All Work and No Play, Not Here

Emily's is in mid air

Our arsenal

After working hard today, the kids wanted to have some fun so I pulled out a bag of water balloons I was saving for just such an occasion. We filled them up - okay I filled them up and tied every one of these gems - I have battle sores to show from all my work! Then, we headed to the front yard for our water balloon attack.  These crazy balloons did not pop on first contact but actually popped when they would hit the ground. Not to worry though the kids found other ways to get each other wet - squeeze the balloon until it pops.  I had them do a few face to face popping of the balloons just for photo ops (such a mom).  Matt spent most of his time attacking Emily from behind.  The kids had a lot of fun and even cleaned up all the balloon remnants from the lawn.  

We still have more balloons left from the package so another day may come where maybe I'll do a sneak attack on them.  :)

Face to face combat

Attack from behind

Job of the Day!

Today's job of the day was to clean out the garage and get it ready for the garage sale items currently "housed" in the basement. Our garage tends to be pretty empty except for the fact that Emily & Matt like to just step in the side door and drop all their items right there - as you can see by the before picture.  

We emptied out all the "stuff" and the kids made a keep and sell pile of all their outdoor "toys". Each helped with the sweeping of the garage and then we put everything back.  

After this job, we also cleaned out my car.  Its funny how the kids accumulate so many things in the pockets and crevices of the backseat.  Well, the car is cleaned out and even vacuumed.  Its nice to have these two things crossed off the to do list.  

Next up will be boxing up all of our garage sale items and bringing them to the garage - at least now there is a place for them!!

View from the side door

After view from side door

View from the front of the garage

A Day of the Unexpected

Birthday Party Time

The Guests of Honor

If you know me well, you know that I'm an extremely organized person. Okay, I know some of you are laughing saying that it is more like OCD.  Its okay, I embrace that I'm a little hyper vigilant when it comes to being organized.

Today was a day that started out well. I was making great progress completing my list of morning tasks and even adjusted easily to Matt's request of having a birthday party for his new angry bird, Ice Bird.  He wanted a pancake with a candle in it for the celebration but we decided on a cookie instead.  Fortunately, I had a box of cookie dough in the freezer.  After a 20 minute thaw, we popped them in the oven to bake.  While they baked, we made and sat down to eat lunch.  

This is when the 30 minutes of mayhem started.  First, Matt sat down and decided to include all of his "friends" which lead to him spilling his juice not only on the eating bar/pass through but down to the floor in the dining room.  We got that cleaned up and decided that "friends" need to be on the bar stools only.  After making some ice tea, I filled Matt's cup and sure enough he spilled that glass too.....clean-up in the dining room!!!  Yes, I did recall the many times I spilled my own ice tea at dinner and did have some empathy but asked that in the future instead of just looking at the drink flowing all over or waiting for my reaction could we please get up and try and stop it with paper towels.  

After lunch, it was party time.  The cookies were ready!  Emily wanted to use her tea set for the birthday party which now included us celebrating her red panda, Asia's, birthday too!!  I asked them to bring me the plates for the cookies.  Then, I heard it.  CRASH!!  Emily dropped the plates and 3  broke.....time for the vacuum (this happened in Matt's room). Once that was cleaned up, we finally got to have the party. 

Everyone had a cookie (on a napkin) and the guests of honor had candles too.  The only rule was two cookies could be eaten by humans. :)

It ended up being a nice little impromptu party proceeded by mayhem. Oh, and I've been informed tomorrow it is Emily's peacock, Tasha's, birthday.  I have a feeling there are going to be many more birthday celebrations before the summer ends.  Hopefully, less mayhem will proceed any future celebrations!

Treats with Dad

Adding the cream cheese

Its been a while since Emily and Dave have had a "treat" making time together but that changed tonight.

Emily LOVES cheesecake and while we were in TN she chose a cheesecake mix at one of the shops we visited. Finally, we had all the ingredients needed in order to make it. So tonight they had their time "cooking" in the kitchen.

I was amazed watching Emily use the mixer and wield the spatula....it was another reminder that she is so growing up.

