Bowling + Ice Skating = Fall Fun

I've been so into the activities through our city. They are not a big commitment since you only have to sign up for a short session and they are affordable. This fall our schedule is already pretty full, but I just couldn't resist letting the kids pick one class each to take.

Of course Olivia chose bumper bowling. She has only been twice but begs to go all the time. Through the city she gets to go for 8 weeks, an hour and a half each time, for only $79 including instruction, ball and shoe rental. That is an awesome deal. Noah is actually old enough for that class and I was SO tempted to sign him up too while I was fantasizing of an hour and a half of free time each week, but I just don't think he's ready yet for that length of a class. Maybe next year for him.

Noah decided on a Mommy and Me Ice Skating class on wednesday mornings while Olivia is in school. How fun is that? We get 6 weekly lessons including ice skate rentals for both of us for a total of $72, another great deal. Each class is an hour, the first half is instruction, the second half is free skate. I'm actually kinda excited about this, I figure I'll even get some exercise too.

So if I'm not blogging this fall you'll know I'm either skating around with Noah or we're watching Olivia try to get a 6lb ball down a bowling lane. Wish us luck!

Hottest Day of the Year Recomendation

I would highly recommend your local library. Your local air-conditioned library. You know it's hot out when it's hard to find a parking spot at the library. But it's well worth the spot to get an hour of coolness.

Olivia dived right in and read while constantly changing positions on the padded reading area.





Noah and I had a better idea. Yep, my head was definitely bobbing too. It felt so good after sweating it all day at home.



Yeah, the library is still pretty cool even when it's not hot out, it's just extra motivation on days like these.

First Day of First Grade

First grade just seem so grown up. She walked right up, hung up her backpack on the hook labeled with her name, and off she went. My big, little girl!



First stop was the playdough table. First grade is still cool enough for her.



Here's to another great year!

He can't wait for bedtime?

Noah picked out some glow-in-the-dark stars at a rummage sale we were at. He actually said that he would go to sleep in his room by himself with them on the wall. I'll believe it when I see it.

We got them yesterday, but then I found sand from the sandbox in my planter and they got taken away for a day as a punishment. My plants can't grow in desert conditions.

When he woke up today he asked for them first thing. So we put them up while still in our jammies. Olivia and Noah got them way higher than I expected them to be able to on their own.

I hope they actually glow tonight in the dark. We will see!

Olympic Spirit

Olivia and Noah are very into rooting for the US as we watch the Olympic every night. Really late every night. Travis is often asleep as the rest of us watch. But I have to admit, it's great. It's exactly the kind of fun stuff I imagined doing with my kids before I had them. I didn't imagine that Noah would call the swimmer with the yellow cap and swim suit the "metal man," but still fun even with the numerous explanations Olivia asks for.

With all the patriotic cheering going on we thought it would be a good time to iron on the letters we bought to decorate our bucket hats from the Target bargin bin months ago. The red, white, and blue iron-on letters clearly stated "looks best on light fabric," but I ignored that and used it on a red and dark blue hat. As a result Noah isn't quite as patriotic as Olivia's. And her letters don't really give the red, white, and blue visual they did in the package. Still, you get the point.







We wanted to put Team USA under their names, but we didn't have enough As. Go USA will have to suffice.

Obsession Update

I've been busily potting up all my sprouts I started in the coffee filters in the window. I know the point of putting them in newpaper pots was that I could evetually just stick the newspaper pots in the ground without having to transplant them. But then I realized we have a 5 day trip planned at the end of next week and there is no way sproutings will last 5 days without water and I don't think newspaper pots will survive under the one little timed sprinkler we rigged while we are gone. So, here they are halfway potted up in lovely yogurt and other various type of containers.



They include Alysum, those are the biggest. Dianthus and coneflower look good. Snapdragons barely have their second set of leaves. And the latest added to the mix are Joe-Pye weed, catmint, black-eyed susan, and coreopsis. If they make it the 5 days I should have a good variety of periennals to plant in the fall and hope all winter that they come back in the spring.