June wreath

I do love a good recycling project.  This wreath goes from this:

to this:

Inspiration pic

 Supplies:

• wreath (or a pizza box) $price of large pizza
• double-sided scrapbook paper $13 for 36 sheets on Amazon one girl in our group used double-sided wrapping paper.  It looked awesome.
• buttons or brads 
• ribbon

For a 12" wreath, you will need 10-5" squares.  My wreath was closer to 14", and I used 18-4.5" squares.

Total: $13 or less

1) Draw two circles on the pizza box to make a wreath.

 2) Cut out wreath.

 3) Paint wreath a pretty color.

I did mine front and back so it would look good from the inside of the door, too.

4) Cut paper into squares.  My paper was 8" square, so each sheet made 4-4.5" squares.

5) Make pinwheels.  In case you have forgotten how, here's a link.  Basically, you cut in about halfway at the corners towards the center.  Then pick one side of the cut and fold it into the center.  Do the same to all four sides.

6) If you are using brads, put the brad through the center of the pinwheel.  If you are using buttons, glue the button to the center of the pinwheel.

7) Glue the pinwheels to the wreath.  If you are using brads and a foam wreath, you can just stick the brads into the wreath.  I still recommend painting the wreath before hand, since some of it will show through.  It still might not be a bad idea to add some glue as well, since that will make it much more permanent.

8) Add ribbon and hang.

Chocolate Factory

As a celebration of the ending of Seminary and Memorial Day, we decided to go to Hershey, PA and the chocolate factory.  The Captain got a Curious George book from the library in which said monkey went to a chocolate factory and it gave me the idea.  We are only about 5 1/2 hours away, and not likely to get any closer, and since we're trying to take advantage of our East Coast positioning, it seemed like a good mini-trip.  We left Saturday afternoon and stayed in Harrisburg, PA.  I really like Pennsylvania and Harrisburg was beautiful.  Here's a crappy picture of a beautiful skyline:

There were lots of cool bridges, too.

There was an Arts Fair that weekend, so on Sunday after church we took a walk by the river, right by our hotel and saw the art show.

On our walk, two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and The Captain chose the one more traveled that day.

 And it made all the difference because otherwise we wouldn't have seen this squirrel.  

Here he is all hot and tired after our long walk.

On Monday we headed to Hershey's Chocolate World.  I recommend going early because it wasn't very crowded at all.  We went on the free ride that explains how chocolate is made.  I think that was The Captain's favorite thing of the day.  And since Joy fell asleep during it, it was pretty nice for us, too.  

The Captain got to be a worker and package his own Kisses

We learned the art of chocolate tasting

and got a chocolate bar at the end.

And we got to design our own chocolate bars.  

This was supposed to be the highlight of the day, but The Captain would have none of it at first because in order to go in, you had to wear a hairnet and apron.

You would never guess from that cute little sheepish grin that he had to be carried kicking and screaming OUT of the chocolate factory.  The sweet ladies trying to convince him to come in were at the end of the experience when we actually went through a few hours later.  They recognized The Captain's name and were so happy he made it through.  They told him he did a good job and they were glad to see him.  

Our chocolate on the assembly line.

The Captain watching his being made.

Early Engineering lesson?

Just add chocolate . . . 

And sprinkles, of course.

And for lunch, we had pizza with chocolate sauce because we were at a chocolate factory, after all.

Then we bought A LOT of chocolate, went on the free ride one more time, and headed back home.  All in all a good time.  And apparently the amusement park there is super fun, too.  Maybe next year . . . 

Happy Father's Day

I don't say it often enough publicly, but I love my husband.

Our history would make a compelling and potentially popular and profitable Young Adult novel, which Johnny would never read because he hates them.  But it could also be a biography, which he might be induced to read.

Let's face it, even though there weren't exactly suitors knocking down my door in college (luckily), I still didn't have to say yes to his proposal.  But the truth is, he's my favorite friend, he's my longest friend, and I always want him in my life.  I stand by what I said the day we decided to get married when he asked me if I could love him forever--I know I love him today, I know I'll love him tomorrow, and next week, and a year from now, so eternity will take care of itself.  I didn't realize at the time that I'd love him more and more the closer we got.

I feel very lucky to have him, and I think genetics agree with me.  He made some pretty cute babies.

Happy Father's Day, Johnny!

Crawling

Here are some videos of Joy crawling.  She actually started crawling before I posted the pre-crawling picture series, so it's been a few weeks and she's getting pretty good at it, and a lot speedier too.

She's also pulling up on things and opening bottom drawers.  Just when I thought it was finally safe to start putting things back in them . . .

Another Joy note, I have further nicknamed her Crusader of Chaos because she zealously seeks to destroy any semblance of order she can find.  I am making a rug for her room that I saw on Pinterest, of course, and it requires thousands of 1"x2" fabric strips.  I've been cutting up old shirts and all the leftovers and unusable bits were in the garbage.  In about 1 minute flat an unattended Joy had not only emptied the garbage, but effectively distributed it in pure entropic fashion about the room.  I'm not sure she's ever been happier.

