Just Another Day in Jersey Paradise

Ready for a new Adventure

2010-05-28T07:36:00.000-04:00

She's done preschool!! Audrey was Martha Washington at her school's end of the year program; and she did such a great job. We're so proud of her and how she's grown this year...on to kindergarten...but first a nice loooong relaxing summer.

A Supercalifragilistic break from Reality

2010-04-19T07:56:00.016-04:00

We just got back from Disney World! It was the first time for the kids. It was their first plane ride too; so it was a week of nonstop overwhelming adventure. Here are just a few of our favorite memories; it's the cute and funny little things that will stay in my mind:

We got off of the plane and got on Disney's Magical Express bus to our resort...Zach was so excited. Then it was all we could do to keep it together when Audrey stopped in the middle of Main Street staring at Cinderella's Castle for the first time.

Everyone loved Tom Sawyer Island; they could've played there all day; exploring, pretending that bad guys were robbing the Big Thunder Railroad--they thought it was cool that you could see it from the fort.

Sliding down a leaf

The "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground at Hollywood Studios was really cool. Zach kept asking us, "Am I really tiny?"

Zach finally got to see the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House! When we asked him what he'd like to see at Disney World, this was his top choice--he's been watching the movie a lot recently and was so cute pointing out everything that he recognized

Johnathan scarfing down a humongo cinnamon bun at the Main Street Bakery. We stayed up late each night watching fireworks, hanging at Downtown Disney, and late night swimming; so we slept in as late as we all could each morning. This was so nice! Breakfast was always a little later than we are used to, and everyone was always very hungry--good thing because Disney portions are big.

Audrey loved "It's a Small World"; she calls it "A world of Laughter" It was so cute to watch our shy little girl come out of her shell a little this week and try things. Sometimes she'd have lots of questions in line, "Is it fast? is it dark? Is is going to be loud?" and we'd tell her what it was going to be like and she tried most things--even the Haunted Mansion and the loud racecars! So proud of her.

Mom and Dad Friedrich came down for 3 of the days we were there. It was really nice to share this time with them. Poor Zachy got pooped walking all around; he slept through a few long lines and shows. He was quite the little trooper though. We didn't take a stroller down; so he walked a lot.

We loved Epcot! There's so much cool stuff to see and do--could have spent another day there. The kids had fun making masks and getting stamps from all of the different countries and the Fireworks there were amazing. Johnathan loved Mission Space--Scott will tell you not to do this on an empty stomach--took him a while to recover :)--and Test Track--Johnathan's growing up way too fast! It was cool to be able to go on the big rides with him. The food at Epcot is also really good. We had the quick service dining plan; which worked out really great. There is a place in the Land at Epcot called Sunshine Seasons--my fav.

Waiting for Indiana Jones to start. Wish I would have gotten a picture of Jonhathan's face when Indy dropped down from the ceiling; it was so cute.

There were a bunch of rides that Zach couldn't get on because of height restrictions; so he was very excited to be able to get on Goofy's Barnstormer

Waiting for the parades to start. We loved the parades! The parades were a nice time to sit and talk, get a snack--because we had a bizillion snack credits and look at maps to see where we wanted to go next. Its a nice way to see a lot of characters at one time--expecially for kids like Audrey who don't want to get too close. Zach loved giving the charachters that were walking hi-5s. He was so cute! He wore this pin that the resort gave him practically the whole trip--apparently when they see the "first time to Disney World" pin the characters and staff try to give you attention--so he was always getting hugs and tickles from the characters--his favorite was Stitch.

One of the kids' favorite memories was while we were waiting for the SpectroMagic parade to start one night. There was a girl putting tape lines down to mark the parade route and they were watching her; she looked up and gave each of them a roll of tape and sat down in the middle of the road in Frontier Land with them and helped them make all sorts of maskng tape creations--snakes, robots, trees--other kids came over and joined in and they were all helping each other make this big scene while people were walking around them wondering what they were doing. It was funny to watch, and the kids had a great time.

and the best memories of all--the whole family piling onto rides together, laughing together, talking about our favorites, feeling dizzy and ready for the next one

Life is busy around here; so it was so nice to take a break and just enjoy being together. We were so sad to have to come home. Disney is an amazing place; the resort, the transportation, the take home mugs(funny what kids think is cool; they'd bring these to breakfast and refill them often) Disney got it all right; it was a perfect first visit.

All Fired Up

2010-03-10T17:03:00.003-05:00

I had a fun day with some friends and my little buddy today at a local paint-your-own-pottery place called All Fired Up. They have a storytime and then the kids get to paint something. Today they heard "the Runaway Bunny" and then got to paint a bunny. Zach chose green and blue for his little guy and now they'll fire it and we get to pick it up on Monday; he's excited that he'll have a decoration for his room that he made all by himself. I'm loving having some time this year to hang out with Zach; we have so much fun together and I love that a lot of businesses are starting cool programs like this for little kids and moms. If you are local New Jersian, this is so much fun, and this place does a wonderful thing that I want to try once Zach is 5--it's called PJs, Pizza & Painting--you can drop kids that are 5 and over off to have fun in their pjs--watching movies, eating pizza and painting pottery, and mom and dad can go have dinner at a nearby restaurant. Highly recommend this place!

Boredom Buster--Print out Lego Building Instructions

2010-02-11T13:26:00.000-05:00

Love this feature on the Lego Website. You can print out building instructions to most of their sets; so if you have a big old box of mixed up legos like ours; you can print out the instructions for something you want to build and try to make it with the pieces you have. Johnathan loves following the steps; so whenever he's bored we go look at these and pick out something he can build--keeps him busy for a while.

The Eye of the Tiger--Best Version I've Ever Heard

2010-02-10T11:50:00.002-05:00

Whoa, Where did our front porch go?

2010-02-10T11:19:00.002-05:00

We are snowed in!

So we're coming up with some fun things to do today and maybe for the next couple of days.

We are getting very excited about the Winter Olympic Games Starting on Friday; so we thought we'd watch Cool Runnings

Anyone remember the 1988 Olympics in Calgary? I do. Everyone thought it was funny to see guys from a tropical island racing in a bobsled and then came their crash and they all got out and walked with their sled to the finish line--one of those famous Olympic Inspirational moments. The characters in the movie are fictional but the actual footage from that crash is used in the movie. So we'll curl up under blankets with some popcorn and get ready for Friday.

Along the Olympic theme, I saw this cute idea on Crayola's website; so maybe later we'll try this Snow Sports Craft

Here are some other fun snowy or Olympic themed movies that are good for families:

Miracle
The Cutting Edge
The First Olympics
The Mighty Ducks
Balto
Snow Dogs
Iron Will
Snow Buddies
Ice Age
White Fang
The Call of the Wild
Eight Below
Snowball Express
March of the Penguins

More Olympic themed Crafts that look fun:

Olympic Torch
Olympic Rings from paper plates, might be fun to ties strings to each side and hang it up
Olympic Medal Chart, keep track of which country has the most medals

And here is the website for this year's Olympic Games if you want to check it out: Vancouver 2010

Valentines

2010-01-30T14:07:00.020-05:00

We'll be busy next week working on our Valentines for school parties the week after. It's cute to see the kids get excited to make things for their friends and teachers.

