Kool-Aid Play Dough

What do you do when a pretty little girl with big blue eyes tugs on your ratty ol' yoga pants and says "Mamma, can I pway wif pink pwaydough...stwaaaabewwwy kind..paweeeeease?" You make a fresh batch of strawberry kool-aid play dough that's what you do. And if you've been out in the hot noon-day sun pushing them on the swings for what seems like hours and hours you just might be delierous enough to let them help! But it will be so much fun and so very worth it to see them with the satisfaction of being helpers in the kitchen.

We make a new batch every three months or so unless one of the kids gets sick, then it goes right into the trash. I believe homemade play dough lasts much longer than store bought play dough and I like knowing that it won’t kill anybody if they do a little taste test now and then. I especially like the yummy smell the kool-aid flavor gives. The recipe I’m posting was shared in an Early Childhood Curriculum course I took while I was in college. So take a break and go make some playdough for the kids or grandkids. It's so easy...you'll be glad you did.

The cast of characters...snap your fingers...

And there ya have it! Yummy smelling pink playdough ready to go. (If only I could clean the kitchen that quickly.)

Tasty-Tuesday

I got a little too busy to post yesterday. Oli went back to the vet to get his stitches out only to find out he has a little bit of an infection so the stupid E-collar has to stay on for 5 more days. I have to keep socks on his back feet with first-aid tape wrapped around the top to keep them on. I’m just not sure how much more humiliation this poor guy can take!
On a lighter note the weather was AWESOME yesterday and it’s supposed to be 85 today! Yay! Since the temperature is on the rise we invited Matt’s parents over for a cookout. I made “all-American loaded burgers” with homemade French-fried onions. Since I had the fryer out (I rarely use the darn thing) I decided to fry the potatoes too. To top off the meal I made homemade apple crisp for dessert. The burgers were only so-so (good flavor but not worthy of making again according to Matt) but the French-fried onions were deeeeelish and oh so easy! Yeah I know I can buy them in the can but I like to try to make things from scratch when I can. More for the challenge than anything else.

ENJOY!

Easter

Easter Day was also a great day spent with just a few of our loved ones. The kids got up early as usual so they were hopped up on sugar before 8:00 AM (get it? hopped up? ha!). They were so excited to get dressed up in thier pretty Easter dresses so that part was easy for once. Their Grammy, my mom, joined us for church so we got to snap a few photos of the kids with my mom. Didn't they turn out cute? After our mini photo shoot we went to Matt's parents church then came home to fix our part of the Easter potluck and to change out of our Easter outfits. Then we hurried off to Mema and Papas house for the rest of the day. We had a blast playing with the kids on the new swingset and sandpile. The lunch was outstanding as usual and I always eat too much. After lunch Mema shared the Easter story with the grandkids using the Resurrection Egg set (if you don't have a set I highly recommend it...even our two year olds love it). Then we did the big Easter Egg hunt and scavenger hunt. We didn't get home until after 8:00. The kids were so exhausted we just put 'em to bed dirt and all. It was a wonderful weekend!

Eggs-iting Time

LastFriday night we hosted an egg decorating party at our house. I've not had so much fun decorating eggs in a long time. We had four "stations" of egg dye at the table and a "creative station" at the kids table. There was a contest held at the end of the evening so each person entered their favorite or most creative egg. By this time I was so busy that I forgot to take pictures of the entries. This family is so stinkin' creative let me tell ya! I'm thinking this might become an annual thing but don't hold me to it.

Mema’s Chicks

Mema & Papa have dreamed of having chickens since moving back to the middle of nowhere. It looks like this spring Mema’s dream will come true. She purchased these little cuties with my nephew Joey on Friday. No, she didn’t purchase Joey on Friday he was just with her. Oh never mind!

Nothing says springtime like baby chicks.

The girls thought the chicks were pretty neat.

Oliver

Oliver had a minor surgery last Wednesday ~a $396.97 minor surgery *ouch-it still hurts looking at that number. Anyway, his dewclaws needed to be removed as well as some other parts…ahhemmm. Poor guy came home walking a little funny and has a silly looking cone on his head to ensure he won't remove the bandages from his feet.
The cone is a nuisance to most animals but Oli is quite a trooper. Not much depresses Oliver as long as he has a bone or a garden hose or a sandbox toy or a power cord or honeysuckle or a hat or a shoe or rusty nail to chew on. So while being confined to the laundry room Oli attempted to enjoy a bone and chew his troubles away.

Ahh...a bone...

Who needs TV when you have pets...or children?

Hey honey, pass me the popcorn!

You can do it...

Yes, he did it, the crowd goes wild...

