Where have we been?

Declan (front), Archy, McCoy, Zany (back)

Our consistent blogging has been quite inconsistent of late, as though, we disappeared into a tunnel of crazy. Things have been a bit hectic for Ashlee and I recently.  I have been focused on getting my house deep cleaned, spruced with a bit of redecorating for bookclub.  Ashlee has been functioning as a paid companion (we often joke that she is a paid companion like they had in Jane Austen's time) accompanying our Mom, Nona to town for a couple of days.  Nona has been enjoying a first rate experience learning more about our Justice System from the perspective of a law abiding citizen, of course.

I told myself I could have one more day of deep cleaning and then on the day of bookclub I would focus on the big picture and getting the whole house presentable.  I was quite gratified that some of my hard work was noticed by the kids without my having to hint about.  I cleaned out all the bathroom cupboards and relabeled them with my P-touch (love it).  When the kids get home from school they make a beeline for the bathroom.  I heard many exclamations of surprise.  Let's hope the labels help keep things tidy.  I am also taking all the books off the bookcases vacuuming them and cleaning the shelf.  Once it is clean I rearrange the books and then add the framed photos/knick knacks.  It had been a couple of years since I had made copies of photos and framed them.  I only had one photo of Zaynzley from when she was two months old framed in the house.  I remedied that and now there are several photos of her around the house. 

Speaking of the house I better get back to it!  Clean, clean, clean!

What they wore-Pastels

With Easter looming I told everyone to wear pastels and pick their own outfits. McCoy was not pictured as he changed lightening fast and I didn't get a photo in time.   Declan was mostly changed so he isn't wearing his bowtie.  Poor Archer was running a fever today and so he stayed home.  Since Eddy and I are no longer in Nursery, Zany no longer wants to be in there either.  She spends her Sunday following me around church as I do my secretary duties.  Hopefully she will be able to go to Nursery by herself before long. 

                  Zany decides she is done with taking photos

This leaves two brothers alone on the bench.
What to do?

                               Pull a brothers hair, maybe.

With new week upon me, my sights are set on getting my house ready to host book club.  The cleanest my house is all year is when I host book club.  Knowing a bunch of women are coming over to your house and some may want a whole house tour really inspires you to take a hard look at how clean your chandeliers are, among other things,  Eddy can't wait until book club is over as I have enlisted him in many of my endeavours.  It just feels so good to get things done you have been meaning to do forever.  Wish me luck I have a long list of to dos to get done before Thursday! Oh Eddy . . . 

Project: Geometric Board & Batten Hallway

 Eddy often threatens to remove my Pinterest app from my kindle so I can't find more ideas for more projects.  With or without Pinterest I will come up with projects though.  Admittedly, this idea for the geometric board and batten did come from Pinterest.  There are very few places in this house with blank walls appropriate for a board batten like project.  I thought about it for sometime and then I realized while I like board and batten I didn't want to devote most of a wall to it so I thought the perfect place was the lower half of my picture wall.  I showed Eddy my plan and he agreed to do it during spring break. 

We are terrible about taking pictures of the process.  We usually start a project then remember we should take a "before" picture but it is too late.  We may hit a couple of other "during" photos but mostly we don't and then the project is done.   We used pine boards ($4.00 each) for the top and bottom pieces and pine casing  (98 cents a foot) for the rest of it.  Wood came in at fifty dollars and then we spent ten more dollars on wood filler and chaulk.  There was a lot of wood filler used and lots of sanding which covered nearby surfaces with a fine white dust.  Three coats of paint later with sanding and filling in between and it was finished.  During this time of projects, I have to let my housework go a bit so I can focus on getting the project done.  I do the bare minimum of cleaning and my house is a wreck but I figure after the project is done I can redeem the house.   I love doing projects despite the havoc it creates for the house.  I especially like the honeymoon time of a project.  The honeymoon time is right after you finish a project and you are so taken with it you go out of your way to admire it throughout the day.  Before long the honeymoon period is over and you grow so accustomed to it you don't even notice it anymore and your attention consumed by a new project.  

Almost before

Three squares done

Eddy measures and calculates

If you ask Declan to take photos he happily will but you are guarantee to get a few selfies

Chaulked and ready for paint

Finished

I thought this geometric pattern would suit my 1960's ranch house

Now what should my next project be? 

San Clemente Beach (part two)

Lovely Beach Days!  Despite the constant danger of a child drowning under your watch the beach is so relaxing.  The sound of the surf and the call of the seagulls are just delightful.  The warm SoCal sun shining gently on your ocean chilled skin and the slight taste of salt on your lips are moments not soon forgotten.  I would love to sit and read a book or magazine on the sandy beach but instead I do a constant head count of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and sigh of relief.  Being a parent on beach with a handful of kids to keep track of is an exercise in constant vigilance.  I am glad to say there were no near drownings or other misadventures and the kids have such fun despite the freezing water.  

