When we had our trees taken down in the backyard, we had trucks and bobcats in and out of the backyard. In order to make that possible, one of the fences on the side of the house had to be removed. The old fence couldn’t be put back into its old place, so Jake and a friend of his spent the day building a new fence so our kids and dogs stay contained 🙂
Our friend, Jeanne, came over to give me a bit of a break (and play with the kids.) I was able to get the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned up while they built this in the sandbox:
Second day of painting outside. This time the boys used teamwork to paint the table. They started on opposite ends and met in the middle. And then to top it off, we put the kids’ hand and footprints on the table top. They had so much fun – and the final product turned out great! Our driveway also got its own fresh new look 🙂
I woke up from my regularly scheduled nap on the couch and the toy room was incredibly quiet. I went looking for Nolan, who I normally can hear while I’m resting. Here’s where I found him:
We had a break from the heat & humidity, so I took the boys out on the driveway to paint their chairs. We designated a tshirt and shorts for each of them as their new “paint clothes” and they took it from there. Nolan chose to use multiple colors and cover his entire chair, while Lincoln kept going back to his trusty red 🙂 Once they were done, we placed their handprints on the seats as a reminder of whose chair is whose. Up next…the table.
My mom wasn’t feeling well on my dad’s actual birthday, so we delayed the celebration by a couple of days. We had a delicious dinner, complete with pulled pork sandwiches, multiple salads, and of course cake, provided by our family friend, Teri. (She makes an amazing rum cake.) The boys once again were candle blowing assistants for Papa.
Jake and I made a trip to Ikea for a new TV stand and ended up coming home with a table and chairs for the boys as well. We picked out an unfinished set that we plan on having the boys paint. Before they can do that though, assembly was required.
The boys and I brought balloons and cake to the office today to celebrate my dad’s birthday. Lincoln picked out the fish balloon as well as the “over the hill” balloon. (I guess that one was kind of appropriate since this year was a “milestone” birthday. The kids put the candles in the cake and also helped Papa blow them out. (Actually, I don’t think my dad had a chance to blow them out – the kids know what they’re doing when it comes to extinguishing cake candles 🙂
While I was getting breakfast ready for the boys, they pulled out the cold cereal they wanted from the pantry. As a side note…my kids don’t like to eat just one type of cereal. They prefer to MIX multiple kinds together. Hot or cold, it doesn’t matter. They’ll ask for the cold cereal to mix into their oatmeal as well as create interesting concoctions of cold cereal & milk. Lincoln also likes to add in raisins.
Anyway, this morning, while my back was away from the dining room, Nolan made a cereal box tower on the table. If he doesn’t end up being some kind of engineer, I’ll be completely surprised.
The annual cousins’ gathering at Nissedalen was a bit smaller than in years past, but we definitely weren’t missing any food or fun. The weather was perfect! We did have a short rain delay, causing us all to head inside the main cabin, but we played the games Kristin organized (minute to win it style) to pass the time. The boys had a blast, but that probably goes without saying. Lincoln loved jumping off of the dock and Nolan had fun being pulled on the tube.
