Monday MUNCHIES!!!!!!

One of our neighbors brought this salad/dessert to the party...and it was really good! The kids ate it up!


Snickers Salad

3 red apples; cored and cut into pieces
3 King size Snicker Bars; cut into pieces
2 small packages of vanilla pudding mix
1 Large container of Cool Whip

Mix it all together and let set for an hour in the frig! Super super good!

Our flowers

My great grandma and grandma on my mother's side of the family are gloriously fabulous gardeners...my mom not so much!(but that's ok! :0) I love plants and flowers, but I'm not even close to being as 'green-thumbed" as they are!

We had a little neighborhood party in our back yard last night- it was alot of fun! And then tonight we all ate dinner out there. If/when we move...I'm really going to miss our backyard and patio!

Here are a few pix of my backyard haven...



This is the side patio looking out along the house. My hanging baskets are looking like crap this year- not sure why?! I can't seem to get them perked up...owell! I'm pretty sure they won't make it through July anyway!









This is the side walk leading up to the driveway. (pic taken from the patio) This is my hodge-podge bed. I did alot of transplanting and couldn't bear throwing out the old plants- so they all ended up here. Sedum, lilies, hostas, and a few others.









Here are my Asian lilies... LOVE LOVE LOVE them- easiest plants in the world to grow and take care of!







Here's looking into the back yard from the side of the house. The hose is watering my raspberries- they NEED/LOVE the water!!!!!












These are our crazy raspberries- they are really growing like crazy! We should have some great produce this year!









Here's looking around the corner of the house into the back yard. I have one Boston fern- which isn't looking the greatest. But the other two ferns are actually indoor ferns- and they have been thriving!





This is the backside of the house - we're having concrete edging put in around this bed...but its looking like that won't happen until after we get back from vacation. The rainy weather has really played havoc on our concrete man's schedule. These are all plants that I had left over from thinning out other beds in the yard. The only thing I bought was an elephant's ear bulb...its just started blooming- but its not in the pic.





This is another picture of the back side of the house- but looking off the patio this time. The bed will come out farther from the house- but I wanted to wait until the concrete man came. I didn't want to screw up the drainage and have water running along the house. We live on a hill and water runs through our yard down the hill... so you have to be careful about the grade etc.


I'm planting more Asian lilies along the backside of the house to give the that bed some height and add more color.

Friday FUNNIES!!!!

We went to the lake for a little bit yesterday. There weren't many people there. A few small families and a group of college boys. The college boys were drinking, getting loud and acting stupid.

At first the girls were so busy playing and making sand castles that they didn't even notice the boys. A little bit later I see Corynn standing at the waters edge with her hands on her hips staring and this group of boys. Then she starts shaking her head spins around and starts back toward her sisters. I asked her what was wrong. She rolled her eyes and said "Boys are so lame!"

Hopefully she thinks that way until she's 30!

Hot MAMA!

It was sooooo HOT yesterday!! Even by my jaded Nebraskan standards! And it was all the stinkin humidity that made it so unbearable!

I am so glad that when I was in GI town last weekend- we made a side trip to Hastings to see a gma- I picked up two of those big hard plastic pools. They were like $8 or something cheap like that. Anyway- one for the girls and one for Emma, of course! She thought it was hot yesterday too! And boy did she love her pool! I'll take some pix next time she's out - I hear its supposed to be even warmer today...

The girls use the other pool for filling water guns and splashing eachother. Its obviously not big enough to swim in- but gives them sufficient water to cool off and entertain themselves for awhile.

Good luck surviving the heat today! Drink lots of water and stay cool!

Doest Mine Eyes Deceive Me!?

Holy cow! Only two days with chance of rain- and even those are 40% or less! Hopefully this means were done with the 'Seattle' weather for awhile!

10-Day Forecast

NEW: Larger Radar Maps & No Ads

			High / Low (°F)	Precip. %
Today Jun 25		Partly Cloudy	90°/70°	20 %
Thu Jun 26		Partly Cloudy	93°/72°	20 %
Fri Jun 27		Scattered T-Storms	89°/65°	30 %
Sat Jun 28		Sunny	85°/63°	10 %
Sun Jun 29		Sunny	87°/63°	20 %
Mon Jun 30		Sunny	87°/65°	10 %
Tue Jul 01		Partly Cloudy	88°/66°	20 %
Wed Jul 02		Scattered T-Storms	88°/69°	40 %
Thu Jul 03		Partly Cloudy	87°/68°	20 %
Fri Jul 04		Mostly Sunny	84°/69°	20 %
Last Updated Jun 25 10:24 a.m. CT

Silly gma!

