Summer Party!

Every year our Harkin's Theatre offers 10 movies for $7 a person. For me and the 3 kids it would only cost me about$28. Not bad. However when I brought home the flyer to show the kids they only wanted to see about 5 of the movies playing. Not wanting to waste our tickets and my time going to the theatres with kids who really didn't want to be there I opted not to do it this year. Instead there are a few of us who will be getting our kids together throughout summer and hosting a movie party for the kids. So I decided to host the 1st Movie Party yesterday.

We started off by having everyone make their own individual pizza. Everyone was given a ball of dough to form,

then they smeared pizza sauce and covered it in toppings of their choice.

I put them in the oven to bake. It was cute to see the kids gather around the window watching their pizza bake.

After the longest 20 minutes of there life it was finally chow time.

When lunch was over the movie started and I made a HUGE batch of popcorn. It seems as though everyone had fun.

We watched Astro Boy. What a cute movie. I liked it. This was one of the movies that my kids wanted to see through Harkins. It helped that my kids and there friends hadn't seen this one so it held everyones attention. We had a great time yesterday. Having a movie party every couple of weeks will help keep the summer full of fun!

1 down 1 more to go ...

Baseball is over for my little man. He has chosen to go spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa so he will be missing his very last game. He has had a GREAT time this season, so he tells me. He loves to be up to bat. He's getting better and better at hitting the ball farther each time.
Watching the ball, do I run or do I stay???

His favorite position is either cather or pitcher. Isn't he cute all dressed up?

On his turn for snack day he wanted to make cupcakes with baseballs on top. So we made the balls a few days ahead so they'd be hard. Then he got to help apply the grass. This is what the finale looked like.

Yummy, Yummy. Needless to say the cupcakes were a great hit!

Hunter's done with baseball and Maddie's got one game left of T-ball. Both kids want to play again next year.

Emily begins Gymnastics

Did you know that the YMCA offers scholarships? I didn't until just recently. After much consideration I picked up the paper work, filled it out, dropped it off and about a week later was contacted with the good news. We qualify!!!! Yeah. With the Y membership comes 1 gymnastic lesson a week per child. Emily had her 1st lesson this past week. We pulled out Maddie's old leotard and pants that she use to wear to dance for lil' miss. She was thrilled.
It's great that her best friends from across the street are all in the same class. Here they are looking at all the *cool* stuff on the other side of the wall.

The class started off by sitting on mats in a circle to do some stretching excersizes.

Emily loved the trampoline. This is her teacher who is showing/telling her how she wants Emily to jump down the tramp.

When she got off the tramp she continued in the course by rolling across the matt.

Walking the balance beam,

then we balance on one foot. Aunt Hanna was here to help her get started.

After the balancing act we started all over again.

In the end she got a high- five for her good work.

Good Job Emily!

I'm glad you want to go back.

Maddie's T-ball

T-ball is almost over. Just 2 more games left. Maddie is loving this sport and of course, like most kids, love it when it's her turn to bat. She love's to swing and run. If we could just get her to run to the base without watching where the ball goes all at the same time.
Run, Maddie Run!!

She still gets bored while playing outfield.

But she loves it when the ball is hit towards her
She's one of the quicker players on the team.

She absolutely loves being catcher. Probably because she get's thrown the ball after every hit.
Can't get to bored with that. I'm so glad she's still loving this sport. I will admit I won't be to sad when the season is over. It's been hard having 2 play the same sport and having 4 games a week between the 2 of them. But as I said before, just 2 more games.

Achievment Day Cake

My good friend, April, a few weeks ago asked me if I would be interested in making a cake for a Mother/Daugther Tea Party for the Activity Day Girls. I was thrilled for another opportunity to make another cake. I love decorating cakes. I wanted to try my hand at fondant again. I feel pretty comfortable using buttercream icing but I really do want to get better with fondant.

I think the cake turned out pretty. It only took me 7 hours this time. I think I'm getting a little better and faster with practice.

One day soon I would like to be able to charge to make a special occasion cake (birthday, graduation, etc.) My Wilton cake instructor charges a minimun of $50 for a special occasion cake. When I was at Fry's last week I was looking at there cakes. There specialty cakes start at $35 and it wasn't to surprising that there wasn't a lot of *bling* to them but pretty plain. Eventually I would LOVE to get into wedding cakes. My little sister is turning 16 this year. I would love to make her wedding cake in a couple of years or maybe even my brother's who is currently serving a mission.
I have a little time for a lot more practice.

Schools Out Let's Shout...

Yeah!!!!! School's out!! I'm just as excited as my kids. Hunter's 1st day of 1st grade and his last day.

He won one of the games at school and his prize

was his very own package of sun flower seeds.

Madelyn's 1st day of Kindergaten and her last day.

My kids look so clean and fresh looking on there 1st day of school this past year.

I guess I should have remembered to take their picture before I dropped them off on there last day.

