Category: Blogging
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A Taste of Summer
4 Days at the Lake – that is what we did this past weekend. The boys ran, explored, fished, and played at the beach. They loved every minute. Preston says his favorite part was the s’mores, lol. There is really nothing like the taste of a perfectly browned marshmallow. We ate delicious food like hot dogs, cheeseburgers, cherries, grapes, cheese and of course, s’mores.
We learned that Preston is a natural fisherman.
We stayed in a cabin by the lake.
Dinner: Rib-Eye, Hot Dogs and Corn 
Oliver roasting marshmallows
The boys enjoying a ride on the lake with my cousin and his totally cool boat.
Cousins creating art with markers and paper, the perfect afternoon break activity.
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The Best Marriage Proposal Ever!
The title says it all! This is so fantastically awesome!!
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Summertime: Freshen Your Home and Garden
Who doesn’t love Spring and Summer? The outside becomes our playground, the clean, fresh air is a welcome change from being indoors all winter. I love to open all the windows and let the air flow through our house. This time of year, like most people, is my preferred time to clean out my home, car and garden. I like to start clean and fresh with everything! Like spring, all these are new, or a least like new!
The Cars
I always start with our cars. We take this opportunity to completely empty the car and trunk, including
console and glove compartment. I am amazed at the amount of stuff that accumulates in our car during the winter months. Hats, gloves, clothes, socks, toys, books, paperwork, trash, yuck! After, we take it all out, we vacuum and shampoo the carpet, wipe down the seats, dash, doors, console, and vents. The windows are washed inside and out, then we finish with a wash and wax. The kids think its a special treat when we wash the cars at home, they love helping out! To keep it fresh, I keep some dryer sheets under the seats and in the pockets of the seats. I love to the put the good old fashioned air freshener trees, my favorite is cherry.Outside Your Home
This year we moved into a house so we spent a couple of weekends cleaning up the yard and gardens. Raking, pulling weeds, laying down grass seed, cutting back the gardens. I love being outdoors in the Spring and Summer seasons. It is important to keep your yard fresh and clean, so you can truly enjoy it. It is not fun to sit around clutter and weeds. Our back patio got really dirty from snow and rain. We cleared everything and power washed it, made it like new. Now we will just need an outdoor shop broom to keep it clean. We washed down all the patio furniture. We also brought out the kids summer toys, bucket, shovels and balls. We washed it all and organized it in a set of outdoor drawers. I keep a container in our shed for outdoor cleaning. I stock it with scrub brushes, all purpose cleaner, window cleaner, paper towels and cleaning erasers. It is a perfect “go to” when I need to freshen up the patio.Kitchen, Bath and Closets
Moving to the biggest task: the house. We have wood floors so we pull all the rugs out, shake em, hang em outside to air out. I sweep everywhere, then polish the wood. This is when I move the big furniture and sweep it all out. This summer we are getting the vents cleaned out, I will be so happy to know that they are clean! I wipe down everything in the kitchen, this includes our washer and dryer. I like to clean them inside and out. If you are feeling really ambitious you can take off the door of your dryer and clean out the lint that can build up inside. I use a vinegar water mix to clean the microwave and dishwasher. For the microwave: in a microwave safe container add 1 part water, 1 part vinegar and microwave for 3 minutes. Wipe down with ease.
The bathroom always needs refreshing constantly, through out the year, especially with little boys. We are always wiping everything down in there, using super strength cleaner. To keep the air fresh we stash a baking soda in the cabinet along with spice filled pouches for a natural air freshener. Another must have is the unbeatable combination for freshness, Cottonelle tissue paper and Cottonelle Flushable Wipes. In our house, they are a staple.I finish off with the closets, everything comes out, only 75% is allowed back in. I look to purge and getting of stuff is wonderful! I also put dryer sheets and baking soda on the top shelves of each closet, ensure freshness all Summer long.
So there you have it, now go, get fresh!
Do you love Cottonelle as much as I do? You can enter to win a years supply!
To qualify for the year’s supply of Cottonelle Ultra Comfort Care and Cottonelle Fresh Care, entrants must create a name through The Customizer on Cottonelle Brand’s Facebook Page between June 12, 2012, and February 28, 2013. Winners will be selected in a random drawing on a weekly basis. There is a limit of one prize per person. See full terms and conditions on Cottonelle Brand’s Facebook Page or Cottonelle.com.
People can also participate by following @Cottonelle on Twitter for exclusive opportunities to win #NameIt prizes and check out the Book of Names on Cottonelle.com to see what others have named their routine and get fun bathroom trivia.
