How do you keep 6 Kids Busy? Frozen T-Shirts

Spending the week at my sisters house can be quite the adventure.  We have 6 kids between the two of us, all under 10 years of age. 
Only one girl in the mix.
We have a lot of fun but over the years we've learned that it helps to have some constructive plans to keep the kids busy.  They all play really well together, most of the time, but if there is too much unscheduled play time, things can get a little hairy.
This year we tried to be a little smarter so we began what we like to call Mom Camp.
Basically, just some fun activities, crafts, or otherwise organized time.

One super hot, muggy evening, we decided it would be a perfect time for a frozen t-shirt contest.

That's right, I said frozen.

As in cold, hard, block of ice.

So here is what you do: (we got this idea out of the Family Fun magazine).
Get a t-shirt out and soak it in the sink. 
Wring it out really well.
Fold it up neatly or crumple in a ball.
Place on wax paper and place in the freezer.
Wait until it's frozen solid, a couple hours at least.
Pick a hot day to do this on.
Get out the frozen t-shirt and let the contest begin!

 The kids weren't told anything about the contest when we sent them outside.  We also sent them outside for at least 5 minutes so they would get good and hot in the muggy weather we were having that day.  We wanted them to be willing to participate in our contest.

It was so fun to watch them do this! Everyone was having a great time trying to pry their frozen shirt apart (well, almost everyone).

They were laughing and giggling, and trying really hard to be the winner. (We bribed them with a prize, which turned out to be fake.  Mean, I know, blame Hunky Hubby, it was his idea.)

In hindsight, we should have had each child go individually and timed how long it took them to put the shirts on.  That way we could have watched each individual more closely and seen all of their funny expressions as that cold shirt touched their warm skin.

I could have gotten more pictures that way too.

It was so much fun, and such a simple thing to do.

I think we'll have to put this on the list for next years Mom Camp.

Some New Style

It was time for Tate to go in for an eye exam again this summer.  
After all, no one wants the world to look blurry if it doesn't have to, right?
We learned that his prescription had in fact changed, so while we were in Appleton this week, we went to the glasses place and picked him out some new eye wear.

Got him some new style.

This first pair are his current favorite.They've got some cool details on the sides and are blue, which bring out the color of his amazing blue eyes. He says these are his everyday glasses.

The next pair are his dress glasses, or so he says.  They've got a little tortoise shell action going on that you can't really see in the photo.
We usually get two pairs so that we have a back up in case of breakage. When you live where we do, you can't always get a replacement quickly.

He looks so handsome!
He looks so smart!
He looks so stylish!
All in one amazing package.

Look at What my Sister Did!

My sister saw this idea on Pinterest (of course).

You may have seen it too.
She thought it would look good in her front flower bed.
It does!
I don't have any instructions or pictures of it as it's being built, because I wasn't there, but it seems super simple.
You would need a long piece of re-bar,
pots in gradually increasing sizes,
spray paint, dirt, and flowers.

Spray paint the pots first and let them dry.

Drive your piece of re-bar into the ground.

You are going to have to do some measuring here.

Thread the first pot on the re-bar and fill with dirt.

Thread the next pot on the re-bar and fill with dirt.

Continue to do this with all the pots.

See how she has the pots tipped? You need to do that too.
That's what gives it that cool shape.
Then when you are all done, you get to put your plants in!
Want to know a secret?
If you wait to buy your annuals until the end of June, you can get them super cheap!
Wal-mart was selling them for a quarter a pot!
They all survived and look great too.
Even though they were exceptionally root bound.

My sister painted her pots to match her front porch rocking chairs.

This gives her beautiful home a pop of color.
I love the look.
Good job Jen!
Keep on getting those projects done!

My Champs

It's my turn to be that annoying mom who's gonna brag on how awesome her kids are.
Bear with me.
It's o.k.

There was a Elk's Club Soccer Shoot out this week that the boys really wanted to participate in.
We had never done this before, and it was a convenient night, so we went.
None of us knew what to expect or exactly what would be done.
But the boys were eager to try it out.
Especially when they saw the trophies that would be given out.

Every boy wants a trophy.
It's ingrained in their DNA.
I promise

I absolutely love how each of the boys has their own 'game face'.

So adorable!

And yes, when Seth is serious, he always sticks out his tongue.

Wyat went first in the competition (out of the boys anyway).