Johnathan gave these out last year to his kindergarten class. We got them from the Stubby Pencil Studio; $7.95 for 12 cards and envelopes. They were great; he got to color each one and trace the dotted words at the bottom. It is an amazing little shop and their colored pencils and crayons are so nice.

He and Audrey are giving these cute Valentines from the Land of Nod to their friends this year; they are $5.95 for 32--two in each pack are teacher cards.

Johnathan picked Robots and Audrey like the animals.

Zach picked out these little color-your-own valentines one day when we were out running errands; he's not in school yet; so his are mostly for family, but he does have a few neighborhood friends he'd like to make one for as well. We picked these up at the Christmas Tree Shops; I forget the price, but they come with crayons and candy. Cute for little guys.

love this card idea from the Long Thread

Etsy Love--Ninaivorm's Ceramics

2010-01-14T08:53:00.000-05:00

Love the fun ceramics from Ninainvorm!

The kids got their Christmas wish

2009-12-22T10:15:00.001-05:00

2 Feet of snow, a day off from school, sledding, snow forts and battles, and a fine looking snowman...who needs presents.
Life is good!

Send Letters to Santa & Make Wishes Come True

2009-12-15T08:14:00.009-05:00

We mailed our letters to Santa the other day at Macy's. They have big red mailboxes just for Santa Mail. There's still time to get them written and off to the North Pole if you haven't done so. They get to Santa right away and Macy's donates $1 for each letter to the Make-a-Wish Foundation; so write one of your own along with the kids--it's fun to write down crazy wishes; who knows, maybe they'll come true. ;) What would you wish for?

*I wish that my kids will have a fun Christmas, that I won't get stressed over the small stuff and that we'll all be truly thankful for the best gift--Jesus Christ coming to earth on that very first Christmas.*

Have a Merry Christmas with your friends and families!

Here are some interesting articles about Santa, his origins, and kids:

Santa Claus
The Origin of Santa
The Claus that Refreshes

Decking the Halls

2009-12-15T07:52:00.000-05:00

It's feeling very Christmassy around here

2009-12-14T11:10:00.000-05:00

A trip to the tree farm will do that...

Happy December!

2009-12-01T09:42:00.000-05:00

It really is the most wonderful time of the year. So much family fun ahead. My sister-in-law Sarah has an amazing blog called Short Stop. She's going to be having lots of fun posts this month and she's hosting a Cookie Exchange, which will have links to all kinds of deliciousness. Check it out; you'll love her blog all year round.

Sometimes you need to get away and be silly--Just the two of you

2009-11-30T21:59:00.003-05:00

...and a little bit of beautiful Virginia countryside is cool too

Virginia is for Lovers!!

A shout out to Charlottesville, VA, the Dinsmore House and Monticello! Amazing weekend!

Fall

2009-11-12T10:09:00.003-05:00

Ooops, I Never Posted Pics of Zach's Birthday Party, poor 3rd child...

2009-10-29T10:26:00.003-04:00

Halloween TV Specials

2009-10-25T10:05:00.005-04:00

Halloween Specials are on this week!!

I still love watching them and I love watching them when they come on TV, with the cool toy commercials. When I was a kid, I used to grab the TV guide that came in the Sunday newspaper when we got close to the major holidays and look at each night to see when a "special" was going to be on--I know, big dork. I refuse to buy them on DVD now though--then they wouldn't be "Specials" anymore. I used to look forward to the different holiday specials coming on; it was so cool to be able to stay up late those nights and sit with my little brothers and sisters and mom and dad and watch them--I can't believe the same classic Charlie Browns are still being shown. I'm glad they are; I get to relieve all the excitement over with my kids each year. I'm super sentimental, what can I say.

Anyway, here are the times and channels:

"It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" is on Tuesday and Wednesday at 8:00 on ABC

Then there's a new one this year:

"Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space" is on Wednesday at 8:00 on NBC

Etsy Love

2009-10-21T20:20:00.004-04:00

I love browsing around on Etsy. There are so many talented people out there. Are these little acorns not the greatest? They are in a really cool shop called Humble Bea's, and what's cooler still is that her husband, son and mom also have Etsy shops. You have to go check out her son's shop--it is the most adorable thing I have ever seen.

Beautiful Blog for Moms

2009-10-18T13:06:00.002-04:00

You have to check out this Blog: More than a Mom by Caryn

Not just because she's my friend, but because she's an amazing writer. She'll make you laugh, cry and help you remember you are not alone in this crazy journey of motherhood.

First Grade is a cool place to be

2009-10-15T08:54:00.004-04:00

It's a cool year for Johnathan; he gets to start all kinds of fun things. He has started going to a group at our church with Scott called Boys in Christ(BIC), which is a Father/Sun time every other Friday night where they do a fun activity, snack and Bible Study. Their first meeting they made marshmallow shooters and had a battle; this week they're meeting at a friend's house to watch the Phillies game; it is just so cute to see Scott and JJ go off together, excited to spend the evening together; so good for both of them.

He is also starting Cub Scouts and let me tell you he is one excited little boy; he loves flipping through his book seeing what he needs to do and all of the exciting things they're going to be working on. We've been to one meeting so far and I was so impressed. I didn't know very much about the organization before going in, but love the den we are in and can't wait for him to have fun; we have amazing leaders and what is so great is that it is all very family friendly--everyone can go to everything, at least one parent has to be at every function, but everyone can go if they want.

here's what we did our first meeting:

Our leader sat down with the boys and went over the Cub Scout Promise line by line and what each means and making sure they understood and took it seriously:

Cub Scout Promise

I, (say your name), promise to DO MY BEST

To do my DUTY to GOD

And my Country

To HELP other people,

and To OBEY the LAW of the Pack

We have another meeting tonight; we're making family scrapbooks and on Saturday we'll be touring a local battlefield; lots of fun and lots of service projects lined up, just can't wait!!

check out their website: Boy Scouts of America to find a local Council

How Cool Are these bubbles?

2009-10-15T08:47:00.003-04:00

Has anyone else start thinking about Christmas gifts yet? I start early to spread it out. I saw these and thought they were the coolest things--great stocking stuffer or birthday gift for a preschooler. Colored Bubbles!! non-staining, non-toxic. Check them out at Zubbles, 2 bottles for $14.95.

Finishing off the birthday season with a Princess Bash

2009-10-05T20:38:00.009-04:00

Audrey's 5th Birthday! 5 years went by so fast! She has really grown a lot over this past year. We're so proud of her. She jumped right back into school and ballet without any worries; is excited that she moved up to a new Sunday School and is in a classroom downstairs at church--because that's where all of the big kids are; decided soccer wasn't for her this year, but is asking to do ice skating. We might go try it out one day and see what she thinks. She has a very caring heart--I love to hear her pray because she really thinks about it and prays for people that she knows are sick; loves little babies and animals and of course loves all things sparkly and pink!