Ashlee and I often discuss who is taking pictures of our outings for future blog fodder (as we call it).  Mostly we take turns photographing but sometimes we both take photos.  We both happened to take photos of the San Clemente Beach day.  We were on our way home from California when we stopped at the beach for a few hours of fun (it was fun, but it turned our ride home into a really long drive).  Quinton was especially interested in going to the beach he just loves it.  The last time we went to the beach there were lots of cousins to hang out with and even build huge sand castles.  Quinton had to make due with his own siblings.  

Quinton and McCoy build a sand castle together

We had the beach to ourselves and only shared the ocean with surfers who far outnumbered us.  Ashlee and I enjoyed seeing which surfers could stay up on their board the longest.  They make it look so easy.  When a lone surf board showed up on the beach without a surfer we weren't sure what the correct behavior was.  Should we grab the surfboard so it wouldn't go out to sea or is that taboo?  We spent so long discussing it that the owner showed up to claim it thus nullifying our dilemma. 

Boys far left, Archy and Zany in middle, Ashlee and Rhiannon on right

Zany was a little unsure of the ocean but once she dipped her toe in she grew quite confident and loved having the waves chase her.  Archer of course was her constant companion.  When Zany sees these photos of the beach she want to go back so badly.  

I do too!

Zany with Declan

How wide is the ocean?

Pa found a nice place to stretch out in the sand

Archer challenges the waves to come get him, 

Zany makes it a bit harder for the waves by walking away

Coy with surfer

Pa and Zany having a laugh

After spending a couple of hours playing on the beach it was time for lunch at you guessed it, In and Out. Hamburgers, fries and shakes for all.  Good Times!

Beach Babies!

Most of the family and I, really, have a great love of Disneyland followed by our love for the beach. We were lucky enough to make a quick trip over to California for a vacation. Rhi's kids had loved the beach ever since we had our last Agle family reunion in the San Juan Capistrano area. Our favorite beach we found during the reunion was the San Clemente Beach.  It was nice, sandy and not at all rocky.  On this trip we spent the morning at this same beach.  There were tons of surfers there but hardly anyone else.  We had the beach to ourselves.  The water was quite chilly but once you got in you grew accustomed to it.

It was fairly cold in the morning. All of the surfers you can see in the background, wore wetsuits. Archy wonders if he should try it, but maybe not as Coy and Dec runaway.

Quinton "helps" Declan stay, Archy still is unsure. . .

Nothing better then a friend to help brace for impact

Retreat, retreat much warmer on the beach

On to build a sand fort

These were the fastest walking birds I have ever seen, their little legs took so many steps

Pa supervises the fort as Archy puts on finishing touches. 
Wait, what is Mccoy doing in the background?

Ah, now everyone is gathered for a nice group shot

Glorious Spring Break

Spring Break is upon us!  A whole week off to do what we please.  I have been looking forward to it.  I have a long list of things I need/want to get done using the best handyman in the world Eddy.  Sometimes handy Eddy despairs that the projects will never end (shhh! they won't).  I constantly have new ideas and things I want to be built so I have more storage.  Living in a small retro ranch is fun but back in the 1960's they didn't have near the stuff that we do today.  I have found the best thing for small spaces to work is custom built ins. I have tried minimalism and it doesn't work for me. In a spurt of minimalism I got rid of my typewriter collection giving them to my dad.  I still regret it; you never see the old typewriters at thrift store and if you do they are expensive.   Sigh!

Another thing urging me forward is knowing in April I will be hosting book club at my house.  Best foot forward and all that, that entails.  The kids take advantage of my distraction and focus on other things to sneak away to play with toys or go outside to play basketball, ride bikes or jump on the trampoline when they should be cleaning.  I sort of let them get away with it.  I figure if they are outside they are not messing up the house more and I like them to be kids sometimes.  If they come inside I put them to work though. 

Look at them hard at work

Those kids should be cleaning but instead they are playing with Legos

(Sorry Ash it just sounds weird to say Lego instead of Legos)

With all the hijinks and shenanigans I have planned we will be taking the week off from blogging.  Look for us again next Monday.

May your hijinks be all you wish!

Ah-Ha-ha! (not a horse)

She who rides the high horse beware the fall!  Not being one to point out the mistakes and foibles of others makes it difficult to say, "Ashlee, where is your blog post?"  She recently called me out on not posting in a timely manner but post I did, albeit a bit late.  I wonder what could be absorbing her mind and time so thoroughly?

