Off Roading Fun with Brandon

Brandon invited Clint, Emily, Hannah, and me to stay in his very nice and large suite in Aurora, NC. We were there Thursday until Sunday. We toured the countryside, did some shopping, and enjoyed some off-roading in the Croatan National Forest. Somewhere along the way home, we met Walter aka the name for the Big Foot statue. Emily and Hannah enjoyed having their picture taken with him.

Tie Dye Fun and the Mood in Your Household

 

 

Those Asbell children! 🙃 It was staged to make Clint smile. It's his dog. No dogs were tie-dyed (yet 😁). There is a lot, and I mean A LOT, of very ugly, tragic, and deeply disturbing news out there. A wise, older woman told me a long time ago that the wife/mother can set the tone of her household. Worship music, fun activities, and a little humor can go a long way to lifting the mood in our homes.

Window Seat Space

Plant Fun

After my ginger died back for the winter, I planted rye over it to give me something green to enjoy in the house. I'll feed this to my geese soon. I had to add the googly eyes! Have a great day, everyone!

Sharing the Window Seat

Don't Blink

They are.

I tape notes around the house when the "live here" children start getting slack on following house rules like taking their boots off at the door. I overheard one of my "on their own" children say, "Uh oh, there she goes with her notes. Ya'll must be driving her crazy again." 😃

Googly Eyes Galore

Emily's Third Fun Christmas Gift

 

 Sometime in the fall, Clint and I were watching a trailer for a TV show. (It was very late and we were very tired, so we never caught the name. Never saw the show.) There was a funny scene with a horribly done painting. Clint and I laughed at it and paused the preview because Emily had knocked on our door. We pointed out the picture to her and laughed and talked about it a bit. Well, that child reproduced it and gave it to Clint and me for Christmas! 😃

We named her Aunt Bridgette and she is prominently displayed in our den so people can see her when they visit. 😃

Wintertime Fun

Last year, we hid plastic spiders all over Amanda's house. She collected them in jars and still has them.

This year, we hid coins all over and put this note on her bed.

Then we put googly eyes on everything we could.

I gave her this plush spider for Christmas as a reminder of last year's fun. Emily thought of giving it eight googly eyes.

Finally, I sent a link to the group text dedicating this song to Amanda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YvAYIJSSZY&ab_channel=RockwellVEVO

This Year's Fun is about to Begin...

but Amanda is still finding spiders from last year's fun.

She sent me this picture to let me know she's still finding them. :-)

This year, I am going to do something different. I'll clue you blog readers in when I implement my plan. 

Amanda liked the spiders and little creepy crawlies even though they made her jump sometimes. She has collected them in jars. If you remember, I found the jars she had of the ones she found and rehid them a couple of times. She left popsicle sticks all over the place in our family home. Clint, Emily, Hannah, and I wrote love notes on them, took them to her house, and hid them to continue the fun.

During late winter, I try to keep things fun and lively for my family. I leave them love notes, treats, gag gifts, etc during the dark and dreary days to keep everyone's mood up. It's another "Wendy way" of loving on and taking care of them.

Pachyderm Scribble

My stress level was high, so I wanted to draw something fun and simple while I listened to upbeat classical music. Elwood, the elephant, was fun to draw.

Penny killed it.

Please excuse the mess in our getaway spot.
I had to stay off my knee due to an injury.

This was a feather duster I used to play with Penny for hours. I hobbled my way to the restroom and when I came back, she had grabbed it off the table and destroyed it. I picked up the big feathers and quickly put the feather duster back together with electrical tape. The vacuum cleaner made quick work of the little bits on the carpet. 

The refurbished feather duster with electrical tape is holding up very well so far. In fact, I may reinforce them all that way. I have a couple of boxes of these. (#amazonaffiliate As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.) 

These are pretty cheap toys for dogs and cats. They go on sale from time to time for around 60 cents for the individual dusters. That makes them very inexpensive toys for our pets. They will last a good while IF we are quick and put them away somewhere out of reach. If they get a good hold on it and are about to pull it off, we give them a command to let go so the fun can continue. They don't seem to mind. At my home, I use a nice brown feather duster for cleaning. 

Scribble I Need to Finish

I painstakingly did this about four or five years ago.

I wasn't sure about making the tires flat, so I waited on that. I want to put bushes behind it and maybe some car part debris around it. I intend to give it to a VW Bug-loving family member.

It is almost impossible to erase mistakes on this canvas board.
I wish I had just made it a b&w drawing on paper or had drawn all of it and painted it afterward.

I was so afraid I'd mess it up, that I set it to the side and never picked it back up.

I just need to get my nerve up to work on it again.

Bethany Love Notes

Bethany left love notes all over our guest cabin for us to find.

A Tweety Scribble

Life became super busy while we were wrapping up the last project, so I didn't make time for drawing and painting for about a year. I am doing a little here and there lately. Once again, I am very thankful to my beautiful and talented four daughters for putting art back into my life.

A hot and tired Joshua made a friend

The heat index on this day was 103. Joshua was hot and tired from a long day at work. When he came home, he came to see me where I was working outside. As Joshua made his way to me, a tree frog jumped on his arm and then onto his forehead. Joshua announced himself with "Mom, I have made a friend."

There is a trouble on the horizon!

Hannah picked out the comfy relaxing pool recliner.

Emily picked out the tank with the spraying water cannon.

Emily has a fun-loving sense of adventure.
I see a conflict in their ideas of how to use the pool. :-)

This is going to be fun!

Crash Not

New Driver's Guide to Things to NOT Crash Into: A Funny Gag Driving Education Book for New and Bad Drivers

It's One of Their Happy Places

Many years ago, we started taking our children to ethnic grocery stores to introduce them to foods from around the globe. Emily and Hannah say we do not take them nearly enough. On our last visit, Hannah broke a $100 bill she had earned. :-)