The end of summer is quickly approaching and this week in particular flew by. We kicked off the week by inviting our cousin Katie (who will be going into 3rd grade although she is just six weeks older than Maddie, that’s what you get when you have an August and a September birthday!) over for a sleepover. She was a total angel and even played “First Communion” to get Maddie excited for her upcoming sacrament. We treated Katie and ourselves to a little Jamba Juice action then walked around Centennial Lakes and jumped ahead to next week when we sat in the Gazebo. Katie in particular really liked the place and said she enjoyed how calm it was with the classical music playing and thanked us for taking her there, like I said, a real angel. However, she is an angel who sleeps like nobody’s business. The morning after the sleepover we were scheduled to have a new gas line put in to replace our old one and they moved the gas meter from inside the house to outside (oh the joy of living in an old house!). I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when they pulled the tractor right into my precious green grass and tore it right up. I had been seeding and watering the lawn for at least five week. The words I used under my breath were not in the least bit kind. I am glad that I kept them to myself and didn’t say them aloud given the fact that these men were working with our gas line!!!!
Back to Katie, the kid slept so hard that she didn’t even awake to the jack hammering right outside the window. I tried to wake her up so I could bring the kids to Perkins for breakfast. Even though they said the work was perfectly safe, I just thought I’d feel better not being there, what with at least three gas related explosions within 5 miles of our house over the past two years and all….but Katie slept and there were no problem. I guess the angels heard my prayers and protected us that and we had a really competent crew doing the work. Maybe they were the angels, you never know about these things.
I canceled next week’s craft camp because it was scheduled during our school orientation time so this week’s was the very last craft camp of 2011. We had only 2 kids and 1 helper show up, most folks were AWOL at the State Fair which was fine by me because it was kind of nice to have it be a low key event.The kids worked on kindness coins based on our trip to Tucson, Arizona. While we were visiting my Uncle Tom at his darling ooo! store right next to the University of Arizona, we stumbled upon this wonderful little courtyard with a blue water fountain and painting stations set up for anyone passing by to paint bells for wind chimes that are handed out every April to unsuspecting folks around town. The idea is to pay homage to a little boy named Ben who died at a very young age. The organization is called Ben’s Bells. If you are the recipient of such a kind act you are simply asked to spread as much kindness as you possibly can. Ben’s Bells also sells ceramic “Kindness Coins” which you’re supposed to spend when you see someone doing something kind. You give them the coin and tell them that you saw them doing something kind and now it’s there turn to pass it on when they see someone doing something kind.
Using Pluffy clay, the kids rolled it out and used cookie cutters in the shape of a little flower or a heart then we pushed the end of a straw into the middle of it to give it a hole to place a ribbon to connect a piece of paper that said, “I saw you do something kind. Please pass this coin on when you see someone do something kind.” Then at the bottom of the paper was a quote like this one: “Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” ~James Matthew Barrie and this blog address. I baked the shapes for 15 minutes at 250 degrees and then they painted them after they cooled.
While we waited for the coins to bake, we prepared for the Smiley Face party by filling dozens of yellow water balloons. It was tricky to tie them off, but I finally got the hang of it. It was a big watery mess and the kids loved it!
The girls also worked on Goofy Glittery Glasses to honor next week’s letter “G”. This craft was fun to do but was a total flop and the glasses didn’t work to well other than everyone looked like Elton John.
We made HUGE progress this week on ALL of our outdoor projects and I’m filled with joy to announce that we are all done with the garage and driveway as it was approved by the city inspector. The porchio (patio + porch: thanks Jen B. for the name) was finished thanks in great part to all of the help of neighbor boy Brandon and our buddy Fletcher who both had previous experience with patio pavers. Our friend Aly came over and stained the inside of the swing set and kept an eye on the baby while I ran a few errands. I thanked the kids by buying them all lunch from Jimmy Johns.
One of my errands was to return eight pieces of particle boards to Menard’s. Speaking of Menard’s I made great friends with Ashinta at the Customer Service return desk, Justin, and Kevin who helped me haul all the crap I bought and returned. I must have looked like a real jack ass carrying them in the van. Every time I stopped they pushed the back door open. I could only drive 15 miles an hour and had to cling to the stupid OSB. Luckily I was able to take side streets nearly the who way there and only had to stop five times to push it back in. Of course, I found our rope and bungie cords later in the week in the basement where many of the contents of our garage have been stored all summer.
Speaking of storage, we finally moved all of our junk out of our neighbor Katie’s garage. She and her husband Paul were so kind to allow us to put so much of our crap in their garage nearly all summer long. It’s been really nice to finally have all of our stuff in our own garage and to finally start biking around town. The baby finally got to use her little red Radio Flyer bike that we gave her for Christmas. She loves it and loves to zip up and down the driveway.
