when he was in preschool. Mom, can we build an igloo? The Gr.1 class did, and I want an igloo. So I thought, why not, who am I to say no? So we are coming on almost 2 years and we have saved milk jugs FOREVER!!!! My poor parents shed was almost impossible to get into. The process of rinsing the jugs, letting them air out, and then putting the lids back on and putting them in the bags became something all of our family could do in our sleep now.
Well this past Thanksgiving weekend, we started the feat of igloo building. A few tools of course had to be purchased. high intensity glue guns, hundreds of glue sticks, the hunt for the perfect flooring. Afterall we wanted it to last in the weather and the kids not to get slivers.
Then began the long process of hauling all the bags to the "location".
It is nestled in my parents backyard, between beautiful trees and fence. And the best part, we can see into it from the kitchen window. That is called strategic planning. So now, my dad give the kids their first lesson in geometry. creating circles with a marker and a string once they find the middle. Their igloo has a diameter of 8ft. you know roughly the perfect party size to hold all the kids. lol
One other thing I would like to point out, we did have an excellent engineer on site to figure out the figurings!!!! Thank goodness for dads. I happen to think I am very blessed, but when I see him with my kids, man I realize how lucky they are. Imagine, grandparents that wantt o be a part of their ives, ones that watch their sports games, or tae kwon do, ones that come to their birthdays, ones that just well PARTICPATE in our kids lives. THANK you mom & dad. They always say it takes a village to raise a child, well I think my kids are blessed to have you guys in their lives.
Once we drew out our guide right on the panelling. We got out the glue guns and used the hottest setting as possible and away we went and glued the jugs right to the wood.
Everybody had a job. Jager was the glue man. We went through over 225 glue sticks so far, so having him close by was a necessity. We were changing glue sticks almost every 5 jugs. Riley was actually getting very good at gluing and blowing the jugs up with the air compressor.
but there is always time to be funny...
of course then pipsqueak wants a picture. (during this time you can see how productive I was. lol. I easily get sidetracked.) And of course this is the day our little 3yr old decided she was riding a bike with no training wheels. Woohoo!!! So armed with a helmet and mojo we helped her practice. Such determination. She did pretty good, At least at the farm, the ground seems softer, not like city concrete/pavement. She only has a few bruises.
To keep the kids busy instead of getting bored, we asked them to practice their adding and subtracting. We actually didn't know Jager could count that high. insert HUGe proud parent moment here. We had them arrange the jugs into groups of ten. Let's just say this is only the first dump of jugs, we made 5 more car loads. lol.
progress is starting to be made. Kids are getting excited!
4 levels so far, 3 hrs later. we are on a roll. Then the light starts to disappear, we break a glue gun, decided to call it quits. Mom of course has an amazing feast ready for us to eat. I LOVE my MOM. holey camoley the lady can cook!
Day 2. We are back at it, now with more glue and a new glue gun. Being in use for hours upon hours, really kicked the glue gun in the butt. You can really see progress now. The sides are tilting in more, the door is starting to be formed. However, we did a slight miscalculation, next time make your seventh layer a little more tilted. Otherwise it gets taller . Not a bad thing, you just need WAY more milk jugs.
of course, new day, so that means new photos. lol. Today Jager is Batman. Nothing like a good ole black garbage bag to do the trick.
Serious, the end is in site??????
little pipsqueak was getting settled right in. Jager now had a new job, making sure all the lids were on. He wanted to be in charge of this so he knew which colours were next to each other. He is thoughtful that way. Just like when he made his birthday guest list, he said he was going to invite a group of girls to play with his fave because he couldn't always be there to play with her. He'd have to entertain everyone.
Speaking of birthdays, man do they suck or what??? First off, what's your policy on inviting the kids that don't invite yours? Recently my kids weren't invited to a party, and maybe we were just forgotten, who knows. always give the benefit of the doubt. However, it SUCKS seeing my kids sad that they didn't go. It is actually the worst feeling ever. So of course, now they don't want those kids at their parties. ei yi yi. the drama starts so early. I can totally understand if you are only having a tiny amount of kids, but really when you had 45 guests???? Anyways, a real eye opener. And so I will abide their wishes and only invite those they want at their party. I thought we should've extended the invitation. However, the kids said, "mom there's no point". Jager goes, "but we've been invited every year". Riley goes, "yeah probably cause they just wanted gifts from us. "We give good gifts. uggh! HEART BROKE, over and over! Not sure what I'm more upset about, the sadness my kids feel for being left out, or the fact that Riley is becoming "hardened to how some people behave nasty". I want his innocence still.
Anyways, I distinctly remember my husband saying this idea was all mine, and he'd watch us build it. I laughed, knowing full well he was excited to see the outcome and that he'd never sit for a minute. He is that awesome, help always kind of guy. The look of seriousness, probably fixing my mistakes. lol I make lot's.
This would be, my "wife is driving me crazy look". he makes me laugh all the time. More likely I can't repeat what he just said, but of course I was fully smiling.
as you can see, our igloo now stand at approximately 5 ft+ tall. Most likely between 6-7ft upon completion. HOWEVER, we RAN OUT OF milk jugs. Who'd have thought over 500 jugs would not be enough. So I am making a request to any local peeps, please save me you milk jugs, just give them a rinse, save the lids and I will come pick them up!!!! I f you are a scrapbooker maybe I can thank you with supplies! We want to finish it before snowfall, and think we are about 60 jugs short. THANKS SO VERY VERY much!!!!!
I will show the completed igloo when I can. thanks for tuning into our latest family adventure. We are living the life, experimenting, making mistakes, having fun and living in the moment...are you?
