Little Chef's

Haylee had a birthday party today at a place called Little Chef's Academy. It may sound a bit snooty, but it was so much fun. The women who run the place are great with kids and they taught them so much about making pasta. Yes, 8 children made homemade pasta. It was so easy and the look on their faces when the pasta was flattened again and again was priceless. The theme of the party was Webkinz and all of the kids got a Webkinz fish at the end of the party. The pasta was tasty and I think that I may want to invest in a pasta maker. I could actually have the kids help with dinner. We also ventured to the zoo again this week and saw some more of the same animals, but also some new ones. The baby snow leopard is no longer in an incubator and is now housed with a puppy. The two of them played while we were there and they were so cute. There is also a picture of Claire that I thought was cute as she is sitting on a big metal tortoise. The other highlight of our week was Kenna's kindergarten orientation. I was so busy helping with the bus safety lesson that I didn't get any pictures, but Kenna seems to like her teacher and is so excited about going to school on Tuesday. I am just hoping that I don't cry when she gets on the bus.

School in one week

I can't believe that school starts in only 1 more week. We have purchased the backpacks already and I took a cute picture of Claire trying on Kenna's High School Musical bag. She is already to go with her baby in the car seat. Notice the pigtails. This is a new hairdo for her and I think it makes her look so much older. On Thursday, Haylee lost a top front tooth. We actually lost the tooth in her room somewhere when her friend hit her with a pillow and the tooth went flying. She wrote a note to the tooth fairy explaining that she had actually lost a tooth and I printed this picture so she could put it under her pillow with the note. Fortunately, the tooth fairy found the note and left a silver dollar anyway. The other pictures are of Haylee and her neighbor friend playing fashion designer with some of my old fabric scraps. I see some budding talent in these glamorous gowns. The last picture is just a cute one of Kenna at a birthday party we went to yesterday. Because the birthday boy had mostly other rowdy boys at the party, Haylee did not want to participate much in their pool wars, but Kenna joined right in. She is a tough little 5 year old. Last night I went with some friends to a quaint little restaurant in Augusta called "A Food Affair", followed by a night at the Barn Theater where we saw RENT. The restaurant is so close to The Barn that they have a feature menu that has items related to whatever production is playing at the theater. I can't remember the name of my entree, but the dessert was called "The Tango Maureen". I also learned that Jonathan Larsons, who wrote and first directed RENT was originally an actor at The Barn, so there was a touching tribute to him at the end of the show. It was a wonderful night. My last picture is of my latest scrapbook page. This was our recent trip to the zoo when we fed the giraffes. The paper is again Close to my Heart "Expedition" line.

25 cents

The girls decided to have a Koolaid stand yesterday with their friends. I generally say no to this as it is more work for me and the girls drink all of their product. This leads to a bunch of hyper little girls and no money to show for it. They also make a huge sticky mess and run screaming from the stand when the bees show up. I explained the rules in advance to them when they finally wore me down, I said yes.

1. You may only have 1 glass each to drink

2. Haylee is the only one allowed to pour the drinks

3. You need to come up with a charity to donate your money to

4. You need to set up and clean up by yourselves

I was pleasantly surprised when they followed all of the rules (mostly), and told them that they could have another one in the spring. The final earnings were $7.75 which is pretty good for Koolaid that costs only 25 cents per cup. They gave the money to our neighbors who volunteer at the SPCA and they are going to donate it for us. The girls felt great about their success and felt even better after they donated the money. I am proud of them. The other picture is of another completed scrapbook page. This page was made with another Close to my Heart paper pack and the pictures are of a hot afternoon this summer when the big girls were playing in the water. It is amazing to me that at 7 and 5 they still find fascination in playing in a tiny blowup baby pool.

Fresh tomatoes

At the beginning of the spring when I planted my four tomato plants, I was just hoping to grow enough to eat on some salads and sandwiches. I have not had much luck in the past with growing tomatoes. I was very attentive to my tomato plants and watered them faithfully, talked to them, and even splurged to put cocoa bean mulch over them. I watched as they grew, and grew, and GREW. They overtook my garden box and smothered my green pepper plants. I am now starting to harvest my 300 or so tomatoes. (well, not quite that many, but it seems like it.) I decided that I would probably have enough to actually make some real homemade tomato sauce. I borrowed a tomato press and have some oregano and basil from a neighbor's garden and I have some yummy garlic flavored organic extra virgin olive oil to use for my project. Tonight I played with the tomato press and these are the pictures of my before and after. I was shocked at how easy this process was and that it only took me 10 minutes. I can't wait to simmer the sauce tomorrow with the herbs and fresh garlic. I will let you know how it turns out.

Another finished page

Here is my latest finished scrapbook page. I used Game On paper line by Close to my Heart. (My favorite for paper packs and acrylic stamps). The pictures are of Haylee's B-ball last year. I loved the colors of black/blue/cream. It matched the jersey's perfectly.

33 Years

Yesterday was my 33rd Birthday. My birthday gifts were perfect. My children and my husband gave me two scrap booked pages that the children had done. The pictures on them were of Happy birthday written out in shoes and the word MOM spelled with their bodies on the floor. It was priceless. My dad and Pam sent some goodies from PA including some tea, some olive oil soap, and a new devotional. My mom and grandma gave me some money and their free babysitting services while I went out shopping at my two favorite stores: Hobby Lobby and Target. I got some home decor and some new clothes. I then met my husband for lunch and a movie. Our 12th anniversary is today and so yesterday we took advantage of the free babysitter to spend some time together. Thank you to everyone for the great gifts.

Girls day out

As the end of summer is quickly approaching and the sale adds for back to school are everywhere, I decided to take Haylee, Kenna and 3 of their neighbor girlfriends out for the morning. We packed like sardines in the van and ventured out to Jungle Joes, which is a big wearhouse filled with HUGE blown up bouncy play structures. The girls had a blast, but tired out quick. I have to agree with them that 1.5 hours is a long time. I have tried to play on these enormous jungle gyms before, and I was tired out after 5 minutes. After the girls played, sweated, and wore themselves out, we went to the McDonald's drive through for $1 menu McNuggets and fries. (only $10.60 for 5 little girls. WOW) They had a ball and I reminded them to cherish these last few weeks of summer with all of the free time with their friends. The other picture is of my latest scrapbooking finished page. I have been trying to finish up pages that I have started and get them into albums, so I will try to post more of my pages as I complete them.