Wordless Wednesday

{If I had to pick one picture of each of my kids to display their personalities as best as I could, these would probably do it.}

I swear...

There are some things I really wish I didn't have to learn the hard way.

Like how difficult it is to scrub slug slime off a six year old boy's fingers.

And how uncomfortable it is mowing a lawn for 2 1/2 hours in 80 degree heat. In rubber boots. With no socks.

And that my daughter, getting drug (dragged?) across the lawn by a dog (she wouldn't let go of the dog's collar),  will cause grass stains, a rug burn type sore on her knee, and tear filled eyes, but that she'll still look up and say, "She didn't mean to hurt me, Mom" in the dog's defense.*

And that (after many tears and a thorough WebMD search) gasoline in my toddler's eyes will be irritating, but apparently will not cause any serious damage.*

*Once again I feel the need to remind you that I am not up for any Mother-of-the-Year awards. With good reason.

It's going to be "Father's-Fifteen-Minutes" instead of "Father's Day" around these parts...

At the risk of my husband spending the last half hour of his SUPER BUSY work day reading my blog (just the thought of that makes me laugh) I'm going to post pictures of the adorable card the kids and I made for him for Father's Day. We're going to have him open his presents and read his card right when he gets home this afternoon because we're headed to the lake for the weekend.

We had a huge sheet of poster board (left over from garage sale signs), some crayons, a sharpie and 20 minutes. This is what we came up with:

 I feel that it should be noted (because I'm type-A sometimes) that Natalie's hair is wet from a bath, not greasy. Okay, now that we're clear we can move things right along... Proceed.

On the very top I wrote out the verses (Psalm 127: 3-4): "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!"

This is what the kids wrote (what they love about their Daddy):

Natalie: He kills meat that tastes really good!

Carter: He  wrestles with me.

Jack: He always has gum and he always shares.

Natalie: Sometimes he brushes my hair and it never hurts when he does it.

Carter: He takes us camping and I LOVE camping!

Jack: He takes us hunting in the mountains!

Natalie: He always makes sure we're safe. It's really good to be safe.

Carter: He always reads to us in special voices, like the "huffs and puffs and blow your house down" book! That's the BEST!

Natalie: He prays with us a lot and that's really good.

Carter: He likes the Ducks more than the Beavers! JUST KIDDING! Bwahahaha!

Jack: He loves it when I wrestle him, but he traps me sometimes, and it's HARD to do trapping!

Carter: Daddy is a good Dad because he has really good kids... That's us. We're his kids - and we're good.

When he gets home we'll give him his card and gifts. The kids and I went and picked out a pair of Keen sandals (now I just need a pair!) for him, and Carter has a few gifts he made for him before school was out. I They can hardly wait for him to get home from work! It's adorable.

Our Summer Bucket List

We brainstormed (doesn't that word make you think of elementary school?) and made a few family goals for the summer. Fun goals - not work goals. Here are a few of them. Seriously can't wait to start checking them off!

- Picnic lunch at the "big park" at least 3 times.

 - Random trips to the beach (at least 2 times) - even if it ends up being just me and the kids in the middle of the week. It needs to happen.

 - OTTER POPS. Enough said.

 - Portland Zoo with Uncle Zach.

 - Blueberry picking at the local farm (at least 3 times) with our sunhats on and little buckets in hand. ($1/pound u-pick - can't beat it!)

 - BBQ corn on the cob. Can't wait to try it!

 - Campfires at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

- Newport Aquarium with the family.

- The kids spending a week in central Oregon with my Birth-Mom and her family. The kids and I look forward to this every summer!

- Splash water park with all three kids (Natalie and Carter got to go for their last day of school trip and they LOVED it - we can't wait to take Jack, too!).

- Jeff and I taking a weekend away somewhere to celebrate our 10 year anniversary - how can that be right?! 10 years. Wow.

- Help Grandpa with his garden and make lots of yummy salads out of all the veggies.

- Go running OUTSIDE while the kids ride their bikes alongside.

- Carter's 7th birthday party! Yay!

- Catch a "cheap theater" movie on a really hot evening with the whole family.

- Camping in La Pine (at least 2 times).

- Strawberry picking with my Mom. Oh, the memories this brings back!

What's on your family's Summer Bucket List this year?

Garage Sale? CHECK!

Wow.

What a crazy-busy weekend! After I (finally!) got off my tail-end and started on my freakishly long list of things to accomplish, I'm proud to say that I can officially take "garage sale" off our to-do list!

I stayed up until after midnight on Thursday (which is late for me - I know, I'm such a wild one) baking cookies for the kids to sell at the sale and then we got up at 5am on Friday to start setting everything out, which was a good idea because apparently people come early to garage sales. Especially when there's outdoor activities equipment (hunting, camping, hiking, etc.). I couldn't believe it! We were set to begin at 8am and hadn't even put out the signs yet (but we had advertised on Craigslist and the local paper) and we'd already made $150 by the time 8am on the first morning hit - CRAZINESS I tell you!

So, it was a super tiring weekend, but it was really wonderful at the same time. It was fun hanging out with my Jeff, and the kids plus my parents (who brought a ton of stuff to sell as well). The kids had a great time selling the cookies and they worked together wonderfully at the table. It was adorable.

Overall, it was a definite win-win. We got rid of a lot of extra stuff and people actually gave us money for it! Who knew!?

Oh, and since it is Monday and all I have this for you (because I might have caught my husband on camera as he was doing his best fat-guy-in-a-little-coat impression - you know, from "Tommy Boy" - while he was trying on one of the shirts my Dad brought to the sale). I know. You're welcome (Katherine!).

And of course I had to add one of the kids with their "cookie table." Because, well, obviously!

And there you have it. It was fun, we got rid of a TON of our junk stuff, and I hope to not have to do it again for a VERY long time. How was your weekend?

Procrastinating. Stalling. Generally avoiding all responsibility.

You know those days when your to-do list is SO LONG that you can hardly keep from falling apart and you don't even know where to begin, so you find yourself sitting at the computer writing a blog post that has no apparent focus because the whole point is simply avoiding the start of it all? Well, I do!

{You're shocked, I'm sure.}

Because we are absolutely crazy have a ton of stuff we don't NEED we're having a garage sale this weekend (because obviously we aren't busy enough already). We're combining all of our junk stuff with my parents' junk stuff and it's going to be a doozy. I've got a garage FULL of stuff to price out, a house that looks like we're having the sale right here in our living room, cookies to bake (for the kids to sell at the garage sale so they don't see us selling their stuff), and the list goes on and on and on (I've got lists to organize my lists).

I'll let you know how it all turns out. It's our first garage sale, but we're hopeful that it will be a great success. You know, assuming that at some point today I actually get off the computer and start on my list and all...


{Oh, and in honor of our garage sale, I thought I'd share with you our first FIND of the season - my Dad actually found them - he's my partner in crime when it comes to garage saling}:

Kid's Keen sandals. All three (practically brand new!) pairs for $12. UH-Mazing!

Wordless Wednesday