Crayon Art

My parents are in the process of moving so I wanted to do something to keep the boys busy and entertained for a couple hours tonight while my dad, brother and Kenny worked on some projects at the new house. 

I pinned this idea on pinterest and since crayons are only 40 cents right now at Wal-mart I thought this would be a good one to try out right now. When I went to Joanns I lucked out and got the canvas were 50% off! 

The instructions on the blog said to unwrap all the crayons before you get started. So we did... Jacob, Little Brian, my dad, mom and I all unwrapped crayons for about an hour! In retrospect I think you could just leave the wrappers on and it might help with hot gluing them onto the canvas. 

The next step is to hot glue the crayons to the canvas- 

Little Brian and Jacob getting ready to start gluing 

Then you melt the crayons with a hair dryer-

a test area 

Little B enjoying melting the crayons 

My dad helping him out

 And wa-la - Art!

Little Brian and Jacob with their finished products 

It was really fun for me to do a project as a family. I was surprised how my parents jumped right in and helped the boys and seemed to enjoy the project. It was pretty hot out to be doing a project with hot glue guns and a hair dryer, but we managed.

The boys are excited to hang their art in their new room at their grandma's new house.

Winner, Winner Pizza Dinner

Hannah 

The boys were beyond excited to be invited to Peter Piper Pizza for Hannah's (Blair's daughter) 7th birthday party. Its fun that her kids and our nephews know each other and all the kids play pretty well together despite the age differences. Plus, I so appreciated be included even though I don't have children of my own.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but Blair bought a party package which included pizza, drinks, ice cream, tokens and cupcakes for everyone! All the kids got 40 tokens eachwhich even I was excited about!

Little Brian 

Little Brian spend most of the evening playing a gun game and Jacob tried all kinds of games and ended up winning the Jackpot on one game!

We think he thought he was in trouble because lights and sirens went off and he froze. The tickets were printing out on both sides of him and tons of kids crowded around. Matthew ran to get me and said, "Amanda come quick and bring your camera!" Once Jacob realized he was not in trouble he smiled and got excited about it. When he was carrying his huge mess of tickets back to the table, kids were pointing and laughing excitedly about all the tickets... once again I think he thought they were laughing at him, but once I explained they were excited for him he was a happy camper. When it came time to buy his items at the ticket store he of course shared and bought his brother some things. He ended up with a dinosaur, 2 slinkies, 5 army men, 3 ninja guys and a few tootsie rolls. OH and I almost forgot he won a ball in the claw machine! I would say Jacob cleaned up at the party! 

Baby Hailey (almost 7 months old) 

Both boys had a lot of fun, but we did have to have a talk with Little Brian about being appreciative... He was complaining that he wished he had 10 army men instead of just the 5 Jacob bought him. I don't know if he really understood, but at least he changed his attitude and started recollecting all the run he had a the party instead of complaining. 

Chillin' on a Dirt Road

We have only been camping 1 ½ times this year and were anxious to pick up the trailer from the repair shop and get out of this heat! Our roof failed and caused about $900 in water damage that took about 3 weeks to fix. We also have about $2000 worth of damage under the floor that we chose not to fix right now… Kenny has an idea of how he can fit it up.

Anyway, Friday after work my mom dropped the boys off at Crystal’s house and Kenny, Brian and I headed up for cooler weather.

We arrived in Payson as the sun was setting so we decided to have dinner at Chilli’s since we would be looking for a spot in the dark either way. After we picked up our groceries at Wal-mart, Kenny got the bright idea that Brian and I would have fun riding in the trailer from Payson to Forest Lakes. It sounded like a good idea… I cannot believe how loud it was in there! It sounded like the trailer was about to shake apart at any minute! I have traveled in a motorhome before and it was nothing like this! Brian and I tried to play cards, but after the second hand I was feeling pretty queasy. It was an experience to say the least and I was extremely happy to get to the camp ground!

 The guys decided to bring a 20 inch TV camping so they could watch scary movies at night so they built this crazy contraption.

