2012 Blue Jeans Week 30

And the countdown begins--2 weeks and 2 days until school starts, but who's counting? (um, me!)  We still have had unbelievable heat here.  It doesn't look like it is letting up anytime soon, and I so wish it would.  Miss A has started practice for high school cross country.  Miss O is busy working on smoothie recipes for her cookbook.  Miss E has a school music drumming circle camp this week, and Mr J is having fun commentating on the Olympics, "oh, that dive was just horrendous!" (exact quote from my 7 year old)  Too much fun!  Here are some shots from our week. . .

Sunday:  The past few weeks on Sunday evening we have enjoyed watching an episode of Anne of Green Gables.  What a classic, and having them in VHS is very classic (i.e. old).  I was worried our VCR wouldn't work to show them, but thankfully it did.  I may have to put these my Christmas list this year to get in DVD.  Good stuff.

Monday:  We got a fun care package from Ben's parents today.  Getting packages in the mail is always way fun!  Thank you Grandpa and Grandma!

Tuesday:  Miss E is getting glasses!  I suspected as much when she came home from school the last day and said, "Mom, I had a hard time seeing the board today."  The eye Dr confirmed my suspicions, and today she picked out these cute frames.  They will be ready to go by school time, and the good thing is she is excited about her glasses--yeah!  She looks cute in them.

Wednesday:  Hit Wal-mart today.  The school lists were out, and Mr J was very meticulously checking his list as we got all his school supplies. 

Thursday:  Today was my mom's 60th birthday.  All the family got together and compiled a list of "60 reasons why we love Nana!"  It wasn't hard to come up with that many, she is awesome!  Love you Mom!  Happy Birthday!

Friday:  My kids go through craft stages.  This summer they have been the friendship bracelets and then colored duck tape projects.  Miss O can make anything out of duck tape, and they have the coolest colors to make things in now.  Duck tape wallets have been her projects lately.  These are just a few she has made.

Saturday:  Every 3 months our family is in charge of cleaning our church building.  Today was our day.  Miss O and Mr J work hard on making the doors and windows nice and clean.  They are good workers.

Thanks for visiting and hope you all have a great week!!

2012 Blue Jeans Week 29

We are still trying to survive the heat.  ugh.  I am so ready for fall.  School starts in less than 4 weeks here.  Summer is winding down.  The last few weeks of summer seem to be less busy which is nice.  Here is what we have been up to here. . .

Sunday:  I had to laugh when Mr J was helping me make dinner.  It was sweet and sour chicken and the sauce that he was stirring had vinegar in it, and he did not like the smell :)

Monday:  It was 105 today, and the kids have lots of fun keeping cool this way.  The grass under our trampoline is the only grass on our acre not dead :)

Tuesday:  Super Hero J to the rescue.  They did super heroes and made these cute masks and capes at the library today.  We love the library!

 

Wednesday:  I am a list person--with 4 kids and their different activities, I have to be.  I write all the activities/where I need to be with whom and when for each day on a post-it note.  I am a huge post-it notes fan, but today my list was too big for my regular post-it note.  I wrote it all down and just laughed.  What a crazy, crazy run around day today was!

Thursday:  This week was Mr J's swimming lessons.  He went off the driving board for the first time, and then he was hooked!  His swimming has really improved this year.  He got the breast stoke down and was diving off the board by the end of the week!  Yeah Mr J!

Friday:  Miss A and Miss O were doing a play this week, so I took Mr J and Miss E to lunch.  Mexican is their favorite --chips and salsa are a necessary food group to them.

Saturday:  Miss A and Miss O were in the children's theater production of The Tortoise and the Hare this week.  Their performance was today.  Miss A was the tortoise and Miss O was a weasel.  It was a cute musical and the girls did great!

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

I'm Farming and I grow it

Have you seen this yet?  My kids (and I) think it is pretty neat.  We are not farmers, but we know and live among many.  They are awesome, and we so respect them, what they do, and so appreciate what they grow so they can feed us!  This was done by 3 brothers that live on a farm in Kansas.

2012 Blue Jeans Week 28

Thanks for visiting Blue Jeans Momma.  It has been so hot here that it is not fun to be outside at all.  We have had to be creative and do things inside.  Extreme winter and extreme summer are not too different in that respect.  Here is our week. . .

Sunday:  We did finally get a little bit of rain and had a pretty rainbow at the end.  

Monday:  Indoor fun--oh the things you can do with blankets--blanket forts are our favorites.

Tuesday:  Miss O is working on making her own cookbook of family favorite recipes to take to college (yes she is only 12, but she is a planner), so she is making by herself every recipe she puts in.  Today she tried homemade wheat bread.  It was delicious!  Way to go Miss O!

Wednesday:  Mr J and Miss E are attending a daily kids' summer activities camp this week in the mornings.  Today they learned how to make rag rugs, and Mr J was showing me how to do it when he got home today.  His ended up more like a rag bowl than a rug, but that is okay.  Still cool :)

Thursday:  My previous post talks about our summer garden and how we did it a little different this year, and the results are very good.  Check it out.  Miss O is very proud of her harvest today.

