Kids will be kids...

Now that we all are feeling better, we've been able to get outside and just have some fun!  Here's a sample of what we've been up to.

Eli & Elijah decided to build a go cart out of this tub, old training wheels & a skateboard.  Love the creativity!

This is after Eliot emptied the ball bucket.  He loves to dig in and throw things out one at a time.

Another new interest is riding on the scooters.  It amazes me how closely he watches the other kids and tries to imitate EVERYTHING they are doing.  I am constantly hearing myself say, "Little eyes are watching you.  Are you making a good choice?"

Elese has showed an interest in her scooter as well.  This surprises me because up until now she's been content to watch the other kids ride.  We've also had her training wheel bike down all summer but she's only tried it maybe once.

And now to try the skateboard!

How cute is this?  Eliot LOVES hair stuff.  He is all the time picking a hair bow or headband up and putting it in his own hair.  If the girls walk by and he's within reach, he'll yank anything & everything right out of their hair.  I have a similar picture of Eli at this age doing the same thing!

Eliot is turning out to be just like big brother in many ways.  He wants to be outside all.the.time!  When the windows are open, he'll go into his room and look out at the backyard and laugh at the kids.  He'll scream for them and has a ball keeping an eye on them.

Daddy giving pony rides!

Dad looks half asleep...this must have been an early morning pony ride!  I promise that Eliot is usually clothed and not just running around in a diaper. :)

Peek A Boo!  Another new fun thing is to crawl under the dining room table and play.

I'm not sure what was going on here...Eli loves to dangle things from the upstairs railing!  I think he was working on some kind of trap.  Never a dull moment!

Mission Accomplished!

Our mission this weekend was to get the garage cleaned out...not a fun mission but a necessary one!  It is not an easy task keeping our 2 car garage organized with a family of 6.  I wish I would have taken a before picture but I forgot to.

Woo hoo!  Yes, we have 2 cars in the garage!  I don't think that Scott has ever parked in the garage for any length of time.  He's hoping that it lasts. :)

Here's how we managed.  Every year we get a little more organized and it helps that we are using our ceiling space.  All the bikes & scooters are now hanging...what a difference that made!

Isn't that nuts?  I know it seems like a lot but I don't want to get rid of any thing that they younger kids will be able to use in the future.  So, it means we have many sizes of bikes, scooters & ride on toys.  I'm not complaining.  What would I put in here if I didn't have these precious babies?

The Pantry Makeover~Complete!

The pantry is now complete!  Such a transformation and everyone seems really happy with the improvements.  I think I'll attack my laundry room next. :)

The first thing I did was empty the pantry.  This made a HUGE mess in the kitchen.  I was also very overwhelmed with where to put things.  It almost seemed like it would have been easier if the pantry were smaller.  Next, I started putting the containers where I wanted them.

Here's the after picture looking in.  I love the 3 Lazy Susan's in the center of the shelves for canned goods and one for oils.  I could probably use one more at the top for the extra stuff from Sam's.  I might add that later.

The top shelf is my extra Sam's Club stuff...not ideal but I think it looks better than before.

All the baskets and boxes have labels.  I'm bummed that you cannot read them in the pictures.  Anyhow, it does make things much neater and easier to find.  Some of the lables are...after school snacks, gluten free pasta, instant cereal, breakfast bars, plastic ware, baking needs, salty snacks, sprinkles, pbj fixins, pancake fixins etc.

The salty snacks are now under control and in 1 basket.

On the floor under the last shelf is a big basket that holds all the lunch boxes.  Before they were shoved under there and out of control.  The same basket is on the other side and holds my potatoes.

My favorite part is probably the cereal.  I took the cereal out of boxes and closed the bags with natural clothes pins.  I wrote the name of the cereal on the clothes pin and put a "GF" if it's a gluten free cereal.  We've used the pantry for a week now and the kids love it...and so do I!

Pantry Makeover~Part 1

I have a new friend Chessa and she is SO creative.  Recently she did a makeover on her pantry.  It looked so fabulous that I decided to give it a try on our pantry.

Here are some before pictures. I love the size of our pantry.  It's got plenty of shelves and can fit a ton of food...which is perfect for our family of 6!

My biggest complaint is that the cereal & the salty snacks were out.of.control!

The bottom 1/2 of the pantry was okay but the baking items took on a life of their own.

Stay tuned for the "after" pictures...it's almost complete!

Sickness

The past couple of weeks have been really tough.  Emery got sick and within 3 days both Scott and I were sick too.  My Mom (our savior) came to the rescue and took over the kids while we all recovered.

Mom showed up in her little white car bearing masks & gloves...this proved to be a great source of play for the kids!  Eliot wasn't so sure about the mask.

They quickly started playing "dentist" on Mom & Scott.  Eli was busy playing Grandma's I Pad.

Scott was being a trooper with the girls.  This is one of the worst bugs that we've ever had and took us down for a couple of weeks.

My Mom is such a blessing to our family.  She always heads right up when we need her.  The kids jump right on the chance to play with her IPhone & IPad.  Uncle Lurch got the hooked on the games!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Pumpkins & fall...our most favorite time of the year!  While we were all dealing with the sickness, Scott took the kids to the local farm and when the kids came back they ran in with their pumpkins.  I can't believe it's already that time of year and I am SO excited.  I've even given my kids the love of fall!  We even have leaves on the ground.

Elese

I'm dedicating this post entirely to Elese.  She is just too much these days!  From dress up, bossing others around, being 100% herself, to chatting constantly, it is never a dull moment with this gal.

A couple weeks ago she started preschool.  She attends a Luthern school and goes 2 days a week.

This is once she got to school.  Scott had to take her because I wasn't feeling well.  She bopped right on in and found her cubby.

Then she quickly got to work.  No tears, drama or separation anxiety!

Elese LOVES to dress up and is in a costume about 95% of the time at home.  There's no telling what you'll see her decked out in if you stop by.  My Mom gave Emery this purse many years ago.  She drug that thing around everywhere and now it's making a come back because Elese loves it too. 

She asks me all.the.time to turn on the music.  She loves to sing and dance along in the living room.  On this day she was putting on a show for Daddy...and batting the eyes the whole time I'm sure!

I had to laugh at this outfit.  When we are at home and not going anywhere, I allow Elese to choose her outfit.  She comes up with some hilarious stuff.  I'm sure the neighbors get many laughs out of her.  This is what she put on to go get the kids off the bus.

She picked it all out herself...headband, pony purse, pink lanyard and sparkle flip fops!  A day in the life of a princess.

And sure enough this is what we found when we went up to bed...asleep outside the bathroom door!

All is quiet

I can't remember the last time my house was this quiet on a Saturday!  I'm the only one of the Jackson 6 Pack that is awake...even Scott is napping.  Emery asked to go to the doctor so I took her this morning.  As I suspected, it's just a virus.  It was good to make sure though.  The doctor reminded me that she has other GI issues so this will take longer to go away than it typically would.  :(  Scott is now not feeling well either...I'm hoping he's the last one down!

Day 5...

Well, we made it to day 5 of school and out of nowhere the sickness hits! :(  Emery is down for the 2nd day today.  Yesterday she complained of her stomach hurting and today she is throwing up.  Poor thing is sleeping now so let's all pray that it passes quickly!