Some Patriotism for your Saturday

It's never too late for some 4th of July pictures! Thank goodness our babysitters took these. On the fourth I didn't event dress the boys in Red White and Blue. Frankly, I was lucky to get clothes on them at all! July is a whirlwind for the Manor but we sure do have fun!
Today Daryl had his last Tee ball game. Maybe ever, at this point for Daryl tee ball is OK, but he thinks it is too hot. Poor kid, we are still trying to find "his thing!" What a crazy world today that we are supposed to be nailing that down at age five. sheesh 
Sleeve one on Al's sweater is done and done! Now for that second sleeve.....

Big plans for the Big Weekend

I don't know about everyone else but I had big plans to finish lots of projects over the three day weekend. Turns out the three knitting projects I was going to finish didn't really pan out. :-)
I almost had one hat done but my misreading the pattern and knitting almost the whole thing with 86 stitches (super bulky yarn) instead of 68 wasn't really going to work out! So I ripped it all out and put it in time out.
So I got a measly start to a sleeve done on my three days of knitting bliss. :-/

We did have a good fourth. We went to Great Grandma and Grandpas and had a meal and some small fireworks with the Ramirez family. It was so nice to visit and catch up. Everyone is so busy these days I really appreciate the times we can get together. :-)
We left before the big fireworks because they pretty much scare the daylight out of Alex. We had to sleep with him on the 3rd and 4th and he passed out pretty early on the 5th and finally slept alone.
I hope everyone had a safe and happy weekend. I know there are a couple of families in Hanston that had scary weekends and I'm keeping all of them in my prayers. Between Mom and facebook I'm getting updates, it is funny how connected we can all be while still be physically away from each other.

Who stole June?

I almost could not believe my eyes this morning when I looked at my calendar and it said July 1st! I don't even remember June it flew by so fast!

We did have a great end to June 2014. We FINALLY paid off my student loan. I was thinking we would get that done in May but the car needed new brakes and roters (sp?). We were happy to pay for that with cash but that meant not paying off my school loan till June. My brain is all paid for!!!

Our last debt is now Kelly's school loan. We have an estimated payoff date of February 2015. Watch our Sallie Mae, the Meerpohls are coming after you!

June 2014 also was my first exchange trip with 4-H. Our county hosted a group from Pennsylvania this summer and next summer they will host us. It was a lot of fun! I had their adult chaperone Lori stay with us and she was a blast! And now I get to be the tall one in pictures! Never thought I would ever get to say that with one of my friends. :-)

Kelly and the boys had fun meeting Lori and some of their kids too. Today when I picked Daryl up after dropping Lori at the airport this was what he said.
D-Mom did Lori go back to Pennsylvania today?
Me-Yes she did.
D-Next year will you go to Pennsylvania and be amazed?
Me- Yes I will!
While I was supervising the exchange I also got some knitting done on Al's sweater! Yay!!

Sweater Weather

The start of Al's sweater!

While the temps have soared into the 90s here in Kansas the end of June means sweater time to me. For the last five years I have knit a sweater for the boys on their birthday. No matter that both of my sons were born during the summer, a tradition is a tradition!
So on Saturday I started Alex's sweater. I am not using the correct weight of yarn for the pattern so I'm hoping that it works out. :-/

Yesterday, I finally go to see Daryl play T-Ball! It was his third game but this is the first time I wasn't out of town. He did great! We celebrated with Pizza and then went to the pool. It was a great family day!

Alex has also had a milestone this week. The boys got a bunk bed earlier this month and on Thursday night Alex moved into Daryl's room! It is now the boys' room! You never know how a kid is going to react when you take them out of the crib and Alex cried a bit but then went to sleep on the first night.
Daryl was a little more traumatized than Alex was. Every night Daryl cries a little because Alex won't be quiet and keeps him up. But other than Alex finding his way to our room at 4am the first night they are doing good!
They are getting so big!!!

This is not Al's bed, this is my bed!



