A Table From Trash...

I'm definitely not the most creative person, but lately Pinterest has inspired me to boldly channel my inner crafter.  Over the summer I made a fancy framed chalk board for our dining room, and I made each child a fabric covered cork board on which to display their artwork in their rooms.   I didn't have tons of confidence in how these projects would turn out, but the final results were surprisingly pretty darn good!  So after trying my hand at these smaller crafts, I decided to venture out and try something on a slightly larger scale.  And when I saw the stack of wood pallets laying by the dumpster at Matthew's school, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  Pinterest has an infinite number of ideas regarding things you can do with wood pallets, and I had been wanting to make a small table to go out in our screened-in sun room, which serves as a playroom for the kids.  When the weather is mild, they often like to eat out there, but we never have a table big enough for all of us.  So a couple of these pallets were just what I needed.  This is what they looked like when I saved them from the dumpster (I did not actually dig them out of the dumpster...that would be gross.  They were just stacked beside the dumpster.) I swiped a few boards from this one to fill in the empty slots on the other one I actually used for the table top.

Then I got a 4x4, which Matthew cut into fourths, to make the legs of the table and attach it to the bottom pallet.  I decided to use casters on the bottom, allowing it to roll if we needed it to.  Then I sanded it, stained it, and sealed it.  It's definitely not the quality of something from a furniture store, but I think it will serve its purpose for eating outside...or the other purposes Ellie has already made for it (a pretend doctor table, a stage for singing, etc.) And best of all, the only materials I had to buy were the casters, the 4x4 used for the legs, and a refill of stain when the stuff I already had ran out...totaling around $20.

Now all we need is some cooler weather so we can eat outside!

First Day of Second Grade...

This morning we resumed our daily walk down the street to Johnson Elementary--Mason's first day of second grade.

 Mason's new teacher, Ms. Dominguez: 

 Ready for 2nd grade:

So proud of you, Mason!

She Swings...

Ellie mastered this feat earlier this summer, but every day she perfects it more and more.  She loves being able to swing all by herself now!  Starting out is hard work:

Gotta pull back and get those little legs pumpin': 

Getting higher! (as Mollie looks on with envy.)

Success!!

Reptiles...

Last weekend we got to help our good friend, Brandt, celebrate his 10th birthday.  He had a reptile themed party, and a woman from the community brought lots of different animals out for the kids to get an up-close look at.  Ellie has no fear of any type of critter, and she spent a great deal of time sitting next to the plastic boxes that were housing these animals, anxiously waiting for the woman to open them up so she could pet them.  One of her favorites was Cal, the 160-pound tortoise.  Amazingly, he can carry a person on his back up to 200 pounds without even breaking a sweat.  He probably didn't even notice little Ellie catching a ride.  

She also liked the snakes:

Having a staring contest with the big lizard.  At one point she got so close to his face that he started licking her hair.  

Mason, on the other hand, wasn't as sure about these creatures.  He prefers to watch from a distance:

 In an attempt to not look like a 'fraidy cat in front of his buddies, he's going to pretend to help hold this thing.  But look closely--he's not really touching it. Well played, Mason...well played. 

I tried to be brave while holding this 35-pound Burmese Python:

But it kept curling its head around right in my face, and I wasn't too sure I wanted a kiss from this:

  

Summer Bike Rides....

Aside from lots of swimming this summer, we've spent many days going on family bike rides.  It's been more fun for Ellie this summer too, as she can now ride her own bike with training wheels (which she inherited from Mason), after several years of being pulled in the bike trailer.  She is a different kind of rider than Mason was though.  I remember the first day I took him on a ride on this same bike several years ago.  It was the day after his 3rd birthday.  He rode and rode and rode on that cool December day, never seeming to get tired.  When he finally decided he was ready to head home, we had gone 2 1/2 miles!  Ellie, on the other hand, rides at a more laid-back pace.  She rides for pure leisure, and definitely not a distance rider.  At any point in our ride, it's not uncommon for her to stop right in the middle of any given street and declare, "I'm done riding now."  It doesn't matter if we're a half a mile from home...when she's done, she's done.  She sure looks like a big girl riding her bike though.  I managed to snap a few pictures of her while we were out riding one day.  And no, taking pictures while riding a bike myself was no easy task.