Me and my new riding buddy Shelby 

Saturday morning we somehow woke up at 7 AM even though we were up till after 1AM... Brian was up first and took the dogs out with him. He was eager to start the day so we all got up. He started the morning with an early morning dry ice bomb...Then we took turns taking rides on the quad and Brian kept the dogs busy by playing ball. 

We all headed out (Kenny and I in the truck and Brian on the quad) to try some geocaching. Most of the roads weren't accessible in the red truck so we ended up leaving it and taking turns on the quad to find the cache. 

Brian and I took off to find this cache with a hint --- under a pile of rocks-- ha ha

but we found it!

When we got back to camp I worked on a Scrapbook project and the boys... well they did this. Believe it or not they are watching TV... apparently there was a glare so they had to block out the light. I little too much TV for camping if you ask me, but hey to each his own!

Shelby 

Hope 

Saturday afternoon we headed over to Sarah’s cabin to BBQ some steaks with Kenny’s Nana, mom and Aunt Nanette. Nanette and I talked books and we all enjoyed a great steak dinner, although Sarah kept insisting the cut of meat she bought wasn't great. 

After dinner we played a pretty rowdy game of Phase 10… poor Barb was the target of our entertainment and ended up getting skipped by everyone (even Sarah!) and subject to a lot of teasing. I have to admit there is no way I could have handled that much teasing and still had a fun night without getting mad. She was a good sport and I think we all had a really fun night.
On our way back to the trailer we saw a sheep on the side of the road which was random and cool. When we got back to the trailer the guys attempted to watch another scary movie that ended up being a bust too. We got a really good thunder and rain storm that night and I actually enjoyed being woke up by the sound of the rain failing and smelling the fresh air.

Sunday morning Brian woke up about 6:30 and went on a quad ride to find a geocache... crazy! 

Later in the morning I got to go on that same ride. It was amazing! The weather was perfect, maybe even a little cold, after the nice rain we got. The trails got pretty hairy, but I enjoy a little challenge in the road and was comforted by following my brother’s tracks from his ride earlier in the day. I went passed the beautiful meadow, rock formations and even saw a few wild Turkeys! The ride was so awesome, but I kept wanting to point things out to Kenny and then would realize I didn’t have anyone there with me (bad part about only having the one quad for the weekend). I found the cache, but only after I gave up and was hiking back up the hill! 

It was a wonderful trip and we were all exhausted at the end of the weekend!

Lets Go D-backs

The company Kenny and I work for has season tickets to the Diamondbacks and if they cannot be used for business purposes, they will raffle them off to the employees. Wednesday I put my name in and WON! I was really excited to be able to treat all the guys (Kenny, my brother and the boys) to a game. The boys were beyond excited to go.

Our friend, Kris (Jackie’s husband) does some production work for the Dbacks and gave the guys a tour of the production trailer and even let Little Brian sit on someone’s lap and change channels. There was one area where you weren’t allowed to talk, a huge challenge for Little B, and he got so excited and tugged on Kenny. Kenny asked him what he needed and he said, “I just want to talk” Kris got a kick out of the boys and said they were adorable.

Dog days of Summer

Downtown Glendale puts on some really neat FREE events and when I noticed they were having a dog event... well I was all over it! Brian and Kenny weren't too excited to go, but they humored me and went. Little Brian and Jacob are always up for an adventure with me so of course they were on board. We only brought Toby because bringing all 3 is like performing a circus act, plus we didn't have room in the car. 

The shops had little dog friendly stops with either misters, treats or .... DOG AURA pictures. Yes, I know its a hoax, but its fun and cool so we got Toby's Aura read. 

Apparently Mr Toby has a purple Aura which means he is intuitive, psychic, mystical understanding, artistic etc. ... um okay I guess so lol 

It was something fun to do and FREE! The boys got all kinds of free goodies- water bottles, stickers and balls... they were happy with it!