Aunt Em's Chocolate covered pretzels

her first American Girl Dolls. She's so cute with them, getting them dressed for bed every night and tucking them in.

Zach wanted to claim this kitty for his own

Party, Party, Party!!! We had our kids in August, September and October; so once August hits it's one party after another. It's fun planning them and watching each child get excited, but I must say, I'm glad Audrey's is at the end of the string of birthdays. Since Zach's party was two weeks ago I felt like we were still cleaning up from that; but it's really fun setting up all of the girly stuff and seeing Audrey get all excited. The boys don't get into the little details as much. Last week Audrey asked me if we could get out this little vase that we have with two little birds on it and put pink flowers in it for her party. Love that little girl!!!

We let the kids tell us the theme they want for their parties--this is a process that starts looong before their birthdays; they're so funny telling me throughout the year what kind of party they want to have next year. It's nice to see that they are still content with having small family parties at home; although we told them that they can have a few friends over for a party every other year; so next year will be that year for everyone; we figure that way no one feels left out. It's hard keeping things simple sometimes when there are so many cool parties out there.

This year Audrey wanted a Princess Party--mainly because she saw a cake at Shoprite that had 3 of the Disney Princesses on top and their dresses lit up; so we had to get that. She thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen--the tackier the better for Audrey; she also picked out the candle that plays the "Happy Birthday" song. I had to keep myself from laughing several times when we were setting things up because it was just so funny and adorable the way she would say, "ooooh, mommy that looks sooo beautiful!"

A little note to our families: Thanks everyone for making all of the kids birthdays' so special this year; I know I don't always get to say it at the parties because I'm running around like a crazy woman, but they were all thoroughly spoiled.

Our Little Ham is 3 Years Old!!

2009-09-23T14:14:00.003-04:00

Zach's kept us all very entertained here in his 3 years of life so far. Who knows what the Lord has in store for his future, but I have no doubt he'll be making people smile--you just can't help it around him. Happy Birthday Big Boy!

Off to see the Wizard

2009-09-17T08:09:00.004-04:00

Next Wednesday for one day only the Wizard of Oz is being shown in select theaters around the country; it's called the Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Hi-Def Event. It would be cool to see it on the big screen.

Back to School

2009-09-16T14:16:00.007-04:00

Everyone was ready and excited to go back to school this year.

Johnathan gets on the bus bright and early every day and has lots of cool stuff going on in 1st grade this year--music, art, computer & Spanish are some of the "specials" that his class will go to on different days of the week. He's so cute coming home telling us all of the new things he's learning. Yesterday he came running off of the bus and said, "mom, ask me how I am so I can tell you I'm good in Spanish".

Audrey's going to Pre-K 3 mornings a week and is excited to eat lunch there with her friends. She's a lots less anxious about things this year and is just having fun, which is so wonderful to see. She's a good and helpful little student. She made me proud on her first day when she asked a new girl who was crying if she wanted to come color and play. It's fun talking to her on the way home in the car because I get every detail of her day carefully explained to me; what the weather is like today, who was the line leader, what they made, what they had for snack, who she sat next to for snack, what book they read, what they played in the gym, and that this one girl had on pink sparkly shoes; so cute!

Zach, oh Zach, why do you want to leave me and go off to school. Luckily he isn't yet, but he would if I let him. He's my little buddy; we go everywhere together. He's a very entertaining partner in errand running. He insisted that I take his picture with his backpack like the other two, but he's not going anywhere yet.

Let the busy fall begin; my official title is Chauffeur.

Pitman Carnival

2009-09-10T09:14:00.007-04:00

Each year on Labor Day weekend the Pitman Carnival is set up, and it is an annual must for our family; not only because it's tons of old fashioned fun, but Scott's parents used to go with their families and one year they noticed each other there and each one thought the other was cute, and the story of them began. They have definitely lived happily ever after; next year is their 40th Wedding Anniversary. So, it's a special place.

The kids all look forward to it during the summer; asking us when the carnival is coming. This year everyone enjoyed the rides; so it was lots of fun.

Audrey ran right for the pink car with Linc

Johnathan was a good sport riding the little rides, but we did make it over to the big boy stuff and he and mommy rode the Pirate ship & he and Uncle Lance rode the Merry Mixer

Zach and Grammy being silly

the boys on the Merry-go-Round

everyone won prizes

Lots of great memories were made once again. Can't wait til next year!

The Other National Space Museum

2009-09-03T07:16:00.007-04:00

We've been telling the kids we'd go down to the National Space Museum for a while and decided to go to the one in Chantilly, VA, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazer Center. It's part of the Smithsonian, but not in D.C. like most of the others. It houses a lot of the bigger aircraft. The kids' eyes got really big when we walked in the door. It's always fun watching the wonder.

Space Shuttle

Johnathan's favorite behind them--the Mars Rover

3 cute boys

taking in the coolness

We Have a 7 Year Old?

2009-08-26T08:21:00.004-04:00

Johnathan's 7th birtday was last week!! I'm still in denial. We had a fun day on his birthday; he got to pick what we did all day---So here we are at the Lego Store. We must have played there for a few hours and he picked out a little set to bring home and play for a few more hours. He was cute studying every little thing in the store. It was fun watching him. He's growing up into an amazing little boy.

Introducing My Shop

2009-08-20T06:14:00.011-04:00

I started a shop recently on Etsy.com. If you haven't looked around on this site before go there. It is an amazing place to shop for handmade and vintage items. My shop is called Vintage Parties. It's mostly full of things for children's parties. I love party supplies, old or new; it's just so much fun to imagine the possibilities and how excited my kids would be. I've found lots of great vintage items that I've combined with things that I've made to make "Party Packs"; they usually have some vintage invitations, a banner I make with vintage fabric and then whatever else I find that goes with the theme. The shop will also have lots of little miscellaneous items that I find that I think would be cool party favors or accessories.

It's been lots of fun getting this little shop up and running; nice to have something that's mine--now just to find the time to work on all of the ideas flying around in my head. Any tips on managing time?

The pictures below are a few from a Raggedy Ann Tea Party Package that I put together; vintage invitations and an old tea set and then a banner and headbands that I made.

Go check it out when you get a chance! I'll be posting little tidbits here and there when I find something cool for the shop or am working on a fun project. (I have a cool Star Wars package in the works)

Coolest Sandwiches ever

2009-08-19T06:58:00.005-04:00

After seeing these cool sandwiches, I think I'm motivated to start our Dinner and a Movie Nights again; we took a little break over the summer.

There's an amazing gallery of pictures at the website Funky Lunch.