The last day of school was "Carnival Day". The kids played games, ate treats, played with water and got there face painted all outside. Looks like they had fun.

When the aid helped my children to the car she warned me that my little girl was sad. When asked why the aid chuckled and told me because today was the last day of school and Madelyn had let her know she did not want school to be over. As Maddie was getting into the car one of her teachers came over and gave her a big big big bear hug. This teacher is retiring this year. She has been a teacher/aid for 30+ years and has worked in our school for 9. She was one of Hunter's teacher's last year and Maddie's this year. Our family loves Mrs. Frederick. Watching my little princess hug her teacher brought tears to my eyes.
When they finally let go of each other both Mrs. Frederick and Maddie had tears.

We wish Mrs. Frederick well in her retirement. She will be missed. Mrs. Frederick will always have a special spot in our hearts.

Maddie graduates from Kindergarten

Last frideay was the big day that my little girl graduated from Kindergarten. This is her walking into the auditorium for the big event. Unfortunately I always have issues with my camera in this building. My camera doesn't like movement or the kids standing under the spotlights. Madelyn has been so excited for this big day. She's been practicing the songs her class was going to be singing for weeks with the hand movements.

I really LOVE the kindergarten teachers we have been blessed to have 2 years in a row now. They have made learning fun for my children. I love the way they incorprate song and dance while teaching.

She has her diploma. YEAH!!!

Despite her excitement of the graduation we both shed a few tears. During the 20 min. song and dance performance I couldn't help but think of the growth my little one has made. She's reading, writing, she chooses her own friends, she's making good choices, she's becoming quite the little lady.

Congratulation's my little love bug. You did it!

Spring Time

It's been a few weeks now but Kory came home for lunch one afternoon and started helping me in the garden. After a few minutes he asked what "that"noise was. Now our garden is next to our Air Conditioning Unit. For whatever reason even when the air is off the fan periodically kicks on and makes a low buzzing sound. All morning I was assuming "that"noise was the fan kicking on. After I told him what I thought it was he disagreed with me and started searching for the culprit. This is what we discovered. This tree is in the wash right next to our garden . The wash is not on our property just right up next to it. Both he and I started calling it a Beehive. Kory is allergic to bee stings and each sting the reaction has been worse then the time before. The past 2 times he has been hospitalized. Even though he knows what COULD happen he REFUSES to get an epi pen.

Not wanting my husband to end up in the hospital I called the city to see if maybe they could come out and move our new guests. When I told the city worker of our situation she said that until somebody got stung they wouldn't do anything about it. She asked for my adress and told me that they couldn't/ wouldn't help becuse we are technically in County.

The County's phone number was busy so I called our bug man and was told it would cost $150 to move a beehive. Not wanting to pay that I kept trying the county. I was finally able to get through to the County and was once again asked if anyone had been stung. If someone is stung then they'd "consider" coming out. Whatever happened to being pro-active. Why do I have to wait until someone gets hurt to get some help? The County gave me a different phone number to try which ended up taking me back to the City office. This different worker reccommended calling the Fire Dept. So I did... I explained my situation AGAIN telling them that as of now no one had been stung but that my husband had been hospitalized 2X due to a bee sting. The operator told me they'd send someone out.

Within 5 minutes these guys showed up. These firefighters were AWSOME. They were fascinated with our guests and just stood there for several minutes watching them. With the experience that they had they told us that we didn't actually have a beehive because we can see the bee's. If it was a beehive we'd only see the hive cause the bee's would be inside. Well duh! that makes sense. So what we actually had was a swarm of bee's who could very possible make a beehive. However the tree they picked was small, didn't have a lot of protection and so would probably move on within the next 48 hours. If the bee's started to swarm closer to the house, showed any type of agression or stung someone (perferably not my husband) they'd come back and cream em'. So for the rest of the day Kory stayed far away, we made the kids ride their bikes on the road (not the dirt path next to the tree) and just didn't do any garden work. At dusk I went outside to see if they were still there and they were.

By morning when I left to take the kiddo's to school they were gone. Our only disapointment was that I didn't call the Fire Dept. a little later. Since it wasn't an emergency I figured they'd come by sometime later. I didn't expect them within 5 minutes. After they left, I left to pick up the kids from school. I'm sorry they missed all the action!

Wilton Cake Classes

For the past 6 weeks I have been taking Wilton Cake Classes at our local Hobby Lobby. They were offering them 50% making each class $17.50. I've always made my own cakes for my kids b.days and have made several for friends b.days. I wanted to learn some of the tricks to cake decorating. I was really HOPING that this class would teach me how to use fondant. Of course the fondant course was in course 3 and I had to take course 1 and 2 first. So here is my 1st cake I made in class. The kit I had to buy was missing the writing tip that was suppose to come in it so I couldn't write a name under the rainbow. The cake looks un finished to me without this. When I got home I put the cake on the table and went back out to the car to get my supplies. When I came in I discovered that a flying ball hit the side (do you have flying balls at your house that no one claims to have helped it take off?). Emily was also sitting in front of the cake smashing my star tip icing.