FIRST GRADE

This Saturday my mom and I took Little Brian shopping for his back to school clothes, shoes and supplies. Before we went I cleared out all his old clothes and made him try on everything which he wasn't too happy about. He really wasn't left with many items when I was done with his wardrobe... just 2 shirts, 2 shorts and 2 pairs of pants... yikes! Our first stop was Other Mothers (because really it doesn't matter after the first week if your clothes were new or used!) and we picked up a few items.

Then we were off to Wal-mart. Oh my. It wasn't like we procrastinated this shopping, we just didn't know until Friday if we would be buying uniforms or regular clothes depending on what school he would attend (Near his Mom's house or my parents house). It was absolutely insane, the racks picked clean and the isle crowded with parents and their childrens' extensive supply lists. My mom and I had a difference of opinion of what Little Brian should be wearing... my vote was for jeans and cartoon shirts and hers was nicer polo shirts and khakis. We ended up with mostly jeans and t-shirts... Little Brian tired of looking and trying on clothes very quickly, but when it was time to pick out his school supplies we was a ball of energy. He couldn't wait to pick out his new 'pack pack' and lunch box. He gets free lunch at school, but bugged us all last year to buy him a lunch box... so for $6 we filled the void he felt by not having one.

I seriously don't know how people with multiple children get through the back to school madness. My mom and I were super exhausted after our morning of shopping!

All weekend Little Brian talked about school and how excited he was to start. Poor Jacob is SO ready to go to school too. My mom is going to work on some things with him at home so he doesn't feel so left out.

Monday morning Little Brian started the first grade. I went into work a couple hours late so I could come over and take first day pictures and wish him luck. 

Little Brian (6) first day of school

Jacob and Little Brian 

Little Brian's first day went well and he even rode the bus home by himself! I was super proud of him. His first week he got green everyday and seems to be loving it. His teacher taught him a song with the lyrics, 'If you want to be happy, you gotta be good. You have to do whats expected, to the best of your ability"

Monday night Brian and Jacob grabbed their Ukulele's and preformed for me- it was pretty dang cute! I wish I had taken a video!

We also made this project for Little Brian's kindergarten teacher who he had run into at registration and was super excited to see him return to that school!

Dinner with Friends

Its kind of funny (or is it?)  that were finally able to get everyone together (all husbands included) and we ended up getting seated at separate tables. I was excited they chose Texas Roadhouse, because I love the food but it just didn't work for our large group.

I did have a really great time sitting at the wild child table (Wes, Lana, Abby, Little Brian and Jacob) with Janesse, Kenny and my brother. We had a lot of laughs and the food was delicious.

Kenny and Lana 

Tony and Kelsey at the other table 

Abby

Kenny, Lana and Wes

Brian, Jacob and Little Brian 

Everyone was snacking on peanuts and Kenny noticed Little Brian was sure chewing for a long time on his... he had eaten the shell too! Once Kenny told him that you don't eat the shell and showed him how to crack them open he was thrilled with the peanuts- too cute!

Brian with the kids 

After dinner we had plenty of time to talk and play with the kids so that made up for not being able to sit with everyone. The kids seemed to really hit it off and Wes asked Janesse if he could come to the boy's house which was cute... he was probably so excited to play with some boys since he has so many female cousins!

Best WORK trip Ever

This was probably my BEST WORK trip ever to California. I was well received by my agents, did well in my meetings and got to see lots of cool attractions (even if some were from afar).

I met with one of my favorite agents (that we write a TON of business with) and we got to take them to lunch at a place called the Mission Inn. It is something of a land mark and it was really a neat place to see. The food was pretty tasty too.

After work we had a little day light left and Sally took me to the beach. It was really a lovely day, place and time.

This was seriously the first time I have every seen and explored tide pools!

I would have loved to spend more time there, but the rocks, shells whatever it was really hurt my feet... all I had was high heels and work pants!

After the time at the beach I grabbed Chipotle and headed back to my the hotel.

The next morning we drove down to San Diego to have lunch with one of my best agents. We ate outside on the patio... just one block from the beach! It was beautiful out!! I could smell the salt air! So amazing.

All in all this was my favorite work trip ever! The only down side.... this is what I came back to! Oh well job security!