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“I was compensated for this post. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own.” -
Spy Party Fun
My middle son Oliver recently turned six. I don’t throw the boys a “friends” party every year but this was one of those years for him. At Christmas time the boys got Spy Gear and loved it; then while looking at party ideas I came across a laser maze idea, I was inspired. I then googled “Spy Party” and came up with plenty of sites of Mom’s who had done it, yay!
I sent the invites out via Evite, not my first choice, but it’s so fast and convenient I caved. Here is what the invite said:
Your mission should you choose to accept it:
You have been selected to attend STA – Spy Training Academy. You will complete the steps necessary to become a Level 007 SuperSpy.
Hot Dogs, Hamburgers and Cake are necessary parts of this training.Hope you Accept this Mission!For the spy party we decided to have the kids start off with training at our Spy Training Academy. Training started with distribution of essential spy gear: sunglasses and ID badges with their own pictures on them. On their ID I also assigned everyone a code name using colors and animals (black panther, pink dragonfly, silver cheetah, etc.).
Next we had set up an obstacle course. We set up cones for them to ride a big wheel through, then off to the army crawl mats, laser under the trampoline, through a mystery black curtain, finishing with a crawl under/jump over the bar. Each trainee received a gold medal to wear around their neck.
Spencer cruises through the course.
Adam sports his new ID Badge and Glasses, MR starts the obstacle course in the background.Then while they were training, someone stole the CAKE! They were to immediately start their mission. We brought them into the living room for a short video we made. After that they received their first clue verbally which lead to the next clue and so on.
We attached one clue to a helium filled balloon in the front yard, then one in the gate, one in a backyard tree, then back gate, finally ended up in the alley to search for a pink box. This was filled with the thief’s stash of money and a clue where the cake was. (click here to download the Clue template and Spy Training sign)
R was thrilled to find the package in the alley!Another game we played was a huge hit with the kids and parents. We went to google map images and printed up satellite aerial shots of each party guests house. We laid them out on a table and read a clue, as they all were looking at them… they started to realize that these were their neighborhoods and homes. Each guest took home their image. They all really loved that.
We had a pinata, at the boys request, it was jammed packed with candy (thanks Grandma Peanuts).
MR takes a swing.We served the “Juiciest Hamburgers Ever” a recipe from allrecipes.com, Undercover Hot Dogs from Pinterest, the world’s most delicious Macaroni Salad (thanks Grandma Tootsie), chips and lemonade. I was thinking of making a dynamite cake or a briefcase. I wimped out and bought a chocolate cake from my grocers bakery, it was good, just not “cool”.
Each child took home a file folder stamped TOP SECRET, inside they each received a mustache, an eye patch, a laser pointer that attached to their finger, money and coins from the thief’s stash box, their own ID badge, neon sunglasses, a satellite picture of their house and a Superman ring.
It lasted 2 hours and we had a wonderful time!
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Homemade Chocolate Sauce
We love to use chocolate sauce in house, whether it is for chocolate milk or ice cream sundaes, we go through it way too quickly. Pinterest is the source of my latest inspiration, of course. The thought of making my own was appealing because there are like 4 ingredients that go into it. No extra “junk”. While looking for a list of ingredients in Hershey’s Chocolate Sauce (they do not list it on their website) I found this very informative post: Ingredients in Hershey’s.
Why buy chocolate syrup when you can easily make your own with just:
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (your favorite brand)
1 cup water
dash of salt
1 teaspoon vanillaWhisk the sugar, cocoa and salt together, place in a sauce pan with the water and bring it to a boil while stirring consistently. Reduce heat and cook for about 1 minute. When it’s cooled enough to add to your container stir in the vanilla then store in the refrigerator!
Delicious and Healthier than Store Bought
Which would you rather have:
Cocoa Powder
Water
Real Vanilla Extract
Real Sugar
SaltOR High Fructose Corn Syrup
Corn Syrup
Potassium Sorbate (preservative)
Imitation Vanilla
Mono-diglycerides
Polysorbate 60
xanthan gum (corn)It is healthier and more economical to make your own chocolate sauce.
My husband has been making his morning mochas with it and the kids are using in their milk.
It is delicious.
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Family Photos in the Digital Age
In this day and age more pictures are taken then ever before in history. Which one of us does not have at least a couple of thousand on their hard drives? I seriously love the concept. No more film, no more developing film, no more money wasted on printing bad pictures. Did you ever buy a developed roll only to open the film envelope and see that 5 of out 24 turned out. Love that with digital cameras we get to edit and delete if necessary before we print. Digital quality is unbeatable as well.The only dilemma to solve? How to store and not loose them.
Since I’ve been a pc tech for well over a decade now I get my fair share of computer questions from family and friends. Two of my latest endeavors involve recovering photos and files from a crashed hard drive both for my Sister in Law and a good friend.
