Easter Eggs

One day while perusing Facebook I found a link to a fun, different way to dye Easter Eggs.  I wasn't sure if it was a hoax but figured we didn't have anything to lose and if they didn't turn out we'd dye them the old fashioned way.  

First up, the boys were told to take off their shirts.  If the sight of nakey boy tummies bothers you stop reading right now.  I wasn't about to let them ruin their shirts with food coloring - that stuff stains and doesn't come out!

So, the recipe was to use either shave cream or whipped cream in the bottom of a dish or cookie sheet then to drip drops of food coloring over the top.  Then you use a straw to swirl that around - don't mix it because you want to see all the different colors.  I used whipped cream because it's edible.  Take your hard boiled eggs, set them down in the fluff and carefully roll it over so all sides have been covered.  Let them sit for 10 minutes then rinse them off.  That's it! Easy peasy!

This was a tiny bit messy on the fingers but what kid doesn't love a little mess making?

I like that this was something Tate could do.  I think those typical dyes are too liquidy for a rambunctious 3 year old. :)

Here are ours sitting in the goop 'resting'.  The more you do the more the coloring gets mixed together but it worked pretty well for a dozen eggs.

And here they are all rinsed off.  This picture doesn't do them justice - they were much brighter and more brilliant than this.

You can see one clearer here and this is more true to how they looked.  We waited 15 minutes for our second batch and they didn't seem any brighter than the 10 minute batch.

This was a fun, easy way to decorate eggs this year and the boys had fun doing it. Win win!

Tate and Tenley's Photo Shoot

Last week we had Tate's 2 year pictures and Tenley's 6 month pictures taken.  It was a really breezy evening which explains why Tate's hair is a mess but otherwise it was a nice night.  Tate wouldn't cooperate as much as I'd have liked him to - he kept sticking his tongue out or mushing his mouth over to the side - but regardless Sarah was able to catch some really sweet pics of my guy.

Miss Tenley is Miss Photogenic, and she's never met a stranger, so she was smiling like a ham!  Sarah kept gushing over her and how much fun she was to photograph.  Loulie! :)

We started off with a quick pose of all 4 kids together.

No session with kids (boys?) is complete without the funny face pic.  Not sure why Bren didn't get too crazy with his face but Tate just stuck that tongue out farther than he'd already had it.  :)

Now Tate's...

(My favorite of his!)

And Tenley's...

I finally got my laptop back yesterday so hurried up and ordered prints for myself and family.  I can't wait til next week when they arrive and I can get them in frames!!!

Tate's Shirt: Old Navy

Tenley's Lace Bow

Lace and Silk outfit

Floral Romper - not available anymore :(

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday!  I'm linking up with Shay at Mix and Match Family today!

*Ok, so this is weird but remember when I mentioned Monday that my mouse buttons on my laptop weren't working anymore?  Well, they still aren't so I can't figure out how to right click on anything, including the What's Up Wednesday image.  I also can't figure out how to click and drag on something so can't actually link to her blog in my text.  Ugh, what a pain.  I'm going to call a repairman today and see what he suggests.  In the mean time this will be a weird link up post.*

What we're eating this week...
  Andy and I are enjoying the last few days of 'freedom' before the boys are out of school for the summer by meeting for lunch a few extra days this week.  Monday we went to the food truck here in town for Philly Steak Sandwiches (and some of the best french fries I've ever had - it's like they're double battered or something, yum!).  Today we are meeting for Philly's in the town where he works.  And Friday I think we're doing pizza in the park.  Once the boys are here it's much more expensive eating out so our lunch dates cease until they are back in school next Fall.

What I'm reminiscing about...
  I've been thinking about my memories in my Grandma's house. She has decided that this is the year she moves to town.  She has started going through her house.  For my birthday she gave me a few little things she thought I'd like. Last week she spent 2 days going through newspaper clipping she'd collected and sorted them out into folders for each of her kids and grandkids.  That's 6 kids, 18 grandkids!  That was quite a job!!  I had so much fun looking through my clippings and programs from my First Communion and 6th Grade Graduation.  I showed me that all of my clipping I do isn't for nothing - some day we'll go through those and reminisce.  I'm so sad she's moving to town but if that's what she wants to do I'll put on a smile and help her anyway I can.

