Naptime Activity:
Attempting to make Almond Milk.
Turns out that we added too much vanilla making it hard to enjoy.
We'll have to give it another go sometime because having the ability to make (great tasting) almond milk from food storage supplies would be great!
This blow up pool has been awesome for outside entertainment and cooling off!
Enjoying some Family Friday Fun at the not-so-local pool up in Eagle.
Once the boys got a taste of that blue twirly water slide that was all they wanted to do!
We did a random experiment out in the backyard making a volcanoe with baking soda and red colored vinegar.
This is the face of a boy who has been soaking up the opportunity to earn his own money.
We were debating about whether to start giving Duncan an allowance or not and after doing some pondering and reading up on it decided against it. However, we still wanted him to be able to have his own money that he could buy what he wanted with and learn about tithing.
So, we invented Pay Jobs.
When Duncan's Family Jobs are all taken care of for the day, he can do jobs from the Pay Job list. So far he's mainly done weeding along with vacuuming out the cars (with some help and teaching on our part of course).
I wish I had taken a picture of him when we first introduced this idea of Pay Jobs to him. I remember it was a rainy day and he had thrown on his snow coat and took off filling his bucket with weeds in the rain.
This is Duncan's thrift store find that he bought with his own money:
A brand new Jeep Wrangler toy with all the details found on the real deal.
The wheels move, the hood pops to reveal the engine, and there are even little tiny bright orange seat belt buttons for those imaginary passengers to use.
This particular toy ranges from $35 to $50 online and he found it in mint condition from the thrift store for $4 dollars (the box was a little hashed and open but the jeep had never been removed).
The best part for us, besides being able to teach our children the value of work, is that when we go to the store and the begging starts for this candy or that toy - we can end it all with one question:
"Did you bring your money?!"
We have a family, or should I say an older couple, in our ward who are brilliantly fun!
For example:
meet The Gray's Family Fun Bus -
complete with a flat screen TV installed in the front!
This bus was bought to take their family and friends on boating trips, up to the mountains skiing, or to lend to anyone else for a good cause.
Bobby borrowed it take all the young men, young women, and leaders to do a service project.
It was early in the morning when he brought it home to get ready but you can see that the boys were excited to have this in our driveway. Bobby took them on a short ride around the the circle just before he left which made for even happier boys.
Banana Bread in the Sun Oven!
My aunt inspired me to make this when she posted on Facebook that she had just made some in her Sun Oven. It was tasty and we didn't have to heat up our house with the oven on for an hour!
Duncan and Charlie were invited to the neighbor boy's birthday part held at Jump Time.
We didn't get a lot of pictures of Duncan because he was always on the run with the party gang but we did get some of Charlie.
This is what happens when you sit down to read a book and you missed your afternoon nap.
Snack time...Popcorn!
We did some play-doh outside in the backyard and had a good time.
By the end, Duncan had made a blow dart gun thingy and Charlie was slicing and dicing everything with his plastic knife.
They are boys through and through!
We successfully switched Charlie from the crib to a bed!
This is his first naptime in his new bed...he never once left his bed or room with his new-found freedom. Yes!
More pool time.
Another Naptime Activity: doing a puzzle together.
I couldn't pick my favorite Duncan face so bear with me.
Another Friday Family Fun night:
a Park Pizza Picnic.
(I promise I don't have a rule about using alliterations at every possible moment...it just worked out that way :)
After doing A LOT of yard work, we exposed the boys to water balloons.
We had a nice assembly line going too: Duncan stretched the balloons out, Bobby filled them up, I tied them off, and Charlie delicately threw them into the bucket (most of the time).
It definitely takes a lot longer to fill a bucket with water balloons than it does to throw them.
Happy Father's Day!
We made Bobby a candy bar poster (something I remember doing as a child) and the boys gave Bobby a Groupon for a 60 minute Archery class. Those thoughtful boys also got one for me so that we could go on a date! ;)
We had yummy steak, our favorite broiled potatoes, and corn on the cob for Father's Day Dinner, with Root Beer Floats to finish it off.
Catching this little monkey sprawled on the floor helping his imagination grow.
Meat Loaf in the Sun Oven!
Here we have Charlie and a potato bug...in his belly button.
Our garden is growing!
It's a good thing we took these pictures when we did, when we got back from Bear Lake the next week, everything was wilting and struggling from the heat and lack of water. Hopefully, we can hold onto our budding green thumbs.
Silly boys - getting their energy out so they can be all calm and focused for FHE (hah) :)
Bobby took an hour off of work and we all went to my Dr's appt. downtown to find out the gender of our baby. Duncan had a dream a couple months prior where Bobby was holding a little baby girl at the kitchen table so he was pretty sure he knew already. In fact, these are his exact words,
"I know it's a girl, I think."
The appt. ended up being kind of long with all the measurements and things to discuss. About a half hour in Charlie said, "I don't like this movie". Finally, towards the end of the appt., we got the news that...it's a girl!
We celebrated finding out more about this special little baby and being together by getting some posh (insert pricey, non-GMO, preservative free) doughnuts at the closest doughnut shop we could find. They sure were tasty though!
The boys started swimming lessons!
They have loved getting to know their teacher Kristine and learning the potential of fun and play that water has to offer. And I have loved that these lessons were right around the corner from our house and the fact that the lessons were one-on-one. I also got in the pool with them during each lesson to help whichever child wasn't getting taught right then.
Duncan's holding up a quarter in this picture that his teacher gave him (she was having her students dive for quarters that day), and with Duncan's new understanding of money he was pretty stoked to get a quarter GIVEN to him. :)
Bobby's work moved locations and we hadn't been in to see his new place yet. so we took a little field trip at the end of his work day to get a tour.
Some impromptu Couch Olympics going on...
And to close June's post up I have funny little quote from Duncan:
I was sitting at the computer doing something and Duncan came up and asked,
"What would you do if you had a goat?"
I tried not to laugh at his random question and proceeded to answer him but wondered where that came from. The next day, I got an e-mail newsletter from Babycenter.com 'informing' me about "our 5 year old's development":
Questions, questions
"What if" questions are a favorite now as your child's busy brain works through the principle of cause and effect. Now that he's figured out how things work in his everyday world, he's thinking through the variables and also trying to fit in the new information he comes across. Help him out by responding seriously to such questions. And ask a few of your own to watch the wheels in his head spin.
Right on schedule with that one!