Tomorrow night we will share in the treat they've created - Key Lime Cheesecake.

Scooping in the Cool Whip

The finished product!

Six Flags Fun

The Spoils of the Day

Today Dave surprised me by taking the kids to Six Flags by himself. 

The original plan was that we would all go but Dave knows I'm not a big fan of amusement parks. Also, having had the kids home all summer he thought "a day off" for me was appropriate.

They headed out around 9:30 and returned around 5:30.  There were two times during the day when it rained and the rides were shut down temporarily but they made due with those moments.  As always, they played games..... Emily won the blue giraffe and Matt the Angry Bird (he is so obsessed with them).  

I personally love the little containers that their lunch was served in. This organizing mom can make use of those!!  :)  

Oh and I forgot to mention that the kids each received a free ticket for the amusement park  by participating in a reading program this past school year.  What was even better is that their ticket allowed for the purchase of an adult ticket at half price.  You have to love and expensive outing being majorly discounted!!  

Today was definitely a good day had by all! 

Reading Selections

Emily's Selections

I can tell my kids are growing up just by the books they selected from the library. 

Emily is now reading chapter books. She was so thrilled to find this book "Charlotte in Paris".  If you know Emily, you know how much she loves Paris!!! She already asked if we can purchase more books from the Beacon Street Girls series. I told her when she gets through reading this book from the library we will discuss it further. Now the "Little House in the Big Woods" book was one that I chose for her.  I told her how this was one of the books in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series that I read when I was her age.  She looked at it and took it somewhat reluctantly.  I am happy to say though that last night after reading a few pages she said how much she likes it and can't wait to read "Little House on the Prairie".

Matt's selections are a little less challenging but so him.  Although he chose "The Eye Book" first, last night he told me that he likes "Ten Apple Up on Top" better.  

Me, I am just happy that the kids tend to enjoy reading.  They have a month before needing to return them so we will see how far Emily gets with her books.  Matt, he'll be ready for new books for sure.  

Matt's Selections

Checking out the Library

Looking for something to read

On Friday, the kids and I headed to our local library.   It was closed at the beginning of the summer due to some renovations and officially opened just last weekend.  

The kids looked through their areas and each found two books to check out with their own library cards.

I have to say that our trip to the library was part of my strategic "plan" to get a few more stops in that I needed to do before we headed home for the day.  You see getting books and a slur-pee (from our local QuickCheck) just makes it easier for Emily & Matt to go along for the ride.  

I must say we got everything done and without complaint. The library was all part of the plan.

Checking out their selections

A Helping Hand

A Girl's Backpack

With the economy being the way that it is,  employment being unstable and people struggling to provide basic needs, we are trying to find opportunities to teach Emily and Matt just how blessed we are.  

The company that Dave is consulting for is participating in a outreach program called Operation Backpack.  You are given a school supply list for a child in a grade of your choosing and fill a backpack with the needed supplies.  The backpacks will be collected and then distributed to needy NYC children on their first day of school.

It was Emily who chose that our backpack be for a PreK/Kindergarten child. We later decided that it would be for a girl.

We are hoping that she will enjoy and get great use out of the items we have provided. 

Back to Blogging

Ocean Grove, NJ

We have been having an awesome summer so far.  The last quarter of school was pretty rough.  A lot of work and tough!!  I was looking forward to summer break as much as the kids.  

So, you've probably noticed that I stopped blogging for over 2 months.  Some of that was due to the busyness of school and then just trying to decided how much time I wanted to spend on social media.

Well, I've come up with an answer.  It seems that my fascination with Facebook has lessened and I have been able to pull back quite a bit from it.  I do feel that I've lost touch with family and keeping you informed as to what is happening with the kids - even though most of the time I'm unsure as to if the blog is even being read (hint!!! a comment every now and then would be nice). 

This all being said I've decided to start the family blog again and I am also doing a blog for my crafting "business" ...... alwaysputtogether.blogspot.com.  This way I have one dedicated to family happenings and the other to my guilty pleasure of crafting. 

So, this is a new day!!! I cannot promise a post a day but I do plan to be more consistent in keeping you all updated!