What I'm loving right now...
  I am loving watching Aiden play baseball!  Guys, he is a GOOD PITCHER!!!  I am totally surprised by how good he is!  I'm trying not to be all braggy, I hate when parent's do that.  I am genuinely surprised by his talent.  He's fun to watch!  Last night he struck out the first 3 batters in the first inning and only had 1 hitter in his 2nd inning, struck out the other 3.  In this league they can only pitch 2 innings so for the rest of the game he played 2nd.  When he was at bat he got hit by the pitches twice, not hard, but he got walked.  We laughed after the second one because he was laughing about getting hit not once, but twice.  Glad they didn't hurt!  His third time at bat he ALMOST got hit again, but jumped out of the way in time.  I think it almost hit his "you know where".  His face was priceless! The whole crowd cracked up!

What we've been up to...
  Ball practice, working the sheep, getting outside to enjoy the nice weather...

What I'm dreading...
  The first day of summer vacation.  The boys will be super excited and then by 10 a.m. bored and bugging Tate.  I am ready for the boys to be home this summer but not ready to have them constantly riling Tate up.  I'm hoping because they have a busy June planned it'll help keep the craziness to a minimum.

What I'm working on...
  Not a darn thing!  I have all of my scrapbooking/card making supplies packed away because we are wanting to tear apart the basement living room for Phase II of the basement remodel.

What I'm excited about...
  Summer!  We are finally having summer weather - highs in the 80's and humidity.  I actually turned on the AC yesterday afternoon because it was so sticky in the house.  Ahh, that felt nice to need it!  The 7 day forecast shows nothing but 80's, lows in the 60's which means humidity and thunderstorms.  Hopefully nothing severe like Oklahoma and Texas are having, though.

What I'm watching/reading...
  Today I am heading up the library to pick up 'Me Before You' by JoJo Moyes.  If you haven't heard, they have made this book into a movie (that comes out next week) and I want to get the book read before everyone is talking about the movie.  Luckily it was available at our local library so I told my friend and librarian to hold it for me so I could come get it.  I'm hoping it's as good as everyone says it is.  Have you read it yet?  As for what I'm watching, BRAVO TV.  I have 5 shows I record every week which gives me something to watch every afternoon while I'm walking on the treadmill.  Works out pretty nice!  This afternoon I'll be watching 'Southern Charm' while I treddle (what Andy calls walking on the mill).

What I'm listening to...
  Nothing much.  The usual on the radio - oldies, country, pop, rock.

What I'm wearing...
  SHORTS!!!  It's warm enough to put the jeans away.  Just in time since I have worn out all of my jeans.  Need to get to the store to buy some, sooner than later.  There's always a cool down for at least a day in the summer where I can pull out my jeans to wear so need a pair for that.

What I'm doing this weekend...
  I am hoping to finally get the tile laid and grouted this week in the basement bathroom.  It's so hard with the Sweet T's so I need to see if my mom can help out with them.  Also, going to my sister's for a cookout Sunday evening.  I'm excited to get there and see their new baby kittens and my nephew's 4H sheep.  We'll also visit the cemetery - I love seeing all the flags and the headstones dressed up with flowers.

What I'm looking forward to next month...
  I'm looking forward to all of the boys' activities next month.  Baseball.  Basketball camps.  Aiden's first overnight camp.  Swim lessons.  Day camps.  Aiden and Andy's Father/Son Iowa Basketball camp.  Plus the other simple things in between, like bike rides, walks, playing outside, etc etc etc.

What else is new...
  We decided to try having Tenley ride in the cart at the grocery store.  My rule of thumb is that when they can sit up by themselves they get moved to the convertible car seat and ride in the cart.  Tenley is very close to sitting up by herself so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  It went pretty good until we got to the checkout line, then she was kind of over the whole thing and wanted held, which is tricky when you are unloading a cart full of groceries.  But she looked so sweet sitting in there! I'm thinking of getting one of those cart covers for her to sit in - anyone out there have any experience with one?  Worth the money or no?

