Friday Afternoons

Friday afternoons are my favorite day during the busy school week.
My sister Mary picks Zach up from school Monday through Thursday.
I pick him up on Fridays.
He is excited everyday after school, but Fridays are different.
He shows me his spelling test, his new library books, and tells me about the fun things he did.
Lily and Riley are excited to see Zach too, and like to go pick him up.
Then they all know what happens next:

Our little treat for Fridays.
Just because.
Lily always gets a strawberry slush.
The boys switch their choices around.
They are into cranberry drinks now.
Riley ALWAYS gets what Zach gets.
Even if Zach changes his mind......Riley will change his mind too. =)
Mine is always a Diet Dr. Pepper....I am addicted.

Here recently we have been going straight outside to enjoy our drinks.

Sometimes to cool off between bike and scooter rides.

Sometimes just sitting on the deck laughing with each other.

Before they run off in a million different directions.

Relaxing at the end of a busy week.

I love Fridays! =)

Tiger Cub Badge

Zach received his Tiger Cub Badge last night!
He has moved up in the scouting world. =)
He is now a Tiger Cub Scout.
He worked all year to earn this badge.

We are so proud of you Zach for all of your hard work!

Renaissance Fair

We went to the Great Plains Renaissance Fair yesterday afternoon.
It was a lot of fun!
I have been to Renaissance Fairs before, but we have never taken the kids.
I think they really liked it.
The first thing we did was stop in the "Kid's Realm" and let the kids play games.

Then we walked around to watch some of the shows.
The boys really liked this fencing show.

We also walked around the shops.

The boys picked out these bows & safe arrows.

Riley is getting a lesson on how to use his here:

Lily picked out a fairy wand and halo.

(It was SUPER windy yesterday....)

Some of the workers were handing out Musketeer coins.

The kids had to take the coins to the Royal Court to exchange them for a prize.

Here they are with the queen.

They also got a stamp saying they were now Musketeers.

While we were walking around waiting for the jousting to begin, we saw some very interesting people.

Then the jousting began!

This was really fun to watch.

This lady was our announcer.

Those horses are huge!!!

These were the two champions.

The one with the yellow and red checks was our side's champion.

Zach was really into this.

He was cheering them on and laughing so hard at the jokes that the announcer and the men would tell.

We moved onto face painting when we were done watching the joust.

Zach felt that he was too old for face painting. ;-)

But Lily and Riley wanted to.

The last thing we did was watch this comedy circus.

The husband/wife duo was really funny!

They were also really good at their acts.

They juggled:

Walked on tight ropes:

And jumped through fire!

It was a lot of fun.

I think we will have to make this a yearly tradition!

It's Not Easy Being This Cute

It takes a lot of work!

First you have to brush your hair......with TWO brushes!

Then, you have to blow dry your hair:

Then straighten your hair.....

(or your ear...whatever works...)

and curl it!

Add a little lipstick.....

and some bracelets, and you're done!

I can't wait for her to be a teenager.......

=)

Conversation Between These Two Silly Boys:

(While we are planting seeds.)

Riley: Are these seeds radioactive?

Zach: What's radioactive??

Riley: When you eat the plants, they will make you glow in the dark.

Zach: You watch too many movies.

Riley: No I don't!

Zach: Yes you do....like Scooby Doo.

Riley: Well, it's good to know about radioactive things.

Riley's Birthday

Riley's Birthday celebrations started on Monday when he got to bring cupcakes and treat bags to preschool.

It continued into Tuesday, his actual Birthday, with presents from Jeff & I.

We let the kids pick whatever they want for dinner on their Birthday.

Riley chose Red Robin's.

It was yummy and he got a big Birthday sundae. =)

When we got home he blew out the candles on the blueberry cake he picked out.

He must have had a good day,

he was sound asleep within five minutes with his new toys spread out around him in bed.

Then today, we had his big party with lots of family!

He wanted a Mario cake.

I wish I could take credit for this......but I can't.

My sister Mary made this.

Riley LOVED it!!

Riley got lots of great presents!

He got cute clothes, lots of outdoor toys, and many other things.

Thanks everyone!!

Riley is really lucky to have so many people who love him!!

He also got some cute jammies.

Including his new dragon jammies.

He has been running around as a dragon all night. ;-)


After presents, Riley blew out the candles on his Mario cake!

Riley had a great time!

Thanks everyone for helping Riley celebrate being FIVE years old!!

New Deck

I have wanted a deck on the back of our house since we moved in.
If you had come over to our house last Friday, you would have seen this:

Just a lopsided piece of concrete.....not even big enough for our patio furniture.

If you had come over on Saturday, you would have seen this:

The beginning of our new deck!!

My brother Bill came over Saturday morning with an auger, and helped Jeff drill holes in the ground for the posts.

Thanks Bill!! That was a big help!

A little later on that day, my brother Tom came over to help get all of the wood we needed and to help start building the deck. (thank you!)

(I found out I can carry an 80 pound bag of concrete!)

They got the posts cemented in the holes and the frame pretty much done on Saturday.

Then on Sunday, Tom came back with his wife Carla to help finish the main part of the deck.

Carla told me I couldn't take any pictures of her.

I appreciated her help SO much that I didn't take any. ;-)

Thank you Tom & Carla!!

We would not have had this part done by Sunday afternoon without your help!!!!

SO much more room now!

The deck is 16x16.

Sunday evening, Jeff was making sure all of the nails were completely in the wood.

The kids really wanted to "help".

Then Monday night after Jeff got off work we went to get the wood for the railings.

Jeff worked hard on this with a little bit of help from Zach.

He was completely done last night......except for stairs.....who needs stairs?? =)
Just kidding. He is going to finish them tomorrow and then we will have to stain it.

I was too excited to show it off to wait for stairs though.

So here are the pictures of the "finished" deck!!

I think Jeff did a great job.

It looks fantastic & we LOVE it!

Thank you to everyone who helped us!!!!