Dirt Dessert

Ashley chose the treat to be made yesterday – Dirt Dessert.

She thought she was all that as we set up all of the different layers that the kids could choose for their dessert cups.  We crushed graham crackers, Oreos, and nuts.  We had chocolate pudding and a whip cream filling.  The kids went to town making their own dessert for dinner.  I smiled as they were putting them in the fridge and freaking out that someone might get theirs.

Each put that top layer of crushed Oreos and then ONE gummy worm sticking out.  I then saw Ashley’s, and of course was in her face for having so many worms.

“Mom, they are having a family reunion.  One worm would be so bored without all of his family.”

I smiled at her quickness, as the other kids started freaking out that she was cheating.  I actually let her KEEP the ten worms because she explained her reasoning for them so quickly.  I didn’t let the other kids have any more worms, but instead keep their one worm. 

It pays to be creative and to not copy all of the others, especially with good reasoning.  :)

So Sad….

We saw the fire up in the canyon on Saturday when we were at the zoo.  It made me sad because of the beautiful hikes and views we enjoy up there.

Today I cried.  We were out in our yard working this afternoon and I could see the fire come over that ridge and the dark smoke coming with it. 

This picture is from our backyard.  That mountain peak is Pikes Peak.

We stood there watching in disbelief knowing that there were homes there.  There were friends there.  I just couldn’t stop the tears and the prayers.

Shortly after that last picture, the smoke engulfed us and you couldn’t really see anything.  Tonight as I looked out Jacob’s window into the black night, I could see the fires burning.  It’s HUGE!  I just couldn’t stop crying at the massive destruction.  So sad!

Ryan Lochte

I should have added this to my random post.  Loved seeing this guy win tonight and loved hearing his mother’s wisdom in this clip…..

Isn’t there such a fine line in pushing our kids, yet not pushing them too much.

Random

Here is a great Link  on how to make the bubble wands.  I would suggest a cotton rope instead of a nylon cord or string.  The cotton absorbs the bubble solution and makes the bubbles easier to make.

 

I’m sure there are plenty of other links on youtube that could help you make one.  This is just a link that looked similar to how we made ours. 

Next is a super yummy recipe that we made for lunch today and LOVED!  I picked up a rotisserie chicken and used half the meat for the BBQ chicken part and then had the rest for my dinner recipe.  It’s basically a summer salad recipe that has a Texas caviar on top of it.  DELICIOUS!  And, especially fun because some of it came out of our own garden.  The recipe and picture are from I Heart Naptime.   HERE is the recipe link.

I do a summer basket each year on the last day of school.  It is FILLED with activities and supplies for the kids in the summer.  I wish the picture could show what I had down in the bucket this year. 

Anyway, I had the marble water balloons in there to make big bouncy balls.  The girls saw the bag in there today and immediately remembered making them a couple of summers ago.  They are basically mini water balloons that are scrunched in another balloon that has its top cut off.   It’s fun to stuff them in the outer layer balloons.  The more balloons the thicker they are.  We only used three balloons per ball.  At any rate, the girls proceeded to entertain themselves for an hour today.  They have had so much fun bouncing them off walls and on the floors all day.

 

One more recipe that we are LOVING this summer.  I really wanted to take a picture on Friday, but was too busy to get one.  It’s Steve’s grilled pizza.  He uses his pizza crust recipe and grills it a little bit, brings it in to smother on his sauce and top with tons of different toppings.  It is just sooo good!  There is something about that crust and grilled veggies.  Here is a picture of a grilled pizza from www.thekitchn.com

Anyway, hope that answers a few questions and gives you a few random ideas and recipes.  :)

The Zoo

Can you guess where we went…

 

We have an awesome zoo here in the Springs.  Our favorite animals on this trip were the giraffes (as usual), the huge moose staring at us, the otters eating their frozen trout and playing in the water, the bears eating a 5 gallon Bomb popsicle, and the baby gorilla playing with his enormous dad. 

