Instagram {Embrace the Camera}

Errands... the older the kids get, and the more activities they have, the more time we spend in this small space called a minivan.

Do you love Instagram as much as I do?

I started out using it just to edit my iphone pics, and slowly have found a few friends out there who use it.  Plus a few blogging friends I like to follow.  I promise it's fun, and it doesn't just have to be for teens.  I hope to, one day, in all my spare time (like maybe when I'm in the nursing home) print out my Instagrams and make a little book.  That would be easy enough using a website like this.  But does anyone know of a cheaper option?  Costco's smallest square print is an 8x8 inch size, and that's a little bigger than I want.  Or doesn't this look fun too?  You can make your Instagrams into magnets.  I'd love any Instagram printing tips you might have.

Follow me on Instagram.  My username is packofwolfes.  It's a new account (changing it over to my blog name), so there's just a few pics on it right now.

And Embrace the Camera here.

5 on the 5th (a little late) April Edition

5 boys very excited to see their bunks framed in.

Blue and Yellow... and I'm back

I took an unexpected sabbatical from blogland.  I rarely have times in my life where I barely have time to do anything but survive.  I'm pretty good at keeping life around here manageable.  I like down time at home.  That's maybe what I like most about home schooling.  Even though our evenings are full, we have time built into our days to simply be as a family.  That's when I find time to blog, when the boys are reading or napping in the afternoon.

Well, this past month, the house has been busy, busy, busy.  Add on baseball schedules for 3 teams, just a few church responsibilities, and my whole family here last week, and you can only imagine the circus at our house.  I'm grateful all this craziness is because of good things.  We were able to take a month spring break (another benefit of home schooling... it flexes).

When my family was here, I made the trek to Ikea.  Or should I say, my parents watched 7 kids for the day so I could go to Ikea.  I got there before it opened and waited outside the door until 9:30 when it's open for 99 cent breakfast.

Something cheery about the bright blue and yellow in the morning.

My breakfast, with coffee.  All for 99 cents.  Sorry about the tilted picture.

Notice the new chair colors.  And how fun are those orange drawers.  The bottom drawer is a file cabinet.

Above is my kitchen sink.  More chair colors.  I'm thinking that little sink may look good in my island.

And shaker cabinet style.

We may do a sectional in the playroom.  Which style do you like better?  The fabrics would be different, so don't let that influence you.  One is more modern (and would show all the toys underneath it).  One if more traditional (and would hide all the dust bunnies).  I'm torn.

Contemplating these for the office.  I would love a room full of books with a couple of comfy chairs.  Those glass cabinets would be fun on top.

I was admiring these because they're cheap and was wondering if the boys needed a little desk or two in the school area.  Right now, we all sit at a table for school.  But as the older boys get older, and their work becomes more independent, I wonder if they might focus better at a desk that faced the wall.  Not for everything, but while they do their independent work.  Any thoughts?  Especially from you wise moms who are a little further down the road than me?  

Overall, it was a wonderful luxury to have a day to slowly walk through Ikea.  It was fun to think toward the post-construction phase of the house.  I arrived at 9:30 and didn't leave until 1:00, after I had lunch for $1.00 (the Friday special was a hot dog and soda for a buck).  

Then I hit the appliance store and got a good deal on an ice maker.  Overall, a productive day.

More on house progress, Cousin Spring Break 2012, and baseball soon.  

Happy Monday, everyone!

What the boys have been doing...

We've spent a good bit of time at the new house.  Sometimes we have meetings.  Sometimes we meet Chris there after work to see what's been going on that day.  The boys have found some fun things to do amidst the nails, boards and orderly chaos.

Asher built a "tree house."

Hammer.  We keep some hammers in the back of our van.

Mostly just for the sake of hammering. 

What boy doesn't like to hammer?

When it's muddy, sit in the locked car and watch Inspector Gadget.  

Have a picnic lunch in the pantry while we walk through the house with our builder.

Or when all else fails, lay down and take a rest.

We have a big weekend coming up.  Grandma, Grandpa, Mary, and Elsa come tomorrow!  Then, Uncle Bryan and Aunt Tess come next week.  We will write on the walls this weekend when they are here.  I'm excited they get to be here for this because it will be an even better memory for the boys.  I know there will be so much excitement when we show the house to the girls for the first time.

Plus, we have about 1,001 baseball games.  Spring is so much fun.

Baseball pictures coming soon.  I know you were missing them. 

A Fun Friday... and Windows!