Our Construction Crew

2009-08-10T21:20:00.003-04:00

The best little deck helpers ever

with the best big one

Child Labor

2009-08-05T19:48:00.000-04:00

Gift Idea for Lego Lovers

2009-08-05T09:29:00.003-04:00

Our little Lego lover's birthday is coming up soon; so we decided to get him a year's subscription to the Lego BrickMaster magazine. It's a cool magazine and you get a whole lot more than just a great magazine; you get:

6 Magazines over the course of a year
6 surprise Lego sets made exclusively for Brickmaster subscribers
2 $5 coupons to put towards new Lego sets
and a free past to Legoland California

all for $39.99; not a bad deal. We got a sample in the mail and they are pretty cool; you can request a sample if you'd like to see one. Johnathan has studied every detail of this magazine; he keeps it in his night stand drawer and we see him in there late at night reading every little bit of it. If you want them to work on their reading get them something they love. He comes down in the morning telling us all of the names of characters and reading us funny comics. It's cute!

also, you can sign up for this Free 2-year Lego Club Magazine meant for kids 6 and under; these are full of all kinds of stories that they can read themselves, building ideas and activities. We've been getting this one for a little while now and they are tons of fun. Check out the online games on Lego.com as well, but the best thing about Legos is just building fun stuff over and over.

Summer Days

2009-07-29T17:03:00.005-04:00

It was a hot and hazy day here in NJ. We headed over to the Morris Arboretum for a little while to explore. Thank goodness for the fountains that were hidden away in the perfects spots when we needed relief from the heat.

giant bird's nest

Oak Alley--roots were painted on the pathway to show how long tree roots grow. They're holding little passport books that have fun kids activities and a place on each page to put a stamp from different sections of the Arboretum. They love this, Longwood Gardens does this for kids as well; a "quest" gives them a little extra energy and enthusiasm.

fountains

a shady place to rest and study a leaf

can't quite reach that one

The Phillies

2009-07-20T12:10:00.006-04:00

Johnathan and daddy got to go to a Phillies game w/Grammy and Opah last week--Johnathan's first major league game. He was one excited little boy; it was so cute. He got his and daddy's gloves out in the morning and set them on the counter in the kitchen so they wouldn't forget them and was trying on this jacket that used to be Scott's when he was a kid seeing if it fit--it did. Apparently Scott wore this jacket every day of his life when he was around Johnathan's age; so Johnathan was excited to try on daddy's favorite jacket.

They had a great time; Johnathan was spoiled by Daddy, Grammy and Opah with all sorts of treats; the Phillies won, and there were fireworks after the game. You can't ask for a better evening when you're a little boy.

Cupcake Kit

2009-07-14T08:18:00.005-04:00

Cupcakes are fun to make, but would be especially fun with this kit; $20 at Fred Flare.

New Jersey--the Garden State

2009-07-13T07:59:00.006-04:00

In our talks about America and New Jersey this week I told the kids that our state fruit is the blueberry; so we went to this amazing farm down the road this week to pick some and got a whole lot of other goodies too.

peaches and sweet plums

who knew peach picking could be so dangerous

and the blueberries

then we got busy eating all of this great fresh fruit and making all sorts of yummy things.

the Blueberry Pops like Johnathan's eating in the post below were really good!

First Stop in our Around the World Summer--America

2009-07-12T08:48:00.005-04:00

We just got back from beautiful Vermont for a week with my side of the family and decided to keep talking about America this week and all of the beautiful and interesting things about our country. Every day at lunch I gave the kids a printout to color while I was getting lunch ready; they colored a map of the U.S., the American Flag, made some indian symbols and then we narrowed it down to our state of New Jersey; in this pic they're coloring our state flag and we talked all about what's on it and what it symbolizes. We didn't get a chance to get into Philly this week, but maybe next week we'll head over to see the Liberty Bell and Betsy Ross House.

You can print some great stuff about your state from this site: Apples4theteacher.com

(we were down on the Camden Waterfront yesterday watching boats and the kids all started jumping and yelling excitedly, "mom look it's the New Jersey Flag and it's the same as the one's we colored." it was cute that they thought that was cool!)

Lazy Summer Days and Ice Cream--the perfect combination

2009-06-24T08:05:00.000-04:00

Our Summer

2009-06-24T07:47:00.004-04:00

I like to stick a little bit of learning into our summers; so we came up with a them for the summer and we'll do fun stuff to tie it all together. Our theme is "Around the world in one summer". I found some cool books at the library:

This Around the World cookbook is so cool; it has sections on different parts of the world and recipes to go along

an Atlas for kids

and a book of stories

We took the atlas outside yesterday and drew a picture of all of the continents on the driveway with sidewalk chalk.

We'll talk about maps and how to read them; visit fun places in the area, cook together, read lots of stories; maybe talk about a different part of the world each week; should be fun. I was thinking the kids might like the old movie "Around the World in 80 Days" at the end of the summer. so that's the plan; we'll get started after we get back from vacation next week and I'll try to post things here and there if I can.

Audrey's Big Day

2009-06-24T06:20:00.007-04:00

Audrey had her ballet recital on Saturday and she was so cute and excited. I think Scott and I were more nervous than she was; her class was the 6th group to come out and boy was it hard sitting there waiting and wondering if our little girl was ok, how was she feeling; was she going to do it? Then her time came and out bounces Audrey, smiling and having fun; whew, now we could relax and enjoy. So cute!

waiting before the show
walking with a very proud daddy

She's growing up! This year of ballet was a major confidence booster for Audrey. I loved her teacher, so patient and kind. It's really neat and hard at the same time to watch your kids overcome the little hurdles that come their way. At the beginning of the year the class would do freeze dance and Audrey would sit on the side and watch; you could see the struggle she was going through by the looks on her face--"It looks like so much fun, dancing around and being silly, but I couldn't". I would watch through the window and want to run in an hold her hand and start dancing w/her. Then one time she tried it; and she was hooked. It was cute to see how proud she was of herself for doing it, and to see her letting go of all of the "what if's" and having fun. She does things in her own time and that's ok--It's taken me a little bit of time to get into the "it's ok" mindset. I'd feel bad for her sitting on the sidelines watching and try to get her to join in, only to end up with a crying little girl; so I've learned over the past year to let her sit and watch and she'll get in there when she's thoroughly inspected the situation and feels that it's ok to try. We are SO proud of her!

Carnivals and Classic Cars

2009-06-15T09:45:00.003-04:00

We went to a Chili Cook-Off this past weekend. We didn't end up tasting any of the chili, but had fun looking at the cars and riding on the rides at the carnival.

Johnathan's favorite

and Zach's

Audrey's first reaction to anything she tries; then after the initial fear is gone; she'll want to do it 100 times; she's so funny!

Picture Puzzles--fun game for little people

2009-06-15T09:03:00.009-04:00

We've had this game, Picture Puzzles, forever and all of the kids have loved playing with it; I can't remember where we picked it up. It's a good one for Zach right now at age 2 because it's simple, but it's still fun for the older kids too because they like making up fun games to play with the cards.

It consists of big cards with different body parts of all kinds of characters and you have to match them up.

Other games I like for the youngest kids are:

Cranium Cariboo

Don't break the ice--Zach's favorite, he loves to whack things

Hi-Ho Cherry-O

Zingo

A lot of times when Zach is playing we'll play games that are meant for older kids, but shorten them because he can't sit as long as they can; so he feels like a big kid playing the games they like.