Nobody wants to lose their cherished photo memories especially not like this! No problem. We just need to be a little proactive. It is well worth the thought.
I recently one friend explain how she saves hera photos. Only the memory card in her camera is full, she simply removes it and stores it in a fire safe box. Then she buys a new memory for the next round of pictures. Brilliant.
For being the techie in the family I was a little disappointed I didn’t come up with that myself but that’s because my favorite method is cloud storage. One suggestion I had made is that you can upload your photos and files to Google docs if you have a Gmail account or to other online photo vendors like Shutterfly and Walgreens. Whichever one your used to. They will always be there for you to access.
That way you will at least have an online backup of your digital photos forever, hopefully.
What do I personally do? I receive plenty of emails from printers like Shutterfly, TinyPrints, Picaboo, Snapfish and Walgreens. Every week they
send out fantastic sales on Photobooks. I simply throw all my current unprinted pictures into a photo book. I use them like photo albums. These can take a long time to create if you design them, edit, add captions. However, most of them have a Wizard or Genie option. These options fill in the pictures for you, insert the place for text too. This saves a ton of time.Do not wait until it is too late! Make a plan and stick to it. Which is the best fit for you? Maybe 2 or 3 of these suggestions? Do what works for you and don’t delay. Pictures are priceless.
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Seriously, Don’t These Sound Amazing?
Ice Cream! It is a favorite in our house. We love it in bowl usually but sometimes on a cone.
We also sometimes mix it with malt and milk for a shake -DE LISH!
The other while I was shopping I came across these from Private Selection. They sounds amazing, I can’t wait to try them all!
New York Style Pumpkin Cheesecak and Italian Cafe Tiramisu
Denali Bear Claw
Honey Maple Nut and Chocolate Granache
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An Educational Trip to the Flea Market
You might call it a Swap Meet, Rummage Sale, Outdoor Market, those are all other names for Flea Markets. I noticed our Flea Market changed their named to Mile High Marketplace, sounds better but we all still call it “the flea market”. We took a trip 1 early Saturday morning. We woke the kids up, we all got ready and got in the car. We arrived at the Market at 8:30 AM. No line to get in, plenty of great parking!
We left without eating and figured we would play it by ear. What a good idea, there were fresh fruits everywhere. Since we could not wash anything we played it safe with bananas. They were perfectly ripe, fresh and a hit with the kids. Yummy!
This turned out to be an excellent educational opportunity. We talked about bartering and trading. We had learned of this concept when we were studying the pioneers. Now they get to see how that can play out.
More learning fun:
Learning about the hard and hot work that goes into delicious kettle corn. How does it pop? What do they flavor it with?
Hot and Fresh Kettle Corn
Seeing tons of fresh produce, learning names and sampling them
What are these? How are they cooked? What do we use them in?
Did you know there are hundreds of cheeses in the world? This store has a good variety of Mexican and other cheeses.
We talked about how all cheese melts differently, some are hard, some soft and why it’s good to have variety because of all we use cheese for. We took turns naming dishes with cheese.
The best part, in my opinion, was teaching the boys how to spend their money wisely. When we first got there, they ran to every booth, wanted something from each. Once they realized that they each had a budget and there was hundreds of booths, they learned to be conservative and more picky about what they chose.
Preston counts his money at a vendor booth.
Paying the seller
The boys showing off their first finds!
This was a great experience and the kids were thanking us over and over for bringing them. We will be back!
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An Easter Banner
I have a dear friend who does fun crafts with her Mother. The first really cool thing I saw that they each made for their homes was a Christmas banner. It was made of felt squares that were strung together on a pretty ribbon to make a banner. Each square had a letter on it and it spelled out “Joy to the World”. Each letter was made of crafty items like buttons, ribbon and other appliques. So cute! My friend had told me she wanted to make one for Easter too. A couple of months later she pulled me aside to show me her Easter banner. It was adorable, I was so bummed I didn’t have my camera on me.
I was definitely inspired. I was out and about the other day and wandered into a fabric store. I was set on getting the materials to make my own banner. Unfortunately the store I walked into was strictly a fabric store. No fun stuff, kinda of “stuffy”, I felt intimidated and left.
When I got home I decided to go through my scrapbooking stuff to see what I could find…
I came up with some cute things and decided to scale it down and use paper…
Cutting out a banner piece
my selection of colors
A little too plain…
Much better, I decided to add patterned paper.
Drying, just need to hang it up, probably in the front window.I used cardstock because I didn’t have ribbon thick enough to hold. If you have ribbon use it, this looks a little stiff.