The PVC Pipe Project

My husband took all the kids to Lowe's the other day while I went for a physical. They came home with PVC pipes, connectors, and sprinkler heads. They worked together and sawed the pipes, drilled holes in some caps, glued on the connectors, etc.

What did they make? A really cool sprinkler/play thing to run through. One that can be changed anytime. In fact, they had to think about what to put where to ensure enough water pressure for all of their sprinkling sites. They set it up today when we had some friends over for a visit. There was water squirting out of maybe 5 different spots. They put a piece of poly on the grass and put this contraption as a sort of bridge to go under.

It was really cool. And, the best part is that they can create different things every time they use it!

1. Went to well child checks, made more doctor appointments, and had my first physical since I was a kid.
2. Walked around with my son while he went golfing (his friend and friend's mom usually go but they couldn't this week). It was nice.
3. Sorted a huge bucket of clothes into donation and storage (and actually put them in storage). The bucket was sitting in my living room for over a week because it looked like such a daunting task. It only took about 10 minutes total!

Giggle of the day

Guess what Esme, my adorable 2 year old, calls seagulls?

"Beach chickens"!

Too cute, right?

My small successes this week are pretty small - but that's the point isn't it? We do what we can when we can.

1. Resisted the urge to get everyone home to bed on time and instead detoured to buy 2 Hermit Crabs (did you know "hermit" crabs need company? according to our hermit crab book they do! And we only had one living lonely hermit crab.)

2. Printed off the page of available swim lesson times (yeah - only printed it - but this week that was big).

3. Went back to using my "Catholic Mother's Daily Planner" from family-centered press. I had gotten an ipod as a gift and while I would LOVE to make the calendar feature work for me there - it just doesn't. I feel discombobulated and like my days are without direction. I need to be able to sneak a peak at my planner list and see what else I need to accomplish that day, what I had planned for dinner, etc. So, I sat down on Monday and during part of my prayer time (I only sneak this in on Monday's) I ask God for help in planning/directing my week. I fill it all in and I just feel so much better all week. A very small thing, but I am so much a paper and pencil gal when it comes to my date book.

What are your small successes? Click on the link above to go to the Faith and Family Website!

My small successes this week

1. Taking all 4 boys to the park via a bike ride.

2. Going on a bike ride, with only Logan in the burley, so I could get some exercise (he's cutting teeth and would not go to anyone but me).

3. Hosted (not taught) a quilt class for Anna, Terese, and 3 other girls, even though I knew it would likely cause some disruptions to the kids' resttime/naptime. (It did beat driving the girls to a class everyday. )

What are your small successes? Share them at http://www.faithandfamilylive.com/

Small Successes

1. Installed Teaching Textbooks for my 5th and 6th graders (they love it and have done 8 lessons in 2 days)

2. Persevered through many online chats with tech support to fix our computer. (17 years ago I worked in the computer industry, now I know nothing).

3. Finally called to schedule a carpet cleaning in Aug., making sure to skip the bedrooms because I didn't want a lot of extra work to prepare for them.

4. Washed terrible stains off the carpet the best I could (did I mention we have the flu here?), but still need to call back the carpet cleaners and add those bedrooms on.

What are your small successes? Click on the link above to connect to Faith and Families site with other people's small successes.

Only a One Year Old....

...would set his popsicle on the concrete step so he can climb in the door (I picked it up, rinsed it off, and handed it back to him), then set it down on the floor next to the shoe rack, bring you his shoes to put them on, and go back for his popsicle and look around confused because it isn't where he left it (because I saw him put it on the floor and confiscated it this time)

Just for fun!

Why is six afraid of seven?

*Hint, think about the date today.*

Answer: Because 7-8-9. (If you do not get it the first time, say it slowly.)

H1N1

Nope, we haven't abandoned this blog.

CrunchyMomma's got confirmed H1N1 flu at her house. Please offer up a prayer for her sick brood. I won't go into details, I'll leave that to her if she wants. But everyone is home now and CrunchyMomma needs to take care of all the sick kiddos. I pray that she gets through it healthy. It is so hard to take care of healthy kids when you're sick - and sick kids - sooooo hard.....

We may have H1N1 as well, we haven't needed to seek medical attention, but we definitely have the flu and our neighbor has a confirmed case of H1N1. I am over the flu (I think - this is weird - it hit hard, very hard, I started to feel better and wham again). Similar for Wyatt and and now Logan is sick too. Others are not feeling well.

CrunchyMomma, we'll offer some of our suffering for your crew. Let me know if anyone takes a turn for the worse or you need to talk to someone healthy for a few minutes...I could mail you some saltines and jello (when we didn't live 1000 miles apart we often did this sort of thing all the time).