Is Summer Half Full or Half Empty ??

That is the Question! I know that some people out there DREAD the summer home with their kids. I know that some people have to deal with Childcare issues all summer long, and can't wait for school to begin again. But I, on the other hand, don't have either of those problems. I've been spending the summer enjoying my kiddos for the most part. There are always going to be those times that they infuriate me, but for the most part, we have been having a lovely summer :) We had lots of visits from family fairly early on, all around the 4th of July. And then I had a Surprise Baby Shower that I planned for a good friend of mine, which turned out phenomenal

After that adventure ends I am hoping to be able to help my friend Kristy move her and her family across town (closer to us!). Not that our town is huge or anything (pop is less than 3,000 year rounders I would guess.) Our town isn't really set up like a typical town, with a general downtown area, though the area down by the water is generally the most populated, it's more like little islands of sub divisions divided by farms, people with acreage like us, and wetland areas that can not be developed. It's really nice, because even though we are all clustered around the beautiful bay, we all have our own space, some more than others, but really, even the subdivisions have only a short brisk walk to some sort of open space or water. Sorry, I know that I have digressed. Part of the "move" is a smallish yard sale that we are going to have here, because they are moving into a substantially smaller home so they need to purge a little extra stuff and I always have a collection going on of things I would usually just donate to the local "A.R.C." That is planned for this Saturday, so hopefully we will get good yard sale weather and will sell all of our crap stuff. Hehee :)

We also got the second installment of our "swingset" built. And, yeah, I talked myself and Jason and the kids out of the Costco one, even though is it a great playset. But, here's the cool part, we have a 20 foot double slide (for racing) going down the side of one of our hills, right off to the side of where the actual swing set is going to be built!! I am going to go take a picture and post it on here in a few minutes, but I have to go move laundry around :) Okay, here you go :)

So here is the grass almost full grown, I am so excited it looks so BEAUTIFUL out my back windows now, no more garbage, piles of blackberry brambles, fallen trees etc. Look back to May's posts to find some in progress pictures and see the change!!

Another back yard shot. You might be able to find a blog in May with Progress shots where these two trees can be located. It is really an amazing difference!

The Slide!!

Who Hoo!!

You can see how big it is compared to Cayleb! and Sarah Rose!!


Cayleb :)


Cayleb and Sarah Rose getting ready to race :)


Cayleb ready to race :)


Sarah Rose still getting ready to race :) I had to catch her, so I don't have a slide shot, sorry!

Cayleb going down the slide! Usually he's got his arms above his head in roller coaster stance!

So, either way, the answer to the question for me is the summer is still half full, though I see it disappearing ever hour of every day, which only gets us closer to the new school year that I am anticipating greatly!! I think that I need to start making some lists of materials and library books that we are going to need for the first several weeks, so that I feel "prepared." I know that for the most part, however, I am not going to be able to prepare myself for the adventure beyond that :)

Our Grass is Growing!

Yeah, it's finally getting bigger!! These past few weeks of sunshine have been great and the recent application of fertilizer didn't hurt either! I can't wait for us to begin building our swing set!! I know that the kids are really excited as well. I keep trying to talk Jason into building our own, though, versus the Costco one. But either way, it will be so much fun getting the supplies and then actually putting it together and lastly, taking a big swing for a ride!!!

I am also getting excited about the upcoming school year! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the break we are having right now. But I also am looking forward to the experience that the kids and I are going to have this coming year as full out home schoolers!! I think that they are getting excited as well. we've gotten a few replies to our advertisement about our Konos Ko-op and we are excited to meet people. One family that has 3 boys is in Surry B.C., Canada which is just across the boarder. It would be great having a contact there to help with setting up field trips and stuff up there. It's all pretty foreign to me :) The other Mom is right here in Birch Bay and she has 2 girls and a boy. So, if it all works out, we'll have my 4+Kristy's 2+Julie's 3+Loriann's 3+Michele's 2??=14 kids!! a few of which are tag-a-long toddlers but it's going to be a blast!!

I have started the plans for our Kick-off in August and am just waiting for Kristy to tell me which weekend works best for her family!! Hint Hint!!

I also have something else in the works, but can't talk to much about it...... it's around my Birthday, though ;)

If you happen to read this and want to check out our Konos Ko-op here in Birch Bay, WA here's the link: Birch Bay Konos Krusaders. Other wise check my sidebar for a link to join!

Fun Fun Fun....

