Nature Hunt

To swap the cousins back, we met at the park for "free lunch in the park".

Amber, Daisylyn and Sterling joined us too.

Plan A- A hike (not stroller friendly).

Plan B- A nature hunt on the Boise River Greenbelt (stroller friendly).

After lunch, we gathered the kids and I explained our activity. I gave them a list of items to find along the way; bottle cap, soda can, moss, wild flower, bug, heart-shaped rock, 3 leaf clover, pine needle, gum wrapper, etc. Any trash/garbage picked up was "bonus points" (we weren't really tracking points, but wanted to help make the Greenbelt more beautiful). Then I partnered up the kids (readers with non-readers) and handed them a bag for their treasures/trash.

And they we're off!

Lizzy took having Treyson as a partner very seriously. She wouldn't let him out of her sight and they worked side-by-side beautifully. So cute!

Her bag was for their "treasures" and his was for the "trash".

Half way through, we took a little break in the shade.

Daisylyn liked to pick the bark off the tree.

Finally, we made it back to the park. We didn't find EVERYTHING on our list, but did find some interesting things; flashing light thingy, jar of fishing bait, plastic caps, all sorts of cans, heart-shaped rocks, and more. The kids picked out their favorite thing to show me, while everything else was thrown away. :)

It was a fun way to take a walk and enjoy nature.

PS-I feel compelled to say that on Wednesday, we went to a movie with cousins too ("Soul Surfer")and then met Karen, Audrey, Katelyn and Sydney at the park for lunch. Didn't have the camera with me that day. :)

Hodgepodge

We did an overnight cousin-swap.

Jackson and Micaela came to our house and Abree went to theirs.

It was getting close to that time... the time where I should figure out what's for dinner. I hadn't made a plan and truthfully really hadn't cooked dinner consistently, since the kids have been out of school. Then I has this idea... Why don't we have a "Hodgepodge Dinner"?

I wish I could say that this was my original idea, but it wasn't. I saw it on TLC's t.v. show "Kate Plus 8".

What's a Hodgepodge Dinner?.. you might ask. I guess it could be done at home with the things you already have on hand, but I went with Kate's idea of going to the grocery store.

First we drew categories; Main dish-Taylee, main side dish-Rylee, Fruit-Jackson, Veggie-Treyson and Dessert-Micaela.

Jackson knew what he wanted to get, even before we got to the store... PEACHES!

Even with other suggestions from the kids and me telling him he could choose anything, he still wanted... PEACHES! (always said in a raised excited voice).

Treyson had no problem picking out his "veggie". He quickly decided on olives. Even though I technically think olives may be a fruit, we went with it. I tried to keep my opinion to myself and not influence their choices (totally not my usual way of doing things). :)

The girls took longer to decide. We went up and down the isles of Winco weighing options, while the boys goofed off with each other and had a great time.

Taylee finally chose fresh/frozen cheese ravioli with Alfredo sauce.

Micaela finally decided on Chocolate Dream Pie.

And Rylee was excited to have fried mozzarella sticks.

Quite an interesting combo, but the kids (and Jason) raved that this was the BEST dinner ever!!!

One thing we didn't do, that I would consider for next time is what Kate called, "Gross Factor". One of the categories her kids chose was "gross factor". They got to pick something they deemed "gross" to try and eat. I think I would change the name to "Try Something New" or "Something I've Never Eaten Before"... taking the gross out of it, because I would want my kids to actually try it, if I spent money on it. :)

This was fun and may become an occasional tradition in our home.

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime?

"Do you swim in a pool, to keep yourself cool?"

Jason-Levi

Lizzy-Abree-Jason

Levi

Taylee-Micaela

Jackson

Lizzy

"Is that what you do?.....

So do I!"

With Tuesday forecasted to be the warmest day of the week, we took advantage of our neighborhood pool and invited some cousins to join us.

Treyson Turns 9!

I can't believe it..... My Treyson boy is 9!

We planned a full day of celebrating, including Jason taking a day off work.

