Day 62 - 3/3/13 - Painting

Another crafty day -
They would pick painting everyday if I let them.  So when I caved they were thrilled.  Here are their creations.

Karen

Day 61 - 3/2/13 - 3D Hand Art

Today we did a craft project that I found on Pinterest and wanted to try.  First, I traced everyone's hands.  Then I made the lines using a curved line inside the hand to make it appear 3D.  Then I left the kids color and decorate as they wanted.  Although, I did most of the work on this project.  The kids were mesmerized and sat very still watching me as I did.  Patrick said, "It was like magic."  Good times!

Patrick- left, Me-middle, Lindsay-right (she got all bored with coloring and then helped me with my pattern)

Karen

Day 60 - Flashback Friday Summer Style

Ran out of creative ideas so I'm playing Flashback Friday.  This post will include pictures from our first vacation that I used my DSLR.  We went to Marco Island, FL and it was truly one of the best family vacations we've ever had!!

Karen

Day 56 - 2/26/13 - Helping Hands

When Daddy was working on the desk he was building, of course, the kids wanted to "help".  Patrick started off by roping off the "construction zone".  Then both kids worked on sweeping up saw dust and hauling it over to the huge hole that they have been digging in the backyard.  (That is a post for another day.)  They were good little helpers and most importantly had fun!

Karen

Day 55 - 2/24/13 - Shaving Cream Fun

Each week for homework Patrick has to write his sight words 3 times each and each in a sentence.  In addition, he gets to pick from a menu of activities.  This week he picked to write his words in shaving cream.  Both kids LOVED this activity, and I LOVED it too because I got the groceries unpacked quickly without "helping" hands and didn't hear any arguing or complaining for a good 20 minutes!

Karen

Day 49 - 2/18/13 - What a Good Daddy!

Lindsay has been on a nail polish kick here recently!  She wants her nails to be painted every weekend and she also enjoys painting other people's nail.  She asked to paint mine and did a beautiful job painting them alternating pink, orange and lime green.  I was actually impressed with how well she did.  Well, she asked her Daddy if she could paint his and being the good Daddy that he is he let her.  She was so excited.  She took her job very seriously but had to giggle every once in awhile at her Daddy's painted fingernails.  I loved every moment of it for several reasons.

Karen

Day 48 - 2/17/13 - Doggie Dress Up

When we play dress up, we go all out in our house.  Not only do we dress up, but we create a skit to go along with our costumes AND we include the dogs.  This time Lindsay dressed Jazzy up in a tiara and pearls and Lindsay wore a red sweatshirt and carried a basket.  Of course, Lindsay was Little Red Riding Hood and Jazzy was the Big Bad Wolf dressed up like Grandma.  I didn't get a picture of that one though because Jazzy was running around too much trying to get her tiara off.  Sparky, on the other hand, was very cooperative.  He was an alien who had come to Earth looking (hence the binoculars) for trouble.  Patrick was the helpful ninja sent to take out the alien.  I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time.  I love the creativity of my kids!!

Karen

Day 47 - 2/16/13 - Crafting Time Take 567

Have I mentioned my children like to do crafts?  Lindsay woke up saying she wanted to paint.  She had the canvas all set up and ready to go before 8 am.  Sigh.  She and Patrick agreed calmly (amazing) that they would paint a sunset.  We had a good 30 minutes of quiet time of them working together to create their masterpiece and I love it!!!

Karen

Day 45 - 2/14/13 - My Loves

I tried to take a picture of the children with their ridiculously priced As Seen on TV Stuffies that they got for Valentine's Day, but none of them turned out to good.  So, instead I'm resurrecting two of my favorite pictures of all my loves!!!  We have an incredibly hard time getting a decent family picture so I take what I can get.  :)  Here are two that I love!!! 

Karen

Day 43 - 2/12/13 - Can you see me now?

I can't even remember what prompted this silliness, but the kids had a blast looking at my camera through their binoculars and telescope and I had fun snapping pictures of it.  We all laughed.  Good times!

Karen

Day 42 - 2/11/13 - More Daddy Daughter Dance Pictures

One of the Mom's at Lindsay's school is the resident photographer.  She attends most of the events, takes a ton of pictures, and shares them with the parents.  She is awesome!  Here are some adorable pictures she took of Lindsay and her Daddy.  Melts my heart!!

Karen

Day 40 - 2/9/13 - Bayport Fun

Daddy had some work to do at a friend's house.  Since this is one of our favorite places to be, we all went along.  We enjoyed a chaotic lunch with 2 tired kids and 2 crazy dogs, and then went back to play/work.  Patrick's favorite place is by the water's edge!  The dogs love just roaming, swimming, and chasing the chickens.  Always an adventure, always a good time.

Karen

Day 39 - 2/8/13 - Date Night

The Keene family had a different kind of date night last night.  Lindsay and Daddy went on a date to the Daddy Daughter Dance at her school.  They cut a rug, had some pizza, and Lindsay got her face painted.  She was beaming when we came home.  She was snuggled in bed with Daddy watching Good Luck Charlie.

