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Monday, July 23, 2012

Just to Throw Them Off...

Do you ever say "yes" to your kids when you know they are expecting you to say "no"?  It's fun to do sometimes and it's great watching their faces... The girls asked if they could try and "do a fire" out of some leftover bamboo skewers.  Brooke's jaw dropped when I said yes... 
The skewers didn't light the best, so they threw on some paper bowls and decided they had enough of a fire going to roast a hot dog...

 Trying valiantly to bring the fire back to life... It's sad to say, but that hot dog got black from smoke (not from cooking...) and was still cold in the middle.  But they ate it anyway...

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Whoops...

I was recently co-in-charge-of a 2-day camp for this lovely bunch of young ladies...
Getting ready the second morning, my eye allergies were bugging me, so I stuck my glasses, contact case and 2 things of eye drops in my favorite pair of orange sneakers (I was also worried my feet would hurt by the end of the day, so I was bringing back-up footwear...).  I have a million (almost literally) other things I'm grabbing and lugging out to my car.  I stick my shoes on the hood of the suburban and load up the back with the big stuff.  And off I go.  I'm driving along, thinking about the day ahead, when I suddenly hit something.  Weird.  I didn't see anything.  So I look in my rear-view mirror and see  some shoes.  Huh.  It's not usual to see two shoes together in the street.  That's weird... I thought.  And continued on my way... Once I arrived at the church, I couldn't find my shoes.  That's weird.  I'm sure I stuck them in the car...  guess not...  If I need my glasses later, I can always get Tom to bring them..... Wait....  Did I put them on the HOOD of my car?  Pretty sure I did.  What?  Did I leave them there?  Oh man....  Guess I'd better call Tom and have him grab them from the driveway... So I call Tom and have him (wake-up) and check the driveway.  No glasses.  "Honey, they have to be close, just drive up the street..." I told him.  Then hung up.  Then remember the TWO shoes I'd seen in my rearview mirror... 2 miles from home.  That I'd run over...  That's a fun call to make and try to explain... "Yes dear,  I know....  Yes, the hood...  No, I don't know how I didn't see them.... Would you go look for them please?  Yes, I know I have the suburban and you have the girls...  No, no, I'm sure you'll all (5) fit in the Camaro...  ok...  Love ya, babe... thanks..."  It is one of my finer moments...  So Tom and the girls all crammed in and drove out to Sunrise Blvd (a pretty busy street).  And FOUND MY GLASSES.  Any my contact case.  And both eyedrops and both shoes.  Amazing.  The girls said they were scattered all over the road and "weren't even on the side, mom!!!!  They were right in the middle!!!"  My shoes have a tire mark on them, my contact case broke across the middle, but is still useable, and my glasses?  Not a scratch.  They were in a soft case that doesn't close and now has a hole in it, but my (super-expensive-because-I'm-blind) glasses are perfect.  Such a blessing!
And now don't you feel better about the stuff you left on the roof of your car?

Crazy...

While most of the country has been suffering a heat wave, summer only started a week or two ago here in the Northwest.  So, the weekend before the 4th, Tom was putting up the pool in low 60 degree temperatures...  and the girls decided it was a great time to swim in low 50 degree water.  I was cold watching them.  They seemed to be just fine... 

Collecting...




(Erin is the frog-lover and Alix is the unicorn...)

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Late...

I wanted to post about the last day of school (June 21) but got sidetracked by summer.  So, strictly for the blog book....
 Erin
 Brooke
 Alix
 Annual Last Day of School/First Day of Summer sleepover.  Complete with mandatory cheese fondue...


 Tie-dyeing shirts the next morning.  Gotta make our "uniforms of summer"...
 (We use zip ties instead of rubber bands.  Way easier for the kids to get tight enough...)



Wednesday, July 04, 2012

The many faces of Independence...

Happy 4th of July.  God Bless America!





Sunday, July 01, 2012

Pioneer Children

Some "sang as they walked..."  Mine?  Sang while they ground wheat...
As good Latter Day Saints, we have buckets and buckets of wheat stored in our garage.  But haven't ever touched it.  Tom, who shall henceforth be called "Food Storage Nerd of the Universe", bought us a wheat grinder.  It attaches to my KitchenAid, but you can also crank that sucker by hand (which will be convenient once the world has ended...).  Which is what the girls did one night to try it out...  

Erin

Alix

Sam

You've seen posts of some of my other bread adventures.  This one was more successful.  I found a super easy recipe for Honey Wheat Bread and it was delicious!  My girls don't like wheat bread and they loved it.  It's possible it's because of all the labor they'd put into it...


 And now?  Food Storage Nerd of the Universe thinks that "we" should make all our bread...  That's what I get for being so successful on my first whole wheat bread adventure.  I'll remember to screw up a little more next time...


And just for fun - look what the girls and I made for the little brothers at the cub scout cake auction...