Glosser Chronicles: May Review

Ah, May. You came. You went. Is it just me or is time moving faster than ever before? Have there been any scientific studies on earth's rotation around the sun lately? Someone out there must be logging our trek. Perhaps light is moving at a faster rate now, causing the lines of reality as we know it to blur? Surely something, somewhere has changed in the universe to cause this speeding of moments, days, months... Or maybe it's my age. (I am rapidly approaching 30, you know.) But I digress.

Seriously, May was fast but wonderful. It marked the beginning of spring (even though it technically began in April) and end of our homeschool year. (Finally!! Can I get an "amen", homeschool mamas and teachers everywhere?!)
Spring has officially made its home in Iowa and we experienced the return of frigid, sudden Iowa temperature drops, the ever increasing Iowa heat and humidity, as well as the marvelously refreshing rain & spring storms... Yes, sometimes even in a single 24-hour period. But there are seasons! 4 of them. And for that I will never complain. The transition months of spring and autumn are my favorites, and I'm so thankful we get to witness them firsthand.
Along with the warmer temps comes gardening season. I mentally battled for months with what to do in our own home garden this year. Usually I love it and look forward to planting a variety of nutritious, tasty herbs, fruits, and veggies in our front & back yards; however, last year's fight with pests & pitiful harvest left me a little discouraged, our beds need some intense refreshment and care, and, well, there's this baby due any day now... What to do? What to do? I decided early on to not start anything from seed this year to help ease the burden, and then my dad offered me the seedlings he wasn't going to use so I just went with that. Thanks to him, we now have several varieties of tomatoes and peppers in the ground as well as our previously planted strawberries & blueberries (which hopefully will give us a good showing of produce this year!) I let my herb garden self-seed last summer and it's growing beautifully. In fact, I think I prefer that specific spot in our yard more than any other. It's just gorgeous & so low maintenance! I wish I could set up a chair and little table in there to claim as "mine" to retreat to for tea, a book, and relaxation. Ahh, but I must settle with the mere ideal for now, I suppose.
Most of my kids love being outside, and I enjoy it very much as well as long as my swelling, pregnant ankles can tolerate it. So we are spending as much time outdoors as possible, soaking up the springtime sun and cooler mornings before sweltering summer heat invades.We've dusted off the grill & fired it up for the first of many grill-outs and hang-outs this year. And I am starting (and finishing) a few outdoor projects that need to get done before Baby's arrival!
Our last day of homeschool wrapped up on May 30th, after which I pulled out all of my kindergartener's completed work for the year, sorted it, and gushed over reviewed it. We pulled out the lapbooks we put together and looked them over, reviewing what we learned through the process. It was about that time that Bubbaloo checked out and left me to read some books... I just sat there for a minute thinking of all the hard work we both put in this year and where it has brought us, and all I can say is, "I am so so proud of my 5 year-old!" It's been fun seeing her bud & blossom this year in school. She has learned SO much and has taught me SO much! I'm already fired up for next school year and just planning away, but let's not get too carried away! (No, I never do that.) First thing's first: a nice, relaxing summer with the family. But before I say, "Ready, set, go!" please enjoy some of May's highlights with me.

We like to begin each month with story time at our local library. Then we spend 30-60 minutes picking out our books for the month. The kids look forward to it every time!

We discovered some brand new baby robins in a bush right outside our church! One of the kids found them when they were just eggs about to hatch, and we checked up on them every week to see how they were growing. What a neat thing! God's creation never ceases to amaze me.

We joined the Walking Club at the neighborhood zoo (literally in our neighborhood... we only live about 5 blocks away!) We try to make it once every other week. It's fun to get a peak at the animals before the zoo opens, see the workers getting things ready for the day, and get some fresh air and exercise. We're just not great morning people. :)

I am so proud of my little reader! She finished the school year strong and is loving reading on her own. Even though I've never pushed her in reading, she gladly challenges herself with chapter books on a regular basis.

As if it weren't enough to be called "Mommy" by these 3 precious little ones, they (along with their wonderful Daddy, of course) spoiled me rotten for Mother's Day, taking me to an old favorite restaurant, the Olive Garden, for dinner and sweetening me up with ice cream from Marble Slab for dessert! This mama is completely blessed and extremely happy.

For those who don't know, the majority of our family's birthdays fall in the month of June, making it one HECTIC month! This year, with another baby due *shock* in June, we decided to plan a trip before the accursed busy month to celebrate everyone's birthdays all at once. For Josh's birthday, I wanted to buy him tickets to see his favorite baseball team, the Seattle Mariners, so we checked their schedule, discovered that they play the Minnesota Twins this month, and planned our trip around that. The game we chose happened to fall exactly on Ellie Belly's birthday, so really it couldn't be more perfect, right? We hit up the Mall of America for most of Saturday and did the baseball game on Sunday afternoon before heading back home. This was the kids' first trip to Minnesota and therefore their first visit to the Mega Mall, and they were SO excited! (Can you tell?!)

