Summer Uniform

We tie-dyed!  And by we, I mean mostly me.  I stressed Guy by telling him to be careful and not waste paint.  Well, whose shirt turned out best because they used the right amount of paint?  Not mine.

 Left to Right
 1.  Guys Swirl Shirt (He loves it)
 2.  Nels Too White of a Shirt that we ended up re-dying.
 3.  Daisy's heart shirt (Super swell!)
 4.  Guy's book bag
 5.  A missing handkerchief.  I really liked how the handkerchief turned out but I think it blew away?  If you find it in your yard consider it a neighborly gift.

Here is Nel's swirl tie-dye shirt that I redyed.  I think it looks much better now.  Especially for a boy.  A boy in tie-dye.  Masculine stuff, it is.

 We did a second set of tie-dye.  Nels has stripes, Guy's is blue with purple splotches and Daisy has another heart (this one turned out REALLY good).  You'll have to trust me because Guy's got his hands over it.  We went to a museum in our tie-dye and it worked really well for being able to keep track of them.  Usually we just do orange shirts but then a field trip comes through all wearing orange and Nels sneaks away.

 Guy did NOT like his second shirt and refused to wear it.  Until we put this amazing sun on it!  Check that out.  It's like cool.  Super cool. 

We got our tie-dye kit at Dharma Trading.  Our shirts too.  Nels and Daisy both have the Rabbit Skins brand and they run incredibly small.  Just a heads up.

We learned how to fold our shirts from the awesome, Colorful Steve @ You Tube. 

Summer Day 2: Garden Ready!

 It's mid-June.  Time to finish the garden.  My garden beds are strategically placed in the lawn so I can get exercise removing grass with the pickax.  Next year I plan to use dynamite.  Nels is trained in dynamite usage plus he knows to remove anything green (as in weeds) from the garden boxes.  This training has already backfired as he has pulled out several seedlings and blown up our secret vault.

Nels joins his accomplices for a mid-morning tea.  Guy set this up.  Guy likes to play a support role in Nels endeavors but he is long gone when things go sour.

Daisy is none the wiser of the secret tea party as she works on her toe tan.

Summer Break! First Day!

For the first day of summer break I thought we'd have a "summer party" we even planned it in advance.
This is the stuff we are going to do.

Well, no one will party with me.   I just keep getting yelled at "Mom!  You're ruining our game!" 

At least Daisy can't get away from me so she will be forced to take part in the festivities.

My Gardening Buddy

I can take video with my phone but I took it in the wrong direction.  I'm learning.

And yes, he did get a bath.  By the look of the tub when he was done I don't think another bath would hurt.

Lucy's 4th Birthday

Lucy's 4th birthday was Sunday.  Instead of celebrating her life, I just get mean.  Many apologies people who have to live with me.  Maybe I'll figure it out someday.  In good news, I still really like where we have her buried.  It's a pretty place and she is surrounded by really special people.

Guy likes to look at the other kids gravestones.  He asked me if one of them lived in a house with stairs.  I like his questions.

All my kiddos

We went for ice cream to celebrate Lucy's special day but I didn't take any pictures.  So here are some ice cream pictures from today!  Ice cream is an important part of everyday.  I'm still learning to use my phone to take photos but look what it did.  Pretty spiffy.  I like that Daisy's toy is moving around.

I didn't get any ice cream for myself because I figured I could eat the children's leftovers.

Uhhh...Soggy Capt' Crunch and Fruity Pebbles?!  Nah, I can make my own.  In my defense the kids preferred mine to theirs.  Nels was cool with just rooting through their random cereal and candy medleys for the good stuff though.  I think Guy may have learned you can't just throw every food you like together and expect it to taste good.  Important stuff to know.

And in celebrate of Lucy.. here she is with some ice cream.

Shopping Trip

I like money.  I like to see how other people use it.  That's why I'm posting this.  I know it's dorky but hey, I'm not that interesting of a person. 

Daisy and I had an afternoon to ourselves.  Women, big and small, like to wander around stores sometimes.

CVS Body Wash: $2.37 -$2.37 facebook coupon (found on hip2save.com)

CVS Multi-Vitamins: $3.19 - $3.00 from the coupon printer inside CVS

Snickers Almond (and $0.75 coupon off next visit): $0.75

CVS: $1.21

I put together a new outfit for $11.97 ($3.99 x 3) while Daisy chatted up other patrons.  I wasn't impressed with the price.  I must be spoiled with yard sale prices or something.   I must point out there in an elk on that t-shirt.  Elk is probably my 18th favorite animal.  But if we list favorite animals to eat, he really jumps up the list.

Goodwill: $11.97

We went to ULTA for the first time ever.  It was pretty swell - sample galore.  I'm sure Daisy and I left the store reeking of miscellaneous perfumes and lotions.  In Daisy's defense, she was wearing mostly baby products.  I had a coupon for some free hair stuff.  I don't really know what to do with it but I'll try putting it in my hair. 

ULTA: $0

I also bought a strawberry lemonade at Wendy's for the ride home.  I typically don't like caffeine, carbonation, or lots of sugar.  But I wasn't expecting this impromptu shopping trip so I was unprepared and parched.  And ordering water makes me feel like a weirdo.  I also want to add Wendy's medium sized beverage is too big to hold with one hand.  I guess their large size comes in a bucket?  I could really use another bucket.

Wendys: $2.79

Total: $15.97

I'll take it out of Daisy's allowance.

Cute Art

The Cat in the Hat by Guy (Age 5)

Dusty Blog

We have been busy learning new things...

Nels has learned how to use scissors.

Daisy has learned how to nap without any comforting from me.

My husband has learned how to not sink a sailboat.

And Guy? He's learned how to stay out of my picture taking area.

I don't have any pictures of myself either... eating strawberry-rhubarb pie. But that's what I learned. That I can make pie. Good pie. I didn't even think I liked pie.  Pie is my favorite food.

Dehydrating

My mom gave me a honking huge dehydrator.  I made dehydrated pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, apples, and bananas.  It was all delicious.  The blueberries made a big mess, though.  I was worried about how long to leave them in there but I just kept "checking on them".  I was actually just eating them.  I was paranoid that the bananas would turn out like banana chips (yuck) but I guess you really have to try hard to turn them into pucks.  I read pineapple takes 12 hours to dehydrate but I think I only did 8 hours because I wanted to go to bed.  They are probably not going to last as long as thoroughly dehydrated pineapples but I wasn't planning on storing them for long term.  And that's my first experience with a food dehydrator.  I'm going to try to make fruit leather next.

Picnic Weather

Guy planned a picnic.  What got me was seeing a gallon of milk in the middle of the yard on an 80 degree day.  Nels appreciated the efforts.

You need lots of fuel if you are going to be a crazy kid.