Brothers who 'stache together

It's love of reading week here for the primary school which is very similar to red ribbon week (say no to drugs) or homecoming.  When I was in high school during homecoming week. every day you had a theme to dress up like (hawaiian day, favorite tv character) and the grades competed against each other to see who could get the most kids to participate.  In the primary school the week long theme was mustaches and they had to wear a mustache every day.  It put my mustache drawing skills to the test.  I learned something about myself-I can't draw a symmetrical mustache!  They were always a bit off.  It didn't help that I was usually in a hurry to get it done before they had to run  for the bus. I used cheap eyeliner to make the mustaches as that seemed to last longer than face paint.  

I present to you Brothers who 'stache together:

 My inspiration for this stache was a circus announcer

McCoy and Archer

Inspiration: Luigi

McCoy

Dress up like your favorite book character day for kindgarten, Archer chose spiderman.

Inspiration: Spiderman

Archy with a web mustache

 Dr. Suess silly mustache day

Side view

I missed getting a photo of today's mustache as they nearly missed the bus. It was eagle day so I drew an eagle with out stretched wings as a mustache.  Those sort of things always look better in your mind than reality.  (Dalek cake anyone?) 

I certainly improved on my mustache drawing skills this week!

Quinton's Eggapult

 In Quinton's eighth grade science class, he had to make a catapult that would launch an egg ten feet up and ten feet forward.  Then Quinton also had to make a protective suit to keep that flying egg from breaking when it landed.  He was like a man possessed.  Watching Youtube videos on how to do it and making plans to succeed at both challenges.  He talked of little else.  I let Eddy and Quinton figure it out and they spent a lot of time on it.  I was shocked to see how big it was.  I was expecting a much littler catapult since eggs are quite small.  Quinton used car wash sponges to surround his egg and he also put it in a ziploc with water to absorb the impact.  

The morning of the great egg launch Quinton and Eddy drug this behemoth to school.  I was surprised to hear it wasn't the biggest catapult there.  There was one as big a football field goal.  The time came for Quinton to launch his egg and it failed.  After all those test runs at home that were so successful, when it really mattered it didn't work.  His egg didn't go the required ten feet.  Quinton was very disappointed. I tried to cheer him up about it and told him to remember all the fun he and Eddy had building it!

Eddy and Quinton discussing the plan

Testing the supports

See what fun they are having!

Spring in Duncan

It is getting warm, not quite as warm as where the Carlton's live,  but we are usually only a few weeks behind or so. 

Birds are out and really making lots of noise everywhere. I was happy to see our Cardinal was back, but alas he is so speedy. but this guy held still.

Duncan is great for Daffodils, this is in front of the Library where they pretty much fend for themsleves every year.

One of my duties I take very seriously is that I go scout for access points for the Gila River as it changes pretty much every year.  As I was out for my walk my inner Pa told to me to take this photo of the run down house and to take it in Black and white.

Forgot to turn off B&W, but this is the best point I found it has a nice beachy area down into the water. It is a bit of a walk though.

Unfortunately the side closest to us has drasticiallychanged. The water has gone down a bit since this photo, and it is a steep drop off and no beach. This is where we used to go. I spent about an hour walking thru tumbleweeds looking for a good point but it doesn't look it will be a hop and a jump this year we will have to cross the bridge, still have a few places to check, cross your fingers for me!

What They Wore-some of them

Sadly, only two out of five kids got their pictures taken today.  The other boys escaped without getting photographed.  They too were wearing purple.  Zaynzley's darling dress was made by my Grandma LaVana who cut it out and my Aunt Rebecca who sewed it.  She looked so sweet in it; although I should of told Eddy to get a photo of her in it standing up so you could really see how cute it is.  Zany loves picking out jewelry to wear with her Sunday dress.  She insist on earrings and a necklace.  In these photos, Zany looks bigger than Archer although he is three years her senior.  

The weather just now is lovely.  The days are getting longer and I love it. We tried making Navajo Fry Bread for dinner.  While it was a big hit with everyone, I think I will need to try a non yeast dough to see if it puffs up like it is when we buy it at the county fair.  I love fry bread and I am not sure why I haven't made it before.  Throw some beans, shredded meat. cheese. lettuce, tomato avocado and salsa on it and you have dinner.  Then with the leftover fry bread put some butter and honey and you have dessert.  Not to many recipes provide dinner and dessert in one. 

Archer (left) & Zany (right)

What darlings!

Cheers to a new week!

For Me?!

For a while now whenever Zany saw you with something she wanted she would say dramatically "For Me? drawing out the me and going as high as possible with her pitch.  This was the first time I think she understood the concept of birthday=presents.  Lucky girl being somewhat close to the after christmas sales made out like a bandit I think.

Pa gives here a Little Mermaid Vanity that is also a Keyboard.

Birthday donut cake

Archy decides to help out

She got some horses playset, a walking dog she named "Remington", a giant sofia castle playset and some clothes as well 

What can this be?

What is a party without ballons?