Tuesday May 31

My garden is finally planted!!!!

I am so excited!

I think I may try and plant something else.....I have one empty spot.

But for now I have:

Peas

Big tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes

...actually, they are Porter dark cherry....and yes, I picked them for the name. :)

Cucumbers

Yellow Peppers

Zucchini

and lettuce of a couple different varieties.

I bought a some things as plants and the rest as seeds.

We will see how it goes.

I am going to be planting pumpkins in the back corner of the yard too.

I think it will be fun.

I also got some giant sunflowers for the girls to plant by the playhouse.

I have tried those before....many years ago....and they didn't work.

So I am hoping I can get them to grow, cause I really think they would be a lot of fun for the girls.

I am excited for my garden.

Especially for the tomatoes!

There's nothing better than a tomato fresh from the garden!!!!

*****

Elsie had her Teddy Bear Picnic at school today.

She got to wear her jammies to school....that is why she is still in her jammies!

She had a lot of fun!

She is sure gonna miss school.

She 'graduates' on Thursday.....but has a play day at school on Monday.

Monday May 30 - Memorial Day

We had a beautiful day today.

We spent the whole day with friends....well, actually our Idaho family.

We headed out to Pat and Steve's house out in Star for some much needed R&R.

It is always so great to spend time out there.

There is so much for the kids to do out there.

Beautiful bunnies to play with...

Frogs to watch....

 

Frogs to tease.....

Hot tubbing.....
(That boy drank WAY too much of that hot tub water....)

Wagon rides around the gardens.......

Feeding some hungry fishies....

Some 4-wheeling.....

Paddle-boating......

Running free......

Getting dirty.....



And more paddle-boating.....

I think that makes for a pretty great day for a bunch of kiddos.

And exhausting!

It is such a beautiful place there....and the weather was just perfect.

Thanks Pat and Steve for letting us invade for a while today.



Sunday May 29

Before church today, Madi and Cassi kept asking me for some fabric and some fabric scissors....then needles and thread.

I finally went up to check out what they were doing.

They were making dolls.

Cassi was getting a little bored with it.....But Madi is actually still working on hers now, in bed.

It was a cute moment for them to be working together and getting along.

********

Church was good.

I brought some steno pads for each kid.

That was good.

The girls used theirs to put stickers in, or write notes, or draw pictures.

I probably drew 20 robots today for Porter on his pad.

Whatever makes him happy, and quiet.

We need to teach him how to whisper.

He hasn't mastered that church task yet.

Saturday May 28

We got a new mattress today.

Brent has been looking into it and researching it for quite some time now.

He has been wanting this Tempur-Pedic for a very long time.

Well, with his back getting worse and worse....we thought maybe it was time to make the plunge.

So we did.

So far, so good.

Friday May 27

Movie night again at the Matthews home.

We are watching "Gulliver's Travels" right now, and they seem to like it.
*****

We are either all suffering from crazy bad allergies right now or we have a little bug.

Elsie hasn't slept much for the past week, and neither have I.
She seems to be feeling better now, so I hope she will sleep better as well.
I hope we can all sleep good tonight so we can have a fun time hanging out with each other for this Memorial Day weekend.

Thursday May 26

School is almost out.

The kids are having so much fun in school with all the fun activities they have planned.

They enjoyed each other and the nice weather this afternoon.

I have mixed feelings about the school year being over.

I am excited about all the fun things we have planned for the summer.....

But I am not looking forward to all the fights....and them getting bored with each other.

So I guess I will just have to try hard to keep them busy, right?

*********

And I just had to add this.

Grandma Ene is such a sweetie.

Over the last few months she has sent these cute trophies that she has made for the girls for various accomplishments they have made.

Grandma makes them out of stuff she has hanging around the house.....

And boy are these things treasured possessions.

Thanks Grandma for being so sweet and thoughtful.

Wednesday May 25

Cassi started 1st grade camp today.

She has been SO EXCITED about this.

And I don't think she was disappointed at all.

She was very excited to tell me about everything they got to do today and everything she gets to do in the next week or so.

They got to make their camp shirts today.....and apparently she wants to wear it everyday.

Oh, I am fine with that. 

But I may need to wash it every so often.

Pretty cute.
(She drew a tent on the front with a campfire next to it.....I need to get a better shot of that....)

Bulletin board.....

I have had several inquiries about by white board/bulletin board.

I posted it here a while ago.

http://thematthewsfam.blogspot.com/2010/05/another-project-donealmost.html

I had these OLD windows from when I helped my Mom clear out my Grandmas chicken coop.

They have had several uses in the years, but I am excited that I finally found the perfect use for them.