The mecca for all things Lego: the Lego Store at the Mall of America. Ecstatic is the only word I can think of to describe how the kids reacted to their first visit here. :)

 
Have you ever seen the Sea Life Aquarium in the Mall of America? It's a little pricey but well worth the experience if you don't have a good aquarium locally. (Plus, there are discounts and coupons available through their website... or you can do what we did & use the coupons that come with kids' meals at the Rainforest Cafe!)
My son is kind of obsessed with ocean animals (especially deep sea creatures) right now so we chose to go mainly for him, but it ended up being a memorable learning experience for all of us! When you live in the Midwest, it can be costly & difficult to visit the ocean with your family. Great aquariums like Sea Life bring a little of the ocean to you! And we'll take it where we can get it. :)

Lastly, you may have caught it already, we went to the Rainforest Cafe for our celebratory birthday dinner. Who can resist charming the little ones with animatronic rainforest animals and live fish, pretend thunderstorms, and the VOOOOLLLCAAAAANNNOOOO!!!

 



Who says you have to be at home to celebrate with style? We surprised our Ellie Belly on her birthday with a few decorations & presents in our hotel room.

Those are the sticky, syrupy cheeks of a two year-old!

 

 Sunday was game day -- Twins v. Mariners. This was only Josh's second Mariners' game ever AND Felix Hernandez was pitching (If you don't follow baseball don't ask, because I don't either! But it was a big deal.) AND he got to take his kids to something he loves. I don't think we'll be taking them ALL to a pro game again any time soon... let's just say the first half was pretty rough... but we did enjoy ourselves & went home super tired.

 

A budding baseball fan? Eh, maybe she just likes to clap.

But they're ALL cotton candy fans!

Felix pitching = Felix Day

Ok, just one more birthday shot, I promise. (Yes, technically she got to celebrate THREE times!) But I had to get the classic blowing-out-the-number-candle photo in there, didn't I? Hooray for 2!!!

Last but not least, my darling sister & brother-in-law offered to pay for a date night & watch our kids for an evening so that we could have one last "hoorah" before Baby #4 arrives. I cannot even begin to tell you what a blessing that was! I love my family. :)

Hopefully the next time I post will be with a sweet baby in my arms. Just 5 more days until she's "due"! This mama is ready but I know God's still finishing her up and she won't come until the time is just right. I appreciate your prayers as we wait!

In the meantime, why don't you share how your school year ended? Maybe you have some fun summer events planned? I'd love to hear about them.

Glosser Chronicles: April Review

April was a flurry of fun events for the Glosser family. We were SO. BUSY. But, as usual, it was all worth it and we had a great time in the midst of it. My husband celebrated his induction into a new decade -- yep, the big 3-0. We had two family weddings to attend -- my brother-in-law and my husband's cousin -- and we had children involved in both! My baby seester had a birthday, we started prenatal classes at the hospital where I'll be delivering, there was a school musical, and, of course (and certainly not the least), Easter. All that on top of the regularly scheduled chaos happenings made for busy & tired; however, they were landmark moments that deserve attention and reflection. I want to share a snapshot with you:

I LOVE our local public library! We try to attend preschool
story time about once a month (sometimes more in the summer),
and the kids & I check out our monthly allotment of books afterward.
Recently, they've made a lot of changes to the children's section
and it's just incredible. I know I'm a little biased, but if you
haven't checked out the South Side Des Moines Public Library
you should!

Buddy Boy likes all things aquatic right now, so he was way
excited to play with the shark & octopus puppets in the puppet theater!

We just learned that our big girl is old enough to have her own
library card! She was super pumped to take it home with her.

We had a blast once again with our monthly Nature Club
at the Brenton Arboretum in Dallas Center. It's quite a drive for us
but it is so informative and fun! It's been well worth it so far. April
had us checking out the pond there. We found insects, larvae, snails,
small fish, and even some tadpoles!
 

This girl and her shoes... I think she was meant to be a woodland
creature of some sort. She is definitely most happy when she's outdoors.

My brother-in-law's wedding was a wonderful day. I'm so proud of my two little flower girls & my handsome ring-bearer! (My husband did a pretty outstanding job as a groomsman too... and dang, doesn't he look good all spiffed up?) We are so happy we could be a part of such a special day. (photos courtesy of Austin Day @ Photography by Austin Day)

A fun roadside display put up by our Des Moines Public Works Dept.
downtown for Earth Day. This mom was just a little excited about it...
"It's the Lorax!! Everybody out of the van!"

