Sometimes we get great ideas from the internet. There have been a lot of duds but this one is a winner!
We made a “water blob” out of a heavy plastic drop cloth and a hot iron. It was hours of entertainment for the boys are their buddy Landon.

It basically was like putting a 6x9ft waterbed mattress in the yard, covering it with a sprinkler, and letting them go crazy!

After dinner they had to come back out and play more (in their underwear)

We are still focusing on finishing old projects. I have accomplished several long term tasks recently.

When I was pregnant with the boys, I ordered some custom hand died yarn from an old friend’s shop. She made a batch in the colorway named “Evil Alliance” from the sci-fi series Firefly. I intended to knit little onesies, hats, and booties to be the boys’ “coming home from the hospital” outfits.

Things didn’t quite go as planned. I did get a good portion of the outfits done, but not in time. The yarn went in a drawer for years. I recently ripped out all the old work and made them each a knit monkey instead. They have something to keep now, and I got to knit with the beautiful yarn.

I also have spent hours over the years working on the boys’ Beads of Courage. Trevor earned a number of beads from his NICU stay, but Brendan accumulated thousands. The program gives colored beads where each color signifies a different procedure or event. For example, yellow beads are for a night in the hospital. Pink beads means a day on the ventilator. Light green is for an xray, red is for blood transfusion, black is for IV pokes and shots. Orange is for PIC lines. Rainbow for therapies.
There is a special handmade glass bead given for courage or extraordinary events. Brendan has a lot of those.
It took four 16×20 shadow boxes to contain them all. I sewed them all on the backing.

It is good to start getting caught up!

So far, school has been going really well for Trevor and he has two boys that have become his best buddies. He really likes to go and sometimes gets upset when I pick him up!

Brendan recovered from his cold and is doing well. I had bronchitis that is finally starting to go away.

We have put a lot of focus lately on trying to finish old projects so we can move on with new things! If I could have back all of the money that I spent on art and craft supplies because I had some grand creative idea but then never saw it through…. well.. I could buy a pretty hot new camera at least. It is nice to go back and accomplish some of those things.

On our road trip to Illinois in June, we picked up some whole geodes. Bill helped the boys crack them open!

There were some pretty crystal formations inside. The boys were excited.

They cleaned them up really well

We made some little shadowboxes with them to display on our bookshelves.

The boys were “helping” me sort my sewing and supply cabinets.

This weekend, we had a fun outing to Tucson. It was just less than two hours of driving, but we had an evening event, so we got a hotel.

Trevor has lost patience for my picture taking!

Now he is happy

The HopeKids organization was invited to be VIP guests at a car race at Tucson Speedway.

Trevor got to ride the firetruck around the pits.

Bill took the boys out on the track for a meet and greet with the drivers and to see all the cars.

They fed us pizza and pop

The boys enjoyed a couple of the events, but as it got dark, they were getting tired. We posed for some pictures on the way out.

They were not too tired for a relaxing swim at the hotel!

Trevor would stay in the pool the entire day. He loves the water.

Trevor was especially excited that he was allowed in the hot tub. It is his favorite. We had to get up and visit the pool again this morning before check out time!