Yes....it is a bit messy.
But it is what it is.
I removed the top bar on the left window so calendar would fit.
Then my hubby cut me some pieces of wood, and I covered some in cork board, and fabric.
Painted the other pieces of wood with chalk board paint.
All the glass was pretty old and broken up.
I tried to save one to cover the photo area.....but I broke it.
So my friend Jenni cut another piece for me.
She also cut a matte for me so that I could cut a 16x20 photo down to a 16x16 and still make it fit in the frame.
And the glass works as a dry erase board.
So I chose a picture that had some white space above it.
It was actually a pretty easy project that made a big impact in the kitchen.
Let me know if you have any questions.

Tuesday May 24

Elsie had her dentist appointment today.

Daddy took her and things started out pretty good.

She didn't let them brush her teeth.

But she did let her dentist look in her mouth and check her teeth.

And they are looking great.

Brent said that she tried really hard to be brave and she really wanted to do her best.

But it did get too much for her and she had a breakdown.

But at least it was after she had her teeth looked over.

Such a beautiful smile.

Monday May 23

So it was a pretty laid back day.

I helped at the school.

Then did laundry for the rest of the day.

I am so ready for the summer where the only thing I have to wash is their swimming suits!!!!!!

The kids played outside after school and had lots of fun.

There is nothing better than some good, fresh air!

(Love those freckles, by the way....)

Elsie didn't want to play outside much.

The wind made it too cold for her.

So she stayed in and colored on the white board.

*******

So it was a pretty easy going day....but tomorrow promises to be a busy one.

But it was nice to relax a little today.

Sunday May 22

Another Sunday on my own with the kids.

Yesterday I thought I would try and order a bunch of 10 cent prints from Walgreens and fill a photo album to take to church with me.

 I think it worked pretty good.

I mean, in reality, I am looking for something to keep Porter entertained.

And the pictures kept his attention for a little bit.

But it did keep the attention of the girls, so I could focus on just him and not worry about the girls.

But it was fun to have the pictures actually printed.

I have millions of photos....with hardly any printed.

So I think that is a good thing.

Elsie had a fun time looking through it even after church.

But church did go well.

I didn't have to take Porter out at all, which I guess is kinda my goal.

And I got to hear most of the talks.

So that is good.

But I would love any suggestions on keeping him calm during sacrament meeting.

********

My friend, Auna, invited me and the kids over for dinner tonight.

Her hubby went out of town, so it was she and I and a bunch of kids.

Nine kids, to be exact.

But it was fun to get together and finish the evening off nice.

Saturday May 21

The Young's saved the day today.

I am a pretty boring Mom to hang out with when I make them do yard work/babysit all morning, and have them clean and/or babysit again in the afternoon.

Luckily....the Young girls came to the rescue and added a little fun to my kids' day.

The girls came over so their Mom and dad could go out on a date.

They played outside for 2 full hours before it started to sprinkle on them.

With no fighting or tattling or yelling.

Well, there was yelling, but it was happy yelling.

It is so much fun to have such great friends who just fit so well with each other.

And Port was entertained, mostly, by Calliou for a little bit of the time.

(Even though Calliou really irritates me!)

When there are 7 girls running around at his house....it is VERY hard for him not to do some major teasing.....

So I tried to keep him indoors and entertained so that there would be no trouble.

The night went smoothly and we enjoyed having the Young girls over.

*******

As a side note....

When I put my last blog book together it didn't have the dates with the text when it pulled all the info from my blog, that is why I am adding the date as my title....

So it saves me time at the end of the year so I don't have to go in and type the dates in.

Friday May 20

Madi had her big 4th grade Rendezvous Field trip today.

She has been so excited for this!

Dad got to go help out.

I guess it is a huge deal.

Apparently there were about 4000 4th graders there today.

Craziness!

I am glad they had good weather, cause it was outside most of the day from 9:30-3:30.

Dad and Madi came home exhausted!

Here are some pictures of some of the fun they had.

I can't believe how much work must go into something like this.

Madi will remember this forever!

***********

Then later this evening....the boys got a hair cut.

They were getting pretty hairy.

Port was a little fuzzy as well.

Still cute....but needed it cut.

Like father, like son....with matching hair cuts.

I love my cute boys.

Friday May 20

We love you Emmy!

Happy Birthday!

Thursday May 19

Madi was awesome this morning.

last night as I went in to turn her light off and tuck her in....I saw that her alarm was set for 6:00.

So I turned it off, cause I wasn't sure she would be okay waking up that early.

Well, she was at the foot of my bed at 6:15 this morning asking if I would turn the shower on for her.

So I did, and went back to bed.

Then Madi got all ready.....Elsie woke up and Madi took her downstairs.

By the time I got downstairs at 7:00, Madi was completely ready for school.

She had also made lunches for Cassi and herself.

Madi is such a great kid!

But I cannot tell you how AWESOME the morning goes when stuff like this happens.

It makes for a happy Mom.

I am thankful for her help.

She is growing up so fast!!!!!

It is so crazy to me that she is almost 10......

