my new compost bin.

before you go thinking that it's actually not ghetto to have a bin full of garbage and yard waste rotting away behind your house, i should probably clarify that it's not technically a compost 'bin' so much as it is a corner of my garden that i've sectioned off with chicken wire that my realtor was going to throw away. and there i dump most of our kitchen scraps, kleenexes, qtips, paper, cardboard, hair clippings, etc., in addition to plenty of yard waste. all just sitting there, uncovered, rotting, inhabited by flies until i occasionally turn it. (our neighbors love us, btdubs.) (also one time last week a neighbor may or may not have walked into our yard as i was dumping the liquid from our training potty right on the pile. pretty sure she's never talking to me again.) i have proven my ghetto point.

the weekly 'what's up?'

what were we up to this week?

on monday, we busted out the grill and made s'mores.

the kids chased todd around afterward.

clean-up is less fun than getting messy.

on thursday atticus showed off his educational prowess by writing each letter of the alphabet (which he only learned by watching the letter factory, which shows off my horrible mom prowess) without help.  he grand-finale'd the night by writing 'HO.'  i know it's probably yet another testament to my horrible mothering, but that is definitely getting framed and hung on the wall of my craft room.

also, this week we have welcomed a new family member into our house: fick, atticus' new best (and imaginary) friend.  and sometimes her sister fack comes to visit.  fick does a great job of pooping in the potty, finishing all her pizza before getting down from the table, and growing lovely black hair.  considering she's just a tiny baby, those things are pretty impressive.  fick's favorite activity? hugging jesus.

happy weekend, HO's.

visiting the farm

when we went down to my mom's over the weekend, we were able to take the kids to the farm where i buy my eggs to see all the animals.

penelope wanted to prove to the animals that she was a homie.

they got to help gather the eggs.

i got to spend quite a bit of time learning about how to keep chickens...hoping the info will get to be put to practical purpose soon!

atticus driving a golf cart and wearing a hitler-like mustache made of dirt.

penelope preparing to merge.

and just to prove finneas really was there with us the whole time...

video vednesday: ain't got no grills but i still wear braces.

this video makes me almost like donny osmond.  almost.

punny title of the week: eggstremely gross.

the other day i was at walmart, and what did i spy with my little eye?  prepackaged hardboiled eggs.  and the first thing that came to mind was, no wonder other cultures hate us.  we can't even boil our own eggs.  i hate us, too.

really people?  pre. packaged. hardboiled. eggs?  it takes all of 15 minutes and enough brain cells to boil water to make them ourselves.  and yet we're paying someone else to do it for us, and paying four times more for the convenience.  in fact, we're paying more for conventional pre-boiled eggs than for organic, free range,  these-chickens-are-basically-treated-like-humans fresh eggs. 

which is ridiculous enough, but then on top of it, is it disgusting to anyone else that we're buying vacuum-packed eggs?  sick.

please, please tell me you've never purchased these.

sand and swim.

this weekend, we took finneas on his first road trip and went down to visit my mom.  after naps on saturday, the kids cooled off by playing in the pool.

 

check it out.  atticus did not forget to bring his pool face from last year. 

 

the thing i love about so many of the pictures we got this weekend is that the kids look so joyful!  only kids can be that happy - it's like we forget how as adults.

the kids had a great time digging in the sand, splashing in the water and stuffing their faces with my mom's yummy food.

what we've been up to this week.

what have we been up to this week?  getting our 'suburban white trash' on.

check it out.  we don't have a pickup or a trailer, but we do have massive amounts of yard waste.  so i had the brilliant idea of hauling it to the dump in the kiddie pool...before checking to make sure the pool fit inside the van.  it did not.

i should maybe also mention that we don't own bungee cords or even rope, so we kept the pool on top of the van with plenty of good old-fashioned finger crossing.

the new, cargo-equipped vidivan setting sail on her maiden voyage.

also happening this week?  banana pants.