It was Teddy Bear Day at the zoo.  We LOVE this special day!  The kids bring in their stuffed animals and there’s a huge tent where they check the animals out.

You first go to the triage table and get checked out.  Then if they need stitches or fixes, they are sent on to another table.  They could be sent to the x-ray table and get x-rays.  Then they also have a table where they bandage them up and fix broken “bones”.

Jerrica’s “Stitches” is her bear she got at the hospital when SHE got stitches.  She told the lady that the exact same scenario happened to Stitches that had happened to her.  So they sent her to get an x-ray of Stitches brain and then bandaged him up.

Pam the Pig had broke her leg and was put in a splint.

Of course there were lots of other booths and fun things.  Jacob won a CD from a local radio station, the kids got free ice cream cones, coupons for bowling, and MY favorite was the icy bottled water they handed out.  It really is a fun event at the zoo!

The girls got their faces painted.  Jerrica chose a snake to scare me the rest of the day because she knows I hate snakes.

 

My little tiger cubs….

The one had her dad pack her around because she wore new shoes and was in some serious pain.  Stephen is always so good to pack his kids.

We are soooo excited for the elephant exhibit to open this Fall.  It looks like it’s going to be awesome.  For now though, we will enjoy feeding the giraffes.  I like this picture because Kaylee is in awe that she is petting him and he looks annoyed that she is all out of food.

In that last picture, there was a baby giraffe and Ashley kept telling it to go drink her mom’s milk that the leaves were only for the big giraffes.

I always find it interesting where the kids want to spend money.  The big girls were all over the Dippin Dots, where the little ones wanted the carousel.  Each as content with their choice as could be.

 

And one of my favorite photos of the day (even though the whites are all blown and bright), is of my youngest AND oldest.

Sure love the zoo!  We definitely need to go more often.

A Hike

We took a nice little family hike.  We grabbed our sunglasses, lathered ourselves in sunscreen, and made sure our camelbaks were filled with ice cold water.

Some juggled pinecones to keep themselves entertained.

Some found pretty treasures.  I think Ashley’s pockets were LOADED.

We had dad carry little ones that had flip flops.  Seriously, what kind of mom takes her kids on a hike with them wearing flip flops!?!  Uh, one that had flip flops on herself.  :)

 

It really was a beautiful afternoon to enjoy beautiful Colorado.  Ash was constantly saying, “mom, look at this….”

      

I’m just sad the fires are raging over there today. :(

Ashley’s Spa Date

It was time for a one on one date with Ashley.  She knew exactly what she wanted to do – go to a Spa.  She definitely needed a hair cut so we headed to Veda.

She sipped her lemon water.  She put her warm washcloth on her face and thought she was a queen. 

Ashley has VERY thick hair.  When I was discussing with the hair dresser about how to cut Ashley’s hair, the lady gave some suggestions on layering and texturing so that the “thickness is more like a normal person’s hair”.  Ashley immediately raised her finger and interjected, “Maybe MY hair is normal and everyone else’s is just thin.”  It made me smile that she was following the conversation and was very quick to stick up for herself.

Her hair is indeed more manageable now…

We finished off the date with a manicure with neon green polish and an Oreo Blast from Sonic.  She is definitely a diva!

Becca’s Book Club

Rebecca hosted her first book club this week, and did such an awesome job!  I preached to her the night before about making each guest feel special and not just clinging to her BFF.  We had budgeted and planned the crafts and treat.  So all in all I thought this was good practice for her as she holds future clubs and parties.

The book was Jennifer Murdley’s Toad.  The morning of the club she BEGGED Kaylee to wear her toad shirt.  She was just so cute at all of the details for the afternoon.

We picked quite a few words from the book and played Pictionary as girls were arriving.  It was cute how the Pictionary started discussion.

The book talked about how “objects in the mirror are not as they appear”.  We bought mirrors at the dollar store to decorate.  Rebecca also wanted to do some type of a bookmark.  We made frog ones with a quote from the book.  The ribbon is like a frog’s tongue with the little black bead like a fly.  The girls LOVED making the projects.

