Life Lately {May}

The problem with using my cell phone pictures so frequently when blogging is that I don't have much new content left for InstaFridays. But maybe no one cares, and this is easier anyway, so here I go! What's left of May, for your viewing pleasure.

We're renting right now, but we got a garden planted anyway! There are some great raised beds as part of the landscaping around the house, and they were completely empty.

Jonathan really does a great job with a hoe, and was so excited about planting flowers! We gave him his own little plot. We planted tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, spinach, lettuce, garlic, cucumbers, beets, carrots, basil, parsley, cilantro and marigolds. I'll show you more when they grow in.

These little guys actually did a great job spreading mulch and hauling away rocks, but I happened to catch them taking a break and accused them of being our supervisors! Little cuties.

On one Sunday I was told very firmly that I was supposed to leave the house. Yeah, I got kicked out! I had no idea where to go for my free time, so I grabbed my latest Country Living and happened to find a Scooter's Coffee shop in a cute little neighbor hood. New magazine + yummy beverage + free time = bliss!

This cuteness? Said Scooter's from above. This is their drive-thru. Totally love it. Totally need a friend to go hang out with me there once a week or something. #mommytherapy

One day a couple of weeks ago, we were invited to join another family at Pioneers Park. The day was perfect; a little cool in the morning but sunny and enjoyable. We saw elk and baby geese, ok, fine, goslings, learned about the prairie and beavers and turtles and all sorts of stuff.

The boys liked this tee-pee and would have stayed much longer but it was lunch time.

We also got to see this turtle eat her lunch--a piece of banana!

One of my kids takes fingerpainting quite literally.

Another emulates his big brother.

And the third is three, what more do you expect?

Ok, there are moments when they take it seriously and have so much fun creating!

Then they go back to doing this...

... and this happens and they wonder why we don't paint more often. #rocketscience

I love love love this jar board! It's for sale at my Etsy store, if you love love love it too!

Nothing beats time at a lake throwing rocks!

I let a mess overwhelm me and procrastinated cleaning it up.

It took less than an hour. Next time I'm not putting it off so long. Duh.

This was the first time we broke out the sprinkler to beat the heat! The boys were in heaven!

But then they found mud and painted on some war paint while Gary was grilling and I was inside making the rest of supper. We've been eating outside on my new picnic table a lot! But this night, a certain trio got hosed off before enjoying their dinner al fresco!

We had our first camping trip of the season this weekend! We went to a little lake near Lincoln, and I think the boys had fun. I'll tell you more about it in an up-coming post. #spoileralert #wehatedit

So how did May treat you? I feel I had a better balance of babysitting and other Mom responsibilities. We got all the birthdays celebrated and I survived seeing all my babies turn a year older. #iwantanotherone #kidding #notkidding

I also want to state for the record that this was the shortest spring ever! The first of the month was still a little cold and rainy and by the end it was officially too hot/muggy/buggy to stay outside all day. I want spring back!

Something Blue

You know when you see something and totally want to buy it but then you look at it and think, "I could make that"? And then you do, and it turns out better than you thought it would?

We've all seen Stacy's amazing Mason Jar Planter Wall Board. I've always loved it and wanted to make one.

Stacy's Mason Jar Planter Board

Then a few weeks ago while at Target, I saw this cute little number by their Threshold line.

Target's Wall Plaque with Jars

I almost bought it. Twice.

The first time I talked myself out of it because I wasn't planning to spend $25 on something not "necessary". The next time I had mentioned it to my husband who said, "Why don't you just make one?" He also said I should buy it if I wanted to, so later in the week I went back to get it.

It really is adorable, Target's version. But I kinda wanted blue jars. and I wanted the board part to be longer and narrower. And I wanted jars that said Ball or Mason... It all added up to me buying a 6-pack of blue pint sized jars and leaving the wall board at Target.

I searched our wood pile and found a piece the right size, painted it white and distressed it with a sander. I added a little stain to make the distressed edges nice and dark and weathered.

I made a trip to Lowe's and browsed for something that might work to hold the jars in place. I found u-bolts and hoped they would work!

Gary had to spread the u-bolts a little so they would go around the jars. He also cut the ends of the bolts because they stuck out about an inch on the back of the board. Just so you know.

