Donut Day

We headed out early last Saturday morning for a Donut Day.  We have a few donut places close to our house that we frequent....but we ventured just a teeny bit further to one of our favorite donut stops so the kids could also watch the donuts being made!  Always makes for a fun and easy breakfast!

J chose chocolate with sprinkles, of course!

And I think that is probably the amount of donut he ate below....this kid has so much energy....and he HARDLY eats!!  He always gets so excited about going to get donuts....but he has never been a huge fan of actually eating them!

Now Sophia, on the other hand, WILL eat donuts...she'd eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner if she could:)

Little Sammy enjoyed his too (what doesn't this kid eat??HA!) Sorry about the blurry picture...but thought this smile was too cute to pass up! He was getting tickles from Big Sister, of course!

Learning the ropes of donut-making.  I LOVED watching the racks as the donuts were rising....geez...if only I had that kind of equipment in my kitchen....can you imagine what kind of fun I would have???

Sammy thought it was pretty neat too...or maybe he just saw a broom or fan behind the glass....those are his TWO favorite things at the moment...and he seems to spot them wherever we go.

Later in the afternoon I ran a few solo errands and found this note on my desk when I returned...  I guess Sophia was hoping to win some big bucks for us in Vegas!! She is so funny!

It has been 100 degrees this week....and we just discovered that our air conditioner has lost the battle to the heat....the fans are going strong here....and we are definitely hoping for a quick fix tomorrow!!!! Happy Weekend!

Summer Pickins'

The last few weeks have not gone at all as I had planned...  I had high hopes of planning fun summer activities every day....but a few things have gotten in the way....just another reminder that Someone Greater is in control, and as much as I would like to be (in control)....sometimes... I just need to roll with whatever comes my way.  Hard.for.me.to.do.

One fun outing we did get to make last week was to the Blueberry Patch.  I only have a few blueberry lovers in our house...in fact...I'm not really sure whether Missy has ever even tried a blueberry before....but our picking adventures were sure fun, nonetheless!

J was working really hard to find all the big, plump berries!

Sammy was content watching from his cool ride....as long as I tossed a few berries his way every once in a while:)

Missy got pretty serious about her picking...no surprise here:)

And I tried to get a picture of all three when we had finished....still practicing with this Instagram thing....and of course I got them all having to squint:)

I love how this little guy will try almost anything...(he doesn't always keep things in his mouth if he later decides he doesn't like them...) but he definitely loves his blueberries!

And would you believe I haven't even baked anything blueberry yet from the nearly 2 pounds of blueberries we picked? I have just enjoyed eating them in their yummy fresh, sweet state.  And now that I have actually had to handpick berries... I don't think I will complain about the high cost of blueberries at the grocery store anymore.   This is definitely hard work!

The kids and I had so much fun trying to find the "best" berries to put in our buckets...and we are already planning our next trip back!

Daddy Day 2012

We had a relaxing Father's Day this past weekend.  Poor J was having a bad allergy day and a bit of the grumps ( I couldn't get him in the pictures for the life of me).  Daddy stayed home with the boys in the morning since I was worried they weren't feeling 100% for Church.

And when Sophia and I returned...she was pretty excited to give him her home-made cards and her bookmark that she had made at school especially for Father's Day.

Here is the card we made together for Daddy....I saw the idea somewhere in blogland...wish I could remember where so I could give credit where credit is due.....  We had a little trouble finding all of the candies...but ended up finding all but one!  It all turned out pretty cute in the end (even though  I had to make a late trip to the grocery store the night before to buy another Butterfinger after we searched high and low for the one we originally purchased..hmmm....!

Sammy had his eye on the Mounds bar...

We got to visit both Pappou and Papa in the afternoon...and were back home in time for dinner and a bike ride...Sammy's first ride on the back of Daddy's bike.  He LOVED it....even though he had to wear a princess helmet....J's first helmet was already too small him!

