a sleepover in the fort

The boys are celebrating the 2nd week of summer vacation with a sleepover in Owen's room in the FANTASTIC fort that Mommie made.  ;)  They spent over FIVE hours playing a pretend camping game today...stuffed animals participated...and it kept them quietly getting along in the basement almost all day!

So far, they're doing pretty awesome for a summer vacation.  They've been swimming, signed up for the library's summer reading program, been to the park/sprinklers, played baseball, had a sleepover with their buddies next door, participated in a traveling lemonade stand, and ridden bikes up to Cap'n Frosty.  Oh, and throw in an evening spent making s'mores and catching fireflies last week.  Yep...pretty awesome summer so far!

Field Day 2011

Already into competition mode...or still in competition mode?  Or "whew, they haven't killed each other yet"....  The boys have been looking forward to Field Day for weeks...it's finally here and they're fired up!  Thankfully it's gorgeous out today!!! 

a trip to hell

sure sign that summer is coming!

We love our iced tea...so it was a happy day last week when we realized that it was FINALLY warm enough and sunny LONG enough for us to begin making our tea outside, again.

Go Wings!!

new kicks

I took the boys shoe shopping last weekend.  Not surprisingly, their tastes are completely different.

We first looked at The Children's Place where Owen picked out a pair of black tennis shoes with guitars on them.  Not to be outdone, Jared chose the same pair.  While they looked adorable on 7-year-old feet...somehow they weren't right for an almost-10-year-old.  So we only bought one pair.

Next stop...Journey's.  I love this store.  It's where I found my awesome PINK PLAID tennis shoes.  Owen chose his pair in about 4 seconds.  Fortunately, they had his size in stock.  The little hipster is happy as a clam.

They're laced shoes, but he's able to slide into them without tying everytime.  :)  I will add that it took me 30 minutes and no less than 75 attempts to get the lacing "just right" on these babies.

Jared wandered the store for a good 20 minutes before he decided on a pair.  I kept telling him that we could look other places, but he finally chose.  Grandpa will be so excited...

They're low tops - and look so cute!!!

I've never considered myself a shoe fanatic.  But, in addition to the PINK PLAID tennis shoes above, I've also managed to buy myself a new pair of PINK sandals and a pair of PINK flip flops this year!  I don't think I've bought myself 3 pairs of shoes in one season...ever!  :)

Day 2 of No Privileges

Yesterday went surprisingly well...the morning routine was completed without yelling.  After school, the backpacks went where they belong (though only one water bottle made it to the dishwasher), and the homework/studying were completed without intervention from Mom.  Owen even made his bed *mostly* by himself (the quilt was all pulled out, so I had to help a little)

Both boys bathed without incident - Jared took his shower and then helped Owen run a tubby.  He even helped him to find PJ's that were weather-appropriate.  When I reminded Owen that his room needed attention, he paid Jared $1 to pick it up for him.

It started to fall apart around 8:30 pm.  I gave fair warning that bedtime was coming.  At the 10-minute mark, I gave a final warning.  When I called bedtime, they said that they were ready.  As I surveyed the pile of toys, clothes, books, and junk left in the foyer and on the landing, I made the call.  No privileges were earned back...we still have work to do.