Jumping on the bandwagon

Everywhere you look across blogland, people are making their own chalkboards. So I decided to follow the crowd. They're great for putting up your dinner menu or birthday greetings, lovey dovey crap, or whatever. I love mine! Even Tim thinks it's pretty cool...which is saying something, coming from a man and all.

So, dig up a large, old, framed picture...I got this beauty for $2.50 at our local thrift store.


Get yourself a can of chalkboard spray paint - paint on a couple coats...

Let it dry for 24 hours...then rub all over with chalk...

...wipe off and it's ready to write on. Simple, cheap, and fun! I never thought I would have a big chalkboard in my dining room and actually think it was cool!

Field Trip...literally

Andy went on a field trip the other day with his 2nd grade class. He came home very excited so the first thing I asked him was how his field trip was.

Andy: "Mom, you won't even believe it!! We DID NOT go to a field."

Too Cute

My favorite boys...sound asleep on the couch.

Flashback

It's almost that time of year again when we dress our kids up silly and send them out into the night to knock on the doors of strangers and beg for candy. I'm not that into Halloween. I think it's a really bizarre holiday. Anyway, that's not the point.

I was recently reminded of a very memorable Halloween 4 years ago. We went up to Plains to visit my sister and her family and to go with them to their church Halloween party. Andrew adores these particular cousins which at the time were all girls (they've since added two boys and another girl for a total of 7)! He has been highly influenced by these girls in his life. He looooves them!

Andrew had asked to be 'Woody' from Toy Story for Halloween that year and so I spent many hours sewing a pretty dang cute costume...

...see, isn't that cute?

When we got to Plains and it was time to get dressed Andrew wanted nothing to do with his Woody costume. All of his cousins were getting dressed up as fairies. For some reason he decided it would be better for an almost-4-year old boy to dress up as a fairy than to be Woody. We tried and tried to convince him to put his Woody costume on but he wanted nothing to do with it. So, my sister - God bless her - rounded up some extra dress up clothes and outfitted him as a fairy. He was as happy as a clam. We got some pretty weird looks from people at the party but Andrew had a blast. He danced and twirled like a real pro. He did wear his Woody costume very briefly for trick or treating a few days later but that was it. His happiest moments were in that fairy costume. (sorry for the bad pics, they are scans of poor quality 35mm)

LOVE the shoes!

I've since shown him these pictures. It's not funny. At least not for him. He's almost eight now. They make him seethe. He would keel over if he knew I posted them on here. If he could only remember how happy he was! And for crying out loud, it was not my idea!

Perfectly Natural

I really wish I knew how to take better pictures or had a better camera or something! These pictures are okay but they could have been phenomenal. I found these two PERFECT spiderwebs on our tree out front. It was foggy out with the morning sun just coming up and sparkling off these webs. It was absolutely amazing. I hate spiders with a passion but these webs had me captivated. I never did see the amazing critters that created them but they sure made my day.

(click to enlarge for a much better view)

The Arts and Crafts Store

A couple of weeks ago we were standing in the kitchen and Tim says to Andy, "Hey Andy guess what tomorrow is? It's Daddy-Bubber day!" (note: Bubbers was Andrews' nickname as a baby and Tim's day off other than Sunday is Monday. So Mondays are their big day together, hence Daddy-Bubber day).

Andy was very excited and said, "Let's go to Michaels!"

Tim was hoping he would say, 'lets go fishing or hiking, or shooting bows and arrows'. He looked at me with his eyes popped wide and says, "I'm a complete failure as a father."

I looked back and said, "Yes you are."

Basically Andrew gets drug around with me a lot and I have to bribe him any possible way I can. Beings that he is really, and I mean really into Halloween, the only way to drag him with me to Michaels without him having a cow is to remind him of all the cool Halloween stuff they have. It works every time. So now he thinks Michaels is pretty cool - cool enough to invite his dad.

Monday rolled around, Andrew gets home from school and Tim was hoping he had forgotten about Michaels so they could go do something manly. Nope. Tim was a good sport and went to Michaels. Of course I had to go with to document it.

Trampoline Fun

We were all three hanging out on the trampoline one day - wrestling, tickling, bouncing...whatever. Andy smacked me on the butt and said, "Mom, I like slapping your butt because it's all wiggly and movy." Great.

Then I had Andy play with my hair. I loooove to have my hair played with and beings that Tim had fallen asleep on the trampoline, I asked Andy if he wanted to do it. He tends to yank it and tangle it but it's still better than nothing in my book. I love it...as long as he doesn't rip it out. He put my hair on my face, shoved it into my mouth (that wasn't all that great) and made designs with it. He really got into it and concentrated really hard getting my hair to do just what he wanted. Just simple, family fun!

Neurotic

Neurotic is all I have to say about this animal...he loves his Q-Tips. I need to audition him for a Q-Tip commercial. He is by far their biggest consumer & most loyal fan.