Like I said....she is a great kid.

Friday May 13-Sat May 14

We have had our first camping trip planned for a while now.

The kids were excited to get out in the new trailer.

We seem to always make our first trip to Bruneau Sand Dunes.

A pretty fun tradition, I think.

I had a photo session in the morning, then we went and got the kids from school and headed out by 3:00.

It was about an hour and a half drive, not too bad.

We got there and decided to make dinner before we headed to the sand dunes.

But we ran in to a few problems.

Apparently SOME things didn't make it into the new trailer when we took them out of the old trailer.

We had NO hose to hook up for water.

We borrowed a neighbors hose to fill up our tank.

Then we found that we had NO untisels or plates, or cups.

No big deal....we made do.

We had plenty of pans and lids.

And by the way, they work great.

Brent went to see if the rangers and any plastic ware for us to buy from them.....and they were so sweet and had 2 forks and 2 spoons for us to borrow.

And they worked out just great.

The kids thought it was pretty fun.

And it sure was a yummy dinner.

After cleanup...we headed to the sand dunes.

It was a little windy at first.

Wind and sand don't mix well....but luckily the wind calmed down for us.

This mountain of sand is so cool!

It is the finest and softest sand.

Here is some info about the Dunes:
Reportedly the tallest single-structured sand dune in North America rises to 470 feet (140 m) high above small lakes. The dunes at Bruneau Dunes State Park are unique in the Western Hemisphere. Other dunes in the Americas form at the edge of a natural basin. The Bruneau dunes form near the center. The basin has acted as a natural trap for over 12,000 years. The dunes may have started with sands from the Bonneville Flood about 15,000 years ago. The prevailing winds blow from the southeast 28 percent of the time and from the northwest 32 percent of the time, keeping the dunes fairly stable. Unlike most dunes, these do not drift far.

Madi made several trips up the side of the dunes.

Like 7 or 8.

I went up about 4 times....man that is a major work out!!!

Elsie had the time of her life crawling up as far as she could and then sliding back down.

We had a lot of fun running down once we reached the top.

We also dug as far as we could into the sand.

And the buried each other.

Cassi and Porter had fun rolling down the hill.

Not from the top.....but still pretty far up there.

Daddy gave some great rides to the kids.

He carried them up a bit, then sat them down and pushed them down the hill...

Elsie LOVED this!

Look at those happy faces!

Isn't that great!!!

We had sand EVERYWHERE!!!!!

And I do mean EVERYWHERE!!!!

Porter spent most of his time picking up 'cool' rocks and sticking them in his pocket.

When his pocket got full, he would take the rocks out and ask me to hold them, and then he would refill the pocket.

He was loving it, and very well entertained!!!

So much sand!!!

And we brought a lot back with us!!!

****

Luckily the sand dunes had some showers so we could get MOST of the sand off.

I gave Elsie a bath in the trailer and that worked out nice.

Oh, and when we got back, we had some awesome neighbors who had left an extra hose on our step.

There was a big group of campers hanging out, and the one we borrowed his hose from must have told one of his friends, and they ran theirs over to us.

So nice!

Brent went over to say Thank you, and they sent him home with utensils, paper plates and napkins.

Man I just love nice people!!!

Then it was time for our campfire.

And roasting marshmallows...

But guess what we forgot???
Yep....we forgot our roasters!

LUCKILY we had some wire hangers, wood chips, and duct tape....and an ingenious dad.

And it worked out perfectly!!!

And they were yummy s'mores!!!

Porter probably ate about 10 marshmellows.

But he was a good boy.

We had a fun time hanging out with each other, watching the fire.

Sweet little Elsie was having such a great time.

And we brought Cassi's guitar, of course.

And she played for us.

I have to say....that sure was great.

I look forward to many years of Cass playing the guitar by the campfire.

******************

Saturday we decided to make the drive to Shoshone Falls.

It rained all night, and the morning was pretty yucky.

So the kids stayed in and watched a movie on the Car DVD player.

Elsie spent some time coloring on the page that we wrote down ALL the things we need to remember to put in the trailer before next time we take it out.

Man....look at that hair.

Isn't that just great!

We were all excited to head out...too bad the kids didn't know it was going to be another 1 1/2 drive.

But the drive was so worth it!

The water is flowing really high right now, and that is why we wanted to go see it.

Isn't that just amazing!

Beautiful double rainbow.

Our happy little family.

 Just beautiful!!!

The kids had a fun time.

We stopped at the gift shop and the kids smashed some pennies to make an imprint of Shoshone falls....we are pretty sure it doesn't actually smash your penny that you put in....but it is still cool anyway.

Then we drove back to Bruneau, picked up the trailer and headed for home.

We were gone for a whopping 24 hours....but when we got home, Brent and I felt like we had been gone for a whole week!!!!

It was exhaustingly FUN!!!