What are your favorites for the littlest in your families?

Yay for Summer! Free Family Film Festival

2009-05-29T09:05:00.002-04:00

I've blogged about this before, but just wanted to post the link again for Regal Cinema's Free Family Film Festival for this summer. I love that they do this. You can take your kids to the movies--all G or PG--on Tuesday or Wednesday mornings at 10:00 during the summer at participating theatres for FREE!!

It's so nice taking little kids to this because you don't feel like you've just emptied the bank account only to see you kids jumping from seat to seat, up and down, etc. Just enter your state at the bottom to see if any theatres near you are participating and to view the list of movies they will be showing.

Perfect Weekend to kick off Summer

2009-05-28T21:18:00.007-04:00

We went and visited our Midwest cousins over Memorial Day weekend, and we had so much fun. It was sad to leave and come home, but luckily we get to see them again soon

I didn't take many pics, so these only show a tiny bit of the fun. Our brother and sister made it such a great time for all of us.

Miss you guys!!

Audrey's Done her first year of preschool!?

2009-05-28T21:04:00.002-04:00

Where did this year go?

We had a fun day at her class picnic

She did a great job at the little Patriotic Program that her class did,

followed by yummy cake and ice cream.

We're pretty proud of Audrey; she's grown up a lot this year. She started school anxious and shy and ended it excited and ready for more. It's been fun watching it all and cheering her on.

Family Movie Night at the Park

2009-05-17T13:12:00.003-04:00

The rain went away!!

We had our Friday Family Movie night at the park. They showed Wall-E; handed out free water bottles, soft pretzels & Popcorn. I love the events sponsored by our local Parks & Rec. Departments; they work hard to come up with lots of fun for the whole family.

We're pretty excited about all the cool stuff coming up this summer.

Rain and random things

2009-05-15T08:18:00.018-04:00

Wow, we've had a lot of rain here lately! I was hoping to take the kids to a movie at the park tonight, but I don't know if that's going to happen because it's raining again. We'll see how things go today.

here are just a few very random things that I saw this week that I thought I'd share:

Cool book called Alphabetica .

another coupon site called Coupon Chief; they have good up to date deals to share.

and a great post from Artful Parent on a way to save a stained shirt and turn it into a dress.

Friday Family Movie Night

2009-05-08T09:10:00.007-04:00

Dinner and a Movie

Now Showing

Peter Pan

Pirate Island Tuna Boats

Magical Fairy Wands

The Tuna Boat recipe is from Disney's Magic Kitchen Cookbook; it's a really fun book.

Pirate Island Tuna Boats:

1 red & 1 yellow sweet pepper

1 cucumber, chopped

2 3-oz pouch tuna

2tbs light mayo

1 tsp. yellow mustard

pita bread

baked pita wedges: turn oven to 375. brush olive oil onto a round pita bread, sprinkle w/lemon pepper. Cut into wedges and put onto baking sheet; bake for 8-10 minutes

for boats: cut the peppers into quarters and clean them out. mix tuna cucumber, mayo and mustard, then put this mixture into the pepper halves, then add a pita wedge to each pepper for the "sail"; serve w/extra pita wedges.

Magical Fairy Wands:

dip pretzel rods in melted white chocolate and sprinkle w/pop rocks; let cool in fridge while your making boats

*check out the side bar for more great dinner and a movie ideas*

Mother's Day Tea with Audrey

2009-05-08T08:59:00.004-04:00

I got to go to Audrey's school yesterday for a Mother's Day Tea. She was so excited all week and we had such a great time together. I'm so proud to be her mom!

"Flower for you mommy"

We finally wore our matching "Audrey Hepburn" shirts that I had gotten in the fall, thinking we'd wear them on Audrey's first day of school, but hers was a little too big at the time. She was cute when I was putting her to bed last night; I was walking out of her room and she said, "mommy, I loved being twins today"; she had a cute little smile on her face.

It was just one of those moments when it's so great to be a mom.

A Mother's Day Song

2009-05-08T08:58:00.002-04:00

Tea Party

2009-05-08T07:45:00.002-04:00

Little Audrey's growing up. That fact hits me at certain moments and makes me proud and sad at the same time. She came up with her tray the other day and said she wanted to make lunch for everyone for a tea party and she had it all set up already at her table. She did so good making little sandwiches for us with only a little help getting the cookie cutters through the bread--Zach got a train sandwich, I got a flower and she made herself a heart.

she was a good hostess

she tried to tell Zach how to hold his pinky up

The little things all add up

2009-05-06T08:34:00.003-04:00

My husband Scott and I have been married for 9 years today!! It has been a wonderful 9 years of growing closer and learning more about each other. I think we've just about got each other figured out, but even though we can finish each other's sentences and know each other's thoughts, it's never boring. Scott came home yesterday with all of these flowers for me; he knows what I like; he knows I'll have fun planting them in the yard with the kids. It's a little gesture, but the little things keep us going when the monotony and stresses of life start to get to us; his timing is always amazing; he'll pop out some little thing he picked up for me just when I'm ready to pull my hair out. I am so thankful for him and for God bringing us together.

Friday Family Movie Night

2009-05-01T09:19:00.004-04:00

Dinner and a Movie

Now Showing

Pinocchio

Don't tell a lie or your nose might end up as long as a Hot Dog

"I've got no Strings" String Cheese

"When You Wish Upon a Starfruit"

Simple one: hot dogs, string cheese and sliced starfruit

*check out the sidebar for more great dinner and a movie ideas*

Fun for our future Engineers and Robot builders

2009-05-01T08:55:00.008-04:00

how cool is this Strawz kit!

It's $15 from Arango, which is a great shop full of things for your home. It's so much fun watching little minds at work; you could make the Strawz go into two cups and mix flavors and colors; and how fun it would be to blow bubbles with it.

Take me out to the ball game...

2009-05-01T08:36:00.002-04:00

Baseball season has begun! Johnathan's team is the Cubs this year; they were all disappointed because everyone here wants to be on the Phillies, but he's having fun.

cutest second baseman ever!

they play a different position in the outfield each game

Time to stock up before Summer boredom sets in

2009-04-28T13:35:00.005-04:00

Summertime will be here before we know it, and I like to have some projects lined up for days when it's way too hot or the kids are just following me around as I put away laundry telling me how bored they are.

There is a really awesome online store called Let's Explore where you can buy the coolest products for keeping little people busy and having tons of fun--like these molds that you can use in so many ways; soap, clay, chocolate, making your own crayons--and owner Amy Anderson also has a wonderful blog full of helpful, creative ideas. Check it out when you get a chance.

