Kite flying, the circus, and more!

We went to Brunswick last week as the last trip before the baby comes. Ruthanne drew this picture of herself. It was really remarkably good of her dress. I will have to get a picture of her wearing the dress soon to ya'll can compare. Enlarge it and look at the pink flowers and hearts and bow on the black dress.Lucky for us, the circus came to town! It was a little cheesy, but we had front-row seats. The kids liked it. Ruthanne at the circus.
John at the circus.
We decided to fly kites. We were going to go to the beach but were a little low on time and remembered the empty field next to the church. Here is Ruthanne with her kite in the air. She had a hard time remembering to keep her line taut. The kite is Barbie, just fyi.
Mimi helping John get his Spiderman kite up in the air.
John got tired and went to play in the dirt, and the ant beds.Just before we left Ruthanne found a pinecone that she really liked (and kept calling an acorn, silly girl!). She wanted her picture taken with it and put on the blog.
I have a few more pictures from my mom's camera that I need to get off the online storage, but I'm a little irritated that I have to download them individually. So, it will have to wait until another day. I'm going to go enjoy my peace and quiet while it lasts!

Wish Luke Good Luck!

By some miracle he has actually made it to DC today for the Navy board. He wound up buying his plane ticket at the airport because they hadn't actually purchased it (lets just hope they actually reimburse us like they are supposed to!). He is about to have dinner with the other chaplain applicants and learn more about what the board will be like tomorrow. We've been saying lots of prayers around here.

Since Luke is gone until late tomorrow night, perhaps I will actually get some new pictures up on the blog a little later (that way Aunt Kathy won't have to look at the same ones!).

Top of the Chest

So, I painted the pieces for the top of the chest today. I think I like how it turned out. The first picture has the flash turned off and the second has the flash on. It is probably somewhere between the two colors in real life, but you get the idea. Whatcha think?

Oh, and can I add that this is a lot more work than I thought! So, beware if you start this project!

Snow Day!

Can you believe it snowed today, in GEORGIA, and it stuck to the ground. It must have started snowing while we were in sacrament meeting at church. The kids were so excited that we all decided to let them go out for a few minutes before going to Sunday School. I mean, you know, we were all thinking there was no way it was going to keep snowing! But, it did and it started to stick. It is very slushy and wet, but snow nonetheless.

When we got back home there were a few areas around the apartments that had a good bit of snow so we took the kids out for a few minutes to make snow balls and a snowman. Check them out!

Ruthanne making a snowball.

John getting ready to throw the snowball Luke made for him.

Luke and Ruthanne making the snowman. Luke was making the bottom and Ruthanne was making the top.
See the finished snowman? Look closely!
Luke with the little snowman before it died a miserable death in the parking lot.

MORE trunk pics!

Editing to say I bought a bunch more animals this morning. I'm still not sure if it will be enough to cover everything, but it gives me a little more variety. I also mixed back up the other shapes and I will resort when I get my latest shipment!

Last night I went and picked up a different blue to make the trunk itself darker, so I painted it (in the pics I had not painted the very bottom). Luke is in Atlanta so I had nothing to do anyways. I also got the rest of the wood pieces I ordered so far, so I started arranging them. It takes a LOT of wood pieces to fill up a chest, let me tell you (and its getting pricier than I imagined!)! I really only have enough to fill up the top and front. I'll show you what I have temporarily done with the sides and back.

Top:
The orange is actually growing on me more with the darker blue. I think with the trunk being a brighter blue it wasn't so hot, but now its ok. I should do John's name all one color though right? Sorry, there are going to be a lot of questions, apparently I need a lot of hand-holding for this project! And, shoot I just noticed the two T-Rex dinosaurs on the top. I'm trying not to duplicate on the same side, gotta find something else to fit there!
Front:
Do the things at the bottom look lame? I may buy a few new smaller animals to put down there instead.

Sides & Back:
Would it be lame if I didn't fill up the sides and back? I think I'm going to order a few different animals for these areas and maybe some more flying things, but would it look lame if its not totally filled up? Or should I just spend the money and get a bunch more animals?

Updated Animal Trunk Pics!

So, should I use orange or not? And, should I go darker navy blue on the trunk itself?

How do you know John is really sick?

He gets himself ready for bed and tells you he is ready! He has been pretty miserable today with a runny nose and cough and even took his nap. Tonight I ran out to wal-mart after Ruthanne went to bed figuring I would be back in time to put John to bed, but when I came home he was getting his teeth brushed and was rushing Luke to let him go to bed. Luke even tried to get him to rest out in the living room, but John said he wanted to rest in his bed! Poor boy, he must be really sick, because he will fight sleep like crazy normally!

Some recent kid pics

The kids were so happy I found them Atlanta Falcons shirts for $2.25 each!Ruthanne listening to the Valentine card Mamom sent.
John chilling in his underwear with his Mamom card. These are the soft underwear (Gerber trainers). Apparently the cool character underwear I bought are not as soft. I guess its because boy underwear has really thick elastic around the waist.

Animal Trunk - Phase 1

So, I bought the trunk and paints yesterday and have been seriously coating the trunk in paint. I have three coats on it now and may go for one more to make it more navy (in the picture the trunk only had two coats). So, I am waiting for the animal pieces, some are due in on Thursday but I will wait until I have all of them. I have the paint colors I picked, but I am thinking of leaving out the orange. What do ya'll think? Or should I go with different colors all together?

Oh, and Christine the company Martha links to for the animal pieces has lots of cute things, even a princess category, so your sister could do a seriously cute girly one if she wanted!

New Project

I saw Martha Stewart the other day (no, I don't sit around watching tv!) and happened to see her make this cute chest/trunk. Ruthanne has that fabulous trunk Frances made for her but John doesn't have anything. I figured I could do this. I bought a bunch of animal cutouts this morning and am going to Michaels today to get the chest (yay for a 50% off coupon!). This will be John's birthday present, but I better get going now, because I'm sure it won't get worked on in the month of May! I think I will paint the trunk navy blue and then do the animal shapes in solid colors of greens, blues, browns, etc. I'll try to update my progress, maybe that will keep me accountable!