Patrick and I went to his school for movie night.  Patrick was Mr. Popular.  I was shocked at how many kids of all ages knew him.  We ate some popcorn and pizza, snuggled up, and enjoyed Brave.  I loved getting to spend one on one time with my Peanut.  When we left, I asked him if there was anything else he wanted on our date night.  He replied, "How about icecream???"  My kind of date!!!

Day 35 - 2/4/13 - Peace, Love, and French Fry Grease

Have a mentioned recently how awesome my in-laws are?  Well, they are.  I can't even put into words how hard it is to be away from my family, but I am so thankful that I am blessed with such wonderful and caring in-laws.  They do so much for us!  They watch our dogs everyday for us while we work, they help with taking the kids to and from therapies, appointments, practices, etc., they watch the kids whenever Will and I need a night out together, they shower us with gifts, they teach and talk to the kids about so much and most importantly they show us love!

So, this weekend when we had a party for Jakey the dog.  My father-in-law, Mike, made his specialty - homemade fries!  This man is a frying machine.  I have never cared much for eggplant but couldn't get enough of his fried eggplant.  Lindsay wanted to help Grandpa so she became his assistant.  I felt a little emotional watching him talk her through soaking them, cutting them up, and then watching them work on frying them.  It brought back so many wonderful memories I had with my Grandmommy in the kitchen.  I am so glad that my children have both sets of their grandparents in their lives and that they are around to create such wonderful memories that I know they will treasure in the same way that I do.

Karen

Day 34 - 2/3/13 - If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked a Cake!

February 1 was my in-laws dog, Jake's 2nd Birthday.  Since we love any reason to throw a party, we decided to have a birthday party for Jake.  Will grilled up some chicken and chops, my father-in-law made his homemade fries with a little help from Lindsay (see next post), my mother-in-law prepared the sides, and I baked the cakes.  Now, I am not the best baker but I do enjoy it.  Both cakes were a HUGE hit!  

The human cake was a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake.  Here is the recipe.  I adapted it a tad.  My frosting was a little runny and my cookie dough balls were not freezing fast enough so I just mixed the cookie dough batter into the frosting.  The end result was delicious!

  

The dog cake was made from this recipe.  I used the cupcake frosting recipe that was lower on the page to frost the cake.  I used shredded carrots for the wording, lined with treats, and, of course, rawhides for candles.  The birthday dog gobbled his slice in only 1 bite.  All of the dogs ate their slices in less than 5 seconds. I would say it was a hit too.  

Overall, I was pretty proud of my skills!

Karen

Day 28 - 1/28/13 - You Might Be A Redneck If...

You Might be a redneck if you wake up on a Saturday morning and you're super excited to go to the Annual Truck and Tractor Pull.  This was seriously a labor of love on my part.  Usually this is my husband's gig but his back was out so I became the responsible party for this event.  Not much I enjoyed about this, but seeing my kids faces as the tractors raced across the dirt and pulled big equipment was pretty priceless.  I also have to say that the people watching was highly entertaining.  I think my kids and I were in a minority there having all our teeth!  After 2 hours of watching a variety of tractors, I was done.  Next year, Daddy will definitely be running that show!  In all seriousness, a day out with the kids is always a good day!

Karen

Day 26 - 1/26/13 - "Snowball" Fight

So, what do you do when you live in Florida and you are sad that all your cousins in Delaware are playing in the snow?????  You make fake snow with bubbles and let the kids go crazy.  We all had so much fun.  I dumped half a bottle of bubbles in the jacuzzi tub with the kids and turned the jets on.  The bubbles erupted and so did the kids.  We were all giggling.  Then I told the kids to go ahead and have a "snow"(bubble) fight and don't worry about making a mess.  They looked at me like I was CrAzY!!!!  (Quite honestly, I kind of am.)  Then when their fight was over, I scooped all the bubbles out and put them on the shower floor.  We had about 3 inches in bubbles.  They made bubble angels and played with the bubbles with buckets.  (I can't share any of those pictures because there were too many peek-a-boo privates.)  Here are some shots from their snow fight though.

Karen

Day 19 - 1/19/13 - Sleepover Success

Patrick and Lindsay ALWAYS beg to have a sleepover in one of their rooms.  They want to stay up and play and then sleep in the same room.  We have tried several times but it usually ends up in tears and off to separate rooms.  Well we finally had sleepover success!!!  No arguing, no yelling, and they even slept in.  When I woke up in the the middle of the night to check on them this is what I found.

EXHIBIT A - The Aftermath of Staying Up and Playing:

EXHIBIT B - Two happy, sleeping, content, sweet children:

Karen

Day 15 - 1/15/13 - Circus Pictures Part 2

Kid picks.  The first collage is one of Lindsay's favorite parts of the circus, the girls twirling by their hair.  The second collage is Patrick's favorite part, the ninjas.  Will and I were slightly concerned that both children might try to do some of these stunts on their own.  So, we had a little chat about these performers being professionals and not to try this at home!

 

Karen

Day 14 - 1/14/13 - Circus Pictures Part 1

I am still working on taking pictures in darker settings.  The circus was a bit of a challenge.  We had soooooo much fun though!  I had never been to a real three ring circus so it was just as exciting for me as it was for the kids!  Of course the company of great friends was enjoyable too!  I took so many pictures I had to do collages.  Enjoy!

Bring on the elephants!

Karen