Friday Family Movie Night

2009-04-24T09:27:00.001-04:00

Dinner and a Movie

Now Showing

Cars

Menu

Lightning Fast Wraps

Blue Ghost Light Gatorade

Luigi's Tires

Lightning Fast Wraps:

8 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

10 inch tomato-basil flour tortillas--you want the red ones; so they are red like Lightning McQueen

1/4 c. light toasted onion sour cream dip

Turkey or whatever lunch meat you want to put in them

1/2 c. fresh spinach leaves

14 c. shredded carrots

Spread each tortilla w/2 tbsp. of the dip; top w/meat, spinach, tomatoes & carrots. Roll the wraps tightly. You can make them ahead and put them in the fridge. Then cut them into two inch pieces to look like spiral "wheels"; give each person 4 "wheels"

Blue Ghost Light Gatorade is just blue Gatorade--I love blue Gatorade; you can use it for so many fun things--we also used it as ocean water for Johnathan's pirate birthday party last year and put ice cubes in it w/gummy sharks in them. (as a side note--all of these menus would work great as party menus for a kid's birthday party)

Luigi's Tires are chocolate doughnuts

**check out the sidebar for more great Dinner and a Movie ideas**

Watching things grow

2009-04-24T08:53:00.004-04:00

Each spring we like to plant some seeds and watch them grow and this year I found these "paint your own flower pot" kits at the Dollar Spot at Target; so I thought they'd be fun for the kids to paint, and then they'd be able to know which seeds were theirs as they watch them grow in their special pots.

Audrey's very serious

Johnathan's turned out so cute; grass, flowers and sky

Zach had fun with the paint; he actually kept it on the pot;

usually it's all over Zach

now we'll plant some sunflower seeds in them to watch them sprout and see if we can keep them growing outside as they get bigger

Robots

2009-04-22T15:27:00.005-04:00

I have Gym bucks to use, and look at this cool Robot Tee. Gymboree has a new Mr. Robot line right now. It's so cute! Johnathan's gonna love it. He's still busy working on plans to build me robots to do all of my housework. I wouldn't be surprised if he comes up with one to do his homework too.

Friday Family Movie Night

2009-04-17T13:45:00.008-04:00

Dinner and a Movie

Now Showing

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

Elliott's Pizza

("just don't drop it and step on it

if you think you see an alien", Johnathan says)

Reese's Pieces

Free Ice Cream!

2009-04-17T08:32:00.005-04:00

Just putting up this link to Ben & Jerry's.

April 21st is"Free Cone Day"!!

Hunting for Eggs

2009-04-17T08:01:00.006-04:00

Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's House

The kids had fun hunting for and then discovering the surprises inside of their eggs. Grandma and Grandpa had it all organized very nicely--Johnathan hunted for Green and Yellow eggs; Audrey did Pink and Purple, and Zach found Blue and Orange. Johnathan loved that they made cards telling them how many to find of each color. He's all about numbers and still remembers the number he had to find when he tells people about it. Fun Day!

Friday Family Movie Night

2009-04-10T14:28:00.005-04:00

This one's a little bit more involved than others that we've done, but yummy! and we found some cute little boxes of Botan rice candy in the asian food section of the grocery store; so we'll try them after dinner.

Dinner and a Movie

Now Showing

Kung Fu Panda

Kung Pao Chicken

Sugar Snap Peas w/Lemon

Chinese Noodles

Kung Pao Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes

1/4 c. soy sauce

1/4 c. lemon juice

2 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. corn starch

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes(I just put this in the adults food)

1/4 c. water

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 medium red pepper, cut into 1/2" pieces

1 yellow onion, chopped

1/4 c. cashews

in a small bowl combine soy sauce, lemon juice, sugar, corn starch and water, set aside.

in a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Add garlic and saute for 1 min. Add 2 tsp. more soy sauce and the chicken and stir-fry for 4 min. or until brown. Add bell pepper and onion and stir-fry for another 3 min.

Add cornstarch mixture and cook for several min. until slightly thickened. Add cashews and toss. serve over noodles.

Sugar Snap Peas w/lemon:

2 c. sugar snap peas

2 tbs. butter

3 tbsp. lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

in a large saucepan of boiling salted water, blanch snap peas for 1 min. drain them and run cold water over them, drain again.

melt butter, add peas and salt and pepper to taste. Heat peas over low heat for two minutes to heat. drizzle lemon juice over the top and serve

Chinese Noodles:

6 oz. flat rice noodles

2 green onions, chopped

1/4 c. soy sauce

2 tbsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. garlic, minced

2 tbs. fresh cilantro

1/4 tsp. ground red pepper(optional)

1/2 tsp. honey

In a large pot of boiling water cook the pasta for 8 min.

Drain well and place in a large bowl. Add green onions, soy sauce, oil, ginger, cilantro, ground red pepper if you choose and honey.

Toss well and let marinate while cooking chicken.

Spring Break

2009-04-10T08:25:00.004-04:00

Johnathan had a half day of school yesterday; so when he got home we headed over to Longwood Gardens to take advantage of the beautiful weather

it was a nice way to start off our Easter weekend

Baked Doughnuts

2009-04-06T21:15:00.006-04:00

It was a rainy day outside today; so we decided to make some baked doughnuts; we got the recipe from 101 Cookbooks; you need a day when you have lots of time because it takes a little while to let the dough rise

once the dough was ready, we used one of our water glasses to cut out the doughnuts

then we used little medicine measuring cups to cut out the

hole in the middle

and we ended up with some yummy baked doughnuts--a little healthier than the fried version and a little less of a greasy mess to clean up

Friday Family Movie Night

2009-04-03T08:42:00.008-04:00

we're keeping it really simple because life's been crazy lately. Pizza works for lots of movies. The kids have fun no matter what we have as long as it has a cool name from the movie.

Dinner and a movie

Toy Story

"Pizza Planet" Pizza

Popcorn

Just a plain old store bought pizza; I'll get the creative juices flowing again next week

We just invested in Clippers

2009-04-02T21:00:00.004-04:00

Zach looks cute, but the longest clipper attachment cuts hair really short! I wasn't prepared for him to become a big boy so quickly. I think next time I'll only buzz the bottom and leave the top alone; I miss the hair that is now all over the floor. Johnathan came home and said, "Whoa!" and I said, "Your turn". His looks good; guess I'll get the hang of it after a few times.

Audrey wanted me to do her too. :)

Crazy Week!

2009-03-30T09:17:00.004-04:00

Last week was a crazy week. The kids took turns being sick and I was painting Zach's room--just white, no more ivy stencils-whoohooo! so, now back to normal life this week, whew!

I guess Zach doesn't like our church's nursery

2009-03-23T11:28:00.006-04:00

Yesterday after church the lady who was helping in the nursery found me to tell me about a little prayer that Zach said.

They were taking turns before having a snack and she said these were Zach's words:

"Dear God, please help mommy to come back soon

and get me outta here"

Power Pancakes

2009-03-21T08:29:00.004-04:00

good and good for you!

Power Pancakes

4 large eggs
4 egg whites (sometimes I substitute 1 cup of egg beaters if I don't have 8 eggs on hand)
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup uncooked old fashioned oats
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup milled flax seeds
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbs canola oil
1 tsp cinnamon
Strawberries
Maple Syrup

Combine eggs, egg whites, cottage cheese, oats, wheat germ, flax seeds, baking powder, oil and cinnamon. Heat griddle over medium heat and melt a little butter in the pan. Ladle mixture by 1/4 cup-fuls and cook until both sides are browned.

