Things I love and others....not so much

Anna spent some of her Christmas/Birthday money to buy this great new activity.  She had first played it at her YMCA day camp and loved it....now I know why - best building toy since sliced bread (which of course means Legos)

My niece Leslie lived in Des Moines for a year as a Focus Minister on the Drake campus.  We sewed several pillows like this one....sorry if I actually did a post about this before....I am not sure which is more likely - that I did a post or that I forgot about it :0)

Ok - now that I covered 2 "I love" things....here are two things that fell into the "not so much" category.

Matthew had to keep an amphibian or reptile for a MONTH to complete a Boy Scout Merit badge.....There were 6 tiny frogs in that bowl and the net in the picture was used to catch bugs to feed same frogs...enough said.

See the hole in our fence....BAD bunnies chewed through the fence multiple places and multiple times!  Now the fence is metal covered in plastic....Ken thinks we are safe until they take a running leap and jump the fence......not gonna happen my friend - but too late for the soybeans!

Guess who passed the swim test!

(Anna is pointing to her hand "stamp", indicating her new status.)

This is our very motivated swimmer....at our pool you have to swim the length of the pool without stopping or touching the side to be able to dive off the board or go down the "deep-end" slide.

For Anna (who isn't quite ready to do either) it was more about "passing the test" then what it allows her to do!

Way to go Anna!......really by the time she passed the test on Monday, she had swam 5 or 6 lengths of the pool practicing!

If you had asked me if she could pass the test THIS summer I would have said, "no way", but she was ready on Monday to try.

She continues to measure herself at the lily-pads to see if she is tall enough......but of that I am certain - she will not grow 4 inches in the next 2 weeks.....but I still let her go and check each day we go to that pool.  On vacation she was able to do the lily-pads at the Wisconsin Dell's pool and she stayed at that activity for over an hour.  For the record - it is harder than it looks....which I know from experience.

Cousin Cubes.....Merry Christmas 2014......a little early for once

First....let's give credit where credit is due.  I did not think of this idea on my own and these ladies (see website below) had great instructions.......I was looking for a simple craft the kids could make for their cousins for Christmas and boy did we find it.

http://thefrugalgirls.com/2012/04/diy-photo-cube.html

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Anna and I started painting blocks last night.  

Carolyn jumped in to help glue the pictures on today.

Later Joel came with me to the store (to pick up a few more blocks) and thought he might like a cube (Anna and Carolyn each had one by this time while making the cousin’s gifts)…..and then we decided it wasn’t fair that the focus was on the girl cousins, so we bought some neon paint to make some blocks for the older boy cousins.  

Matthew was gone all afternoon and evening at marching band camp, but pitched in at the end of the night when I thought I couldn’t possible finish the last couple of pictures.  He indicated that he and Mike (similar aged cousin) probably wouldn’t appreciate the gesture...so we skipped them.  

 

So all in all we made 22 cubes….132 pictures….and only 3 pictures left over and the need to search for one extra shot to be appropriate for the right person (we made cubes for both Grandmothers and my sister as well).

Before you give me too much credit for being the early bird....please know the gift (photos later) I am making for the sisters/nieces was supposed to be given in 2012.....but is only now getting finished.  I started in January thinking if I just made one a month I could get done....I am ahead of schedule, but know the fall is a busy time!

The kids and I have a 3rd craft of the summer, but its great reveal will only be after a few packages are delivered......