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Animal Crackers In My Soup!

Today was Bailey’s dance recital. The girls were all so cute, we had the J— the duck, R— the bear, and Bailey the mouse. It was so hot today, 101 degrees and humid… the girls looked so cute, but they were tired and hot before they even got their turn on stage. It took them a few seconds to get into (Bailey did anyway)… This day makes that 1 hour every Friday, worth it. Here are a few pictures. I didn’t put the girls’ full names in because I didn’t ask their parents

Our friends Rick and Michele brought home their second baby girl from China last weekend. We just wanted to give you guys a shout out of congratulations! Rick and Michele - you guys are truly amazing for doing something so wonderful for your babies! They are blessed to have you, as you are blessed to have them. Simone, you are going to be the bestest big sister ever, I just know it! Sophie Wei - you are beautiful and you have no idea just yet how many people love you and welcome you home. Your family is beautiful!

This is my favorite picture (taken from their blog). Sophie (left) and Simone (right) look like they shared an instant bond. They look so happy and so healthy and just perfect!!

Here is a link to a segment on CNN, Rick and Michele shared their journey to get Sophie from China with a CNN reporter. It is very touching (CHECK IT OUT) CNN Breaking News Stories

The Houstons Blog

Their Journey To Sophie
(amazing pictures and journalling about their experiences)

Do you ever get the blahs? You just don’t feel like blogging, you don’t feel like picking up the laptop and doing anything? I’ve been having those blahs the last few days. I’m ready to kiss them goodbye though. We have a busy weekend planned and I need to kiss them goodbye.

Ashlyn started summer school this week. She’s liking it much better than regular school, she says. Hopefully it does what it’s supposed to do and give her a little jump start on 7th grade. I would think it would be hard to figure out a class room full of kids’ unmet needs from the previous school year, and meet them, in just 1 month of classes. Certainly can’t hurt, though! I have instituted my own summer school program here at home, simply focused reading time. The kids can read to earn prizes from the library and book store, so I’m pretty much forcing it along. So, we ventured out to the library this week and checked out several books. What the kids couldn’t find at our relatively small town library, we ordered online from the regional library system website. This is so handy! I ordered a couple of books for myself even… so I’m excited.

Bailey’s Dance Recital is on Saturday, she is so excited. I am excited. I will post video and pictures later. She is also going to her very first sleepover, for her friend, Riley’s birthday. I am nervous. She’s only stayed with relatives, and lately she’s woke up in the early morning to climb into bed with me (us)… and I hope all goes well!

Sunday we have our annual 4th of July party out at my dad’s. It’s supposed to be near 100 all weekend, and I’m usually pretty useless in that kind of heat. I am making a promise to myself, I will try not to be cranky!

What else… my sister went to the Tim McGraw concert the other day… totally rotten of her. She tells me “Guess where I will be tonight” fully knowing how much I love his concerts. I was already bummed out that I wasn’t going to be going. This sucked. LOL. Blahhhh. She called me at some point during the concert, she was having a great time and her pictures show that as well, so I’m glad she was able to go. I will get over the fact that I was not invited.

David made chili dogs for dinner tonight. Bailey doesn’t like chili, so she asked me to scrape the chili off a hot dog for her (she was having a second dog… the kid barely eats, so I have to get it in her when I can). I told her I would do my best. She says “Mommy, just focus on the job and you will get it all off”. Focus?? Job?? Who is this child? She was also giggling as usual… about the fact that she was eating hot dogs “Mommy… we are having Libby for dinner”. That’s our dumb dog. She says “Tanner, guess what! You are eating Libby” and the laughter that follows is funnier than her statement… she gets a total kick out of it. Nothing is better than making yourself laugh.

Another highlight of my week. Bailey cut her hair. This is the second time she’s done this TO ME. Really, she doesn’t care so much that her hair has to be short. But, *I* care. She hadn’t asked me recently to get her hair cut, so I’m a little peeved that I couldn’t have head that off by taking her in for a trim. This was a full on CUT. Several inches. GONE. As my friend Tammy said… “she just wanted a change”. So today I asked her if she was happy with her hair. She says, “yes mommy, I wanted to be Sissy’s twin”. So for her, I will get over it. But.. she should probably know that if she ever cuts her own hair again, I will ground her til she’s 30!

That’s it for today!! I have something else to add, but it deserves it’s very own post, so I will put that up in a minute.

I got this Snickers Salad recipe from my friend Marcy several summers ago… the first time I made it, people confused it with the potato salad and were surprised to find that it was a sweet dish. Once they figured out that it was a dessert, they loved it. Snickers Salad is one of those recipes that EVERYONE asks me to make when we attend a summer gathering. I have made Snickers Salad MANY times!

