Happy Boy

 Enjoying a cookie :)

New Kitchen

Something wonderful happened this weekend.  I got a DISHWASHER, and a beautiful "new" kitchen to go with it.  My amazing Dad, Grandpa, Father-in-Law, and Husband worked Friday evening and Saturday to transform our kitchen.  Here are some pictures from the transformation:

 Right side of the room.  I didn't get a before picture taken before the bottom cabinets came out.

 Left side before

 New base cabinets. There were originally shallow wall cabinets here and we replaced them with regular base cabinets.

 David and Grandpa working on the pluming and electric needed for the dishwasher!

 Here's the frige in its new home on the other side of the kitchen.

 Cutting the new counter top

 The left side after.  It turned out SO nice.  We still have a few paint touch ups and finishing touches.

 Right side after

Our gorgeous new counters.

Wednesday Fun

Another fun day was had by all here at the Lafferty house.   Today we made sidewalk paint and painted with the watercolors we made yesterday.  In addition to the projects, we took a walk this morning, played out back, and played in the sprinkler this afternoon.

 My helpers, taking turns with the stirring.

 Our pretty paints all ready to go.

 I figured there would be less frustration if the 2 most likely to mix colors or spill shared paints.

 Trying out our home-made watercolors.  They turned out really well.

Nathan hard at work.

Concoctions

Today was one of my 2 "off" days from this week babysitting.  The boys and I had such a fun day together.  This morning we went to the park and played.  There wasn't anyone else there and the boys had a blast having the run of the place.  After lunch and naps we made a quick run to dollar tree for supplies and made a few concoctions I found online today.

 Making some Gak.  It's glue, water, borax and food coloring.

Daddy even played when he got home too. :)  The boys were having fun blowing bubbles in it too, I didn't seem to catch any of them before they popped!

 We made some bathtub paint tonight for bath time too.  They had SO much fun.  

We made some home-made water colors too.  I'll be sure to take some pictures when we use them tomorrow.  (They had to dry out over night)

Monday, Monday

Well, today is our first day without Evie and Tony.  I won't say I'm happy they're gone, but I will say things are much calmer around here this morning.  So the boys and Jacob and Hannah have been having a nice morning playing together.  It's a good Monday so far. :)

 Ring around the rosie

Connor bug, getting into mischief.  :)

A Friday Night

Once Evie and Tony left this afternoon (for the last time!) we sprung into action and got the house whipped into shape for the weekend.  Then, we spent the rest of the evening together just having a fun family night.

 The boys were working on Daddy's head and hair while I made supper.

 After supper we went to get a little DQ dessert.  Nathan was trying to have a mad face.

 Mmm...oreo blizzard!

 We came home after our DQ and spent a little time outside playing.  My silly monkey Nathan :)

I see you!

Big Boy Swing

 This morning, I took down the baby swing and put up Connor's "big boy" swing. :)  He was pretty excited.

2 big boys having fun swinging! :)

A playdough day

Well, yesterday was Monday.  Monday's aren't typically the best day with the kiddos.  Everyone is tired and it tends to be a cranky day.  I had all six yesterday and was determined to not have a terrible day.  (The previous Monday was!)  So, we made playdough.   I figured this would keep them busy not only during the making but certainly during the playing. We went outside to play while we waited for it to cool.  So it ended up taking up a pretty good chunk of the morning.

 We passed the pan around and around the table giving everyone a chance to dump ingredients in and to stir.

The kiddos playing with the playdough.  Much to Nathan's delight, it turned out green after we added the lemon-lime kool aid packet to it.

Picnic Lunch

My crew, enjoying this beautiful day

Morning at the Park

Last Thursday, I didn't have babysitting kids so the boys and I went to the park.  It was one of the rare mornings where the weather wasn't miserable.

Shaving Cream

An idea I learned from my days at the day care was to let kids play with shaving cream.  So last week, I came upon some while cleaning out a cabinet.  The kids had a blast.  Well, mostly.  Connor wasn't sure about it because it got his hands messy. :)

Pigeon Forge

The last week of July, we took our first solo family vacation. (Last year we went to Myrtle Beach with Mom, Dad, Meg, and Adam)  I must say our first vaca without help went great!  We did a short trip, leaving on Wednesday and getting home Saturday afternoon.  We were all pretty exhausted when it was over, but we all had a lot of fun. A few pictures from our trip:

 We stopped in Lexington for a picnic lunch at a park. 

 Supper our first night there.  We were letting the boys take pictures with the camera while we waited for food.  I think Connor took this one.

 Putt putt and vacation, they just go together!

 We did some gem mining.

 Nathan's finds

 Feeding the birds at Parrot Mountain. (Or Pigeon Mountain as Nathan kept calling it)

 Dustin and Nathan had a blast doing Go-Carts!

 Swimming in the hotel's outside pool. Nathan was amazed that the hotel had 2 pools! :)

 The boys posing at a pull off on our drive up into the mountains

Yep, I said a few and that's just a few of the pictures we took.  A good time was had by all and we definitely made many good memories.