Rebecca led the discussion and had questions all written up for the discussion.

We ended the afternoon with an ice cream treat.  I should have taken a picture of all the cute girls that were here.

You did it Rebecca from start to finish!  :)

Giant Bubbles

I like to have stuff on hand to keep the kids busy in the summer.  It may be having all of the ingredients on hand for a summer drink or treat, craft supplies, a puzzle or game laid out, plenty of books from the library…. it just makes it easier to keep the kids busy if you have the supplies.

One of the things I like to keep full is the bucket with bubble solution.  Just by keeping it there on the step, the kids see it, friends see it, and the next thing you know bubbles are blowing in the wind.

Here is how we make our bubble solution…

Let me just say they are mesmerizing to watch…

 

You can make long strings of them, or close off the bubble wand sticks making individual bubbles.  They are SOOO fun!

Father’s Day

LOVE holidays that we can celebrate and honor someone.

I sure love MY father and am so grateful for all that he does and has done for me.  I can not even begin to tell you how many projects he has swooped in and helped me with.  He is so kind and creative.  I love you DAD!!!!

The kids also made Stephen feel like he was the greatest dad to ever walk the earth.

 

In the last picture, I was like why is Ashley screaming and being obnoxious, and then I see “sweet” little Kaylee’s hand reading over PULLING her hair.  :/  I still need to yell at her for that one.

We gave Stephen our book of love that I had posted about AND a basket FILLED with his favorite treats, which I should probably go find and steal one out.

I made these popcorn treats for my little church class to give to their fathers.  I got the idea and download from - Little Birdie Secrets.

Anyway, Happy Father’s day Dad and Stephen!  You are both awesome! 

Love you so much!

Last Week

The summer is flying by, and I’m having a hard time keeping up with all of the activities on this blog.  I need to highlight last week.

Jacob went to Aaron’s Camp last week.  He did rope courses, archery, canoeing, swimming, and just had a blast with his friends.  I missed him terribly and thought the week went by so slow without him.  He on the other hand thought the week flew by.  I was glad to see his backpack sitting by the washer knowing he was finally HOME!

Nathan traded his soccer ball in for a basketball last week.  He did the Pine Creek basketball camp and LOVED it.  I think it’s because he had so many of his friends do it with him.  Friends make everything fun!

Kaylee went to a fun party on Friday.  It was a red carpet event and all of the girls were assigned a different pop singer.  Kaylee was Pink.  She was so excited to get decked out and thanks to different friends we pulled a cute outfit together.  Let me just say she was thinking she was ALL that!

Stephen and I went on a couple of dates over the weekend.  When we dropped off Kaylee for her party we ended up staying on that side of town and going to Manitou Springs for mexican food and an evening wandering around the bands and galleries down there.  It was a beautiful evening and so fun to just relax with my Stever.  The next night we went on a fun date with another couple to a delicious little Italian restaurant.  The company and food made it another perfect evening.

We have also been busy with lemonade stands with friends.  Kaylee and Elizabeth did one for a couple of hours and made $32!  I thought it was cute that they had Battleship to play as they were waiting in between customers.

Lots of time spent at Lifetime.  It seems like we go there daily for swimming. 

Lots of bubbles.  I need to do a post on that.

And water balloons..

We went to a Spring Spree on Saturday.  I thought it was so interesting to read what the kids had wrote about it on “their blogs”.   Kaylee talked about the dog competition and then trying to train Shadow when they got home.  She wrote, “Shadow has the potential and speed, but just not the focus”.  :)  We went to Panda Express afterwards and one of the kids wrote about eating there and what they ate and how they wished I could make it.  They didn’t even mention one word about the Spring Spree.  Nathan mentioned all of the “sick” cars that were on display and about the BMX tricks we saw. 

It just made me smile at how different all of our memories are.  This blog of mine, I’m sure doesn’t capture all of the things that the kids will remember.  We are just all so different.

 

So according to MY memory, this was our last week.  :)