Lazy Days of Summer

Ahhh...the lazy days of summer have officially begun. 

We've taken a break from outside activities and school for a couple of weeks. The boys have been dividing most of their time between lego building and reading.

Michael recently felt inspired to create a lego version of a coffee shop, for some reason.

Complete with coffee station and bagel rack.

Legos and reading. Those seem to be the boys' two favorite things to do and that's just fine by me.

Lots of reading. I love it.

No shortage of books around here. And yet it's all I can do not to run over to Half Price Books every chance I get to buy more.  FYI - if you're a homeschooler you can get their teacher discount card.  It makes for some ridiculously good buys.  

While the boys have been lounging around reading, I've been in my pre-vacation frenzy of laundry, cleaning, shopping, chocolate consuming, etc...

Picture taken by Michael - he's getting really good with the camera!

Benjamin can't wait! The husband, baby and I will be in Tahoe next week.  It's a mostly paid for vacation courtesy of the husband's employer.  We're staying an extra couple of days as our tenth anniversary gift to ourselves. 

The nursing baby gets to tag along.  He digs his new stroller.  And when you have four children, taking just one on a trip with you is a vacation.  

The boys were feeling creative with the cards after a few rounds of Go Fish

Aside from reading, the boys have been enjoying the outdoors when the weather has been nice.

They recently discovered the joys of running through a sprinkler on a hot day.

Best $4 I've spent in a long time.  Also, I wish I had muscles like Thomas. The kid is ripped. 

Yes, summer has officially begun! Of course, after our trip, it'll be back to the books.  And hopefully some swim lessons, playing with friends and other summer fun. 

But, for now, it's back to laundry and packing! I hope your summer is off to a great start!

~ Dori

Fun Photo Friday - Special Birthday Edition

Yesterday one of my babies turned five. Years. Old.

This baby, to be exact.

My Matthew Datthew. Yes, I have strange nicknames for each of my boys. Doesn't everybody? They Don't? Nevermind.

The night before the big birthday, preparations began in the form of big brothers wrapping presents for their little brother.  Presents they insisted on going to the store and picking out themselves.

Those presents were immediately opened first thing in the morning.

Then we moved on to some birthday packages from the grandparents.

This prompted much building with legos.

Stopping only to eat a special birthday breakfast - scrambled eggs and chocolate chip muffins. The eggs were obviously to make me feel better about the chocolate chip muffins. 

Then back to playing with legos.  After which we took him out for lunch at the restaurant of his choosing.  He picked Bob Evans. Yes, he had his pick of pretty much any restaurant on the planet and chose Bob Evans.

On the way back home we surprised him with a trip to the store to pick out a new bike.  He was very excited to find that the store still had one in his favorite color. 

There was a surprise treasure hunt waiting back at home, leading Matthew to a present from mommy and daddy.

My husband is a genius at writing and leaving clues.

He got the lego bakery that he has spent much time wishing, hoping and dreaming about.  It's a big set for a little guy, but my boys are all true lego virtuosos. Is there such a thing as a lego virtuoso?  Well, if there is, then they are.

And so there was more lego building. Good thing there were some (extremely eager!) big brothers at the ready for help with some construction. 

Benjamin spent much of the day watching from the safety of his saucer.

We ventured outside to enjoy what turned into a beautiful evening. Matthew had requested dinner on our back patio, so I was glad the weather cooperated with that plan.

Of course we had to try out the new bike! He's had a hybrid big wheel/tricycle until now, so this is his first big kid bike.

Big brothers joined in the excitement. Big brothers are awesome. Well, some are.  Mine hit me a lot.  

I think he likes the bike.  And considering his freakish sense of balance I doubt he'll need the training wheels on for long. 

After dinner came one of the best parts of any celebration - dessert!

Matthew requested an ice cream cake this year (YES!) and, of course, his wish was our command.

And that, was birthday number five! Obviously, we all had a great day celebrating Matthew. 

He's still fully engrossed in his new legos.  He also seems to like the gift his mommy made him - his "Monkey Dunkey", as he's been affectionately named.

Matthew had requested a monkey since we often refer to him as our "Matthew Monkey." It has to do with that freakish sense of balance I mentioned earlier combined with his love of climbing and being upside down.

Thank you to everyone who sent Matthew birthday wishes - he is one happy (and tired!) five year old!

~ Dori

UpCycling

I intended to do my third post in the Homeschooling series today, but Michael really wanted to share a project that he and I worked on together instead. Not wanting to squash his enthusiasm, I, of course, agreed.  On one condition.  That he do some of the writing. 

And so, I give you a special guest post written by Michael...

Thank you, and now I will begin.

It started with these stained pants.

And ended with a new bag.  (Because my Mommy is awesome).

I got the idea from an Indiana Jones lego game. Indy always wears a satchel to carry his cool things which is where I got the idea from.

I picked some fabric from mommy's stash to match the pants, then we started to sew. First I sewed the flap .

Then I sewed another part of the bag together. That's Thomas watching.

I think my favorite part about making the bag was using the sewing machine.

But the part that I liked the most was the new bag.

(wearing it at breakfast, the morning after we finished it)

Of course Mommy did help a little.

Thank you, Michael! I really enjoyed working on the bag with you and look forward to our next project! You did a great job!

~ Dori (Mommy)