Catching our first baseball game of the season with the I-Cubs.

Just one of the fun Easter activities the kids got to participate in:
Easter egg hunt at Grandma & Grandpa's.

Here's my big girl with her cousin, the ring bearer, at my cousin-in-law's wedding...
Ok, I can't get over how beautiful & grown up my sweet little Bubbaloo is! I mean, come on. Aren't these just adorbs?
This was her second stint as a flower girl this month, and I truly believe she'd do it every month. She has such a great time! (photo courtesy of Meg Blunk @ Capri Photography by Meg)

Spring! The best look of the season is all of the life sprouting
and blossoming. Ahh, just breathe it in.

Obviously, I'm a tad behind in posting... Just getting April's review up when the end of May is right up ahead? Yikes. I hope to get May up soon (like before June), but we'll see what happens. :)

In case you didn't know, I'm currently 9 months pregnant with our fourth child! Our new little ray of sunshine is due to appear sometime around June 11th, but I feel like she (yep, GIRL) might make her debut a little sooner. Hence, I have been all rush, rush, rush to get prepared. For some odd reason I haven't had the drive to get things done this time around. With only two weeks to go, I literally just packed my hospital bag yesterday. (Well, it's mostly packed anyway.) And we don't even have a car seat yet. (Don't worry! It's on its way & should arrive by Friday... at least that's what I keep telling myself.) Maybe it's because this pregnancy has flown by so quickly? I always feel like I have more time... Well, not always. That feeling is definitely gone now!



I'd appreciate your prayers as we finish getting ready for our little one -- there's still so much to do! Pray for a smooth & safe delivery, a peaceful transition from three munchkins to four, and strength & energy for this mama to pull through those difficult first few weeks of adjusting to a newborn's schedule.

DIY Lego Table {with IKEA LACK}

You may remember back in my March Review that my hubby & I took a trip to Minnesota over spring break. On that trip we stopped at my shopping mecca: IKEA. We were purchasing some smaller organization items and decor for our kids' "new" rooms... and of course a little more than that. I mean, if you only get one trip a year to shop at your favorite store in the world, you have to make the most of it, right? :)
Along with the rest of creation, our kids are really into Legos right now, but they're not allowed to bring them downstairs (because the dog likes to eat all things toy-related). But, in case you've never tried it, it's really difficult to build on carpet! So we had this great idea to create a Lego table like this one here: Lego Meets Lack, but on a smaller scale to suit our space.
They've not been collecting too long, so we don't have massive quantities of little blocks all over the place, nor are there tons of any one color -- just a few kits here and there -- which actually translates into millions of the tiniest bricks and buttons known to man. (Thanks, Lego, for all those ridiculous teensy squares, circular pieces, & flowers to "decorate" with that are now the bane of my existence.) But we don't need a ton of storage space for Legos... yet.

For our intent & purpose, we decided to go with a smaller, inexpensive LACK side table. We have a couple white ones in our home already and have used them as living room end tables, coloring tables, kids' dining when we have guests over, etc., so we new they'd cut the mustard for this project too. We picked birch effect for the kids' space.

LACK side table, birch effect ($9.99)

After our mini-spree at IKEA, we crossed the road to the Mall of America to visit the infamous Lego store. My husband picked out a small bucket of blocks in specific colors (not sure if these were more for him or the kids...) and I grabbed some baseplates for building. The plates are 10"x10" and four plates fit perfectly on the top of the LACK table, so we chose to get three green and one blue. You know, land and water. :)
NOTE: The building plates are $4.99/each pretty much everywhere, so, if you don't have a Lego store near you, you can still order them online. (I love Amazon for all things shopping online.)

(affiliate links)

Then came the long journey home. I may have been a bit on the tired side for that leg of the trip, and things can get kind of weird when I'm tired... at least right before I crash. I guess I'm kind of like a toddler in that sense. Hmm. Maybe that should disturb me. I think it disturbs my husband... but I digress. After a brazen show of car dancing, karaoke, voracious junk-food snacking to refuel, and crash power nap, we were home! Then came my second favorite part: assembly.

Now, I'm not going to lie and say that I got everything put together straight away. I mean, it was late by the time we finally reached our humble abode and there were three children to consider. So the project may or may not have lain like this in our office-in-progress for a few days...

However, as I have previously shared, I eventually get up the gumption to start and/or finish something, and so, naturally, I began by assembling the table.

