Art Camp

This last week has been good. The girls had an art camp that was awesome. One of my friend's daughters was running it. They did some cool canvas projects, tie dyed some socks, and made homemade chalkboards. While they were at "camp" the boys and I went to a friends house (who lives very close to art camp) and hung out while we waited for the girls to finish. It worked out slick. We even went swimming in their neighborhood pool one day afterwards. It was great.

Yesterday we actually got a babysitter and went out to eat because we had some friends come into town to do the Boise spartan. It was fun to catch up with them. Today I decided that we should have a picnic and go play in the river on the way to McCall like we did last year. We got everything ready and loaded up and started the drive. The road was busy both directions. When we found our spot it was full and every spot up to it was full as well. We turned around and headed back. The kids were antsy and hungry from being in the car for an hour so we pulled over and had a roadside picnic. After that we drove back to Boise and stopped in Eagle and played at our usual river spot 15 minutes from our house. Oh well! The drive toward McCall is pretty. It would have been better without the kids. Ha. They were so loud! Plus Piper needed to pee and was scream crying for about 15 minutes until we could pull over. That was good times! Ha. BUT when we got to our usual river spot by our house the kids had a blast playing so all was well.

Now the kids are watching Lord of the Rings with Scott and I am outside on the porch by myself. Everyone is happy! Ha. No plans are set in stone yet this week. We will try to use our roaring springs passes some time this week.

Raspberry munchers. I love having raspberries in our backyard.

Movie time.

Gabby's cookie sale again! Not one customer. My mom did say she would buy some cookies for the family reunion from Gabby so sh'es pretty excited about that. 

Gabby's chalkboard. So cute! Piper's says, "Piper's b-day." Ha. She is obsessed and it's not until September. 

Cute buddy.

Roadside picnic. 

River fun. 

Corbin caught a crawdad. 

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the father's out there. Our father's day was cold, wet, and dreary. We've just been hanging out today. The kids were playing some video game all together forever and they were so LOUD! It was really cute that they were playing together but wowza! I made a special breakfast and we will eat pork chops, scalloped potatoes, and key lime pie tonight. Food is basically my love language so that's what people get on their special days. 

The kids finished up their swim lessons. We will have to take them swimming to see what they learned (assuming they learned something)! This has been a pretty cool June for us. I felt bad for the kids I think they had to do their lessons in 70 degree weather about 3 times last week. Yikes! 

It was really cute and fun to see Corbin do his job. He wanted to go alone every time but I managed to talk him into letting his siblings come at least a few times. He did a great job keeping those animals fed and putting the chickens to bed at night. Ha. I decided to mow their lawn for them before they got back. The grass was long. I got a pretty good workout! 

A friend hosted a craft night and I joined in. It was fun to craft with some friends. I also bought a chair at a thrift store and upcycled it. I think that's the first time I've done that in a long time! It ended up being kind of a pain as these kinds of projects tend to be. The spray paint came out dark and flaky. It was really weird. I was able to work it out but it took more time and work. 

I've been trying to focus more on my VIPKID teaching. I'm getting certified in a few more things and trying to up my game a little bit. I've just been going along for awhile and since it's summer I have a little more time to try to hone in my skills a bit and try to ham myself up as well. I'm trying to wrangle some more clients! I also figured out a brilliant solution to my classroom. Half of the view was my bathroom wall and I took our old broken screen door and covered it with paper and now it blocks the bathroom. Huzzah! It's not perfect and is still a little weird space but I'm working with what I've got. 

This week I signed up the girls for an art camp. I hope they love it! I'm pretty sure they will. 

Gabby and I hanging out in my friends hammock. 

4th of July craft

Before

After

A little Friday night pizza picnic. 

It's hard to see but my classroom view showed my bathroom wall.

Now it's been covered up and decorated a bit more. 

My friend gave me this beautiful mug for helping her out last week. Love it!