Top pancakes with sliced strawberries and drizzle w/syrup.

Friday Family Movie Night

2009-03-19T22:36:00.005-04:00

The little wild animals here are excited about this week's

Dinner and a Movie

Now Showing

Madagascar

Dinner Menu

Tropical Jungle Sandwiches

Animal Crackers

"Marty's" Zebra Striped Pudding

*The Tropical Sandwiches are Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches & we just bought animal crackers and Jello Chocolate and Vanilla pudding cups.

It's like edible playdough

2009-03-16T14:25:00.003-04:00

we made homemade soft pretzels today--fun and yummy!

the two sillies thought it was funny to watch the kneading attachment swirling the dough around and around in the bowl

Zach working on a worm

it was fun making lots of shapes with the dough

they made sure we made a "J" for Johnathan and a "D" for daddy; we always miss them when we're doing fun stuff during the day

we used this recipe; pretty easy. I like to put half whole wheat flour and half regular.

Friday Family Movie Night

2009-03-13T15:00:00.007-04:00

Dinner and a Movie

Now Showing

Chicken Little

"Chicken Little" Wings

"Runt's" Overstuffed Baked Potatoes

Orange Soda

"Take me out to the ballgame" peanuts in the shells

all pretty self explanatory: plain chicken wings; the kids don't like em hot yet; we're stuffing our baked potatoes w/broccoli and cheese. If you haven't seen the movie you'll see why we picked orange soda when you watch it.

It's a funny movie; check out this review of it. There are some interesting issues in this movie that bring up questions from the kids--single parents, bullying; trusting people, being a good friend; good stuff to talk about.

Awesome Shape Creatures

2009-03-11T08:51:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to pass along the link to these really awesome coloring books that are created at Flipflops and Applesauce. These little Shape Creatures are so cute and the kids can learn more about their shapes and how to create creatures of their own using shapes. You get a digital coloring book that you can print out for $5.00.

a couple of pics from our "Robots" Dinner

2009-03-09T17:43:00.002-04:00

Here are a few pictures of our dinner we made before watching Robots on Friday. Everyone had fun inventing their own pizzas

we just bought Little Debbie brownies and put dots on them to look like dominoes

Friday Family Movie Night

2009-03-06T15:29:00.006-05:00

We sat and dinner the other night and all brainstormed for ideas for tonight's Dinner and a Movie and here's what we came up with; it was fun making up funny food:

Dinner and a Movie

Now Showing

Robots

"Rodney the Inventor" Build your own Pizza

Computer Chips

"Mr. Bigwell" Domino Brownies

"Rodney the Inventor" Build your own Pizza: we are making personal pizzas; each can invent their very own

Computer Chips: Sun Chips

"Mr. Bigwell" Domino Brownies: make brownies; then put dots on them w/white icing to make them look like dominoes

Our Silly Little Diva

2009-03-06T15:23:00.002-05:00

Audrey goes to her room after lunch every day for some quiet time and I never really know what she's doing other than being quiet, but yesterday she came down like this--then she left her ensemble that way for most of the afternoon!

Cute little Girlies

2009-03-04T09:26:00.000-05:00

Friday Family Movie Night

2009-02-27T13:24:00.012-05:00

It's Friday again already?? This week flew by so quickly.

Dinner and a Movie

Now Showing

Ratatouille

Now Serving

Ratatouille over Linguine

Remy's Eclairs

We're going to try to make Ratatouille; don't know whether the kids will like it since it's mostly veggies; sometimes they'll eat them and sometimes they won't so we'll see; maybe since it's Ratatouille they will. Here's the recipe we're using and we're serving it w/some linguine: Smitten Kitchen's Ratatouille's Ratatouille

We just bought some eclairs from a little bakery down the road; lots of options for this movie; anything french would be fun

Review of our dinner: the kids actually liked it! I added a sprinkle of Balsamic Vinegar to the top of the Ratatouille before baking it--I love Balsamic Vinegar it makes everything yummier.

I need a little project

2009-02-25T09:59:00.008-05:00

We were looking at the quilt that Scott's sisters made for us when we got married today. It is so amazing in so many ways; so much hard work and love was put into it. The kids love looking at it and hearing about mommy and daddy.

It is a one of a kind piece that tells our story.

This is a patch that Scott's great grandmother made; so it's really cool to have a piece of family history preserved in the quilt.

Scott lived in NJ and I lived in MD; so we drove our cars back and forth to visit each other.

Scott proposed to me at Longwood Gardens

It's so nice to all cuddle under this quilt and tell stories and read books; we just love it.

I've been wanting to sew something. I'm not ready for a quilt yet, but maybe a little dress for Audrey. I started working on the one below last year and it was too involved and I made lots of mistakes and gave up

...so I think I need to start with something a little easier. This DIY Dress Kit looks like a fun way to start off; then I can slowly try things a little more involved.

Friday Family Movie Night

2009-02-20T14:06:00.006-05:00

Dinner and a Movie

Now Showing

Surf's Up

Now Serving

Hang Ten-ders

Wave Curly Fries

Aloha Sundae

Hang Ten-Ders:

Bake frozen Chicken Nuggets

Wave Curly Fries:

Bake frozen Curly Fries

Aloha Sundae:

Spoon coffee ice cream into bowls, top w/hot fudge sauce and whipped cream

Easy one! This movie is hilarious!

My cute little shadow

2009-02-20T08:54:00.007-05:00

Audrey and I always have cute little conversations early in the morning; she's usually the first one up. It's nice to have a little time to chat before things get busy. The conversations are always very random.

This morning we got into talking about Heaven; she had lots of questions. I need to preface this story with the fact that whenever we're going somewhere Audrey's first question is, "are you going to be there mommy?" If the answer is yes, she's ok with it; if it's no, she's not so sure she wants to go sometimes.

so back to the heaven conversation; we were talking about the fact that there will be no sadness; no pain and things like that, and you'd think that would make someone want to be there, but you know what Audrey wanted to know, "Are you going to be there mommy?" "yes", I said, and she smiled and was finally excited about the idea. then we sat in silence for a little while; I thought about going into more deeper things about the topic, but we'll save that for another day. I just gave her a big tight squeeze and wished that time could please freeze and she could stay my cute little shadow for a while longer.

the best part about making brownies

2009-02-20T08:52:00.004-05:00

licking the batter while you're waiting for them to cook and getting it all over your face because you have to get every little bit. I remember when I was a little girl not letting my mom take the bowl to wash it until I was sure I couldn't get one more drop out; didn't want to waste any of the yumminess!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T10:10:00.005-05:00

Cupcakes lovingly decorated by Audrey for her party at school. She put on one sprinkle at a time

The kids were cute going through their Valentines from school.

Hope everyone has a fun day with their loved ones!