We finally made it to Sebastian Joe’s which is one of my favorite ice cream places. I wanted to go during our “S” week but never got a chance. We went to the Linden Hills location and despite her lactose sensitivity, I gave in and let the baby eat a whole cone by herself. The next day is never pretty but it was worth it in her eyes. There was a lady sitting at the table next to us who looked at Angie and said, “She is doing justice to the ice cream cone, justice.” I thought that was pretty funny.
After we finished our cones and hosed off the baby, we walked down to the Bibelot (where I used to sell my Meal Magnets) and Creative Kid’s Stuff in search of a new umbrella for those rainy days at the bus stop. We found rainbow colored umbrellas (in honor of next week…at the end Alphabet Summer the whole thing turns into a big mish mash of letters as we’re trying to get it all done kind of like the grand finale of a fireworks show). So now we’re all set for those worm filled street days coming up.
I canceled next week’s craft camp because it was scheduled during our school orientation time so this week’s was the very last craft camp of 2011. We had only 2 kids and 1 helper show up, most folks were AWOL at the State Fair which was fine by me because it was kind of nice to have it be a low key event.The kids worked on kindness coins based on our trip to Tucson, Arizona. While we were visiting my Uncle Tom at his darling ooo! store right next to the University of Arizona, we stumbled upon this wonderful little courtyard with a blue water fountain and painting stations set up for anyone passing by to paint bells for wind chimes that are handed out every April to unsuspecting folks around town. The idea is to pay homage to a little boy named Ben who died at a very young age. The organization is called Ben’s Bells. If you are the recipient of such a kind act you are simply asked to spread as much kindness as you possibly can. Ben’s Bells also sells ceramic “Kindness Coins” which you’re supposed to spend when you see someone doing something kind. You give them the coin and tell them that you saw them doing something kind and now it’s there turn to pass it on when they see someone doing something kind.
Using Pluffy clay, the kids rolled it out and used cookie cutters in the shape of a little flower or a heart then we pushed the end of a straw into the middle of it to give it a hole to place a ribbon to connect a piece of paper that said, “I saw you do something kind. Please pass this coin on when you see someone do something kind.” Then at the bottom of the paper was a quote like this one: “Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” ~James Matthew Barrie and this blog address. I baked the shapes for 15 minutes at 250 degrees and then they painted them after they cooled.
While we waited for the coins to bake, we prepared for the Smiley Face party by filling dozens of yellow water balloons. It was tricky to tie them off, but I finally got the hang of it. It was a big watery mess and the kids loved it!
The girls also worked on Goofy Glittery Glasses to honor next week’s letter “G”. This craft was fun to do but was a total flop and the glasses didn’t work to well other than everyone looked like Elton John.
We made HUGE progress this week on ALL of our outdoor projects and I’m filled with joy to announce that we are all done with the garage and driveway as it was approved by the city inspector. The porchio (patio + porch: thanks Jen B. for the name) was finished thanks in great part to all of the help of neighbor boy Brandon and our buddy Fletcher who both had previous experience with patio pavers. Our friend Aly came over and stained the inside of the swing set and kept an eye on the baby while I ran a few errands. I thanked the kids by buying them all lunch from Jimmy Johns.
One of my errands was to return eight pieces of particle boards to Menard’s. Speaking of Menard’s I made great friends with Ashinta at the Customer Service return desk, Justin, and Kevin who helped me haul all the crap I bought and returned. I must have looked like a real jack ass carrying them in the van. Every time I stopped they pushed the back door open. I could only drive 15 miles an hour and had to cling to the stupid OSB. Luckily I was able to take side streets nearly the who way there and only had to stop five times to push it back in. Of course, I found our rope and bungie cords later in the week in the basement where many of the contents of our garage have been stored all summer.
Speaking of storage, we finally moved all of our junk out of our neighbor Katie’s garage. She and her husband Paul were so kind to allow us to put so much of our crap in their garage nearly all summer long. It’s been really nice to finally have all of our stuff in our own garage and to finally start biking around town. The baby finally got to use her little red Radio Flyer bike that we gave her for Christmas. She loves it and loves to zip up and down the driveway.
We finally made it to Sebastian Joe’s which is one of my favorite ice cream places. I wanted to go during our “S” week but never got a chance. We went to the Linden Hills location and despite her lactose sensitivity, I gave in and let the baby eat a whole cone by herself. The next day is never pretty but it was worth it in her eyes. There was a lady sitting at the table next to us who looked at Angie and said, “She is doing justice to the ice cream cone, justice.” I thought that was pretty funny.
After we finished our cones and hosed off the baby, we walked down to the Bibelot (where I used to sell my Meal Magnets) and Creative Kid’s Stuff in search of a new umbrella for those rainy days at the bus stop. We found rainbow colored umbrellas (in honor of next week…at the end Alphabet Summer the whole thing turns into a big mish mash of letters as we’re trying to get it all done kind of like the grand finale of a fireworks show). So now we’re all set for those worm filled street days coming up.
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