Football Sticker Book Extravaganza!

Several months ago, the boys picked out stuff at Dollar Tree for the prize basket for their behavior chart rewards.  They had found these NFL sticker books and over the last several months have been earning sticker packets for their books.  Granny and Popa gave them 10 packs each for Easter and they've received other packets for various holidays.  So over the months, they have done a great job of filling up their books. 

 Well, since the new NFL season is about to start, Jacob said they would have to get new stickers books since they would be making 2012 stickers now.  The next day we were at Target and they had the sticker packets on clearance, so we did what all sane people do, we bought them all!! hahhaha

For the next two hours, they opened packets, found the (up to 3 digit) number on the back and stuck the stickers.  You should have heard their squeals with each package!  You never knew who would be in there!!!  It was also a really good fine motor game to peel the back off the stickers.

 Rylan would not accept ANY Chicago Bears players since they are the Packers rivals.  So he gave all the Bears to Jacob.  Jacob gave Rylan most of his Packer stickers since they are Rylan's favorite team.  Rylan was SO excited to get to Aaron Rodgers stickers.  He stuck the extra on his headboard!

 Like their true fashion, Rylan flung open the package or ran off to look at it in secret.  Jacob neatly lined them up on the cover then started putting them in number order.  Gotta love their differences!

 This seriously lasted 2 hours!  They had a blast!!! Jacob's favorite packet had Andy Dalton, Tony Romo AND Aaron Rodgers... SCORE!

If we see more 2011 sticker packets, they will surely hop into our buggie... and when the 2012 book and stickers come out they will too! :)

Melting Pot... Flamingo Style

I got an email from The Melting Pot that they were having "Sundress and Sandal Girl's Night Out," so I immediately forwarded the email to the Flamingos to see if they were game.  Within a few hours we were all in and the reservation was made!  Since "we don't get out much" (which I said about a zillion times that night) we really enjoyed each other's company!!!  Here I am with Robyn!  

 For the cheese course, we got the seasoned cheddar.  It was OH SO GOOD and not a drop of cheese was left!!

 Then came the raw meat... Robyn had never been before and she was a little grossed out at the plate of meat at first and the idea of all our raw meat touching in the pot.  But after the first bite, she was sold! :)

 We had filet, tenderloin, chicken, shrimp and a ravioli thing.  The shrimp and ravioli were my favorite things, but I liked it all!  The potatoes were the overall least favorite thing and we all wanted more broccoli!

 Then came the best part... dessert!  Once again, not a drop was left!  This time each pair of us got our own plate of dippers.  Last year, only 3 of us went and we have to share one plate.  This was better!!

Well, I guess dessert was not really the best part... The best part was being with my besties and laughing, crying, sharing our lives, debating scriptural issues.  It was a GREAT night!!!  Can't wait til the next one... you know, since we don't get out much! :)

Bible Power Zone

Every Monday this summer we have had Bible Power Zone at church.  Jordan has been the teacher each time and he has done an outstanding job!!!  The kids adore him!!!  At the beginning of each class, he leads several songs.  This is "Wrapped Up, Tied Up, Tangled Up."  The boys finally figured out how to do the arm trick and think they are hot stuff! :)

 After a great lesson on Daniel 1, we went over to weave placemats.  Rylan's was green on green.  It turned our really pretty!

 Jacob did an ABCDE pattern!  That boy is so logical-mathematical!

Another week we had a live skit in the Auditorium.  It cracked me up because there was a boy pew (except for one girl) and a girl pew.  They did they on their own without talking about it! hahaha

 Samuel and Edgar did a great job acting out 1 Samuel 24 when David could have killed Saul while Saul was in the cave going potty, but he only cut off the corner of his robe.  They did a great job!

 For snack that day, we made sheep cookies.  Here's Rylan speading his icing before applying a layer of mini marshmallows.

 And Jacob's finished product!  Oreo ears, chocolate chip eyes and the licorice rope was supposed to be a smile.

 Rylan is my licorice rope loving boy! I think the sheep turned out pretty cute!

