The whole family went out front for a little while this morning to work on the yard. McKay is pretty capable of mowing the lawn by himself (at least the front lawn), but up to this point he hasn't been able to pull-start the lawn mower on his own. This morning he got out the mower and was so esctatic when after a couple of tries it started for him.
He's getting to be a big helper (when he wants to be) -- if only he would get so excited about the chores I give him. :-)
Everyone else pulled some of the many bigger weeds that grew while we were on vacation. Most came out fairly easily because of the rain-softened ground. The smaller weeds that were left got a dose of Round-Up.
I was able to run a quick errand to pick up a couple of things I bought off our local online classifieds (which I recently discovered). Since we can't have garage sales here (deed restrictions), there is a Web site that includes a free Classified section where people can list things for sale. I was mainly looking through it for any furniture possibilities as we are planning the re-do of the kid's rooms, but I couldn't help look through the Toys & Games category too. :-) I contacted a couple of people and they responded quickly enough for me to pick up the stuff today (Brian just laughs at me sometimes). I was excited though! I got a little game for Hayley's birthday coming up (the box is pretty beat up, but it would be looking like that after an afternoon with my kids anyway). Then I also found something for Hannah that I'm going to save for Christmas (I'm hesitant to say what it is just in case McKay decides to read this!). It's nothing big, but it happened to be brand new. I ended up spending less than $10 for both things - makes me happy!
After my little "shopping" excursion, it was back home to try to get the van clean. (But first I had to sneak the stuff I bought into the house which wasn't easy because Hannah came right outside as soon as I pulled in the driveway.) The girls helped me wash the outside of the van, then I vacuumed the inside, which it desperately needed after our trip! Crayons, a zillion cracker crumbs, smashed raisins, wrapper pieces, and lots of dirt! (Mental note: Raisins are not a good car snack idea!) It looks so much better now.
While the girls were outside with me, our neighbor across the street came out and opened their garage so the girls could ride their tricycles, etc. (which they like to do). Courtney came back over from their garage all excited and holding a pair of Barbie roller skates -- the plastic kind you put on over your shoes (they can also convert to inline skates). Then our neighbor came over and said we could keep the skates if we wanted because their daughter had outgrown them. Needless to say, the girls were thrilled (not sure I feel the same way!).
They both tried skating around the driveway and garage for a while without a lot of success and ended up going back inside with the skates. A little later, they showed me how the discovered it was funner and easier if they only had one skate on -- and that way they could both skate at the same time.
(I made Courtney wrap the dish towel around her because she didn't have pants on again -- she went through several pairs today -- we just keep plugging away at the potty training...)
They cried when I made them take the skates off for dinner and then again for bedtime. I think we're going to have to come up with some rules for the skates if their popularity keeps up.
At dinner, we were talking with the kids about the fall YMCA sports, since I got a reminder call today that the registration deadline is next week. McKay said he definitely wants to do baseball again (no big surprise), but then as we were talking to Hannah about what she might like to do (if anything), McKay wondered if they had football and said he thinks he wants to try that instead. Hmm. I'm not so sure he's a football kid (it's flag football) -- he doesn't run well and didn't enjoy soccer really. But maybe it would be good for him (although the fee is more expensive). We'll have to see if he changes his mind or not.
Then it was bathtime and lots of nagging to get McKay to practice the piano (he did for only a few minutes -- we need to work on that!) and bedtime and time to get ready for church tomorrow morning. I'll end with a final picture of my silly girls from yesterday:
They decided to play "school" so they found lunchboxes and put in a drink and some snacks, then put the lunch boxes in their backpacks. While getting their backpacks, they must have decided that it might be cold or rainy outside, so they put on their jackets and grabbed their umbrellas before going outside in the August heat. Their "school" was the top level of the play fort (they call in the treehouse) and I was glad to see the jackets didn't stay on too long or they would have really roasted!
1 comment:
i just found those online classifieds also. i love looking at them its crazy the things people will list! we sold some stuff on there too!! okay random info i know!!
Post a Comment