This was the 2nd cake I made for class. I used it for Brayden's 1st birthday eating cake picts which I will soon post.

My 3rd cake we made roses out of buttercream icing and placed ontop. I must have forgotten to take a picture.

When Course 1 was over I signed up for course 2 and 3. Unfortunately only 2 of us signed up so the instructor had to cancel course 3 (the one I really wanted) and complete course 2 in 2 classes. So this was the only cake I made in course 2.

We were taught how to make all these flowers with Royal Icing, and how to use Color Flow(birdies are made of). It was fun. The last class we were taught how to do the baskett weave and then we were able to top the cake with the previously made flowers. The flowers need about 48 hours to dry before you can move them.

It doesn't seem to matter how many times I rotate this pict. It doesn't want to stay. So enjoy the great side view.

I loved the 2 classes I was able to take and am disapointed I wasn't able to take the fondant course. Wilton is changing all there classes and course kits to fondant (yes all 3 courses) starting in June. Talking to my instructor I learned she's really never used fondant before. She can teach the current course 3 becuase she had to teach herself and the instruction books are pretty self explanitory. She's having a hysterectomy soon and so during her 6 week recovery she will be receiving the new Wilton course outline for all 3 courses and be teaching herself how to use fondant. Being I have had more experience with fondant then her I figure I can probably do the same. The new course kits are now on the shelf. I about choked when I saw the prices. The lowest I could find was $34.00. The new course fees are also going up. I just can't justify $40-50 a class plus the $34 kits and all the little things that go along with it. Luckily at Michaels I found an older version of a fondant kit on clearance and was able to use a 40%off coupon making it about $8.00. I bought it and the manual and used it to create this.

I made this cake for my best friends little girl's 3rd birthday party. It was my 1st WHOLE fondant cake. I made some mistakes, I hope I know how to fix them for next time but overall I think it turned out cute. The top cake baked perfectly. When the timer beeped for the bottom cake I was changing a dirty diaper in my room. I had just peeked at the cake and saw that there was a massive air bubble in the middle giving the cake a big bump. Knowing if I let it cook a little longer the big bump would reduce in size my intentions were to let it bake for a little longer. After the dirty diaper I threw the little munchhkin in the tub, cleaned him up, got him out, dressed him went to check on the cake only to discover that my 5 year old thought she'd help me seeing I was otherwise preoccupied and took my cake out for me when she heard the beep. By then the damage was done. Hence the saggy look. Oh well! Now I am the proud owner of a cake saw and if this were to happen again I could make the cake even again quite easily. It's been fun these past couple of weeks making cakes. I've got 2 more cakes to make this week for different church functions. I'm excited to see the finsished product. Till then...

My New Life

I have been following "NieNie Dialoges" for over a year now. She is such an inspiring woman. When I get discouraged and overwhelmed with my challenges I think of Nie Nie. If she can make it through this trial in her life than I CAN over come mine.

I was so excited to see this recent YouTube video that our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has recently posted.

Grab a tissue you'll need one!

Clear Creek Camping

Two weekends ago now, we went camping with our good friends the Schultz. Emily and Jenna are the best of friends. The girls were prepared for when the sun went down and the chill came upon us.
Maddie loves camping. She was the most excited one of all of us.

Once we got the tent up Brayden was quite content to play in there.

Maddie was trying to help her dad with the dutch oven cooking.

Saturday morning we all went on a little hike.

We had streams to cross via a log.

Massive tree trunks to walk around or climb over as the kids preferred.

A humongus Beaver Dam to walk over.

More streams to cross.

Brayden had the best spot on our little journey.

All our hard work paid off. We ended at the most beautiful spot ever! A rather large pond for eveyone to play in. We started with the daddies showing us how to skip rocks.

She throws like a girl!

Brayden was content to sit next to the water, splash with his hands and toes, watch the crazy kids around him and eat rocks!

We started off like this..

and ended up like this...

What a surprise right?

Once one got in they all had to follow..

We had our own private beach so why not swim in our undies?

This was just too cute not to post. Wading in our panties and rain boots!

After our hike Brayden snoozed in the great fresh outdoors under the shade of a lawn chair.

These 2 pretty girls picked wild flowers for their mama's.

There was plenty of dirt to dig and haul away in a little pick up truck.

We camped in a field full of Lady Bugs!

We had so much fun.

The creek of course was the best part for the kids.

The water was so clean and definetly lives up to the name of "Clear Creek".

Not knowing before hand we attended a Ward Campout here about 3 years ago and had a blast then.

I've always wanted to go back and am so glad we had another opportunity to see this beautiful spot again.

The best part of this wonderful destination is that it's close enough to home that we can come again for a day trip.

We can't wait to go back!