it's all fun and games: February 2019

the greatest gift and serving!

saturday a few of my friends and i went to a local shelter to made supper for homeless. we LOVED the hair nets!

thrilled i say!

we peeled 100 lbs of potatoes!

and used this bad boy to make 18 dozen cookies.

we served 6 pans of shepherds pie, rolls, pop, and ice cream/cookie sandwiches. it was a lot of work and a lot of fun. we've decided to go again and next time ill take nate with us

i went to bed with this cutie and fell fast asleep

i found this is chris's office. notice the label. to chris AND mel!

this is what he left me. he drank them ALL but 1!!! NOT FAIR!!!

the greatest gift! i snapped this pic minutes before heading to the shelter. this is what i look like after 24 hrs ALONE! rested and calm. ha

chris took ALL the kids to the cabin fri night so i could be alone and volunteer at the shelter on sat with out the kids. my original plans were to go out, but with the weather turning nasty, i changed my plans at the last minute. in stead i took a shower. uninterrupted. this is a first.

then i spent the rest of the night watching shows and eating junk food on the couch.alone. and no interruptions!!!!!

i had the best night alone. i calculated and discovered the last time i was alone at night was when i was preggers with nate. 12 YEARS ago!!!!

it was the BEST gift. THANK YOU CHRIS!!!! and i cant wait to do it again!

this will be my last blog until march. im heading out with the kids for an early march break and wont be on line/blogging till we get back!

0 comments

Posted by mel at 4:44 PM

really????

tues night, i was feeling kinda bummed. ive battling this sinus issue. the kids are LOUD. chris was gone at the cabin. it was a long day. chris came home around 10:30 and pulled me from joey's bed....he said "mel, i have a surprise for you"
and he did
chris, ordered my FAV food ever. bacon-wrapped scallops, from the keg!
this STUPID expensive (15.00 for 6!) meant SO much to me. he had fried from mc donalds, while i stuffed my face with these bad boys

SO good!

this is why we dont do birthdays, anni's, Christmas, v-tines or anything- hallmark holiday. i MUCH rather this.

a late night treat from my bestie on a night i so needed it

THANK you chris, i LOVE you! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 8:01 PM

silly girls!

wed afternoon i took the kids to nate's hearing test....he passed with flying colors...during his test i hung with teh girls in the waiting room. there was 4 chairs, a play table and 3 toys that joey brought with her. that kept them busy for the whole appointment

so. much. fun!

silly joey in the crazy mirror

love her!

she had a HOOT with this mirror

after gymnastics we drove home, i did a shoulder check and found this. GREAT job girls! monkey is SAFE! ha

we came home to play more skip bo and more picture drawing

in secretly impressed with how much nate has taken this on, and went beyond his comfort zone to draw!!!! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 8:01 PM

art!

so, noticing my kids excitement with drawing, i spent the night drawing pics for them. above, my first ever pug for nate
then my first ever unicorn for ellie

i asked joey what she wanted me to draw for her. she said "butterfly" of course! PERFECT for her. so i drew one, then SHE colored it!

voila! my joey-butterfly!

see!

so FUN! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 8:01 PM

a new game!

so, god bless skip-bo. but im so bored of it! haha. i play so much of it....in a burst of inspiration, i created my own game. i tear 8 or more pcs of paper into small sections. and label them on order to draw...its kinda hard to explain. basically i cut up 8 or so different instructions, but in steps for the kids to draw (me too) by the time we get to the last piece we have created a "story"

i had NO idea they would ALL enjoy it so much! so now, instead of skip-bo we draw!

i LOVE watching them draw and create and as i tell them in art there is NO "wrong" !

this was ellie's picture of a barn, with a fence, grass, trees, sun, clouds, a pond with Lilly pads and fish....

when we finished up our art it was time for the girls to go to bed. i found chris like this!

he's using the BUNK BEDS as a LADDER in the garage!

BUSTED!!!!! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 6:09 PM

story time!

joey was all weird this morning and wanted me to come with her to story time. so i did. relaxed much?

totally into the story!

after we made a craft, i let the kids play. the girls made this "baby station" for all the babies and spent 20 mins putting them to bed, then waking them and feeding them, to put them back to bed. cute to watch!

nap time!

after story time, i picked chris up for a snack and mentioned to him on the way that i needed windshield fluid. so after he yelled at me for NOT having back up in the trunk. ha.i pulled into the garage to buy some. chris was like "no, you stay with the kids. ILL buy you windshield fluid" as if our money is separate. haha

so he come out with guns blasting" this cost me 10 BUCKS!!!!" then was all hubby and like "ill fill it, you stay in the car"

haha

thank you babe for loving me for me. and paying 10.00 for 2 bottles of windshield fluid AND putting it in...

but i did buy him a coffee and a snack with MY gift card. hahaha

we came home to have a late lunch and make 3 more pictures. nate joined us! i was SO happy about that!

ellie drawing

nate's pic of the "nursery" that looked like a baby jail, including pooping cow and a GUN picture! what the what?????

ellies picture of a beach

nate joined us for another pic!

i was totally impressed with his willingness to join in on something new! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 6:09 PM

bath!

i threw the girls into the tub and gave them some bubble bath
i came back to this

what a mess

BUT! they had SO much fun and really, how much of a mess is water everywhere? i look at it as easy cleaning....just wipe. voila. CLEAN. ha

the MESS on the floor...but they were in the rub for almost 2 hrs. totally worth it!

after bath time, nate went to his friends house. i made made more drawing cards for the girls. they LOVE it

this is mine and ellies drawing of a tree, with branches and leaves. an owl, a bird house, a birds nest, the sun and grass....

i was impressed!

one funny story. as we were driving to story time this morning, i was listening to the girls talking in the back seat.

ellie said " joey, you know when you grow up you can be ANYTHING you want to be! like some one who discovers and digs up dinosaur bones!"

joey then says "no. i want to be a mommy to dinosaurs. a dinosaur mommy."

bwahhhhh totally ellie to think, plan and calculate the future
totally joey to say "i just want to be a mommy" 0 comments

Posted by mel at 6:09 PM

purging and book club!

last sunday i tore my book shelves a part and purged. i ended up with 3 huge bags of books and a box stuffed to the brim! i made room for my new books, saved the old and looked through old memory books. it was a fun way to spend the evening. now my book shelf is ready for more books! ha

monday morning was BOOK CLUB! it was my turn this month to host, i chose the lions center. we had a larger turn out than what i thought we would because i was NOT showing a movie and the book was a bit harder to read than books in the past.

we did little house in the big woods. to start off i sat the kids in a circle and we played a game answering questions about the book. the kids impressed me buy how much they remembered!

then we hit the tables to make our lap book. again, i wasnt sure how this would go over....the kids worked 45 mins on them!

during the circle time i told the kids how they made butter and we made our own, whip cream in a jar and shake for 30 mins. we made butter, i added some salt and brought bread to dip. it was SO good. the kids ate all of it! ha

after our snack of fresh better and bread. we made clove apples. i guessed about 20 mins for this activity but the kids spent another 45 mins working away! book club ran over, the parents didnt mind. after the clove apples, we had a snack and played a few games and it was time to go home!