Oh, the Things You Can Think!!!

These are not really all in order, but the purpose of this post is to remind my children that we are NOT sloths around here, and that I do actually do stuff besides clean. (You see, they are always complaining about NEVER getting to do ANYTHING fun... yet these are all things that they have WANTED to do... even though some of them turn into "chores"... like the garden!)
So... on the not of WE ARE NOT SLOTHS, here goes:

We started some seeds in a mini greenhouse starter kit, and then transplanted them outside. Some survived, some didn't... and some I have replanted now 3 times. I'm just about to give up on certain things.
The following are mini pumpkins.

And the sugar snap peas are doing... well, ...okay.
Green beans, and red bell pepper plants.
This is the garden box that Braeden and I built. Ella and I did the shopping for it. She sat, and SWUNG on the lumber cart all the way through the store and out into the garden section. It was lovely, and I saw several people chuckling at me as I passed them. Others were not so amused by my large load in the garden area. Oh, well!
(And you can't tell in this picture, but there are carrots, radishes, and 2 types of tomatoes growing, with the hopes that some watermelon will also sprout... again!)
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This is a look at all the fun stuff that Lexi has done at school for their 1st Grade Open House. They made their space into a giant habitat display.
Toucans... done in chalk.
Frogs in the rain forest.
A Meet the Master's project.
Jelly fish in the sea.
Colorful fish.
Toucans on vines, and different kinds of plants in the windows; pine trees, cacti, etc.
Amazing!! It will NEVER cease to amaze me how each child has such a different outcome for the very same project. They all looked so awesome!
And they have a chance to be part of the Garden Club during regular school hours. They have such a good time out there... growing stuff. It's amazing. They have a Rhubarb that is gigantic, some heads of lettuce that are all ready to pick, we ate a couple of very nice strawberries,... they seriously have almost everything out there! It's great for learning!
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This is the box "house" that Lexi got for her birthday. They got to paint to their hearts' content!
Lexi invited Alyssa, the new neighbor girl, over to help.
Braeden did most of this side... and then went on to better things. He's not as artsy as Lexi, but does love it until the thought of baseball or basketball enters his thoughts.

This side is starting to get a little TOO colorful for my taste in house colors! ;)
Ella didn't want to quit. She did one side mostly by herself, too!
Doesn't Damian look thrilled. I drug him out to sit by me and enjoy some fresh-ish air!

You can't see it really well, but Ella has orange paint remains in her hair. Lovely. I should have grabbed the camera BEFORE the rag.

I was going to put this at the top of the post with the "It's NOT What It Looks Like" title. ;)


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This is what you get when you're sick and won't give up for a nap. You fall asleep at the counter eating crackers before dinner while Lexi is having her piano lesson.
I can't remember the last time she has just fallen asleep somewhere other than in the car. Poor thing!
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Can I have the scraps??? Can I help???? Can I.... can I.... CAN I??????
Remember the post about making a service quilt for Activity Days? Well, I let those girls have some scraps to sew together, and since I pay for at least half of everything that goes into Activity Days, I told Lexi that after it was ALL done and sewn together, she could have the remains. (Which were very few, actually.) So we took those and she was able to make an itty-bitty animal/baby blanket. (Yes, I actually got her to cut and USE some of the FABRIC I gave her for a real purpose... not just to sit in her COLLECTION! Hooray!!)
She sat on my lap, ran the pedal, and did everything but the reverse button and putting it where it needed to go to start. She did rather well. (Notice the pedal is on a box so that she can still sit on my lap AND run the pedal... there is something about the pedal... it's the best part! It's like driving before you're old enough to do so!)
When we started putting them together (after making the X's) it got a little trickier.

She even laid out the pattern she wanted. The back of each is the poke-a-dot print you see.

Almost there...
And with a little help from Ella running the pedal, and me screaming STOP!!!!! we got it all done! (I'll admit that I ended up sewing the rows together, because Lexi had wanted to take a break, and I really... REALLY wanted to put the sewing machine away!)
The finished product... before the wash.
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At Braeden's baseball practice with Gma Pam!
You'll see what's in their hands in a few pictures. Just look for the little brown SHOE... which is Ella's!
Yay for good cameras! I get lucky every once in a while as I try to figure it all out! He doesn't play for the Phillies anymore, but he wanted to wear last year's stuff to practice. (And we heard about it after... his coach is NOT a Philly fan! He's Mets all the way... but alas, he coaches the Padres!)
Ella is very busy building a sand volcano.

Ta-da! All the STUFF they were picking out of the tree... ends up in Ella's shoe! Lovely!
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This is what I get when I ask Braeden to go get ready for BED!!


Go T-birds!
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These are my Activity Day girls, less one, with the finished quilt product... also before wash!
After I washed it... I have several holes to fix from them cutting through the seams. Nice.
I have to say, in awe of Lexi; after clipping her little quilt, there were NO holes!!
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The week right before Easter we did some more crafts and painting! We painted a box, and some egg cartons (that were easily transformed into caterpillars!!)


This shirt, BTW ended up in the trash. It did have 2 little holes in it that I noticed earlier that day, but by the time she was done with this caterpillar project... it was hopeless!


Busy bees!

And there you have some of it. We do lots of things that I don't get the camera out for, but this is how our house usually looks... always in the middle of a PROJECT.

YET... I NEVER let them do ANYTHING fun!