We've been to all but 2, but these are the only photos I've taken!  I'll get better!!!

Hello Children's Museum!

By now you know that the Children's Museum is one of our favorite places to visit!  Having the year pass has been GREAT!  In fact, I'm going to renew it for another year!  This visit we tried to do things we have not done before or things we have not done very often.  We started at the top with the "build an arch" activity.  The boys built it with a little help for the balancing, 

 and then came the best part... DESTROYING IT!!!

 We went outside to see what new things we could find.  We did make a stop by the animal poop display and giggled profusely.  Then we made some animal tracks in the sand...

 and took a break on the bench with Granna!

 Rylan found this "build a flower" station that we have never seen before.  Here is Jacob's flower.

 And here is Rylan's.  I love that their personality comes through in their art.  Jacob is symmetrical and straight.  Rylan's is whimsical and not symmetrical.  Even though they are twins, they are unique!!!

 This is an old favorite, but we could NOT pass it up!  The obstacle course!!! Mom and I really did not see them for about 15 minutes... all we saw were Rylan and Jacob-shaped blurs running and obstacling!

 After the obstacle course, they did the rock wall.  Rylan got all the way to 18 feet!!! He is really good at this!

 We went to Cyberchase and made circuits...

 and patterns.

 Rylan loved listening to the telephones across the room.  We had a great conversation about the Museum!!

We had not played Concentration in months, so today we did the whole board.  Jacob was especially doing good at this.

 We did it all!!!

 And the last stop was the 'Stang.  Can't go to the Museum without driving the Mustang!

Til next time...

More Sprinkler Fun!

Once again we were out in the sprinkler after dinner and Jacob ran and put his wet handprint on the fence.  It made a perfect heart on his palm.  By the time I ran in and ran out to get the camera, it had evaporated a little, but you can still see it a little bit.

In Bible class and public school and at home, I have made a zillion handprints of children.  And I have never noticed the heart in the palm before.  The first thing that came to my mind were the nails in Jesus' hands.  OK, I know the nails were really in his wrists, but hands are close enough.  It made me think of the nails showing His love for us and that God gave us a reminder of His love on each of our palms with the heart.  I'll never look at my palm the same again!

 So as I was having this spiritual ephiphany, the boys were running like crazy!!! Of course, I showed them the heart and talked about the nails and God's love, but they were totally more interested in running...

 Gotta love those silly faces!!!

Happy 4th of July!

To celebrate we did what we always do... parade then fireworks!  This year, our new-ish friends - Chris, Angie and Landon - joined us in all the patriotic fun!  Here are all the boys at the parade!  It was so hot!  A bank set up a free sno-cone booth not far from our plot, so we each got one.  Totally not the best sno-cone, but SO quenching!

 Look at our sweet boys!!!

 Here comes the band!  We were also so excited to see Miss Audrey, Miss Amanda's sister, in the drill team!

 To boys favorite part of the parade were the Corvettes!  There were two different groups and each group had at least 30 cars.  They were really cool!

 After the parade, we walked over to the park for some more fun!

 Rylan LOVED the playground!  They had installed a lot more equipment and those three boys ran and ran and ran!

 Before leaving, we HAD to get balloon swords.  This year we got Navy swords instead of pirate swords!

 While in line for kettle corn (which was AWESOME!!!) I asked a nice looking gentleman to take our photo.  Turns out he was a City Councilman!  Our brush with famous-ness...

 After evening services at church, he headed over to the Hobby Lobby parking lot to watch the fireworks show.  Heather made the cutest (and DELICIOUS) patriotic strawberries!

 Jacob would sit and watch the show...

 but not Rylan!  He ran and ran and ran.  He would run to the edge of the field and try to catch the fireworks, then run back and repeat!  His hair was soaking wet!

 My favorite shot!  Jacob with the finale!  The show was really good!  Four or five times we thought it was the finale since the show got  so big!

 And Reid with the little boys.  He ran and played with them after the show while the parking lot cleared out.

 The mommas!  Kim, Angie and Heather

Happy 4th!