We take Fridays off school.  A couple of months ago, I bought a Groupon to Dinosaur World in Glen Rose, and it was about to expire.  On our way there, we stopped at the house to see what was going on.  The windows had arrived and were sitting like this in the back yard.

We spent hours agonizing over windows.  How many panes?  What color?  What kind?

And then one day, they just arrived... so fun.

[Sorry about the blurry picture]

Then it was off to Dinosaur World.  It's an hour away, and dinosaurs couldn't be any less exciting to me.  But I knew the boys would like it.  So I endured. 

These dinosaurs were very big.  As you can see.

You walk this nature trail and see all sorts of life size dinosaur replications.

The boys loved it.  I actually enjoyed it more than I thought it would.  The trail you walk was peaceful with pretty trees, and the park was fairly empty so we could run and make all sorts of noise.

They also have a fossil dig, so the boys all came back with three of their very own fossils.

Scary t-rex.

Then we headed back to the house.  This was the first time the boys were able to walk the upstairs.  They were very excited about seeing their room.  I was excited to walk mine as well :)

Graham the Builder?  Not quite as catchy as Bob the Builder.  As a side note, one of our builders is named Bob.  Whenever I crack the "Bob the Builder" joke, no one laughs.  I guess I'm the only one who finds it funny.  Maybe I'm the only one who's watched countless episodes of Bob the Builder.

Cry Cry the Builder?  No, they won't make a tv show out of that one either.

Believe it or not, he is almost always this smily.

Sweet and precious boys.

Smelling the cedar shake.  I love that smell.

"Toys" in the backyard.

And the windows were in already.  Amazing.  Then we topped it all off with a fun dinner at Chipotle with good friends.  A wonderful Friday was had by all.

As a side note, several people asked about these blocks.  I absolutely love them.  They are called Keva planks.  My kids play with them nearly every day.  This is one of Asher's creations.  He was testing out his architectual skills and attempting to replicate our new house.  He was doing such a good job, and then it was destroyed.  That's how things go around here.

A Special Guest

There hasn't been too many times when I've made a 911 call to my mom to say, "Please come down.  I NEED help with the boys."  But this house is going up fast, and I was feeling the weight of all the decisions that had to be made.  Decorating decisions are hard for me under normal circumstances.  Adding the happy chaos of 5 boys to that is not a good mix.  With things like carpet and tile decisions, I needed a clear head.  I knew I could TAKE the boys to the tile showroom, but I couldn't THINK at the tile showroom.  So I called my lovely mother and asked/begged for her to come down and rescue me. 

And she did.  She came.  It was such a great break for the boys from the worksite.  It's rained off and on, so lately, I can't even get them out of the car when we're there because it's so muddy.  Thank goodness for old episodes of Inspector Gadget on the ipad.  It's a show they all agree and there's 1,001 episodes to choose from.  So they can watch and watch and watch if we end up there longer than we expect, which always seems to happen.  I'm not a big fan of the kids watching tv in the car, but this is just a season.  I have to keep telling myself that.  But with my mom here, they were able to have much more fun than watching Inspector Gadget.

I came home one night to this.

It's amazing.  My mom said not one tear was shed while playing this game.  She must have a magic touch.  She also took them to park every day, played with them outside, and baked with them.

These were taken on the way to the airport.

I'm not sure why Jopie has the one glove on.  He's never even heard of Michael Jackson.

I'm sure there will be many more pictures on these stairs.

Thanks Mom.  Your presence here let me think.  For 4 days anyway.  Now it's back to reality.

And this.

But it IS just a season :)

This and That

Here's what we've been doing around the house this last month.

Playing outside.

I'm pretty sure this is not a normal way to get shade, but he thought it was.

I just love when they sit and look at books quietly.

And when the bigger ones read to the littles... pure joy in a mother's heart.

In case you thought they always were reading.

What we often have for lunch.  Hummus on Central Markets wheat tortillas.  Mine has spinach, cucumber, red pepper, salt and pepper.  Yum.  Except I'm always hungry an hour later.  Then I have to have some cheetos and diet coke to counteract all that healthy food I had for lunch.

Graham's been a reading machine lately.  He's been into the Ranger's Apprentice series.  Just ask him.  He'll tell you all about it.

Hoops in the garage.  It's a competitive sport at our house.

Hot chocolate on the lawn.  What a nice Mommy I was that day.

They had made a nut store.

Yes, probably another thing that only home school boys do.

If you don't have these, get yourself some.  Hours of fun.  Thanks for the idea, Sarah.

Bonding brothers.  Sweet moments.

Warming up for the baseball season.

And lazy mornings by the fire.