Another Day, Another Couple of Dollars...

... for those who work hard, of course!  Today the kids learned the value of not just tossing everything in the trash.  Of sorting, pulling apart, cutting up and stripping down things with recyclable metals in or on them.  Of taking the time to identify what can be recycled.  Of learning to live with it piled up in an unsightly manner while we grow a big enough load to take to the scrapyard.  And at the end, the kids each get a little bit of money to put in their bank accounts after all their hard labor.  Not to mention, recycling is a good thing. 

Plus, the scrapyard is a cool place.  Diggers, big claws, loaders, dump trucks and more.  The kids did math as they learned about the pricing of each metal.  We made guesses and bets as to how much of each kind we had and had a nice wager of Chuck E. Cheese coins for he (or she) who guessed closest to the grand total.  These kiddos did not make out too bad for collecting almost a year's worth of scrap.  And my driveway has grown in size.  Which makes me happy.  

Farmhouse is down to the studs.  Mostly clean.  Ready for some major love.  We hope to get groovin on that as soon as our drawings are done and approved by the township.  

Too lazy for that cord and pics again... check back another time!  

Going to see Monster Trucks tonight - tons of fun!

Shards of Excitement

By definition, a "shard" is "a piece of metal, ceramic, rock or glass with sharp, jagged edges" so I guess technically, excitement can't have shards.  But in my blog it DOES.  So there.  And it sort of almost fits... see, there are SEVERAL exciting things happening around here.  But each has its own jagged edges.  Perhaps that's too deep for this conversation.  I digress.  Following is a brief list of Exciting Things: 

1) School is officially over June 14th.  Worksheets and instruments continue, however, much to my kids' dismay.  Not a lot, but enough to keep their little spongy brains active over the summer.  

2) Square Foot Gardening is moving right along.  Potatoes, onions, lots of lots of peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, melons, carrots and one lonely pumpkin vine are growing.  Not everything is actually IN the square foot garden yet tho, due to Patti the Fatti and her 5 growing spawn, who would rather call my garden the Groundhog Buffet.  Once the fence is around said Square Foot Garden, then it can all go in there and be a garden in Square Foots. 

3) The baby is walking.  Did I write that right?  Hello, brain, please process this.  Yes, the baby is walking.  Not all the time, not everywhere, not yet.  But steps are being taken.  And it is all Aunt 'Ria's fault.  Aunt Ria lived out here until she graduated PSU last December and flew away to the Hot, Desert State of Texas for her job.  And so every now and again we Facetime her and her man, Jacob.  One day during a Facetime session between Aunt 'Ria and RJ, she told him (and I witnessed it!) - "You better be walkin', kid, when I get out there next week!"  The next weekend when Aunt 'Ria and Jacob flew out to good ole PA, RJ was NOT walking.  I admit, I was a wee bit worried.  We had a very nice dinner on May 18th at Mimi's house with a whole bunch of family and Aunt 'Ria decided to show RJ how to stand up and let go.  I'm sure she was cracking up inside, having obviously planned this, to swoop in and teach him something to make his mother go nuts.  He let go and he fell.  He let go and he fell.  And then, the little booger took 3 steps toward his Mama!  A few minutes later, he took 6 more back towards Aunt 'Ria.  So at 9 months and 10 days (to be exact), the little crapper is walking.  And each day since, he lets go and tries out a few more.  And walks chairs across my rooms.  And stands up, grabs things off tables and benches and tries to walk away with them.  And basically just stands and laughs at me.  Because he knows he is a little pooper, a mischievous elf, full of tricks and pranks to make Mommy go insane.  Because he is preparing to learn how to run away from me. While laughing.  Because, like the way he giggles when he's told "no," he's planning to walk/run/skip/jump around the house and yard like the rules don't apply to him, until my hair is gray and my nerves are shot.  He knows when he's caught, when he's doing something he shouldn't be (pulling the blinds, rocking the stools, eating crumbs/leaves/dirt off the floor, going around the gate - still not sure how THAT happened - and going up the stairs and oh so much more) and when he's busted he just flashes a dimply grin and crawls away FAST in the other direction.  So what exactly is he going to do when he can RUN?? Seriously, don't answer that!  

So do you see what I mean?  Excitement, with jagged edges?  Shards.  

In totally unrelated Farmhouse news, we are almost, near, kind of ready to start putting the thing back together.  We are finalizing the drawings to give the township for the back addition and discussing the front porch.  We still have not been able to come up with any pictures of the original porch so we will just have to wing it.  It will be grand and beautiful.  We are sure of that!   

Pics next time, someone is gnawing at my leg.  

Shameless Vacation Display of Photos

Weekend getaway at Spring Gulch Campground, Lancaster, PA with our Super-Fantastic Neighbors -

RJ hanging out at the playground.

Riley had a blast, Mom was not too thrilled with Roger wearing Riley in the wrap for a bike ride.  

Discount Mini Golf!  Woot Woot!

Indigo lines up a shot.  Boys vs. girls, losers clean up tomorrow's breakfast.

Ice cream sundaes with all the fixin's 

Choo-choo!

I see a dimple!

Many, many MANY falls off bikes.  Indy had the most falls, Chase lost the most chunkage.  He almost passed out when I took out the first aid scissors to cut off the dirty skin flaps. Cool.  

PS - We only were on the side of the road ONCE this trip... must be a new record or something!  A little water and the truck was happier.