Stirland hotel

Every year some birds come and build a nest in our front entryway.  I do not like it!  They poop everywhere...  So I knocked down the nest and glued a fake snake up there to try to discourage them from building there this year.  Unfortunately the snake just gave them more room for their nest.  This year they actually had two different groups of eggs.  I feel bad knocking it down when there are eggs or baby birds so I wait until they move out for the season.  However, this year I waited until all the birds could fly and then knocked it down before they moved out.  Hopefully next year we will not have them back.  :)

p.s.  The snake trick did work on our back playground.  No birds pooping all over it this year!

Papa Ollie

One day Ollie came into the living room looking like this...  It took me a few seconds to realize that he had dressed up like Papa.  He is wearing one of Papa's work shirts.

He was complete with beard and all.

Then Lily came out and was wearing my shirt.  :) 

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Misc. Summer

Summer has kept us super busy! We've had lots of fun and done lots of things. Here's a post of a few things we have done. Enjoy!

One night we had a "mystery" dinner.  I looked at all the leftovers in the fridge and all the random things like the one grapefruit and made a list.  Then I took the list and made up funny names for everything.  I gave each person a list and told them how many items they could have.  It was a big hit!  It will definitely be something that we do again many times.  :)  I did think it was funny that all the kids circles "mini donuts" (aka cheerios) and they thought they were going to get donuts for dinner.

Here's a list (upside down) of the choices.

We made ice cream in bags.  The kids loved this!  They loved each having their own.  It was a huge mess with bags popping open all the time and ice cubes and salt all over...  next time we need Papa home to help us.  Lily was the last one to make hers so I did get a quick picture of her.  We did this to help break the heat the first (of three) time the AC broke this summer.  :)

Someone must have been bored because they arranged the baby food into a nice pyramid. (Ollie)

Claire and I.  When you look at my children they all look like siblings. Every time I see a picture of all of our family I can't help but hear the song, "One of these things is not like the other".  However, Claire looks just like my sister's girls so I must be in there somewhere.

This summer has included lots of trips to the parks.  The kids like to play at different parks and lucky for us there are several good ones that are close.

Lily was trying to do her school work and Katie kept trying to get her book.

Ollie has been working hard in cub scouts.  He earned lots of belt loops this summer.  He is a good big brother...  he really wanted a picture of him and his sisters.  I'm not sure where Katie was ...  The other day someone commented to Ollie about having so many little sisters.  He said, "At least they are not brothers!" 

More food rearranging.  This time by Claire.  She likes to drag a chair over and stack the cans on it.  Whatever happened to just playing with blocks???

More summer later!!!

Will work for food

A few months ago Katie was learning to crawl.  She didn't really like practicing and just wanted to be carried or have things brought to her.

We decided to give her some motivation.

She really wanted that bottle but it just seemed too far away!

She persevered and she got it!

There's nothing like a good meal after some hard work!  She also enjoyed that we all clapped and cheered for her when she finally made it.

Sisters

What could possibly be cuter than one little girl in a darling cherry swim suit?  Three!  These little girls like dressing the same.  :)

Pirate Papa

One day after work Spencer came home and changed into this... he is wearing Ollie's shirt.  We all laughed a lot!  He is sure silly and we sure do love him!

Helpers

My kids love to help (unless it includes something they should do on their own, like clean up their rooms).  One day we made some homemade granola.  To make things easier (and messier) each kid got their own bowl and got to make their own batch.  They thought it was really fun to measure their own ingredients instead of taking turns like we normally do.  We also had lot's of granola which is already gone!

Glass jar pets

All kids want to capture bugs and keep them.  My kids are no exception.  Ollie caught a potato bug and wanted to keep it.  He researched what they eat.  Then we built it a home in a glass jar.  He sure loved making everything for it.  Lily, of course, helped him every step of the way. 

Father's Day

Here's a cute picture of Spencer with the kids for Father's day.  Ollie likes to color match with Papa.  You know they say that imitation is the highest form of flattery.  The kids sure imitate their Papa.  We feel so very blessed to have such a great man as the head of our family!  He always gives us time and attention.

I made him tie tacks with pictures of the kids for a gift

He also got some CD's which is what he always wants.  It sure makes shopping easy.  :)

For Michael

A few weeks ago we had chocolate waffles with ice cream on them for dinner.  We took a picture for Uncle Michael.  We figured he would like some himself.  :)  And yes, we win for healthiest dinner!

Kid Quotes

Kids always say funny things.  Here's a few from our house lately.  :)

Claire:  We were reading Uncle Nate's blog and we watched the movie of his riding an elephant.  She was super excited that he got to ride a "cute" elephant.  After the little movie she exclaimed, "When I grow up, I'm going to be Uncle Nate!"
Claire:  She has been learning to say her prayers.  One night after her nightly prayer she just unfolded her arms and said, "The End."

Lily:  "Look Mom, I set my bed!" 
Lily: The kids were working on cleaning up.  I told Lily to not clean up Claire's mess so that Claire would learn how.  Lily said, "I can't clean up Claire's mess because when I am a Mom, I am not going to Claire's house to clean up after her kids!"

Ollie:  He was complaining on a short car drive.  I told him to just chill and enjoy the ride and think of it as an adventure.  He said, "Oh.  Are we lost?"  I guess when I get lost I just call it an adventure.  :)
Ollie:  I told him about a youth church program that I used to do as a child.  It was called Merry Miss.  I explained it to him.  A few minutes later he said, "Mom, I have another question about the Merry Maggots group..."

Food

 It never ceases to amaze me how much of my day is spent on food related things.  Fixing meals, cleaning up.  Then they are hungry again... and again... and again.  :)
Sometimes we take a more fun approach.  Like donuts on strings.  The kids loved it!  I loved watching them!

 Another time we made marshmallow people. 

 Ollie's above.  Lily's below and Claire's at the bottom.

Sleeping Outside

 One day I was pushing Claire in the swing outside.  She totally feel asleep!  I was super surprised.  I knew if I carried her into the house she would wake up.  I didn't want her to get sunburned.  So, I hung up a blanket to give her shade.  She slept for about 45 minutes.  When she woke up she yelled for me to come get her.  Funny how kids love that rocking motion.