Face paiting

Nicole is into face painting now.  The kids went through their band aid faze and their washable tattoo faze.  Now we are on to face painting.  Michael doesn't like it on his face but he likes them on his legs.  Here are a few from the last couple of days.

She wanted to be an angel.  The picture doesn't show it but it is very glittery.

For some reason Michael wanted both a rocket and a comet attacking Saturn.

Keeping it Real

OK this is something I actually said....
My best friend calls as asks me what I have planned for the day.
"I think I'm going to see if I can get the sweat stains out of my work shirts." 


I have a lot of things I could be doing but this is the first thing that popped into my head.

Ranting some more

So I did get to do laundry but I had to go to the laundromat the other day.  I hate washing clothes in the laundromat.  I swear everything comes out stained and dirtier than they went in.
Ed tried to put everything back together for me today and the cement weight whipped around and clocked him in the head.  He, of course is blaming it all on me because he wanted to have it done for me that he didn't wait until I got home from work to help him.  Now he has a bump on his noggin and a cut on his nose.

Ranting

Who gets excited about doing laundry.  I do.  I am hoping that I actually get to wash some tonight.  I have been without a washing machine for about two weeks now.  We have be looking for the part for our machine and we just couldn't get it in the US without buying half the machine. Ed had tried to get just the piece we need but for some reason you have to buy the whole drum with it.  We finally tracked down just the part we need in Canada.  I paid extra for faster shipping and when I got the package I was so excited but they only sent us part of what we ordered.  I called and they were very nice and agreed to send the other piece out right away.  Then when Ed got home he opened it up and it was the wrong size.  So a little delay but everything should work out. 
I am so glad that Ed is able to do the repairs for us.  I can't imagine what we would have to do if we had to pay someone to fix things around the house.  Seriously it was cheaper to buy a new washing machine than buy the parts from Sears even with Ed doing the work. 
At the same time the washer went the radiator blew on the car.  I was without a car for about a week but at least Ed was able to fix that as well.  I don't know what I would do without him.
It's about 10:30 and I have to wake up the kids.  Michael started bothering us about 1 in the morning asking if it was almost morning.  He continued to ask every half hour or so if it was almost morning, apparently he wanted to watch the sun rise.  He finally fell asleep about 5:30 this morning and missed it.

National Night Out 2012

Yesterday was National Night Out.  We have gone to a couple in the past.  From an adults point of view I think the one they do in Howell is much better.  From a kids point of view you can't beat free candy and rides.  We were the first ones there this year.  Last year the kids wanted to go on all the rides first and then when Nicole finally decided she wanted her face painted it was too late.  So I told her if she wanted it done this year she had to get her face painted first and then go on all the rides.  But of course the pony rides always win over face painting.  The kids got to ride the ponies three times. 

While Nicole was getting her face painted Michael went through the alligator bouncy thing, like 20 times.  At this point I think there was only about 6 kids there.

The kids had a ball.  It wasn't as crowded as it has been in the past so they got to go on everything over and over again.

They even got a tour of the ambulance and they showed them how some of the things are used.

Summer Vacation

I love being able to spend the summer with my kids.  It is so hard with our money being very tight this time of year but I wouldn't change it for the world.  If I could I would spend more time with my kids.  Right now I only work early mornings while the kids are still asleep and weekends.  So I am missing out on a few family days but it's nice that Ed has to spend some time with the kids.  He loves it as well but knowing him he would end up working all weekend if I was home. 
We have been spending at least one day a week at the beach with friends. Yesterday Michael would not stop yelling I love the ocean every time he jumped in the water.  When I finally go and vacuum the car I am sure we could fill a sand box for the kids.  I finally fixed our waterproof camera yesterday after we got home from the beach.  So I'm hoping that we go back again and get some great pictures.  There is only like two weeks left before the kids go back to school.  :(  So sad!!
We only have two weeks left to the Carnegie Summer Camp at the library.  Mrs M puts on a great program for the kids.  She actually writes a new play every week for the kids to act out.  This is the third year that the kids have been doing it.  At the end of the season she has visitors come to the library.  The first year they had penguins.  Last year they had birds of prey.  This year they are having Insectropolis bring out some of their bugs.  They kids get to pet a hissing cockroach, a scorpion, a tarantula and a few other creepy things.
We have also done some weekend camping and have one more camping trip coming up.  Although we haven't gone away on vacation we have kept busy this summer.

Ducky Derby

Ed and the kids headed to Allaire State Park for the Ducky Derby.  Once we heard about the duck race we had to make sure Michael the duck enthusiast had to go.  This was the first time we heard about it but apparently they have been doing it for a few years as a fundraiser for the park.  I missed out because I had to work.  It was a nice outing for Daddy and the kids.