Project Joy Week 2

 The second week of our summer and Project Joy found us at the Johnson/Johnsen reunion at Keller Ferry on Lake Roosevelt, out past Wilbur, WA, and home of Bob's Big Boy Burger stop.

 My boys (and I) were thrilled to find a playground of old school toys at the picnic area, complete with the spinney thing, a digging thing...

 and the hanging thing~thankfully over sand, and not pavement, like my elementary school's was.  It was pure joy to watch my boys spend so much time on simple, metal, unsafe, but super fun play toys.

 Mark won a Norwegian-American flag pin for being the person to most recently have worn a suit.  That's my Aunt Nancy in the back, she is married to my Uncle Hal.  They along with my mom hosted this bi-annual event, that goes back generations.

 There's my mom holding Finn and his huge box of Whoppers, which he won for being a kid.  Mom, Hal and Nancy had many fun anecdotes, prizes and of course, Ole jokes.  My recipe(s) for the week were somehow unphotographed, but delicious:  Cherry pie (gluten-free, allergy friendly and so good); vegan coleslaw (with Veganaisse) and chocolate cake (The Cravings Place bag)-to celebrate my Uncle Hal's birthday which fell on the very day of the reunion.  I felt very happily old school, Suzy Homemaker baking and making for my family for our reunion. 

 I kept our name tags to scrapbook with (truth telling time: I am on Liam's second day of life in my scrapbook world, that is 2005 my friends).  And Finn is wearing one of my favorite shirts, created by Celia & Gladys Hanning of JuneBug and The Mad Hatter show.  My sister who is pregnant with my nephew (another boy!!~we are rapidly being outnumbered in my girl-centric family) asked me to keep this shirt for her little guy. 

The fun thing about a reunion isn't anything fancy or tangible, it's the sense of a deep line of people standing in your past.  I hope our generation and our children's will continue reunions.  It's time travel at its' best.

 Back on the home front, Mark finished (for now) our formerly blue bathroom.  Remember the blue wallpaper from my Week 1 Project Joy?  http://holliejoyinthemorning.blogspot.com/2012/07/project-joy-week-1-results.html.  That might give you a good idea of how much of a transformation this truly is.  I also replaced the seventies knobs and drawer pulls on the cabinets, and before we even moved in my husband and friends removed the (gag) carpet and put in vinyl tiles.  Next up, sometime, is to take off the dated molding on the cabinets (this will be a house-wide project) and replace the green faux marble laminate counter tops.  I can't even show them to you because they are so shudder inducing.

 At my favorite neighborhood sale this spring i picked up this brand new light fixture for $10 which replaced the very seventies no-light light.  The curtains I found at WalMart in the winter and they cover the view of the bars on the window (which we will remove) and the view of the fence.  When we offload the tree logs (http://funkyjunkshow.blogspot.com/2010/11/tree-fell-on-my-house-or-im-thankful.html) I will be planting something pretty to grow up to the window because this will be my scrapbook room/office bathroom.  So it must be pretty. 

 I always drive by a garage sale if it's on my way.  And that is how we scored a basketball hoop set up.  My dad drove his truck in and brought it home with my husband and it has seen hours of play.  This was a must have for a house of three boys.  Another great move on our part was re-arranging the play room and bringing up the mini-Foosball table to the garage.  Next up; setting up our ping pong table (which we picked up at our own yard sale last summer for $10). 

The other thing to mention is our boredom jar.  A friend had mentioned this last year and this year, my oldest requested that I follow through and make one.  So I found our box of craft sticks and wrote twenty or so ideas, some fun, some chores, and put them in one of my Ball jars.  Now when I hear
"I'm Bored!", the child is sent to the jar.  They then get one 'put back' and have to do what the stick says.  If they don't, then they need to figure out their own idea.  This has worked super well for my 9 year old, okay for my 6 year old and half of the time for my 3 year old, who just does it because his brothers do. 

Enough boy talk; I finally planted my beautiful hens and chicks up by our garden shed.  A little pretty respite for a busy, loud summer day. 

What has been on your summer to-do or to-don't list?  I'm learning to find time for both.  Until next week~

~Hollie Joy