Just look at him. Don’t you want to kiss him? Go ahead I won’t tell…

He did really great with laundry room imprisonment until Friday afternoon when all the family started showing up to play and he wasn’t allowed to join in the fun. Then he got even more upset when I took him to the vet to have his bandages changed without the children. Oli doesn’t like to go anywhere without the children but he really didn’t like going to the vet without them. He usually uses them as protection. Then to add insult to injury after our return from the vet sans children I turn around and load up the kids and go to the grocery store without Oli. Who did I think I was?
I arrived home with two very sleepy girls, unloaded them and the groceries from the car, only to see Oli had meted out my punishment for leaving him behind. That very determined 64-pound puppy managed to get around the cone and remove BOTH bandages from his feet during the 28 minutes that I was at the grocery store.
So I loaded the two very sleepy girls, and Oli and my checkbook back in the car and drove to the vet AGAIN. I swear he had a smirk on his face during the whole car ride ~ until we pulled into the parking lot at the clinic. They were kind enough not to charge me for bandage change number 2 in a single day but warned me I would pay big time *emphasis mine* if he did it again.

Oliver is now serving a 5-day sentence of solitary confinement in the laundry room with no chance of parole. Our prayers go out to the little girls suffering without their 4-legged playmate.

Does Anybody Have A Chocolate Hangover?

Wow what a weekend! My head is still spinning from all the activities we bounced to and from. We were blessed with a visit from Matt’s sister and her family. I always love it when they come to visit because they are so full of life and energy. I took over 226 photos in just three days!
Friday night we hosted an egg decorating party at our house. What a blast!
Saturday the girls attended a birthday party for their friend Grace and then we had dinner at Mark & Cathy’s house with the family.
Sunday we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord at the church Matt’s parents attend then we spent the rest of the day at their house with family and friends.
The kids did not get a nap for 3 days so they are pretty wiped out and a bit grouchy so today we are just chillaxin’. The kids got a water table over the weekend and since today is the only nice day expected this week I decided to let ‘em get wet. Now they are napping so I will begin the arduous task of weeding through the 226 photos I took and try to decide which ones are worthy of posting here on the blog. So stay tuned.

Signing off for now.

Over and out.

The picture happy chinobilly



PS: Make sure you hide the Easter candy really well. I wouldn't want this to happen to any of your children:

I thought chocolate was better eaten than worn. Abby is out to prove me WRONG!

Sugar high perhaps?

Egg Hunt at the Library & A sweet conversation

Today the kids got to hunt Easter eggs at the park next door to the library. They had a good time even though they didn't really have much grasp on the concept of hunting eggs with twenty other children all vying for that coveted egg. I didn't get to take too many pictures because I had to keep track of the girls going in two different directions. Each child was allowed to collect 10 eggs so I had to keep track of that too. It was still a lot of fun!

Yeah, they were a bit confused. I'm considering it good practice for Sunday's big hunt at Mema's and Papa's house. They will have WAAAAY more cousins to contend with then!

Then Mrs. Darlene took the kids back inside to go through the baskets.

The eggs were filled with both candy and toys so the kids were delighted...you just wouldn't know by the looks on their faces.

After we checked out some books we met our new friend and her mom over at the park to play some more. The girls adore their new friend and talk about her all the time. They can't wait to have a play date with her too.

While we were driving home the girls were also talking about the Easter bunny and that they know he is going to visit our house soon to bring more candy. I cringed a bit because I really want the kids to understand the reason why we celebrate Easter. Yes the Easter bunny is a fun aspect of Easter but...

So I decided to ask the girls if they remembered why we celebrate Easter. Aubrey announced "JESUS! Mom it's a true story the teacher (their Sunday school teacher) said so". (mom breathing a sigh of relief) then Abby said "Yeah mom He went up to heaven and is buildin us a new house!" (mom with tears in her eyes). That's right baby girls. That's right!

So I will close with this:

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Phoenix Zoo

Matt was on vacation last week so I took a little hiatus from blogging. It was a great week; we got a lot accomplished around the house (garden fence finished, painting in the living room finished, some cleaning, some yard work) and we still made time to go to the Phoenix zoo. We wanted to make sure we took the trip early in the year before it got too hot. We got lucky and chose a perfect day! We had a great time but if you ask Aubrey the trip was sort of a bust because she didn't get to see the bear with the claws (said in a very animated voice). She is a bit spoiled by our little zoo in our hometown because you can get about 2 feet away from the bear.

The train was by far their favorite thing. They've been hanging around their friend Ethan enough to appreciate trains.

Inside what Abby calls the "hopparoo".

Such a funny girl AND a popcorn hog!

No wait! The train ride wasn't by far their favorite thing it was the Carousal!

The girls were so tired....

But they perked up once the ride started!

Grubbin' Abby

(click to read journaling)

I'm getting a little time to digi-scrap. Here is the latest layout done for Abby's album. She is becoming our tomboy.

There are grubs everywhere in our backyard. Great for Abby...not so great for our future garden. Maybe Abby will take care of all of them before the plants go in!

This is what she does with her collection of grubs she gathers in her sand pail.

Such a kind soul she has. Unlike her mother who drowned the woolly boogers mentioned in the journaling.

Nope, she just rides them off into the sunset instead. With her dog by her side.