Rain, Rain, please, PLEASE go away

It has been raining for DAYS!!! I usually don't mind the rain cause the rain keeps my grass, plants, and flowers very happy. Not to mention keeps my electric bill down because the rain cools things down a bit. BUT, enough is enough. The kids have been stuck inside for 3 days!! 3 days!!! We've played so many games of UNO and Kerplunk

That Hannah and Tristen have become experts in both. It's getting to the point where I don't have to let them win anymore. I'm struggling just to get 2nd!!!

Please let there be some sunshine soon so they can go outside and play.

Please!?!

They thought they had a chance

Eli and Hannah thought they might have a chance at beating Daddy in a wrestling match since they had a partner in crime, Tristen.
They sent Tristen in first, thinking his size would distract Ben. Then they snuck in from behind thinking to ambush him.

Ben looks like he's struggling doesn't he??

Yeah, I don't think so either.

Guess they'll have to wait a few more years until Eli gets some real size.

Then maybe they can put their Daddy in a figure four.

Maybe.

Hannahisms

Kaila: "Hannah, why is it raining so much?"

Hannah: "The kids in outer space are crying?"

Kaila: "You mean the kids in heaven?"

Hannah: "Yeah. The kids in heaven are crying."

Kaila: "Why are they crying?"

Hannah: "Cause they're sad."

Kaila: "Why are they sad?"

Hannah: "Hmmm. I don't know. It's hard to explain. Let's just play Uno."

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Ben: "Hannah, What are little girls made of?"

Hannah: "Sugar and spice and everything nice!!"

Ben: "Well, I think you're made of gun powder and lead."

Hannah: "WHAT?"

Ben: "It's a song. Gun powder and lead."

Hannah: "Can you sing it to me?"

Ben: "Uh, no."

Eli's Work Shop

Ben decided that it has become necessary for Eli to have his own tools, so he is in the process of building Eli a little workshop made of real wood, real tools, and real nuts, bolts, and screws.
So far, the project is a great success.

Eli is thrilled to have permission to use Daddy's tools.

He has already figured out screws.

But the drill is ultimately his favorite. Not sure what we're going to do about that. We only have one. Guess Daddy needs a new one so Eli can have his old one. (That's sarcasm just in case you weren't sure.)

The socket wrench he has down pat.

Ben's next step is to add things Eli can screw/bolt on and take off.

Eli is one spoiled boy.

Grandpa Gets an Ear Full

While talking to my Mother on the phone yesterday evening, my Dad decided to throw in a few teasing lines. So I decided to fight dirty and put Hannah on the phone.
As you can see from the pictures, she didn't take too kindly to Grandpa's "teasing" of her Mother.

And she made sure he knew it.

I'm pretty sure her tone alone put him in his place for at least a few minutes. And I'm positive that he'll think twice about teasing me when he knows Hannah is in ear shot.

That's my girl!

Eli's Toy Box

A few years ago my Dad built a big, white, wooden toy box for Hannah. Some time during all of our rearranging and reorganizing the toy box was placed in Eli's room. We've been slowly working sports decor into his room, and I initially thought to get rid of the toy box because it is big and bulky. But then a brilliant idea popped into my head.

Paint the top of it like a football field!!!

So off Kaila and I went to Hobby Lobby. We painted the entire top lid green.

Then taped off and painted the lines. And then the tough decision had to be made. What teams? It turned out to be a fairly easy chose. We had to have the Saints or everyone here would hunt us down, and Ben has always been a Redskins fan. So with that decision made, we started on the end zones.

The words ended up being the most difficult part of the entire project.
They took about three times longer than everything else combined.

I don't think I will be stenciling again any time soon, but I do love the final result. We want to paint the sides, (I'm thinking some type of tribute to Duke basketball) but I think that will have to wait for another day.

For now, I'm happy with all of mine and Kaila's hard work.

Daddy gets in the pool

Kaila and I are in the middle of a very cool project that involves paint. (More details to come on the project later.) We realized the children would want to help with the painting so in an effort to distract them I grabbed a few large sheets of butcher paper and the finger paints. It worked. All three went to town painting their paper on the driveway. The funny thing was that once they realized they wouldn't get in trouble for being messy they started painting body parts. First was the hands, and then, of course Hannah, pulled her flip flops off and started painting her feet so she could make footprints. For once I didn't fret or worry. I just told them to strip and jump in the pool. Who knew the pool would turn out to be so handy!?!