After breakfast, Treyson opened gifts.

This year we were going for useful and needed over useless and begged for.

Treyson had been drooling over the new Buzz Lightyear, but there was NO WAY I was paying 100 bucks for an action figure type toy.

Treyson FINALLY received a replacement battery charger for his Nintendo D.S. Now he won't have to beg, borrow and steal his sister's anymore. Whew!
Taylee bought him a Dollar Store gift with her own money and made him an adorable card.

Treyson was in HEAVEN with all of his edible gifts. I told him he didn't have to share (if he didn't want to, but probably would cuz he's just that way) and that he could eat as much or as little as he wanted at a time (within reason...yeah right). A reading light and matching fan were much needed gifts. He also received the "Whimpy Kid" book series that were immediately eye-balled and asked to be borrowed by his sisters.

Treyson requested an "Under the Sea" cake this year. He had a specific idea about a shark eating some fish, but in the end had to just trust that I would come up with something cool.

The guy floating in a peach ring tube, was one of my favorite parts of the cake. I had originally planned to use Teddy Grahams, but forgot to buy them while at the store. I came up with Lego guy last minute. And although he's fully clothed, I think he's having a fun time splashing in the ocean.... until the sharks eat him.

Next part of the celebration day was going to the Boise Music Festival. Jason had seen the festival advertised weeks earlier and thought it would be fun to go see some big headliners; Macy Gray, the Backstreet Boys and Brett Michaels!

We went to the mall, to catch a shuttle bus. There was NO WAY Jason wanted to fight the crowds and try to find a parking by the park.

It was a HOT day. Our 30 minute wait in line seemed longer.

After 2 other buses had come and gone, it was finally our turn to board the shuttle. The buses were meant to hold only 24 passengers, we stuffed about 40 onto our bus which made for a hot, sticky ride. :)

Our first order of business when arriving, was to find a good place for our chairs in front of the MAIN stage. We found a place, close to the sound booth, near the center.

Next we set out to see what else was going on.

We looked at the vendors, bounced in the jump houses and played in the fountain. The mist from the fountain felt sooo good.

Treyson started out by putting his hands in the water. Next, he got his hat wet and dumped it over his head to cool off. Then finally couldn't resist any longer and ended up putting his whole head in the water. He was soaked from head to toe... and probably the coolest of us all.

After we felt we'd seen all we could see, we went back to our chairs.

We ate our packed lunch, as we listened to several up and coming bands/artists.

We weren't as well prepared as we thought. We had brought food, water and sunscreen, but had no shade to keep the 100 degree sun from baking us. The only source of water, was a little drinking fountain that took at least a 30 minute wait in line to get a drink and re-fill water bottles.

When Taylee started not feeling well (heat stroke?), Jason and I started getting headaches and Abree acted bored out of her gourd, we decided to call it a day. Being miles away from our van and knowing we'd have to shuttle back with thousands of people didn't sound very fun or fast.

We were bummed that we didn't get to see the headline singers. We DID see a tinted limo drive up, just as we were leaving and speculated that it could be the Backstreet Boys. When we got back to our van, we welcomed the air-conditioning and then went to McDonald's for ice cream cones and got a Red Box movie.

Annual Family Yard Sale

This year we had our Annual Family Yard Sale at Brinton & Amber's home.

I didn't think I had anything to contribute, until we did a MAJOR de-clutter and organization job on Taylee and Abree's room. I also found a few things in the garage and had several NEW costumes that didn't sell on Craigslist or in the children's consignment sales.

The weather was a little cool, but not too cool and the kids were good, except for the constant begging for food... Abree and Treyson!

The money we earned will be going toward buying a new trampoline.

Our poor trampoline is slowly, but SURLY deteriorating.
In total we have about $120.00 to date. I think the kids want to do neighborhood lemonade stands and bakes sales this summer to earn more.

As is also tradition, we swapped some junk with one another. Someone suggested we call it the, "Annual Family Junk Swap", instead of yard sale.

It's not junk.... it's treasure, right?