Summer, Summer, Summer

Wow a week of summer has already flown by. The major event for me this week was hosting my book club. I actually had the time and motivation to do projects that have been bothering me for MONTHS! Gabby broke the glass in our fireplace and the glass company is out of business. We haven't quite figured out what to do with that problem yet, plus it's money we don't want to spend. Scott had to insulate it so we didn't freeze to death over the winter. I spray painted it with flame resistant spray so it looks a little better. This will have to do for now. I also did touch up paint on my baseboards and doors plus the walls. That has been a job I've put off for the longest time. I'm so happy to be done with that!

The kids major event has been swim lessons. Piper had a swimming pool birthday party and she's definitely getting better at swimming. I think this is the year Gabby will master swimming as well. She is so ready to be done with swim floaties. 

I'm still trying to figure out summer jobs and routines. Gabby cooks breakfast everyday and Corbin does the dishes. It's glorious! Gabby even made breakfast burritos the other day and they were delicious. 

We went to dinner at The Habit last night. Yum. I think we are headed to a park downtown today. I am so excited it is summertime! I was definitely feeling burned out. I am also getting up 30 minutes later in the morning for my VIPKID classes. Yay! 

Oh the other exciting event happening is my friend and neighbor Rachel is on vacation and she hired Corbin to take care of her chickens and cat while they are gone. The kids are fighting over who gets to do what. Between feeding the chickens and swim lessons we are set for this coming week. 

Before

After

Book club, also this is where I spend most of my time in the summer. I love hanging out on the couch back here!

Piper is terrible at riding her bike. I have a goal of trying to work with her on this more. 

Gabby got a sewing kit from her uncle Rustin and Corbin actually wanted to sew a '"sew buddy" (as Gabby calls them) yesterday too. We got interrupted and never finished but I thought it was cute that Corbin wanted to make one. (Like I said, I live on that couch, best purchase ever)!

Fun Times!

What a week! We didn't do much on Memorial Day. I ended up finding Corbin a really nice bike on craigslist for $25 so we drove to Nampa to pick it up. I changed bike tire tubes on three bikes that day. That is a pain in the butt! Luckily all of our bikes are working now. I took my new garage sale bike out for a ride and it was a dream. Corbin, Gabby, and I have been going on bike rides all week. I need to try to work with Piper on biking more. She's very cautious and not very physical. I mean she took 19 months to walk so no surprise she's not into biking. 

I did my last subbing job on Tuesday. Hallelujah! I am ready for a break from that. On Wednesday I helped in the kids' classrooms while they were building their cardboard games for the cardboard challenge. They do it every year at the school. It's pretty fun to see what the kids come up with and even better than that they do it in lieu of a science fair. I don't have to try to help three kids with science fair projects. Score! Thursday was Piper's kindergarten graduation. She was so cute during the concert portion. She was very animated and went all out. That night we went to the school to check out all of the cardboard challenge games. On Friday we had a family picnic at the school and checked the kids out of school for the year! Some people in my neighborhood were having an end of school year ice cream party. We went and had some ice cream cones. Yum! 

Yesterday we went to a summer kick off pool party. The host was a girl that I only recently met and I know some of her friends a little bit but not well. I thought pool party and I won't have to cook dinner...yes! We ended up staying much longer than expected and we all had a good time despite not really knowing very many people there. The host lives in Middleton so she has a lot of land and her yard was great. She had a pool, tether ball, trampoline, swing, hammocks, and more. She also hired a magician to come as well. It was a PART-Y.

We have another summer kick off party today at 4:00. Party, party, party. We are bringing on the summer strong! Tomorrow the kids start swim lessons. Oh Yeah! 

We went to Piper's recess with her on Wednesday. Ryan likes to wear his helmet. 

Kindergarten graduates! 

Piper loved Mrs. Arterbury. She was Gabby's 1st grade teacher as well. 

Piper's best friend Emily! 

Mom and Pipes. 

Gabby and Ryan playing Corbin's game, basketball fury. 

I love the different games the kids make. 

Gabby wanted to sell more cookies yesterday. We only had 2 customers. 

Advertising for the airshow?

Cute gabby hugging Ryan. (Love that!) They were getting ready to watch the magic show.