He is always working the crowd. Maybe he'll be an actor when he grows up.

He and Seth were in the same division.

Troy and I didn't think that was very fair.

There is a large gap in the physical abilities of a kid Seth's age and a kid Wyat's age.

Wyat did well, he tried hard, but he missed most of his goals.

He got a few through though!

Seth went next.

He did a really good job, making most of his goals, but missed all of the highest scoring ones.

Then came Tate, he was in a different division.

He only missed 2 of his shots, but most of his shots were only one pointers.  They divide the net up into a grid and divide it into different point values.  Tate hasn't figured out how to get enough loft on the ball to shoot it high into the corners, which would have been the highest scoring, but also the hardest shots.

He did really well though.

All the boys tried hard and did their best.  However no one spent any time practicing before hand like I suggested.

Overall only one of the boys won a trophy, can you guess who?

He ended up winning 1st prize in his division!

He was a little stoked, but managed to remain humble and not gloat in front of his brothers. 

The only one who was really upset was Wyat.  Tate was disappointed he didn't win, but had a good attitude and we had a good talk about the importance of practicing.

I was proud of all of my boys, because of course, they are all champs to me.

But I was really happy for Seth.

He really loves sports and out of the three boys, does put the most effort into learning and training.

He gets to advance to the next level, so if you are in Wausau on September 22, you can watch him.

Hopefully, he uses this time to practice, because the competition is going to be harder.

Well, thanks for letting me brag a little.

I love my boys.

It is really exciting to see them develop their skills and passions.

Thanks for reading,

Jana

Dinner Cookout

So by now you have probably figured that I am pretty behind in my blogging endeavors.
I'm sorry.
We don't lead a boring life, really.
I have lots of things to share.
It's just that we have been so busy and I fall into bed so tired. 
I can't think to type, I can't think of what to type.
So I just read and then go to sleep,
consequently letting down few all of the people who are interested in our life up here in the woods.

Here's something I was going to post awhile ago.
My parents came up for a visit at the beginning of the summer, before everything got crazy.

This is what relaxed looks like.

We decided to have a camp fire cookout for Tate's birthday dinner.

We had pudgy pies and hot dogs.

Of course there were s'mores too.

Other than being worried that Wyat would fall head first into the fire or burn his hand on the hot pudgy pie makers, it was a really relaxing night.
Even Mom had a good time.
Tee-hee! (she doesn't like it when I take her picture)

Hunky Hubby is a master at pudgy pie assembly, and fire building, and hot dog cooking, and marshmallow roasting! O.k., he's pretty much a master at everything.

Seth has a look of joyful expectation, doesn't he?

Who knew pudgy pies were so amazing?

They are amazing enough to get stuck on your teeth and make you look goofy when you smile!

Here's Poppa sipping on his sweet tea.

Hot dogs roasting and pudgy pies burning cooking.

Mmm, the smells of a hot camp fire.

Apparently the food was finger lickin' good!

It brought great joy to the people who consumed it. 

Just look how happy this kid is!

Of course someone had to teach the boys how to play 'chubby bunny' with the marshmallows.

I'm not sure who won. 

All I know is that I resisted the urge to join in.

Didn't want to show the boys up, you know?

I don't like crushing them in competitions.

They may not want to play anymore.

The other thing that just had to be done, was to put dead pine boughs on the fire and get it to climb higher and higher.  You know it is just natural for boys to want to burn things and make fires grow.  I'm not really sure how anyone taught boys to put out fires.  How did we ever get them to like putting out fires enough to actually create a career out of doing just that? When you think about it, it's a miracle we have firemen.  Now arson's on the other hand, it's not hard to figure out why there are those guys out there.  I'm kinda surprised there aren't more of them.

Can you hear them oohing as the flames are reflected in their eyes? And that smile of Seth's is a bit concerning, don't you think?

So is this expression. 

Can you say 'giddy', 'jubilant' or 'extatic'?

That's my boy!

This is my boy too. 

He likes to wear his food.

Saving it for later.

Or so I'm told.

This guy looks mesmerized as he stares into the flames.

Hunky Hubby likes playing with fire as much as the boys do.  But he also likes to have his picture taken as much as my Mom does.

However, I can usually get him to crack.

That's cause he loves me so much.

So, happy campfire dinners to you all too!

Thanks for stopping in,

Jana