Fun with Rice

 Pintrest.com has become my new favorite sites. And the other day I found this fun idea for dying rice. I put 3 cups of rice in a ziploc, 3-4 Tbls of alcohol, and 1 Tbls of food coloring. The recipe called for more but all I had were the small bottles so I just used the whole bottle. Then I had Vimmer shake the bags up and mix the color. We then put them out to dry during nap time...

 and then this is what they woke up to...

A rainbow of colorful rice to play in. 

They have of course spread it all over the patio but we just sweep it up at the end of the day and put it back in the 'water' table. So much cleaner than sand and has provided hours of fun. We have had it out now for a couple weeks and it is starting to get dirty and broken up into small pieces. We will probably be throwing it out in the next few days. I was worried the dye would come off on fingers and clothes but surprisingly I haven't had any problems.

Paxton's 1st Birthday

So Paxton turned one over a month ago but I thought I would go ahead and blog about it. The party was small, last minute, and family only. I felt the a small tinge of guilt because I did large 1st birthday parties with months of planning for my two older boys and poor Paxton's party was put together in less than a week. But I have been reassured by many of you that 1) this does not define me as a mom and 2) he won't remember.  I told Vim that this just means we have to do a ginormous party for him next year with ponies, monkeys and a baby elephant ; ) jk.

Not so sure about the hat. 

He loved his birthday gift. I think his favorite part was the stereo.  

Paxton Carl- 

You are God's sweet little gift to us. I love your cuddliness. Chunky thighs. The way you love to eat and rub it in your hair behind your ears. How excited you get when you see your brothers. Your determination. Your blueish, brown eyes. Your fearlessness. Your big teethe smile. How you 'tackle' your brothers. Your open mouth kisses. How you wave 'bye' with just a slight turn of your pudgy wrist. How you love the water and to drive anything with a steering wheel. And that mischievous grin. 

My prayer for you is that you would learn to 'Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength.' Mark 12:30

Love you with all my heart. 

Mom 

Pumpkins with my Pumpkins

Even though it is still very warm out here it is beginning to feel like fall with all the fall activities, decorations, and pumpkin patches going on all around us. We just have to wear shorts and t-shirts to these activities.  Maybe next year I will get smart and I will either buy short sleeve festive halloween shirts or cut the sleeves off the ones I buy. It never fails butI by cute 'I love my Mummy' shirts and then they get to wear them only two days in October because it never get stinkin' cool. This last week we had our first play date in our new area of town. My good friend Becky introduced me to one of her friends from college who lives near us, and she was gracious enough to invite us to the pumpkin patch. All the kids picked out small, softball size pumpkins to take home. Of course my Vimmer wanted to pick up and take home one half his size. 

 

 Fyi- Vimmer is in the awkward smile phase, where every time you say 'Cheese!' he puts on this weird, unnatural smile.

"C'mon mom, don't you know we are tire of the pictures!?'

This one cracks me up...After I set Pax in front of Vimmer for a picture, Vimmer took it upon himself to pull the little bit of hair Pax has up in a tinny pony tail. Pax was not too thrilled. 

Highlights of the Last 6 Months

Ok- so I know. I have been a horrible blogger the last 6 months. But thank you all who have asked about where we have been. It is because of you (and the fact that I am somewhat sleeping again)  that I am going to try to pick the blog back up.

Loads of things have happened since I blogged last. So I am not going to try and 'catch up' and post all the events I missed. I will just try and give you the Cliff Notes or a quick highlight of the last 6 months.

"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.." (that was for my mom- the woman who has a song for everything). So back in May, William turned 8- still can't believe it- we had our first, and may I add, very successful, sleepover party. It was actually a campout. Complete with camo, tents, weenie roast, s'mores, and a scavenger hunt. The highlight of the party was Gigi (my mom) twirling a fire baton. She did it for my sisters and my 8th birthday parties so we determined it was necessary for her to twirl at William's party. It was a hit.

Dirt Cake with worms

In June we had a week long Young family reunion in Hot Springs Arkansas. Despite a rough start to the week with Pax not sleeping at ALL, we had a great time on Lake Hamilton, digging for quarts, and hanging out with family.

We had so much fun on Lake Hamilton that after getting back to Texas, my hubby became convinced that we needed to live on water. And not just any water but ski-able water. Anyone who has met my husband know that he loves to be on the boat and it has always been a dream of his to live on the water. This was the start to our next big adventure. By the end of June Vim had found a ski lake community in the area and we had looked at several houses for sale. After much prayer, negotiating, prayer, inspections, and set backs we put a contract on a house and closed August 1st.  We moved in a couple weeks later. I will spare you all the details but we are finally starting to get settled. I never want to move again. Fortunately, the plan is not to move again but moving with little ones is not fun. Us moving has really been a God thing. We have been looking at homes and property over the past 3 years and put in several offers on houses- none of them ever going through. We never planned on leaving our suburban town but God led us right where he wanted us in his perfect timing.

All my boys, being boys, and driving remote control boats in the backyard. 

Lots more to come!