July Happenings

So last week Bodie and Brylee went to stay with Nana and Papa for a week. While the cats were away Brooke and I played! We went to Kidzsport for an open gym day. She had a lot of fun, although it took her almost the entire time to really start exploring without older siblings to lead the way. We had some fun in the bathtub too! She was not so sure about this messy stuff getting on her skin.

 Here she is trying to keep her feet out of the paint.

 Yuck! This stuff won't get off me!





I am excited about one thing that I did get finished while they were away!

Changed this.........

To This......


So excited to get this done. Plus, I was able to go through both of their rooms while they were gone and get rid of trash and broken toys!! It's the little things.....

And I should probably mention that I enjoyed the chance to curl up and read a book in peace too!

Flash forward to this week, we have been getting rain like crazy. I'm not complaining. We need it and it means cooler weather. But it also means a little more creativeness when it comes to keeping the kids busy. 

 It's nice when their are no storms and they can play in it!

But, for the times that aren't:

Toys frozen in the ice are lots of fun and take some time. This did not keep my three year olds attention the whole time, but she worked at it for a while. My six year old stuck with it until he had everything un-iced!

 Getting closer!

And finally......












It doesn't show in the pictures, but I gave them hammers, butter knifes, and brushes to do the work. Nobody got smashed fingers and since we did it in the tub the mess just went right down the drain!

We've been hearing some strange noises under our bathtub. Since we did have a baby opposum under our sink, it was safe to assume their might be more under our house. Last night we set a live trap and this morning.... we got a big un! Yuck! 
So I loaded the nasty thing in my van with all my kids and we took it far far away and let it go. While we were driving we saw a grey fox and her kit. It was so cute. I wish I gotten a picture, but they took off before I could get my camera ready. On that road I have also seen a bobcat. It's pretty secluded so Mr. or Mrs. O should fit right in! 

One last thing: I made sundried tomatoes this week! We've been getting tomatoes out of our garden, but it's not enough at one time to mess with canning. I've been making recipes with tomatoes, but still have little bits left over that I don't want to waste. I found a recipe for a vegetable dip that uses sundried tomatoes! I'm all over that.

They last in the freezer up to a year, but I'm pretty sure I won't be waiting that long to try try out that dip! The best part is I won't have to buy those expensive sundried tomatoes at the store!