Today has been pretty busy, I went and picked up the Wyckoff Boys (3 boys) to come and play with my munchkins. They have been playing very well together. We went swimming and just got back a little while ago, they had a blast. And now most of the kids are outside playing!! Thank Goodness for Sunshine!! Tomorrow, I hear, isn't going to look so pretty, though! But I did see in the fortcast for May 16th that it's going to hit 70??!! We'll just have to wait and see on that one! I'm gonna take the boys back home tonight after their Mom gets home from work :)

I am hoping that school will fly by this week so that Cayleb and I can keep working on the yard after school. I have gotten quite a bit done, but we still have lots to do!! Mary-Anne's track came in today, so she won't be a gimp anymore (in case anyone cares to know, Mary-Anne is our excavator, she reminds me of Mary-Anne the steam shovel from the book Mike Mulligan and Mary-Anne, at least I think that's what its called.... not sure at the moment, my brain's a little overstimulated!!) I'll try to post a pic. of Daddy or Cayleb working with her sometime :) They both have so much fun!!

Today, I could have taken a picture for advertisement of the airplane teeter-totter that we got from costco. I have 7 Kids here today and every single one of them was on it!! Yes, it seats 7!! I need to ask them to pose for me!! Okay, so I bribed them with candy! Here it is!!

We have also been working on the yard, so here are some pics of the process....
-First is the Western view from out our back door

-Then a Southern view out the back door and

-Last a Eastern view out our back door so imagine looking slowly from your right to your left and that's pretty much a panoramic view....

Okay, so we've decided, I think?!

Okay, so we've decided to go with the Swing Set from Costco. Looks pretty cool, right? My one condition, well actually two is that we HAVE to add monkey bars!!! And we are going to add a Stage 3 to our original plan that includes a zip line of some sort. I'll try to take some pictures to show you where we are thinking of putting the zip line..... hint-hint:we have a huge hill off the back of the house with a valley and another hill on the other side.... So, I think that I am excited!
Phase I: Airplane Teeter-totter, picking this up this weekend from Costco (I have an earlier post with a cool pic of this)
Phase II: Swing set with added Monkey Bars, too come soon after grass is planted.
Phase III: Zip Line!! Yipee!!!

Doesn't this just look like a blast!!! Thank you Nana and Pops!!!! They decided that since this was on the kids wish list (we'll maybe mine too) that they would get it for the kids for their combined Birthday's and Christmas this year!! Yipee!! I can't wait to get it and find the perfect spot for it!!!!

So what's with the name?

Just in case someone was wondering as to the relevance of my Title.... There are a lot of things that I could file as good uses of my Million Dollars. But chances are, I won't be getting a sum like that in my days, so, I'll just stick to the stuff I can aim for :) Currently the kids, Jason and I are saving for a "backyard makeover." If one could call it that, I am not actually sure.... you see for it to be a "makeover" wouldn't that require that it had been "done-up" to begin?? I mean, unless we are going to take into account God's creation of this beautiful land, nothing besides the occasional annoying freeloader who decided to dump off his families trash for the year has been on the property for a very long time.... Very Annoying....!! But that is not what I was going to talk about here, really, I'm done venting about that matter :) Soooo...... Our Make over is going to be small, really small, but we have a large yard that is involved, so mostly it means contouring the land and planting lots and lots of grass! Most of the expense, however, is going to be in construction some sort of "play area" for the kids. Now, we've been looking around this whole time of saving up, about a year and a half and counting, and we have banned all thoughts of "Cheap Wal-Mart Metal and Plastic" from our minds. Mostly because we see those around and after a year or so I see quite a few of them rusting in our humid environment, but secondly, our oldest is almost as tall as me and only about 30 pounds lighter and he's only 9! Mind you, he's not over weight by the slightest, he is just very athletic, can carry a 50 pound bag of feed if I need him too and is finally getting some meat on his bones! So, he's perfect, in my eyes, but is going to require something a little less flimsy! The hunt continues, we've been looking at the sets at Costco, really nice and have a LOT of features for the price... I guess you could say they have a lot of bang for their buck, but this years model has decided to be absent of the one factor that my eldest daughter requested.....Monkey Bars! So, that pretty much squashed that idea! So, let's move on.... Lowes and Home Depot have similar "build it yourself" models and a few have been rather provoking lately to me, but they are still a little out of our budget if we want to have anything besides a few quarters left over for the grass.... Really nice sets, we just have to think a little bigger than some families considering we have 4 already and haven't decided to "stop" for sure yet, so that puts us in the more expensive size brackets.... Still haven't said no for sure yet on those yet.... but the idea sprung into my mind yesterday morning as I woke up bright and early, "Hey we did it before! Why not just be creative and build something entirely unique??" So, I am thinking we are going to go with that..... So, that name "If I had a Million Dollars," though it may change tonight, is somewhat in reference to the fact that a Million Dollars would make things a little easier to be less creative :) So, thank you God, for allowing me the chance to be creative! Really, I am not being sarcastic, you just have to learn to accept life's challenges, and make the best of it, right?! So, no moula, means I get to use my brain :) I like using my brain! I'll write more later about my actual thoughts regarding the "swing set of dreams!"