FK should be leaving by next week. Next time I take a "short term" placement, I am going to put it in writing when the child needs to move by. My husband and I knew what we were getting into when we signed up, I am frustrated when things are not communicated correctly. We have another child that is slated to move in. He was our first placement. We said we wouldn't take him back, but sometimes Heavenly Father has other plans. We are planning on taking a week to ourselves to get things organized before school begins.
     Tomorrow Hubby is going to take the paperwork I have and enroll the younger two boys. Next week I need to call the high school and get things going to get them enrolled. I like that even though they will be in another school district ( we live on the border) the schools are closer, and get higher test scores.
    Hubby has his housing and everything lined up for school ( sigh of relief). The housing is the most stressful. He will be renting from the same gentleman as last year. Its close to the school, and he can walk everyday. He finally has a job here though. He is hoping that they will let him transfer or hold his spot until he returns. He will be home around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then not until April.
    My oldest will be  senior this year. Where has the time gone? It doesn't feel like its been almost 18 years. He and my husband will both be graduating college about the same time ( how funny is that) and son#2 will be graduating a few months after.
    My three new hens are doing well. They are still kind of skittish, but are slowly warming up. One laid an egg today. It is small and white- close to the size of a golf ball. I cant believe its August already. I am not ready for summer to be over yet. We will be going to wildwaves in a few weeks. The kids are excited to  go. It will be fun. I have to work tomorrow, so I need to hit the rack .