The Favorite Parts of My Day

I have lots of favorite things that happen during my day. I also have lots of not so favorite parts of my day. Like cleaning, laundry, running errands.....but let's not dwell on those things. =) Sometimes I do that though, dwell on the mundane things of my day, and I forget to be happy about the favorite parts of my day. So, I decided to take pictures of my favorite things throughout the day. Here they are:

While I do not enjoy getting up in the morning (just ask my husband...), I do enjoy talking to these two while they eat breakfast before school.

I also enjoy a cup of coffee (and the quiet) after they leave and before Lily gets up. 

I love how this little miss runs down the stairs with a big smile every morning. {When she wakes up in her own. If you wake this one up before she's ready, she's a bit like her Mama...I'm sure this will be fun next year when she goes to school. ;0) } I also love how she jumps on my lap and tells me that she had a good night sleep and just cuddles with me for awhile.

I like to do art projects with Lily during the day too.

And read books and laugh with her.

I enjoy time on Pinterest, facebook, reading, or some sort of just plain old "me" time while Lily plays or draws.

I love seeing these two smiling faces come out to the car after school.

And I really like when this guy walks in the door.

I love having the "What was your favorite part of your day?" part of our dinner routine.

I like tucking in these 3 sweeties and kissing them goodnight.

And I love to spend time with Jeff after the kids are all asleep.

Of course these things don't happen everyday. Lily and I don't always do an elaborate art project and sometimes we don't do them at all. Sometimes I have absolutely no me time until after everyone's in bed. There are times when I have not so happy boys stomping out to my car, and sometimes, that handsome husband of mine is out of town and doesn't come through that door for several days. But then there are days where a lot if not all of these things happen. I just have to remember to enjoy them & be thankful for them when they do happen. =)

Magical Baby Lamb

Lily has a Baby Lamb that she has had since she was a baby. If you know anything about Lily, you know that she absolutely loves Baby Lamb. She is very important to Lily. She plays with her, dresses her up, sleeps with her, and talks about her all of the time. So the other day when Lily was talking about Baby Lamb, it was nothing out of the ordinary. Except for the fact that Lily was saying that Baby Lamb was magical. She kept telling me that Baby Lamb would move while Lily was out of the room. So, I decided that Baby Lamb should not only move while Lily wasn't there, but also do funny things too. So, yesterday morning when Lily went up to her room to check on Baby Lamb (she puts her down for "naps" and then gets her up), she saw that Baby Lamb wasn't taking a nap at all! She was doing this:

 She was very surprised!

She was very surprised!

She told Baby Lamb she was supposed to be taking a nap. So, she put her back to bed.

Obviously Baby Lamb still did not want to take a nap, because the next time that Lily went into her room, Baby Lamb was reading a book: 

She could not wait to tell her brother's about what Baby Lamb had been doing all day! Zach decided that he would try to stop Baby Lamb from moving (because he was certain it wasn't actually Baby Lamb) so he put her in Lily's pajama drawer. What he didn't know though, was that Lily can not keep a secret and told me where Baby Lamb was... So, when Lily went to get her pajama's on, Baby Lamb was not in her drawer. She was on her bed in princess clothes!

Lily was shocked!

After that, Zach said, "OK, this is getting creepy!"

So, to further creep Zach out (because we're good parents like that), Jeff had Baby Lamb waiting on the stairs for them when they went up to bed:

And not only was Baby Lamb moving, but so was Riley's Bunny....

and Zach's Dog-Dog:

Riley really didn't care that Bunny has moved. :0) He just laughed and went to bed. Zach however was really starting to get freaked out. To the point where he didn't even want Dog-Dog in his room last night. So, we took pity on him and asked him if he really thought the animals moved on their own. He realized then that Jeff & I were doing it. So, he took Dog-Dog back upstairs and went to sleep. But this morning, he called Lily in his room to see this:

He had put a helmet on Dog-Dog and made it look like he was fighting a monster. Ha ha! It was so funny! =) Lily loved it that Dog-Dog was moving too. (And Zach loved being in on the secret!)

Baby Lamb has only moved once today. She was playing with Lily's shoes:

Lily thought it was so funny that she was doing this. I'm not too sure how much Baby Lamb is going to move anymore. I'm sure she'll do funny things from time to time, but not several times in one day. I'm running out of things for her to do! ;0) 

This was so fun to do with Lily. (and Zach!) It was fun to see her reaction each time. And as far as I know, she still thinks that Baby Lamb is doing it herself.....by using magic. =)

Hopscotch!

Yesterday, Lily asked me to play hopscotch. So, I drew a hopscotch board for her on the driveway. I made the boxes the colors that she wanted, then she filled in the numbers (with my help). 

We borrowed one of Riley's Angry Birds bean bags to toss onto the numbers.

She picked up how to do it really fast.

She had a lot of fun doing it too!

It probably took us longer to make the hopscotch board than it did for her to actually play with it. I think she thought it was going to be different than what it was. It was fun to make it with her though, and she had fun while she was playing with it. =)  

Fun With Dad

Jeff had been out of town a lot the past few weeks. He went to Houston for 4 days, was back for 1 1/2 days and then was in California for 5 days. When he is gone for long periods of time like that, he likes to get the kids something from where he was. This time, he brought back quartz rocks for the kids to break open. The kids are all about rocks....and breaking things open. So this was perfect for them. =)

Jeff got them started with a chisel and hammer: 

This was what was on the inside. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. I thought they were going to be the kind with purple on the inside with a hollow center. These were cool too though & the kids liked them, so that's what was important. 

Next, it was Lily's turn.

This way of cracking turned out to be extremely time consuming, so Jeff & Lily took it outside & smashed it. Which proved to be even more fun for the kids. Who doesn't love helping dad smash things with a sledge hammer?!?

Lily's was more sparkly on the inside. She loved that!

Zach didn't even try the chisel, he went straight for the sledge hammer. Shocking, I know.....

His was sparkly too. These pictures don't really capture how sparkly they were though. :0(



Each of the kids got 4 rocks to smash, so Riley got to use the sledge hammer too, and he ended up with some sparkly ones too. The kids really had fun smashing rocks with dad. =)

Bonfire!

On Saturday night, we went to my sister Amy and her husband Sam's house for a bonfire! They live out in the country, so there is a lot of room for the kids to play. They played on the tire swing, bounced big bouncy balls, and just ran and ran and ran!

 When it was time to eat, we put hot dogs, brats, sausages, and hot links on long forks and roasted our food. The kids really liked getting to cook their own dinner.

 Watermelon is always yummy on a warm day outside!

As the sun was setting, it was time for the marshmallow roast!

  

S'mores!!

It was such a fun night!!! Thanks Amy & Sam for hosting it!!!