I love my grandma (mom's mom)! She's the best! But she cracks me up! The girls and I were in GI town this past weekend, I had to help my mom with some flood cleanup. Sunday morning we stopped by my grandparents house to visit. She let the girls have donuts and icecream for breakfast... at 9am! The girls thought it was GREAT - I wasn't so thrilled!

Here's a pictures I took of the girls eating their breakfast - check out their drinking glasses!



Pretty fancy!







It was funny yet so typical of her! Gotta love family!

Monday MUNCHIES!!!!!!

here's one of my all-time favorite summer desserts!!! Angel Lush Recipe Rating: Prep Time: 15 min Total Time: 1 hr 15 min Makes: 10 servings

1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained 1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Fat Free Sugar Free Instant Reduced Calorie Pudding & Pie Filling 1 cup thawed COOL WHIP LITE or COOL WHIP Sugar Free Whipped Topping 1 pkg. (10 oz.) round angel food cake 10 fresh strawberries

MIX pineapple and dry pudding mix in medium bowl. Gently stir in whipped topping. CUT cake horizontally into three layers. Place bottom cake layer, cut-side up, on serving plate; top with one-third of the pudding mixture. Repeat layers two times. REFRIGERATE at least 1 hour. Top with berries just before serving. Store leftovers in refrigerator. recipe courtesy of JELLO recipes

Friday FUNNIES!!!!

Here are a couple of funny things Pucca has said...


She plays tball with a bunch of new kids she's never met before. At last game I heard her talking to one of the other little girls and I overheard this...

"Ya, well I live by a graveyard...you know, like in Scooby-Doo!"

It's actually on the other side of the golf course, but anyway- it was funny! The other little girl's eyes got really big.


She was helping John season some pork shoulders for our party next weekend - and she asked John what kind of meat it was. John said "Boston Pork Butt"
Pucca gasped in shock and said "Now dad- that is soooooo inappropriate!"

Too cute!

Fun weekend

We spent the weekend out at Davey - for Father's Day and Jeff's (John's dad) bday. I won't say which bday- out of respect for the man! :0)

We didn't make it to the lake which really bummed out the kids- but we're hoping to make it this week and we'll most definitely make it out there over the holiday weekend in a few weeks.

During one of the storms last early last week- a HUGE cottonwood tree was uprooted and knocked down into one of the ponds. The trunk of the tree would take at least 3 if not 4 people to reach around it! The kids are sitting on it in the above picture. The bottoms of their feet are at least two feet off the ground. I'm guessing it was probably over 100 years old - which makes it kind of sad! It would have been a spectacular sight seeing that tree fall!

We had family pix on Sunday- and it went surprisingly well! I was a little worried about how we were going to keep 5 kids in white shirts- clean and looking good. But we did it, the photo session was painless and I can't wait to see the proofs. Especially of the ones of the girls and cousins in the 'climbing tree.'

Softball game #3

We had another early game tonight- and it went extremely well! Highlights are as follows:

• ** McKynna pitched the first inning and no runs were made! YEAHHHHH! She did really good considering its her first season playing and she didn't even know she was going to have to pitch!
  
• ** Kwynn hit a grounder into the outfield and did outstanding!
• ** Kwynn played first base - YEAH! finally something other than outfield!
  
• **McKynna made a run for her team and which helped them win 10-0 (there is a 5 run mercy rule per inning- which is good because I think it could have become brutal!) Kwynn would make it to base but couldn't make it home because they already had 5 runs- bummer! Hopefully she'll score next game!
  

It was a beautiful night...perfect for a game of softball.




Here's a pic of McKynna on first base









The girls and I went to our neighborhood park yesterday evening and practiced batting and catching. Kwynn found her comfort spot and has become a real slugger. McKynna can catch pop flies like no one else! She got me out 4 times last night when I was hitting balls to them! I was really worried they would become overwhelmed because they haven't played before and the other girls are more experienced. But I think the extra practice last night and their superb win today really pumped up their spirits! Maybe we'll head out and practice again Thursday...

lucky

We live in the south part of town and for the most part- completely missed by the storms and tornadoes that dotted the southeastern part of the state last night.

We were at the zoo last night when we decided to head home about 7pm. I think we were home for about 5 minutes before the sirens went off. We grabbed our supplies and stuffed animals of course, and headed for the basement. John and I were outside for the beginning of it- we had alot of rotation in the clouds by our house- but the wind was really calm and there wasn't any rain. Very spooky. We didn't even get rain until probably 8:45 or so- and then it RAINED! Spectacular lightning! NO flooding though- we're completely dry and no wind damage.

Some parts of town were flooded with over 4 inches of rain- which is crazy!

We were saddened to hear of the Scouts in Iowa- its just so sad!

Hopefully were done with storms for awhile- these past few weeks have been enough!

new hair

Here are my pix...I did a cut and color- its summer so I decided to go a little blonder and a little shorter.