Friday Family Movie Night

2009-02-13T11:09:00.008-05:00

Friday nights are Family movie night at our house, and for the last couple of weeks we've been having fun with it and trying to coordinate our dinner with our movie; so I thought every Friday I'd post what we were doing that night. It's lots of fun! The kids even come up with some great ideas for funny food. Johnathan said tonight we should have "Super" Soup--so, we might have that for lunch. There are lots of great ideas all over the internet. We got this one from a great site that I use for meal planning called Relish

Dinner and a Movie

Now Showing

The Incredibles

Now Serving

Menu

Mr. Incredible Meatball Hero

Elasti-Vegetables

Frozone Smoothies

Mr. Incredible Meatball Hero:

cook bag of frozen meatballs in a jar of spaghetti sauce and serve on hoagie rolls; top w/mozzarella cheese

Elasti-Vegetables:

Zucchini cut in loooong strips, tossed w/olive oil, salt and pepper and sauteed

Frozone Fruit Smoothies:

place 2 cups of vanilla ice cream, 8-10 fresh strawberries, a tbs of sugar & 2 cups of crushed ice in a blender and pulse until combined-add a little milk if it needs to be thinner

Come on Spring!

2009-02-11T13:16:00.004-05:00

We're getting Spring started a little early by forcing some bulbs to grow inside--plant them in a container close together; leave a little of the top of the bulb sticking up above the dirt and put the container in a sunny spot. Fun, quick, easy project to get started. We got some Paper White bulbs; so we'll watch over he next couple of weeks and see what happens.

If you gotta shop, might as well save a little money--Awesome Websites

2009-02-07T14:33:00.006-05:00

Just wanted to share this website; Shoppingnotes.com. It's a great help if there's something that you want to buy, but don't want to pay the price and can wait a little while to buy it--that's the hard part sometimes. You register a product that you are looking at and will get an email when it goes on sale.

a few other money saving sites that I like are:

freeshipping.org
retailmenot.com
slickdeals.net

Winter Getaway

2009-02-05T15:05:00.014-05:00

We just got back from the Great Wolf Lodge

we were in the Wolf Den Suite; there was a little cave in the room for the kids with some bunk beds and their own TV--they thought that was very cool

Johnathan was so brave going down all of the water slides

it was so nice to get away in the middle of the winter and play in the water with friends, and so funny to look out the windows as we were splashing in the waves and see the snow coming down outside. We all had an amazing time and can't wait to go again next year--we give it an A+

Big Boys

2009-02-05T14:53:00.003-05:00

last week we moved Zach out of his crib and into a big boy bed, and he is quite excited to have a room just like Johnathan and Audrey.

a quick cute story--he thinks it's cool that he has a night stand w/drawers because that's where Johnathan and Audrey keep their special things; so when his furniture was all set up the first thing he did was to go into his room and put his blanket into his night stand drawer.

we moved Johnathan's old bedding into Zach's room and got Johnathan Star Wars sheets; so he's quite excited too.

Zach's been pretty good about the move; the first night we had to put him back in bed like 5 times, but now he's got the idea--cute seeing him come walkin down in the morning like the big kids.

Snow

2009-01-22T15:37:00.005-05:00

We read the book, Cat and Mouse in the Snow, by Tomek Bogacki, this week and painted some snow scenes. I got the idea from Marie at Make and Takes; she used a different book, but same idea.

It was a fun indoor afternoon activity when it was way too cold to go outside--we're still waiting for a good snow here though. It was pitiful watching the kids run outside in their boots the other day to play in maybe an inch of snow.

First we painted with white paint on blue construction paper and let it dry while we cute out shapes for a snowman to glue together and then put on our snow scene.

Zach liked blobbing the paint brush all over his paper to make snowflakes.

Valentines

2009-01-21T08:55:00.012-05:00

A few ideas for Valentine's Day; gotta plan ahead because it takes the kids a while to get them all ready. For Audrey to give out this year we got this book of punch out Vintage Valentines from Amazon; there are a ton in the book and it comes with little envelopes you can cut out and glue together--anything that has cutting and gluing she likes right now--me too; she gets to work on the cutting skills.

Johnathan is working on these cards for his friends. We got them from Stuby Pencil Studio. It is an amazing store with all kinds of cool stuff. He can color each card and trace over the dotted words at the bottom; then there's a to: and from: space on the back. Each pack comes with 12 cards and envelopes and are a mix of designs and messages for $7.95. Really cute!

here's a few other ideas we liked:

I "a door" you--cool idea for the extra school pictures that I never know what to do with
Print Your Own Valentines at Up Up Creative
Doily Envelope
Flower Valentine
Valentine Fun Packs

Mommy's keys can open anything

2009-01-21T08:42:00.002-05:00

While we were eating breakfast this morning and talking about our day Zach asked if we could go to the pumpkin farm.

"I don't think it's open today bud", I told him.

"Well you can use your keys mommy." :) he's so stinkin cute!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-12T16:36:00.003-05:00

Hope everyone has a great 2009!

My Baby Sister is Married!!

2009-01-09T09:18:00.006-05:00

My youngest sister got married last weekend and I did not take any pictures at all--mostly because I was preoccupied with little Audrey and her anxiety over walking down the aisle as a flower girl; so thank goodness lots of other people took some great pictures

Audrey did pull it together for a few pictures

and was adorable(most of the time)

but the most beautiful site was my little baby sis all grown up and looking amazing--the whole day was beautiful

Is Christmas really over already?

2009-01-05T09:59:00.015-05:00

Christmas always comes and goes too fast

the kids gave Scott an Eagles hat

more Legos

little mommy

a new tractor for Zach

Christmas Eve PJs

it was a fun Christmas despite the fact that some sort of flu swept through the family over the course of the two weeks during the holidays; nice to have lots of time together as a family though, cuddling on the sofa, watching lots of movies.

We're trying to keep the tree alive for one more week; then I guess we'll take it all down. It's always sad to put all of the Christmas stuff away. Hope everyone had a great time with their families celebrating the birth of our Savior!

Helpful Website when the kids are sick

2008-12-21T08:38:00.000-05:00

Here's a good website, the Child Health Guide, that helps me when I'm wondering about certain symptoms the kids are having when they're sick--and it seems to be a lot lately--blahh! not one of the best things about winter.

Girls Day Out

2008-12-21T07:37:00.001-05:00

Audrey and I went to see the Nutcracker yesterday and it was so much fun!

she was so cute in her seat with her playbill; you could tell she felt like a big girl

we had great seats and were excited for it to start

when it did she was totally mesmerized; it was so much fun for me to watch her; everything was magical and she was sad when it was over. Her ballet teacher was one of the performers; so that made it even more exciting; every time Miss Dana danced across the stage Audrey would be wide eyed--like she didn't realize Miss Dana was a real ballerina. Fun Day with my big little girl--who now really wants to be a ballerina; maybe she'll be up there in a few years.

Audrey's Christmas Program

2008-12-20T21:48:00.000-05:00

The best things about winter

2008-12-17T09:39:00.000-05:00

reading by the fire

& hot chocolate

they love the Swiss Miss Marshmallow lovers; it has a separate bag of the little cute marshmallows that they like to dump in; now we're just waiting for some snow!