Crafts!

So I randomly got a parenting magazine in the mail the other day.  I haven't gotten one in a year.  They sent it to the address we used when we first moved here two years ago, despite the fact that they have my current address on their website.  I am very confused by this, but I read it anyway.  

I'm not a big fan of parenting magazines.  I feel like their just a venue for advertisements and paranoia-inducing articles instead of actual tips and advice.  But I read it anyway.  And I actually found some cute craft ideas.  So I made one. . . with a little help, of course.  

It's rock labels for my herb garden.

1) pick some large-ish flat rocks.  We hunted them out of the stream bed.  I left the baby at the top of the stream bed, at a safe distance, on a blanket, and someone called the cops because they couldn't see me hunting rocks below the road.  Silly people.  Luckily, it wasn't hard to explain.  

2) Paint the rocks black.  Or any color.

3) cut out some fabric to fit the tops of the rocks
4) Write the names of the plants on the fabric.

5) glue the fabric on the rocks

6) spray the rock with clear veneer and place them in your garden.

As you can see, I already have plenty of rocks in my garden.  This is because when these beds were made, the owners laid down gravel and then dirt, so when we tilled everything, it all mixed together.  Yuck.  But anyway, now I don't have to rely on those silly little paper tabs to tell me what is growing where.  And I discovered that the cutest words The Captain can say are "wibbly wobbly".

Visitors!!!

In the middle of May, my beautiful sister and her family came to visit. 

We were very excited to have visitors (and if your own travels take you to anywhere round these parts, we'd love to have you), and we tried to show them a good time.  

I tried to be on my best behavior.  The house was mostly clean.  I actually planned meals so we ate lots of yummy food.  We played games.  And we did our best to keep three little boys and 2 babies entertained.   While I can't recommend having 5 children 3 and under, I will say it is much easier with 2 Mommies around. When the husbands joined us we were almost evenly matched.  And if you take mobility into account, we were definitely outnumbering the runners.  It was nice to have a few extra hands around, and hopefully my sister felt the same.

Here's some of the things we did.

Made cookies for Grandma who just had surgery.

Notice the flour on the face.

We may have also eaten some dough . . . 

We played laser tag for FHE.

Here's me taking cheap shots at the little guys.

It's okay because Johnny, who was supposed to be fixing the computer issues and taking pictures, was actually also taking cheap shots at all of us, too.

Unfortunately, it was rainy and cold almost the whole time they were here.  So, the boys played in the mud (notice the middle one's hair, which had not been washed at all when this picture was taken), and got cleaned up afterwards.   

Now you may know from reading this blog that The Captain does not like taking baths.  My most recent trick has been to do "rub-a-dub-dub two kids in the tub", which is where both kiddos take a bath at the same time.  It is much faster and easier for me, and because it's not called "Bath time" The Captain loves it.  So you can imagine his delight at "rub-a-dub-dub three kids in the tub"  although I think it got a little crowded in there.  

I mentioned the rain, so I was a little worried that we wouldn't have anything fun to do Monday and Tuesday.  My sister, unlike myself, does not like to stay at home all day, and with this many wiggle-worms, I couldn't blame her.  So thanks to Johnny, we were reminded of Chuck E. Cheese and it seemed like a perfect idea.  It took us awhile to find, and when we did it looked like it was closed and under construction. Luckily, I found a sign that suggested they were still operational and we found the entrance.  Sure enough, they were open and we practically had the place to ourselves.  It was amazing.  But I forgot to bring the camera.  

Tuesday was better weather, but we had so much fun on Monday that we decided to give the boys a choice:  the zoo, or Chuck E. Cheese again.  This is a pretty good representation of their response--

So we went to Chuck E. Cheese two days in a row.  And this time I remembered the camera.  But we forgot one of the baby carriers, so it got a little complicated.  Also it was much more crowded because of a few summer bible school groups that were already there.  So not as much fun for us the second day, but it was worth it for the pictures, right?

This monster truck was a big hit with the boys.

And all three could ride at once.  

But it wasn't the favorite.  The favorite ride was this one.  It's like a simulator for kids.  You buckle in and then it moves up and down and vibrates with whatever is going on on the screen.  This guy loved it so much, he mooched rides off of strangers.

The best part for us was the screen on top of the ride that showed you their sweet expressions while they are rocking and vibrating and watching the show. 

We always saved one last token to use on this ride for all three boys right before we left.  

But it wasn't all fun and games.  My sister also got to witness the black hole sleep phenomenon which occurs at our house, where for some reason our location sucks the ability to sleep out of any children.  Because I was on my best behavior, I tried to counteract this by instigating "pajama parties", where everyone would get into their pajamas as fast as they could and meet in the kitchen for a treat.  It seemed to work.

I was worried that The Captain would be disappointed that we weren't going to Chuck E. Cheese every day from now on.  

But he has only asked about going a few times, and only recently.  What he really wants are pajama parties every night.  I think it might be a small sacrifice for a little sleep around here.