Busy, busy

What I've been up to lately:

**Building: over a year ago we bought one of those massive playground structures from Costco complete with three swings, tire swing, trapeze bar, rock wall, rope ladder, slide, monkey bars, steering wheel and telescope. Oh yeah, I almost forgot the removable chalkboard. The one that is not nailed or screwed down and could (and most likely will be) become a very large weapon if someone gets a bug up their butt. This past weekend we finally finished putting it together. Yippee!

**Shoveling and raking: In order to make the "fall zone" safe for the little ones, we ordered two full loads of pea gravel (16 tons). All 16 tons need to be raked and/or shoveled to cover the entire surface area. My arms basically feel like jelly at this point. But progress is being made. This morning I had the daycare kids filling buckets of gravel and dumping it into the empty spaces. Meanwhile, Jesse and I are filling the wheelbarrow, dragging it (because that was the only way my body would allow), and dumping it. I have a feeling I'm going to be ripped when all this is said and done. Woohoo!

**Partying: Last weekend Nate had his birthday party at a laser tag facility. Needless to say, it was one of the easiest parties we've ever planned. The ride home was the hardest part of all.
2 laser tag missions + 4 teenagers = 1 very stinky vehicle. Windows were down the whole way home. Jesse's party is planned for this Friday. She has been literally begging for a surprise party. I told her that if you keep expecting a surprise party, then there's no surprise. She stopped asking a few weeks ago. Her party will be based around the "campout" theme. I've got a bunch of games planned along with the girls sleeping in the tent all night and a campfire with marshmallows. I'll report later to let you know if anyone runs into our friendly skunk (spotted last night) on their way to go potty.