Friday:  One of those way-too-hot-to-be-outside days, so we played with magnets inside.  Mr J likes to make the little triangles spin.  It seems like the kids have lots of toys we never play with, so on 'inside' days it is nice to hunt through and play with things that we haven't in a while.

Saturday:  Make my day--this note was on my nightstand this evening when I went to bed.  It was from Mr J.  I smiled as I went to sleep that night.

Thanks for visiting and hope you have a great week!!!

Enjoying the fruits (and vegetables) of their labors

So it has been amazingly hot around here lately.  I snapped this temp in my van in the late morning last week!!!  Ugh!  It got hotter than this, but I didn't take a picture.  It has been so dry also.  

Thankfully we got a little rain last weekend, but we still need more.

Despite all the heat and no rain, our garden, or I should say my kids' gardens have flourished.  We have had a garden every year for the last 12 years since we got out of grad school and apartments and had a home with a yard.  Ben and I (well, mostly I) have been in charge of the garden.  The kids have come along and helped half-heartedly as they have grown up with lots of complaining and whining.  Anyone else relate to this?  So this year I decided to do something different.  Our garden is fairly big--50 feet by 50 feet, so I divided it evenly into 4 squares in the spring.  I told each kid they got a square.  It was their own garden.  I put out all the seeds and said, "Plant whatever you want where ever," and I left it at that.  I haven't reminded them to water.  I haven't said anything about weeding, and I haven't set a foot in the garden until this past Tuesday.  I have just watched from the kitchen window each morning as they have weeded and watered, and I am honestly amazed.  When I went into the garden Tuesday night weeds were not to be found, and fruits and veggies were bursting out all over.  The kids have done an amazing job.  They are so proud,

 "This is my cantaloupe."  

"Do you like my corn Dad?" 

 "My zucchini was used in this bread, isn't it good?"  

"My green peppers are in the chili"

We have had lots of zucchini.  We harvested corn Tuesday night.  We are getting lots of peppers, our first cantaloupes and there are lots more to come as well as watermelon and carrots and tomatoes.  I say 'we' but it is really the kids.  They have watered it, weeded it, and taken such good care of their gardens.  Of course, don't look at our water bill.  As we were shucking corn Ben commented each ear was probably worth about $5 each with all the water, but hey, the kids did it, and I am sure proud of them.  Miss O was definitely proud of her harvest when I snapped this picture.  I am wishing I had thought of this plan years before.  I am now certain how I will garden from now on (or at least for the next 11 years until Mr J goes to college)--from the kitchen window.  Bring it on.

2012 Blue Jeans Week 27

We were still on our mini-vacation this week in Branson, so photos for the week wrap it up there and then home for the 4th.  

Our friends have a 15 passenger van, and Sunday Ben and I took all the kids (9 total) to church in our friends' van.  (our friends had to be to church early for meetings) I made Ben drive :)  After driving around in the huge van my kids were convinced we needed to buy one, but I wasn't :)

Silver Dollar City and Mr J's favorite ride--the swings--he went on it several times.

Silver Dollar City was fun!

Went to eat at Lambert's the home of the famous throwed rolls, and my those rolls are good!  These kids had fun.

And these kids had even more fun, I swear between the two of them they caught and downed about a dozen rolls :)

Home and getting ready for the 4th and our BBQ.  We made these cool layered patriotic drinks that I saw on my favorite food blog Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  It is so awesome when things actually work like they are supposed to.  Everyone at the BBQ was very impressed with our drinks.  Thanks Mel!

Have I mentioned before that I love Mel's Kitchen Cafe?  We made her patriotic brownie kebabs for our BBQ dessert.  They were a big hit and very easy--I like things like that--yummy and easy.  Miss O was my big helper.

Miss O and Miss E have been into making friendship bracelets lately.  We have to think of things to do inside since it is way too hot to be outside.  I remember making lots of friendship bracelets in my day--a classic.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week as we pray for rain and cooler temperatures here this week.

2012 Blue Jean Weeks 26

I am a little late posting this week.  We went on a mini-vacation to Branson and stayed with some great friends.  It was so nice.  But then we got home and laundry and the 4th hit, and we are trying to keep our heads above water, so these are last week's photos.  

Sunday afternoon fun--Mr J and fort making in the family room

It has been soooooo hot here!  ugh!  The kids have been really good about keeping their plants and garden watered because if not, they would have fried long ago in this heat.  Mr J and Miss E work on getting the hose untangled to water their gardens.

Summer fun for me :)  got a pedicure today--ah. . .

Summer fun for the kids--a juggler was in town and performed.  I felt bad for him, it was so hot, but he did a great job and the kids all loved it.

Vacation on the lake--so nice to get cool--Ben watches and Miss E gets ready to ride the tube.

Miss O and our friend double up on the tube--so much fun!

Went to a show in Branson, the Duttons--loved it!

Hope you all had a good week and are able to keep cool where you are!  We are sure trying hard to stay cool here!  Have a good one!