Bonus Question:  What I'm looking forward to this summer...
  Well, all the camps and activities I mentioned for June.  The County Fair in July.  State Fair in August.  And a small vacation with the family, yet to be determined where and when. It'll have to be after the fair because we have sheep to care for every day. They are cramping my style, ha ha!  I'm also looking forward to being with the big boys.  We got a membership to the local swimming pool and they are going twice a week with a sitter since taking the Sweet T's by myself is going to be quite challenging.  We're going to attempt it for an hour a few times but that'll probably be my limit.

That's What's Up Wednesday!

Life Lately

Life lately has been busy.  

Aiden's 4H sheep take up a good hour of our time every day after school.  There is a lot that goes into raising and preparing your sheep for the fair.  We go out every morning before school to feed them.  After school we go out to work with them.  We have them halter broke, which just means we have them used to wearing the halters.  Now we are breaking them to lead, which means we are teaching them how to walk with Aiden while he leads them around the yard.  We started breaking them to lead this past week on Friday.  That first night it went much better than we expected it to go.  First Andy and Aiden haltered up Ted and Tiny and walked them out of the pasture/pen.  It took a little bit of encouraging and quite a few times Andy had to settled Ted down because he was jumping and getting wild, but they walked pretty well for the most part. Then they haltered Nubby and Skippy.  Oh boy.  I got quite a workout shoving Nubby as Aiden tried dragging him.  He just didn't want to be lead and he wasn't going to do it.  We finally gave up on him after about 10 minutes.  All in all we were happy with that first night.  

Saturday morning Andy took the boys out to the sheep to work with them while I took Tenley with me to a meeting.  When I got home Andy looked wiped out!  None of the sheep wanted to walk so they battled them the whole time.  Add to that Tate stood there and screamed they entire time.  Needless to say Andy decided he was never going out there with the 3 boys by himself again.  :)

Sunday night we gave it another shot and it went really really well.  All 4 sheep walked on the halter and we even practiced setting them up like when Aiden's in the show ring.  We all felt quite a bit better about it all after last night.  

As far as how the sheep are doing health-wise, pretty good!  They are growing and gaining weight, eating and drinking, and come running when we show up. They aren't tame enough to just walk up to them and pet or halter them, we still have to corral them in a corner, but it's much easier and they are more used to us.

While out working the sheep I couldn't help but snap this pic of Tate trying to be just like his big brother Brennie.  Cuties!  At one point Tate also had his arms crossed but I was too late with the camera to get that picture.

Aiden needed a pair of jeans for showing his sheep so I stopped at Old Navy.  They were having a 40% the entire store sale.  I might have gotten a tad off track of the jean shopping and found myself in Tenley's section.  These jellies, a pair of open toed chambray shoes and a shirt might have come home with me for her.  :)

Speaking of Tenley, at a cousin's graduation party we found Miss Ella (cousin) who is 6 weeks older than Tenley.  Ella was 5lbs some odd ounces at birth and it took her forever to take off in the weight department.  Tenley weighed more than her for quite some time.  Well, no more!  Ella has made up for those early months and has filled out quite nicely.  They were pretty excited to sit next to each other and gossip about bows, clothes and cute boys.  

 Baseball has started and Aiden is pitching this year.  He is quite good for his first time out on that mound, I was very impressed with him!  He's struck out most of the batters up against him or pitched so well that they popped it up and his teammates have caught the ball and gotten them out.  It's been nerve wracking and exciting.  Bren had his first practice last night, his games start in June.  We'll be going to ball games three nights a week for most of June, going to be crazy hectic busy!

Hi, my name is Tenley.  I enjoy long stroller rides, bottles, watching my brothers and chewing on my toes.  :)

There's not much cuter than chubby baby thighs in white tights!

Bren's class had their field trip to the zoo last week.  Look how close they were to the giraffes!!!  They could pay $4 to feed them 2 leaves of lettuce but he passed on that.  He did fork over money to ride the train and ponies, though, and loved both!

This awesomely ugly cabinet has finally been removed from the basement so we can start Phase II of the basement remodel (even though Phase I isn't complete yet!).  We moved part of it into the furnace room for extra storage and counter space.  The furnace room has 2 walls of built in shelving that I use for storing my canned veggies, my canning supplies, paint cans, extra car seats, camping supplies, winter coats, and a mix of other random stuff.  It's a big storage room (one of 2 we have!!!).  Now all of the boys' games and puzzles reside in this cabinet in there, temporarily.  Once the remodel is complete they'll be out in the living room on built in shelves and I'll use the cabinet to store ... whatever I want to store in there!  To be determined, ha!

