Category Archives: Nico

Jun 23

Fun & Free: Bubble Wrap

Oh goodness how I loved bubble wrap when I was a kiddo. My hubby had a delivery at work, and it came wrapped up in a big pile of bubble wrap.

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He brought it home to the kiddos. It was hard for me to resist popping all of those bubbles.

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We thought it would be fun to set up the bubble wrap outside, and let the kiddos jump around.

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Dylan also took a ride with it on the swing.

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They anxiously waited,

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as Dad set everything up.

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Thade was getting really anxious.

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All set up and ready to jump on.

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The kids jumped,

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and ran,

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and popped as many bubbles as they could.

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James and I jumped in a few times too.

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Bubble wrap is super awesome!

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It was a fun and free outdoor activity for the kiddos.

Jun 21

Another Summer Post

We are well into June, and officially it really is Summer. The kids are already planning activities for the Fourth of July, and I’m planning out the menu. We haven’t been up to too much, but here are a few more photos of how we are spending the Summer break.

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I’ve been picking the wild Chamomile that has been popping up in the yard. The daisy-like flowers are so pretty in the kitchen window.

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We’ve been meeting up with Thade’s best buddy for a few play-dates this Summer. It has kept the kids busy, and it is a lot of fun.

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The kids and I took a road trip to Carthage.They have been asking when we’ll be going back.

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The extra daylight is pretty, but the kiddos want to stay up way too late.

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Speaking of staying up late, Agnes hasn’t been sleeping again…

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She has also become quite the climber… She is keeping me on my toes these days.

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The little pup has been busy guarding the back-yard.

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The kitty has become my early morning wake-up call. He is much cuter than an alarm clock.

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I haven’t made it too far on my Summer reading list… Currently I’m reading The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest.

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The kiddos are getting a bit stir-crazy, but it has been a wonderful Summer, so far.

Jun 19

Fun & Free: Homemade Crayons

Agnes loves to color. I mean really loves to color. She loves to color on the floor, and the door, and wherever else she can sneak her artwork. Her crayons were getting a bit broken, so I thought it would be fun to make her some new ones.

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She is learning her shapes and colors, so I used a set of silicone baking cups for the crayons.

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I set the oven to 200 F. I placed the silicone baking cups on a large cookie sheet, so I could safely remove them from the oven. I turned on the oven light, and all of the kids gathered around the oven to watch the crayons melt.

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The crayons take just a few minutes to fully melt. Once they were melted, I carefully removed the cookie sheet from the oven, and I placed the silicone cups on a rack to cool. I let the new crayons cool and set for over an hour. The silicone baking cups made it easy to remove the new shaped crayons.

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The shapes were too cute too.

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Agnes loved them! She kept shouting, “orange, yellow, triangle”.

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Dylan wanted to help her color too.

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I don’t think she needed too much help.

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It was sweet to see them working together.

Jun 18

Goodwill Trip

While we were in Carthage I really wanted to visit Goodwill. I haven’t been to a Goodwill store in years. I was in luck, they were having a huge sale on men’s and women’s clothing. Goodwill totally rocks! How I wish we had one locally.

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I fell in love with these vintage Pyrex bowls. They were too cute to pass up.

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I also found a nice large serving bowl, and a little green bowl. They will come in handy for the 4th of July BBQ.

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I found a lot of Summer clothes for Agnes. Goodwill’s prices on kid’s clothing is amazing. I think she is set for the Summer now.

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I found a few shirts for the boys too. They already had a lot of Summer clothes, but these were too cute.

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Agnes saw a pair of shoes that she fell in love with. They had to come home with us.

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I found a few shirts too. There was an awesome 50% off sale going on. Every top I bought was $1.50 each.

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The best part though… My mom offered to take the kiddos to Dollar Tree so I could shop by myself for a bit. It was really nice of her to watch the kiddos for me, and I really appreciated the quiet shopping trip. I hope to shop there again soon.

Jun 17

Carthage Picnic

We’ve been invited a few times before, but this year the kids were at the perfect age to go to The Assessor’s Office Yearly Picnic. It is in Carthage, MO and the park was beautiful. My mom’s super nice boss hostessed the picnic, and we all had a fantastic afternoon.

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There were many different areas of the park.

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The kids loved the playground that was close by. It was just the right size for my little kiddos. There was a great turn-out for the picnic too, and my little ones made some nice new friends.

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We had a delicious lunch too.

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The food was amazing. We had BBQ and everyone brought a dessert. There was delicious lemonade, and homemade ice cream too.

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One of the coolest parts of the day was that Kiddieland was reserved for our group for an hour for the kids to play.

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This was the opening day of the park, and the unveiling of the newly restored Carousel.

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There were lots of fun rides for the kids too.

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Agnes absolutely loved Kiddieland. This was her first time riding the rides at an amusement park. I couldn’t keep her off the rides, once she rode the cars. She would have stayed all day if I would have let her.

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The boys had a lot of fun too. Thade loves to ride amusement park rides, and Dylan loved the cars too. The Carthage Kiddieland is a great park if you have younger kids. My oldest had a blast, and the younger kids were able to safely ride the rides too.

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There was a train that drove through the park too. All of the kids loved to ride the train.

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The carousel was  beautiful. I think the kids (and Nana) rode the carousel two or three times.

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Agnes loved the pretty little horses.

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After the hour at Kiddieland we met up with the group again for some fun games for the kids and grown-ups too. There was a pinata, and a bubble gum bubble blowing contest. The boys got a ton of candy. The picnic was so much fun. I am very thankful that we were invited, and I hope that we can go again next year.

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As the afternoon was passing by, we had a few more stops in Carthage. I love to drive around there. Carthage is a beautiful Civil War town, and it is full of old Victorian homes. We made a trip over to a sale at Goodwill, and then my mom took us out for ice cream. We sat in Braum’s for a bit,  and enjoyed the air conditioning. The kids were pretty tired on the way home, and Agnes slept until we made it to Nevada. It was such a fun day. The kids can’t wait to go back to Carthage.