SIDE VIEW







FRONT VIEW





Corynn just had her bangs trimmed.

McKynna and Kwynn had their bangs trimmed and a few high lights put in. Their hair lightens alot in the summer so it will blend more as the summer goes on.



I know you are probably thinking - What in the heck is she doing coloring their hair!!?? But when I was their age- I was already cutting my own hair because my mom wouldn't listen to me when I wanted it done a certain way. They wanted a little color, and this way I get to be in control.

Pictures and softball

Tonight we have softball- pretty early too. The game is at 5:45- they have to be there 15 minutes early so they can take the field at 5:45- plus they have to get their pictures taken before the game as well. Not to mention the games are at Wright Fields- which are clear across town.

So I'm thinking...leave the house at 4:45, meet John at the game, and go out for dinner afterwards.

Yep- I think that's the easiest route to take.

The girls and I had a "HAIR" day today. Cuts and color. (I'll post pictures later.) We also did pedicures and manicures- its fun doing girly stuff with them once and awhile!

She did it!- kind of...

She made it through the first half of the game - then her foot hurt too much to continue. But she hit a really good one and made onto the bases.

She said batting is the hardest because there is so much to remember.

Swing level.
Try not to hit the coach.
Drop the bat after hitting the ball.
Run to the base behind you (she's a lefty).


BUT she made it!!!!!!!!!







Here she is playing third base. There are no outs in tball and its really relaxed. So she didn't do much on third- but she had fun.







After about 45 minutes of practice and game playing- she "couldn't stand it anymore!" (in her own words) So she rested her foot and watched the other girls play. It was all super cute!

It was all kind of crazy- being the first game and most of the girls had no clue what they were doing. So I helped keep the kids on track. While helping at third base- one little girl said "I never get out! Know why?"
I didn't want to say- because the rules say no one gets out...so I just asked "Why?"

She pointed to her shoes and said "because I wore my super fast shoes and no one can catch me when I have mu super fast shoes on!" So precious!

Ankle update

Well, today was supposed to be the big tball game...the FIRST!

Its still swollen pretty bad, she's still limping and its a pretty rainbow of colors (purple, green and yellow).





















Hopefully she'll be able to practice a little with her team...we'll see!

Friday FUNNIES!!!!

Thank goodness its FRIDAY!!

Our weather lately has been CRAZY...and that's putting it mildly. For the last week and a half we've had our emergency basket sitting out by the stairs. Its full of flashlights, bottled water and a weather radio...just incase we have to run to the basement.

When we were putting it together the first night, the girls were full of questions about what we were going to do if a tornado hit, what would happen to our house, etc. We told them that its just a precaution and everyone's safety is more important that anything in the house. All that stuff can be replaced...that's what insurance is for.

A little bit later I noticed the girls (all three of them) putting things in the basement playroom. Corynn was taking all her favorite animals down there and the girls we taking some of their favorite art pieces down there.

I casually asked Kynna what she was doing. She told me that insurance wouldn't be able to replace her art so she was making sure it was safe. Corynn's main concern...her stuffed animals and babies. It took numerous trips for all her "stuff" to make it to safety. In fact, I think the storm passed us by the time she finally finished. :)

We didn't make a big deal of it.. but it was funny to see them selecting their most favorite possessions and making sure they were safe.

on the move....

Summer is officially here at our house. This has been the first week of summer vacation. The weather really hasn't been cooperating...storms, storms and more storms. YUCK!

The twins had their first softball game Tuesday- they both did excellent!!! Especially considering its their very first time ever playing! (None of my pix turned out-I'll try to get better ones this week.)


Pucca's first tball game is on Saturday...which might prove to be a little difficult. She sprained her ankle today and can barely walk. Poor thing! We've done the ice, the elevating and even wrapped it- but its just getting bigger. We'll at least take her so she can cheer her team on and see what its all about.





(can't seem to get a good pic of it-so you'll just have to take my word that its pretty swollen)





Hopefully we'll be able to make it to the lake tomorrow...even if its just for a few hours. Then tomorrow night we're having a sleepover at our house.

I'll be glad when things settle down next week and we get into more of a routine!

Monday MUNCHIES!!!!!!

EASY kid mix

I usually mix individual bags by either using ziplocs or party favor bags with a twist tie. These are great for preschool snacks, holiday treats, sports team treats and tailgating.

• Salted popcorn (I usually just buy a big bag from Colby Ridge)
• Nibs licorice bits
• M&Ms

Add whatever amount seems yummy to you. A typical quart ziploc takes about 3 cups popcorn, 1/2 cup nibs and 1/4 M&Ms. The ingredients will mix together on their own.


This recipe is from my sister-in-law, Amy.