Tonight we are having Tate and Tenley's pictures taken.  These are some of the outfits I have picked out.  Anxious to get these done, hoping Tate cooperates because he's been in a weird funk this past week or so.  Everyone pray for me! :)

Here is my fall hair inspiration - I love the warmth!!!  And the length, but I'd need extensions to get me there by Fall! :)

This weekend we ran into my cousin's wife and their sweet boy, Finnlee.  I snapped a selfie with Finn and Aiden to send to my aunt because I knew she'd be jealous I got to see him.  Finn wasn't super impressed with us, ha!

Sunday was a gorgeous day!  FINALLY we get to see Tenley's bare skin other than at bath time!!!  She was rocking her shades and hat, and didn't seem to mind either of them!  It always helps when you are sitting on Daddy's lap, though. :)

That's life lately!  

P.S.  Do you know how hard it is to do things on your laptop when the mouse buttons don't work?  All of a sudden they stopped working.  I have no idea if a setting was tripped or what but neither the left nor the right buttons work.  Erg!!!  Almost time for a new laptop -- or a Surface?  Any recommendations?  Any ideas on how to get these buttons to work without paying a repairman?  I did check the mouse settings, didn't see anything 'off' in there (like I know what I'm looking at, ha!).  

P.P.S.  Tenley keeps trying to such on and lick my feet as I'm typing this.  Ha ha ha!!

So What Wednesday

It's been forever since I did a So What Wednesday post so I think it's high time to get one written up.
Here's what I'm say 'So What' to this week:

So what if...

\\ Tate shoved a raisin up his nose yesterday.  He sneezed, it flew out, all's well that ends well.

\\ I'm drinking Mt Dew like a pro again.  I'm tired, I don't drink coffee and I'm just trying to function like a human so if that's what it takes... :)

\\ I absolutely despise dress up days at school.  They are work for the parent, not the kid.  I don't have the imagination to think up and put together these outfits but if they don't get dressed up then they feel left out.  How many students feel left out by these days because the parents don't have the resources to dress their kids up for them?  They are supposed to be fun but for me they create all kinds of anxiety.  I hate school dress up days.

\\ I've decided to stop turning the big boy's and Andy's shirts right side out when folding them because, lets face it, they're lucky I even fold their clothes these days!  Hello, laundry for 6 people?  That's a lot!

That's what I'm saying So What to this week!

A Look Back at 2015

2015 was a wild, crazy, busy, exciting year for our family.  When I think of the past year quickly I don't think much happened. But when I really start thinking back over it I start to remember just how much *did* happen for our family.  The majority of the year was centered around my pregnancy, the birth of Tenley and the first 6+ weeks of her life.  Sprinkle in the boys' sports, Tate growing and being a toddler, and a million other things and it was quite a year.  Here's a little look back.

JANUARY
The boys celebrated the 100th day of school with a week of dress up days.  Book characters, Pirates and animal day (Aiden was a 'party animal').

FEBRUARY
Tate turns 1...and hates his smash cake!

MARCH
We start demo on the basement, Brennan turns 6 and I find out I'm pregnant!

APRIL
Andy and I went to Florida!

MAY
Last day of school (Aiden 3rd, Bren K) and baseball started for Aiden

JUNE
Bren starts baseball and Aiden turns 9!

JULY
IT'S A GIRL, IT'S A GIRL, IT'S A GIRL!!!
County Fair time

AUGUST
Iowa State Fair and back to school - Aiden grade 4, Brennan grade 1

SEPTEMBER
Football fun!

OCTOBER
Halloween with the Grim Reaper, Darth Vadar and the cutest little monkey

NOVEMBER
Our beautiful baby girl arrives!!!

DECEMBER
Christmas programs, Christmas celebrating, and baby snuggles

For the first time ever I am looking forward to the new year.  I hate change, and a new year is a change, but this time I am so excited to start a new year. We have no major changes planned for our life this year, our family is complete and we can just hit the cruise control and live our life.  So excited for that!

Happy New Year to all!