 Ellie's "new" wheels:

Mason with his new bike that he bought for himself last winter with his own Christmas money:

Ooops...I think Daddy forgot to buckle her into the bike trailer.  Here is Mollie trying a little trick riding:

Dallas (Days 1 & 2)...

One of the many fun things about having young kids is that 1) going any place out of the ordinary equals a 'vacation', and 2) they are easily impressed by cheap entertainment.  This bodes well for Matthew and me, since we're not currently rolling around in piles of extra money.  My kids love staying in hotels--for them, that alone is considered a vacation.  So I decided that this summer we should pick a city within 3 or 4 hours driving distance (my kids don't enjoy long car rides, so anything more would negate the fun of the vacation.)  Then we would stay in a hotel for several days, and enjoy some kid-friendly, fun activities in the area.  We decided to head to Dallas, because we don't go there often, and we hadn't spent an extended amount of time there since we moved from that area five years ago.  The first night we were there, we got to meet up with a dear friend of mine who I hadn't seen in five years.  She was my neighbor when we lived in Forney, we went to church together, and I kept her precious little boy in my home the last year we lived there.  The last time we saw them, this is what our boys looked like:

I have so many sweet memories of my days with these two.  It's hard to believe that the years have passed and these boys are now going into the second grade.  It was really something special to see Mason and Samuel together again...they picked up right where they left off five years ago:

My dear friend Brooke and me:

At the time, Mason and Samuel were our only children.  Now there are 5 between the two of us!

Thank you, Brooke, for spending time with us during our days in Dallas.  It meant the world to me to get to see you and Samuel again.  How I've missed you both!

Our second day there, we decided to ride the light-rail train in Dallas (the D.A.R.T.)  Hooray for cheap public transportation that my kids think is a really awesome train ride!!  Some family friends of ours from here in town also happened to be in Dallas that week.  So we got to meet up with them and enjoy several activities together. 

Riding the train with Bryson; and Ellie looking out the window as we traveled downtown.  

We enjoyed lunch inside the trolley car at Spaghetti Warehouse:

Ellie and the boys:

Not sure why she had this expression in every picture...she really was having a good time.

Waiting on the train--I love this picture...

We spent the rest of that day at the Legoland Discovery Center in Grapevine. 

Mollie liked playing in the 'Lego Duplo Village' for toddlers.  They had a bigger play area that the older kids enjoyed, as well as a couple of small rides.  It was very crowded though, and the adults all split up with the kids, so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of those activities. We also watched a short 4D movie:

...And enjoyed the interactive models of all the well-known Dallas/Fort Worth landmarks...made entirely out of Legos!

The rest of our trip in a post to follow...

Dallas (Days 3 & 4)...

During our time in Dallas, we wanted to visit a waterpark, and luckily I found one that was perfect for the girls, with lots of smaller slides and things for younger kids to play on.  And the guys had fun too...

The boys racing to see who could get across the lily pads first...

I'm pretty sure Matthew won.

The girls getting ready to enjoy the lazy river:

Bedford Splash with the Vaughn's:

Our hotel was right by the airport, so the kids were continually fascinated seeing all the planes coming in to land.  Matthew heard about an observation site where you could get an up-close view of the planes landing, and there were also speakers where you could actually hear the radio chatter between air traffic control and the pilots, clearing them for landing.  We spent some time here before we headed home.  

The kids loved this, and even as an adult, I still become so intrigued watching these magnificent machines take off and land. 

The girls loved these statues:

And before we could go home, we wanted to drive over to the east side of Dallas, where we lived when Mason was just a baby.  We got to see our former church, the high school where Matthew taught and coached for two years, and of course we drove through our old neighborhood to see our old house.  The kids were so pooped out from the previous few days, they slept through it all.  But Matthew and I had a fun time seeing all the familiar places and reminiscing about the life we lived there five years ago.  It was such a great trip...building new memories with the kids, and recalling past memories we once shared there too.