Oh....and of course a few last minute cookies....perfect for our Daddy...He rarely ever wears ties...so a cookie tie seemed more fitting:)

Summer Entertainment

I love the relaxed schedule of summer.   I love having a library day.  I love getting to go outside at any time of the day without having to worry with jackets or even socks.  BUT....when summer arrives.... I quickly realize how HARD it can be to find FUN activities for the littles to do, especially when certain little 4 year olds wake up from rest time already asking what we are going to do next...

I heart Pinterest.  What a fun way for people to pool all of their activities and interests so that everyone can benefit!!!  I found this easy little activity on Pinterest from this blog...

Most of the things you need for this... are probably already in your pantry....

1.  plastic containers

2.  plastic squeeze bottles

3.  Big box of Baking Soda

4.  Vinegar (I LOVE this stuff....it works miracles....cleans like no other without all those harsh chemical smells....and even makes glass SHINE!)

5.  Food coloring

I sent the olders outside while I gathered all of these...

Of course it took me a little while to get everything ready with this crazy climber in the house...

If I leave the kitchen for a second...he has climbed onto a chair, desk, and yes...even the kitchen table!!!!

And just to digress a little more....here is another cute picture (I tried to take with my phone..sorry for the blur) of my little guy from earlier in the week.  We came home from the pool to find the H family had left us their fun rocking caterpillar on our porch.  It didn't take Sammy long at all to warm up to his new friend:)

Okay...and back to the experiment.... Basically, I filled the tubs with a good amount of Baking Soda....poured vinegar into the squeeze bottles, mixed a little food coloring in each...and let the kids go to town squeezing...

They immediately loved watching the colored liquids bubble and fizz once they touched the Baking Soda.
Sophia was VERY cautious about making hers LOOK neat... imagine that!

I think she may have been trying to make a picture out of it.... a caterpillar?

And J just squeezed to his little heart's content.

His was a wet mess of fizz when he was finished...but he was thrilled with his results!  And he was more excited when I told him if we left the containers to dry....it would turn to a moon sand consistency...good for some sand play later.... Of course, I think his is still too damp even after we left it outside all day to dry!

And I finally jumped on the Instagram bandwagon today....so much fun!  Took this picture with my phone of Sophia's dried "sand."

And still more camera play...this time in Sammy's new shades:)

Happy Weekend!

Raise the Curtain!

Sophia had her first "official" dance recital this past weekend!  We had to pull out the big guns....BRIGHT lipstick....eyeshadow and blush...

I, of course, think she is BEAUTIFUL without makeup...but the instructions were to "go heavy" on the make-up so it could be seen under the bright lights of the stage.  Yiayia came over to help fasten her braid into a secure bun...and I was just sweating trying to keep the lipstick inside her lips....it sure can be tricky to apply make-up when a certain someone can't keep from moving her lips up and down!:)

She was pretty excited to pose for the camera as you can see...

I'm just glad she was smiling.....because on rehearsal night....her little "bother's" comment about how "she looked freakish in all that make-up" had her in tears.

She had two outfits....her first outfit was for the performance "Raise the Curtain" (tune from the Muppets).  This was her tap performance.

She doesn't look nervous a bit!

I sensed a little anxiety in the dressing room...once we arrived in Louisburg... but...

after the group "Break a Leg" cheer....she was ready to go! Flash photography was not allowed in the auditorium, but  B did get video on his phone.  However, I have tried in vain to post it here....and still to no avail....so you'll have to take my word that she definitely was a star!  She looked like she had a great time on stage!

Her last performance before the finale (which she said was her favorite dance...to the tune of "You Don't Know You're Beautiful!") was her jazz performance.  They danced to "Proud Mary" and looked like real "Tina Turners" in their cute sparkly outfits.  Sophia loves to dance to this song on the Wii....so she was thrilled when this song was chosen for their performance.

And here she is with our sweet and DARLING little friend...

Maybe someday I can upload the video properly....but all in all...of course we were sooo proud of her!  A BIG thank you to Yiayia and Pappou and Omi and Papa and Thea for making the trip to Louisburg and for showering our STAR with all the gorgeous flowers.  She couldn't have been more thrilled to perform for all of you!!!  And another shout out to Nouna who stayed with little Sammy at home....he most definitely couldn't have made it through the two hour show:)