Then I whipped out my handy-dandy glue gun & simply hot-glued the four baseplates on like so:

And voila! A completely finished DIY Lego Table all in about one hour, and it only cost about $30.

The kids have LOVED it! It currently resides in my son's room and all three children use it almost every day. 

**In full disclosure, I should mention that the hot glue did not hold up more than a month. I'm not sure if the glue was just not hot enough to make a good bond, if it was the surfaces being adhered, or what, but with so much regular use the building plates came off the table top. Thankfully, there is no damage to the table or the baseplates, so I think it can be easily remedied. Maybe I'll try craft spray adhesive (definitely more messy & permanent) or just use 3M mounting putty (less work and temporary/movable). In the meantime, my kids aren't complaining. They just keep building as if nothing is wrong!**

We keep the Legos in one of the larger plastic storage tubs (Brick Box) that we bought the girls' for Christmas. I have all the kit manuals in the smaller Brick Box we got for our son. Both boxes tuck neatly under the table with plenty of room to spare.

I hope you get to try out something similar for your household's Lego play and storage! Let me know what you come up with... there are TONS of great ideas online! Just Google "Lego table" and be amazed at the plethora of DIY options that come up.

Happy building!

Glosser Chronicles: March Review

March proved to be a very busy month for us. We took a week-long spring break from homeschool and intended to use the time to get our four bedrooms switched around, repainted, and organized in preparation for Baby #4's arrival, but as usual, "We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps" (Proverbs 16:9). 

In fact, the weekend before our official break we received word that Josh's Grandpa Bill was not doing at all well. He's had many physical & mental struggles over the last several years & has miraculously bounced back each time without too much lasting impairment, but this time was different... more serious, more urgent. They didn't know if he'd make it through the night. Josh was able to go down to Ottumwa with his mom & siblings to see him that same afternoon, and when he returned he confirmed that the outlook seemed to be rather grim. The next morning Grandpa Bill went to be with his Savior & King. That was a hard day. Not how we imagined we'd begin our ambitious plans for the week. It was painful. The next three days were filled with conversations with family members, traveling for the visitation & funeral... and little work at home. Truly, it was a blessing in disguise that we planned for the week to be our spring break from school because Josh already had the majority of the week off work which enabled him to be there for all those important moments in his grandfather's passing. We are thankful for that. The postponed work was just that -- postponed. It was far more pressing for us to be able to be present with the family in grief, to minister as the Lord led, and participate in the sad loss of a dearly loved family member. And though it is a difficult circumstance to endure, we can rejoice in the knowledge that dear, sweet, joyful Grandpa Bill is experiencing the absolute definitions of joy & happiness as he worships at the feet of the Creator of the Universe. He is fully whole. Mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually whole. He is doing what he was created to do. And I guarantee he is loving every. single. minute. Oh, how we long to join alongside him & offer our own praises to the Almighty God!

The rest of the week was a blur as we attempted to cram as much house work in as possible. Our kids were troopers! Surely, they felt brief twinges of neglect as Mommy & Daddy painted room after room after room. Two weeks later, our house is still out of sorts! Although the majority of the work is complete, we have been making slow progress almost every day as new things find their homes & well-loved things are repurposed or rearranged. We're getting there!

Of course, spring break was not the ONLY thing that happened this month, so...

National Pancake Day at IHOP is March 4th.
Naturally, we had to celebrate!

Chocolate milk is a rare luxury for this chick.
And she loves it.

Sort of a last minute field trip...
to the Science Center of Iowa!

Josiah shooting off his paper rocket.

Future crane operator?

Fun wall with air tubes, mazes, and plastic balls.

Which tennis ball will finish first?

Our local TV station has a weather center in the Science
Center where they shoot live at noon on the weekdays. It's
always fun to see yourself on TV!

We are early morning pirates sailing the river for crocodiles.

Hope to do a post on the outcome of this little project soon!

"I ready," she says... in the front seat.

Night time froyo is always a welcome treat...

Especially when it's to celebrate Starshine's
completion of her reading curriculum.
She's a super reader!

Chocolate is all that matters to this dude.

My big girl surprised me one morning by getting everyone's
breakfast ready for us! Oatmeal with Craisins & cinnamon/sugar.

Sometimes we stay in our pajamas until noon. That's how we roll.
And yep, the belly is getting bigger. No feet!

Spring has sprung! Well, kind of. But in Iowa we take every
advantage of the nice days while we can.

Bare feet in the sand. Always.

The older two & I attended a performance from the
Applause Series at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines,
"We're Going on a Bear Hunt." Such fun!

Starling Migration means SPRING!! Watch and listen with us HERE.