All in all, I'm thrilled with how the board turned out! The jars are so pretty, and I've been able to find good uses for them.

You know how when you change one thing you change something else in this domino effect? I just that, and that awkward space between the super-high medicine cabinet and the backsplash is a little happier.

The jar board kicked the little square mirror out of his home, so I hung him below my clock. I actually take that mirror off its nail to check the back of my head when I do my hair, as the bathroom has no other way to see back there!

Of course there's more I would do to the bathroom if the house was ours, but it's not. In the meanwhile my pretty blue jar board will keep me focused on what works rather than what doesn't!

If you'd like a pretty blue canning jar trio to hang on your wall, you can visit my Etsy shop!

Have a great weekend!

Treasure Hunt Creatures

I didn't plan to turn yesterday's Rainy Day Treasure Hunt into a two-part post, but the adorable little critters we made after one of the hunts are just too cute not to post!

On this slightly rainy day, I gave each child a bag for treasures. When they weren't hunting for worms...

or balancing on curbs...

... the children collected small rocks, a couple sticks, pinecones, a piece of broken pottery.

I don't have a picture of the next couple of steps, so you'll have to imagine what it looks like to wash up the little treasures and let them dry on a towel. ;) When the little things were dry, I glued a set of eyes on it!

I love how whimsical and charming they are!

The boys like making up names and stories with the little critters.

 So there you have it! A quick little craft for a rainy day!

Rainy Day Treasure Hunt

I don't know about you, but rainy days when kids are inside all day are the longest, hardest days ever! How did we make it through winter? Anyway, lately I've been making sure my kids and daycare kids still get some fresh air and exercise without getting too muddy.

My boys could spend hours searching the gutters and curbs for earthworms, but sometimes we up the ante by collecting treasures! On this day it was actually raining and we only had one extra sweetie, so I gave the kids bags and let them collect whatever they wanted, within reason.

We found rocks, pinecones, sticks, and a few other things. When we got home we washed them up and set them on a towel to dry. After a few hours I deemed them dry enough and out came the hot glue gun and googly eyes!

On another day I had two extra boys which meant the group had a little more... energy. It wasn't raining at the moment, so I grabbed these dollar store raincoats my mom sends us (love them! great for tucking in the car or bag for the zoo or something!), took two seconds on Pinterest, and got a list of great things for the boys to look for.

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I loosely based it on a list like this and just carried one list myself and told the boys one thing at a time to look for. It was fun and kept everyone focused.

I'm collecting egg cartons so I can do something like this but I'll probably make it less rainbow and more detailed like the list. We'll see.

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How do you and your kids stay busy and sane on rainy days?

Simple Solutions: Canning Jar Lids and Straws

Guys, I'm in love.

If you follow me on Instagram you've probably seen a few of my recent posts with some sort of beverage in a canning jar with a straw. Chocolate smoothie, herbal tea with lemon, iced coffee with Truvia and half 'n half... And when we moved out of our home in Iowa, I started using canning jars as our glassware. They're so much harder to break, and quite trendy too!

I've seen adorable lids on Etsy and almost bought myself some, but my husband said he could make some for me. But Target and Ball saved the day!

Sometimes after a busy day of babysitting, I take a 5- or 10-dollar bill and head to Target to unwind. Seriously, my trio is challenging enough, then add in a few more kids that belong to other people? Some days are downright difficult! But this day, the clouds parted and there were rainbows and unicorns when I saw these white jar lids and straws! They are sold in a 4-pack for about $4. I got the wide mouth version and have since gone back for the narrow mouth ones too.

These are great for helping keep liquids inside your jar and bugs and small fingers out. I plopped this big guy in the drink holder on my double jogger when we took a long walk to the park. It was perfect! No spills or splashes and I could rehydrate without stopping to take the lid off of my jar.

On this picnic last week, I filled a jar for each of my boys with iced herbal tea sweetened with honey. They loved having their own jars!

By the way, the Ball lids come with white and green striped straws. I got this set of blue ones also at Target. I like them because they're blue they have a small ring around the bottom which prevents them from getting pulled out of the the lid and getting lost or chewed on or used as digging tools at the park. Not that anyone I know would do that...

So there you go! Run out and get some!

*I wasn't perked or paid to say this, neither Ball nor Target know I exist, but maybe they should!