Shortly after the kids jumped in, Ben arrived home from a short trip to Trinidad. Kaila and I asked if he would watch the kids while we cleaned up our paint mess. He agreed.

A few minutes later, Kaila and I headed back to the backyard and found this.
Luckily my camera was handy. Unluckily most of the pictures we took can't be posted here because Ben was shirtless (and I wouldn't want pictures of me in my swimsuit posted so I will not post pictures of him), Hannah was only in her panties because she had gotten paint all over her clothes, and Eli was naked. (He gets a very bad rash from the swim diapers so when we're at home he swims naked. Which he has loves because his new favorite thing is peeing outside.) So most of the pictures aren't fit for world wide web viewing.

The kids LOVED Ben being in the pool. He body slammed them, splash them, wrestled (which is funny cause he yells at the kids when they do it), and shot them in the face with water guns. I don't think we've had so much giggling in our pool.

Hopefully next time everyone will be dressed decently and I can post some of the action shots where Ben lifted Tristen into a back breaker. Tristen's face was priceless!!!

Sewing

A few weeks ago we went to Target to look around and Hannah fell absolutely in love with these whale slippers.
Since they were only $1.50 I allowed her to purchase them. And within day two of her wearing them, this happened.

Of course she was devastated. Begging me to repair them. But the thing is....I don't sew. Generally speaking I don't even sew back on my own buttons. I just set it in a pile and take it to my Mother for repair the next time I go to visit her.

Well, for Hannah, this was life or death and needed my immediate attention. She wasn't willing to wait around for late July, early August (the next time we're headed to Grandma's) for her slipper to be fixed.

So I bit the bullet, and bought some thread.

Then I pulled out the sewing kit my Mom bought me many, many months ago in an effort to get me going. (She always has such faith in me.)

Then I put my cross stitching skills to good use and sewed that whale's blow hole closed!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Hannah was happy with my efforts, and proud that I finally "learned how to sew from Grandma."

Guess I had that coming.

The thrill of the ride

One of my favorite things to do is to watch the kids ride down the driveway on their bikes.
They are both still young enough to find the slight decline to be a great thrill ride.

They look so free and excited, gaining speed, heading toward the street at great speeds.

How long before this simple thing becomes boring?

How long before they need more dangerous, rip Mom's heart out of her chest, nerve racking fetes?

How long before she runs her mother over because her mother isn't smart enough to get out of the way of a flying big wheel, cause she really wants that perfect shot!?!

Don't fret. I moved.

But I think I should have taken just one more shot. ;-)

Another Option...

After a few suggestions of trying black and white from Kaila and Andrea, I gave it a shot. Not sure I love it. (It may be that I've never really edited black & white before and that some adjustments are needed.)

Let me know your thoughts.

Family Photos

I have been begging for a family photo session for about a year now. The last time we took one Eli was about 6 or 7 weeks old. He's now 2 1/2. I think it's time, but trying to get all of us together, and looking nice at the same time, what with Ben's traveling requirements and the fact that my children LOVE to be dirty and sweaty, well, it's a challenge. So last night we all got dolled up and headed for Grandpa's bench. I felt it was the perfect place to get some nice pictures. Of course the kids were in no mood to sit still. Kaila had the camera, and I advised to just keep snapping. Eventually we would get something I could use, and I think we did.

Of course I think there are a few things we need to adjust. For instance my white shirt. I love white shirts. I think they are clean and sharp, but when you place a bright white shirt next to Eli, well, he looks even whiter. My Mom pointed out that it may not be so much my white shirt, but possibly his green shirt. So I think next time I'll try a different color, maybe blue or brown, and we'll put Eli in blue.

Anyway, I am happy with the outcome, but won't be blowing these up and printing them until we give it one more go round. Who knows, maybe we'll get something better next time.

I also included a bunch of other shots that we were able to get last night. Kaila is taking her senior pictures soon, cause she's officially a senior - I can not even begin to process that!!!, and we wanted to try a few pictures to see if I could get any good ones. I think I succeeded in a few. And Kaila was finally able to get some good shots of Tristen with his real, natural face. Not cheesing it up with some goofy face.

All in all I think it was a success!!

Please leave comments and let me know your opinions and advice for the next shoot. I'm not sure how many more times I'll be able to get Ben to shave, dress, and sit still for pictures, so the next photo shoot will probably end up being the last!!!