30 days hath April...

30 days hath April...and September...and March, May, June, July and August have 31....Or something like that. But that's about how many days I need to summarize. So here goes...

APRIL 2015

 Logan's First Easter! teehee!

 Bathroom updates! New faucets and vanity lights for both bathrooms (my neighbor helped with those). I did everything else myself, thank you very much. :) 

I painted the walls, painted the cupboards espresso and added 2 coats of polyurethane, put up new mirrors and new fixtures (towel holders, robe hanger, etc). It was a lot of work but SO fun!

I made a second garden box, planted my garden and painted the kitchen and dining room. Fun stuff! I had to add a fence around this one because some cute baby bunnies that hatched on the side of our house ATE my broccoli. sniff
And they were starting on my cabbage. Naughty bunnies.

MAY 2015

 At the beginning of this year my dad was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes). They gave him 6 to 18 months to live.

 I (ME, TAMARA who's fallen asleep at the wheel) drove my four kids out the whole 30+ hours to CA. It actually wasn't as excruciating as I'd thought it would be. It was DEFINITELY worth spending a month with my awesome family! The six of us kids, right here. Sex-ay! My dad was tired but I know he loved having us. He's been responding really well to treatments so we're hopeful it'll give him a couple more years with us! He's the best Dad ever and I love him so much.

Here he is with all his grandkids that were present.

JUNE
Elijah turned 3 and got many gifts from his aunts and uncles.

 My childhood BFF, Shauna, and I with our kids (4 each). Visiting me at my dad's house. :) Love her!

On our way home we drove through Provo. We met Alan's cousin at the Bean Museum on BYU campus. We have fond memories of this placed from when we lived there, but man has it changed. We saw friends and family (my 2 nephews there for school) and had a great time.

After we returned home (Alan flew to CA and drove us home), we spent a day at The City Museum). It's like a big hamster cage for people with big ball pits and endless places to climb and slide. Fun times! The boys are begging to go back, of course!

JULY

Elijah decided he was ready to potty train and boy was I excited. Especially since he trained so quickly and so well!

On the fourth we watched fireworks at a park and got bitten by mosquitoes. This month we toasted hot dogs and marshmallows in our fire pit (another of my April projects) and pretended to camp out back (the boys chickened out). Somewhere in there I turned 30-something.

AUGUST

The boys up to their normal shenanigans. Playing on Elijah's bed slide.

 Logan LOVES to go up and down the slide! :D haha! He's such a happy, funny guy.
I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!! AAAAHHHHHH!!!

Gettin' naked in the sandbox. Yah know, the usual.
I made this sandbox using wood the previous owner had left behind as a horseshoe pit. I spray painted it red and made a lid.
Digging out this thick, deep-rooted grass is stinkin' hard but so worth it.

Another April project...a bench made from free wooden crates and stained with free deck stain I saw advertised on Craigslist, topped with the leftover board from the sandbox lid.

We visited a lot of splash pads and enjoyed the remainder of our summer break (I didn't love fighting with the two oldest to do their summer workbooks each day, but they finished them right before school...Yay!). School started mid-August, which I thought was early, but many others started even before us!

SEPTEMBER

School, St. Louis Zoo,  Christian turning 9 and Logan turning 1, mine and Alan's 11th year anniversary. Sidewall chalk, the park, swimming at friend's and sprinklers. I had a turkey I needed to use in the freezer so I made a mini thanksgiving feast.

I started preschool with my neighbor who nannies twin 3 yr old boys and another girl and her son. We take turns teaching once a week and it's been a blast! Visited a farm last day of Sept for preschool. It was so much fun. The kids fed animals, picked apples and played on a big, fun playground. Christian cut his hair for the first time...during class He said his hair itched him. S'mores, hosting a baby shower. It was a very busy month!

OCTOBER

We took a family trip to the zoo. I love it, especially since its free. My favorites are the hippos and elephants. They have a new polar bear that was swimming around and head-butting the glass! We hit a fall festival on base. They had free chili, hot dogs, face painting, bounce houses, balloon animals, pumpkins and a cake walk. Fun memories were made. Can't wait to hit that next yeary.
 Christian surprised me with breakfast in bed (Shredded Mini Wheats and 3 marshmallows, a standard meal) with a note, "thank you for the kind things you do". I about died from the cuteness.
The carrots in my garden presently feed about 20 black swallowtail caterpillars.

In my family we swap buying gifts for one another's family. My dad has us this year. My sister told him I want a hammock-swing from Lowe's and he bought it, early so we can enjoy it in the beautiful weather we've been having. It's 4x the max spending limit but I'm not complaining. :-D I'm in heaven! I love it so much.

We had fun trick-or-treating with the boys (and at the trunk or treat at our church the night before). I started family themes for Halloween a few years back and it's been so fun. This year we were super heroes. Today I bought our costumes for next year. I won't say what we'll be, but it's gonna be bloody fantastic! (wink, wink)I always love this time of year that begs for hot cocoa, sweaters, boots, warm snuggles and fun holidays.