Daryl's new bunk bed!

Hanston Happiness

This last weekend the Meerpohls made the trek to Hanston to spend time with family. My brother and his family are moving out of state this month so we had one last gathering to send them off. It is nice to just go to mom's house and relax for a couple of days!
On Saturday, Daryl got his allowance for doing his chores all week. Daryl has three chores: he feeds the dogs, puts his dirty dishes in the sink and puts his dirty clothes in his hamper. He has been doing this for a month and every Saturday he gets $5. The first week he got his allowance he put $1 in his piggy bank and $1 in an envelope to take to church for offering time. He them immediately had to go to the store to spend the remaining $3.
I went with him and reminded him he could save his money and buy something bigger the next week. He didn't care what he got he just wanted to spend all his money. He ended up buying a pair of funny plastic teeth. He was unhappy with them as soon as he opened the package.
So the next week he gets his money and he thinks about it and decides he wants to save his money. Then the next week when he went to the store with his $8 he picked out a $10 action figure. Kelly and I told him he would have to save another week to get the WWE toy. He struggled in the toy aisle for about ten minutes deciding what he wanted to do. There were other smaller toys he could buy but I knew he really wanted the $10 toy. He asked me if I could just pay for some of it. I told him that if he wanted to buy it with his own money he needed to save for another week.
He did save for another week! We stopped in Great Bend on the way home and he picked out the WWE action figure he wanted. He was so happy to take it up to the cashier and pay for it with his own money I almost cried! He kept asking all the way to Topeka who bought the toy for him, my answer was always you bought it with your own money! He even told Grandma Rosie that he was buying his WWE toy because he had made good decisions. LOL
He is already talking about saving for the next three weeks to buy another figure, we shall see if he can hold out again. I hope these lessons about money Kelly and I are teaching now serve him well in the future!

Here Daryl is sleeping with his WWE Kane figure!

Still happy with his purchase right before bed.
 

Uncle Asa showing the boys how to hit the ball.

Cousin Hugs!

Aspiring interior designer...

I have pretty much been MIA around the Manor for the last two weeks. I have been with the 4-H'ers in our county staying up late, having campfires, dancing, singing, and having lots of snacks!
I am home now, and so happy to be hanging out with the men in my life. On the last night I was away from home Daryl told me to look at his room while we were on the phone. That is when I had to remind him that my phone doesn't do that. He was sad but told me I was going to be really surprised when I got home! Oh dear, what did he do to his room?
Turns out while I had been gone we no longer have Daryl's room, it is now Daryl's museum!  Our little man has discovered scotch tape and stickers and his walls and windows are bare no more!
This makes me happy because when we moved into our house two years ago we discussed taking the wood paneling down. We decided not to because that way he can do whatever he wants to his walls and it won't hurt anything. He even told me on my tour of the museum, "And mom, I didn't put anything up in the halls, those aren't my walls."
Good job Daryl!
While I'm gone I have gotten a lot of knitting done on my secret project. I will try not to forget to post a picture for everyone once it has been gifted!
Now, I need to start on BIRTHDAY SWEATERS! I have a plan and it involves some matching this year! It is going to be EPIC!
Funny Daryl Story:
The boys come in the house Friday and wake me up from a little nap.
Me-"Daryl and Alex come give me a hug!"
Daryl-"Did the kids at camp not give you any hugs?"
Me-"No they didn't." (in my best pathetic voice)
Daryl-"Ugh, all right...(I finally get my hug :-)

Alex gave me a hug with no questions!! He also cuddled with me till 9:45pm because he didn't want to let me go to go to bed. :-) 

Daryl is still into Knights, he had Dad draw this one!

This is the collection of cool stickers!

Daryl is also now a Marvin the Martian fan. Because he is obviously a Roman!

 

Kelly wins Dad of the year. One night Daryl asked him for a real knight shield. So while Daryl was sleeping he put a handle on the back of this piece of wood AND painted it. I love my husband more than words can say!