Life at the ranch

Two weekends ago Levi and I did a little craft project. A guy I work with came up with this, and it's brilliant! It's Reverse Tie Dye. You start with a dark colored cotton t-shirt. (Wally World, 2/$5) Tie them up with lots of rubber bands, and throw them into bleach water. No messy dyes, no stained hands, no colors that bleed when you wash them. Just magical shirts and lots of fun. I used about 1/3 bleach and 2/3 water, soaked them for 3-5 minutes, then rinsed the heck out of them with clean water. Then I removed the rubber bands and threw them into the wash.

This one was a navy blue shirt to begin with.

And this one was a dark green before the treatment. Levi thinks they are ultra-cool and I got a sparkling clean sink and fresh smelling disposal to boot. Thanks Robert!!
Levi has a wicked imagination. Here he is being a cow. He is moo-ing. (Didn't have the heart to tell him the difference between a bull and a cow...)
Operation Kiddie Korral was in full swing last weekend. With the warm weather around the corner it was time to make a safe play area for the kiddos. That's Levi behind the fence helping his Dad. My next project is to coat the fence with a thick layer of white enamel to look good and prevent splinters.

Just when I think I am about to strangle her, she does something incredible and I am filled with pride. Last night was sophmore academic night at the high school. It was all about planning for college, preparing for the entrance exams, taking the right classes, etc. There are 8 required classes, in addition to the math/english etc, each child needs to graduate. Katie is on her last one. Unlike the rest of her friends, who took all the fun classes last year and this year, she took all the required ones and is now planning on taking advanced placement courses and earning college credits in the next 2 years. She has signed up for the honors plan, where you take extra credit classes and can graduate with commendations. She has even been nominated by her english teacher to take AP english and comp next year, which is a senior level course. There were lots of parents there, but not very many kids. Katie wanted to go, I didn't have to drag her along. She listened and absorbed all the info and we discussed her options on the way home. Then I called the cellular company and ordered her replacement phone ($50 since we have insurance) and it will be here tomorrow. She is really a great kid. How did that happen?