Playing Catch Up...The Queen Mother of All Posts! Part One...

Above we have Grace's "super secret extreme room make-over nielson style". Grace left for girls camp on a monday in june and we all worked hard to completely clean out her room. Lizzie was on organizing--let's just say the girl rocks it on organizing. closet, drawers, clothes, etc. with a little elbow grease, a little paint and a few rolls of wallpaper grace's old "babyish" room (pink and green with polka dots) took on a whole new feel. she had no clue this was going on while she was at camp. i refinished josh's old bed and spray painted her old pink chair black. we painted and kyle wallpapered. i found a fabulous NYC print for her wall at TJ Maxx for cheap and her room was done! Boy was she ever surprised when she came home on friday and walked in to find a whole new set of digs! tiring, but super fun!
************************************************************************************

Summer Baking....



Grace's "WELCOME HOME FROM CAMP CAKE". I almost hate to post my baking pictures, since my sister in law is a baker extraordinaire--! (Her creations are much prettier to look at)
But both are pretty tasty! I love to cook and bake and try new things. The little girls helped me decorate. Lizzie, Kyle and I are on "the no sugar challenge" and once a month we get to reward ourselves with one thing....grace's cake was the end of June. Mighty tasty. (chocolate peanut butter)




Above are chocolate peanut butter filled cupcakes--grace had me make them for her "Twilight" (or New Moon?) party with her friends at her house. they said they were FABULOUS--i took them at their word.
Lets just say Josh and Grace (and friends) have been well fed this summer! I just keep baking--even if i can't taste any of it. It's actually not as hard as I thought it would be!





Above are "Fake Dunford Donuts". If you live in Utah, you KNOW Dunford Donuts. Chocolate Cake Donuts that are too die for--i wanted to try this fun recipe i found on line...josh said they were not "cakey" enough--grace said they were not "dense" enough. Both said they were still delish!




Above are my Root Beer Float cupcakes, i DID try ONE bite of these--i just had to. they were a combo of 3 different recipes i found online. they were GREAT!
*************************************************************************************

DUMPSTER DIVING....

Each year we get dumpsters in our neighborhood,
so one can throw out ones "trash".
This year Joshua went dumpster diving....(we are so proud).
The last picture shows what he came home with one night.



****************************************************
Safety First!

...even Bompie's Dolls are buckled in. (when the couch becomes her mini van while she drives to the store!)


*************************************************************************************
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL PICTURES...

Josh 16, 11th grade! Olympus High School....EEK!


Grace Catherine, 13 yrs. 8th Grade Oly Jr.

Bompie AKA Olivia, 7 yrs. 2nd Grade, Driggs Elementary

Lizzie Jane, 10 yrs. 5th grade, Driggs.


The annual neighborhood "Back To School" Breakfast!
a super fun yearly tradition on the first day of school.



just FYI--my kids are freakishly tall. Eliza is next to Olivia Tanner (5th grader as well)
and Morgan Davies (a 6th grader) ...while those girls may be a tad bit on the small side,
my poor girls LOOM over everyone else. Josh always liked being tall, the girls
don't seem to love it as much. (Notice where my 2nd grader is in comparison as well)

Off to school....with a full tummy.





Little O with Ms. Reese--we hear she's the BEST TEACHER in the whole school!



Miss Lizzie with Mrs. Stott--

Done for now...watch for Part Two coming soon!

call me a dumb brunette...

...but i just can't figure it out.


i have so many pictures to download... or is it upload?


*first day of school.


*summer food creations. we tried donuts, cupcakes of the root beer float variety,
some more of the chocolate peanut butter variety, and i made
the best darn lasagna EVER with garden tomatoes and basil.
(homemade sauces *tomato AND bechamel*)
...it's been a LONG time since i did it ALL homemade.
seriously BEST.EVER.


*grace's surprise room "remodel." we use the term "remodel" loosely and the term
"surprise" tightly. ;O)


*kyle's latest handyman/window remodel. he learned brickwork this time, if you are a mason
we beg you not to look to closely at our house.


*i could also throw in a picture of either of my teenagers messy rooms if that would help too.



if i could only figure out how to get the pictures from my camera to the computer.


just keep waiting, holding your breath...i know you're excited. i know it! i know it!


if i ever saw my husband, i would make him do it--but between a real job
(which we are so grateful to have) and a few "side jobs" that people have
been begging him to finish he is pretty much gone 24/7.
why do i feel like this is the story of my life? maybe because it is...


anyhoo, i promise to try and upload pic's soon.

potato launcher

i may not ever win any "mother of the year awards", but i do like to let my children explore their creative sides on a regular basis.

last night josh and a couple of his friends all gathered at Home Depot (not just for home remodeling supplies anymore!) to pick up a plethora of supplies to build a potato launcher.

after several hours of hard work and trying, retrying and adjusting--they had a completed product.

the launcher shot not only potatoes, but apples as well.

it was all fun and games til one of our neighbors called and asked "what the *#(&(@! is all the noise coming from your house?"

kyle looked at me...."a supervised science project?"


we made the boys stop for the night...it was loud. we apologize dear neighbors.


but hey the way i look at it is this: they are not out getting into any trouble. they are being creative. they are not breaking any laws. no one is getting hurt. they "measured" and "calculated" as much scientific data as they could. (velocity, speed of spuds, distance, etc.) they had fun. they were supervised by 2 adults at all times. no fingers or limbs were lost during said incident.

i love to observe the differences between groups of girls and groups of boys gathered together.
seriously, wow! (as my kids would say) and in my next life, i want to be a boy if that's possible. i'm telling you, it would ALL just be so much easier to be a boy.

photos to follow. this is a lame post without photos, i know.


it was quite fun to watch.

goodbye summer. :O(

you know its time for summer to end when....

1. no amount of duct tape can be used to bind, tape, entertain, or bride my children anymore.


2. even going to the pool is "boring" now.


3. their whining begins at 10 a.m.


4. my whining begins at 10:01 a.m.


5. i'm inventing reasons to go to the grocery store, alone, without my kids.
("i'm pretty sure we may run out of milk at some point this week, let me go check and see if Harmon's still sells milk, cuz they may not, you never know.")


6. i don't drink alcohol, but if i did--i would have been driven to the bottle this past week. diet dr. pepper is no longer strong enough to calm my nerves or soothe my soul.


7. 7 hours alone every day, 5 days a week, is starting to sound like a small slice of heaven to me.


8. the ends of my girls hair has turned a slightly yellowish/blondish/greenish/just plain ugly-ish color from all the chlorine in the swimming pool.


9. i find myself looking forward to a schedule (not carpool, just a schedule).


10. ...and finally, my kids are ready! they are excited to head back to school in a week and a half. what can i say?


it's been a good summer, albeit exceptionally long this year for some reason, but we're ready for the next leg of the race....school here we come!