Edwards Haps and Mishaps

I guess this is a little late…since I already posted about fall and school starting, but we had a lot of fun over the summer (Shaun didn’t :) but the rest of us tried!) and I have so many pictures it’s not even funny. Really, it’s not. I had to get a terabyte external hard drive because my computer hard drive  was full, to the max, and most of it was pictures!! Yikes.

With Dallin being born in March and then Shaun studying for the bar it was a summer of attempting to go out with 3 kids by myself, which, with our little weasel Ada, it wasn’t always easy. She liked to run off and not come back resulting in a few runs down the middle of the street, me pinning her between my body and the car to unlock the door while holding Dallin and once a nice lady coming up to ask if she could help… finally, wearing a monkey backpack…leash… So, we did a lot of staying home and trying to come up with fun and entertaining things to do. I found this blog called “Stay at home Mom” and I love it! Some of the activities I know my kids would not enjoy for more than 3 minutes, but some of the other things they do are so fun! So, I tried several of the things from this blog and I think we had a good time!

Disclaimer: These are pictures from all throughout the summer so don’t go around thinking I do this stuff every single day and that I am an on the ball, activity always ready, super fun, energetic mother…I’m not. It’s true. I have my moments…but I certainly do not have an activity up my sleeve all the time!

First thing, Preston LOVED. Just baking soda, colored vinegar, and a dropper.

These are water beads, found in the floral section at Walmart . Another thing which kept them occupied for hours…and I would walk by and run my hands through them all day!

Of course, bubble making…

This one was AWESOME, and cheap. We just taped a large plastic painter’s tarp with duct tape and left an opening for a large fan and a door. The mom blog also had one of these with a black tarp and used glow sticks inside. That would be fun too.

Then we took it outside and filled it with water:

More bubbles…I just like the way these look :) Bubbles are so whimsical.

Preston bought his own Popsicle from the ice cream man! I don’t remember any being this HUGE when I was a kid!

Frozen water balloons

Then LARGE water balloons

Salt dough decorative stones (we left them by the sprinklers…bad idea! Lots of soggy stones!)

Cute boys :)

Flour and water “paint” to make cotton ball sculptures…I don’t think they quite understood this one and didn’t like the squishy paint! The directions were to bake them so they hardened but I just left them out to dry for a few days. Result, nice hard sculpture PLASTERED to the dishes!

Then we put all the flour paint in a pan and Preston swirled it around…he seemed to like that better! And it was pretty :)

Then a foil river…this took up maybe 5 minutes. I’m sure other kids would have loved it or maybe just another day they would like it better…but it was a cute idea, and cheap. I like cheap!

Soooooo….there are a bazillion pictures of us trying to entertain ourselves over the summer! Not all of it came from that blog, but a lot of it did…and pretty much none of them were my ideas. Again, not a fun mom here. :)

We have had lots of firsts in this family lately!

Preston started his first day of kindergarten, and also had his first soccer practice on the same day!

Preston had his first soccer game, it was pretty funny watching all the kids swarm around the ball, Preston punching the air and running around the field like Superman, the goalie throwing himself on the ground, sobbing every after the other team scored on him, our team kicking the ball into our goal…I loved it :) They all had fun in the end and that is what is important! Plus we got Slurpees afterwards. Who doesn’t like a Slurpee on a hot day?

Ada slept for the first time in a big girl bed!

Dallin got his first 2 teeth!

Ada had her first day of “Playschool,” a “preschool a few of us are doing together with our 2 year-olds.

Ada had her first day of “shinastics” (gymnastics.) She has gone to classes before but this was the first time I actually signed her up for her own class, and she LOOOVES it. Too bad I don’t have a picture of her in her leotard…I need to get one, so when she wins gold one day I can say…”Look…here she is on beam at just 2 years old!” :)

Dallin started eating solid foods…and inhaled it all! The boy loves to eat.

I think that is it for now…but it has been an exciting month or so in our house…well, exciting for us…I don’t know if other people would call our lives exciting…haha

Playing with the other “playschool” kids.

We have had a lot of exciting things go on the past month…and I have a bunch of pictures to get on here…but for now I will start with some of the most recent, and hopefully I will get to the others!

A fun tradition we had growing up was going to Apple Hill every fall. What better way to start September than with a trip to some apple farms and a whole lot of apple goodness? So that is how we started it! The kids had fun picking their own apples, tire swinging, pony riding, and hogging my Dutch caramel apple pie! We bought an uncooked pie to bring home and it is sitting on the counter right now, I cooked it yesterday, and  am having THE HARDEST time trying not to go in there and eat it…all. Shaun and I decided that we don’t think there is any better dessert than some apple pie and ice cream :)

Ada loved the horses at first. She was dying to ride one so she started out so excited…

And some how ended up like this the rest of the ride…maybe she didn’t want anyone to know she was having fun.