Ingredients:
1 large tub of Cool Whip, thawed
1 large package of vanilla instant pudding
1 cup of milk
6 snickers bars, cut in bite size pieces (those popables work well too) or 3 super size snickers bars
3 medium size Granny Smith apples or other tart apple, cut up into small chunks

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine milk and pudding, then mix in the cool whip. Add the Snickers and then the apples.

Note: Toss apples with lemon juice to keep them from getting brown.

New Jersey is a great place to vacation. There are a lot of things for kids to do in New Jersey, including all of the Wildwood events, held at Morey’s Piers.

There are free concerts being offered by Radio Disney on July 7th, 14th, and 21st. The entertainment for July 7th will be A Cursive Memory. Playing on July 14th will be Jordan Pruitt. Savvy and Mandy will be taking the stage on July 21st. These are some of Disney’s most popular up and coming stars! These free concerts will take place on the Radio Disney Stage on Morey’s Mariner’s Landing pier at 1 and 4pm.

The finale concert will feature Raven-Simone, Mitchel Musso from Hannah Montana, and Drew Seeley. That will be held on July 26th at the Arena Wildwoods Convention Center. Tickets starting at $27.50 can be purchased at Ticketmaster. Partial proceeds of the Raven-Symone concert go to benefit
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Atlantic and Cape May Counties.

As a special bonus, if you purchase tickets to the July 26th concert, you can receive $10 off your ticket to either famous new jersey water park: Raging Waters or Ocean Oasis, or $10 off an amusement pier wristband valid for all three of Morey’s Piers, or $15 off a one-day splash and ride combination ticket.

McKenzie swept the sidewalk earlier today in hopes of earning some extra school clothes money. She does this often, she’ll get a wild hair and make this BIG list of different chores that she thinks is worth $5. She gets as far as the final chore on the list and is then bored and moves onto do something else.

After she did her sweeping, she heard some buzz around our neighborhood that there was a garage sale, on the next street over. There went her jump start on school clothes. She hit up Daddy for cash, and got $3.00. I tried to explain to her, not to buy anything that we don’t need that would end up just going back into a garage sale we would have later. I probably should have walked with her but I kind of wanted to see what she’d come up with.

She came back a little bit later with change that she was going to share with Bailey, by taking her for a return trip to the sale. So, Bailey comes running in and says she bought me something. She pulls out this white crocheted pot holder. Not something I think I’d use to grab ahold of a hot pan with, it’s really thin. But it’s pretty and someone obviously put some hard work into it. She tells me “I almost bought you a jammie dress”…. David thought that was funny! Oh my. Glad she decided against it! I’m not sure I could have made myself wear something like that, EVEN for her sweet little face. She also bought this rather large blanket… with cardinals and birdhouses on it.

I asked McKenzie what she’d bought… and she said “oh just some baskets”… and I kind of thought to myself, “sensible purchase” LOL. Then she goes and gets them and I couldn’t help but laugh a little. She was so proud of the deal she had gotten on them. The guy had them marked $2 each (no wonder why they were still there Sunday night of a 3 day garage sale!) and sold them to her $1 for both of them. She said “mommy, I got $3.00 off!” At least she was looking for a bargain! That’s my girl I was waiting for her to rattle off something about the percent of markdown that was LOL. It was cute, we got a good chuckle out of it.

Now what am I to do with this JUNK? The girls decided Great Grandma will like the pot holders (did I tell you, McKenzie got the matching one… they were in the FREE box she tells me), her favorite color is purple and Bailey says “they are her style” and Plain Grandma loves birdhouses, so she may get that blanket. Maybe Grandma Lisa needs a nice new basket. Mckenzie has plans for those though, she wants to put dirt and seeds in them. LOL. GIRLS! A deal is a deal only if it’s something you NEED! They’ve got some learning to do!

But I will say it was $3 of entertainment

Yahoo, I’m a Webranger! This is a fun site for kids! It’s hard to compete with popular kids sites like Webkinz and Runescape, but this is an educational and fun site for kids that enjoy anything having to do with nature or scavenger hunts that might lend a little break from the above mentioned sites. I just played through a few minutes and found it entertaining and plan to show my kids (who are currently enjoying nature with their grandpa :))

Webrangers!

Have fun!

I just watched tonight’s episode of Swingtown, which is becoming a guilty pleasure for me I might add, and one of the quirky neighbors, Janet, made this salad for a house warming party. She was talking about various foods, pickle and ham roll ups and pigs in a blanket (yummy appetizer must haves for us!), and when she talked of this Rosy Salad Perfection, I had to google it! OH MY GROSS!

Of course, she went on to write the recipe on the wall during the show later. It was an old Weight Watchers recipe (thank goodness, WW has evolved to what it is today LOL). I found the picture on CandyBoots.com.

Edited to add recipe, courtesy of “Elaine” at Channel Guide Magazine who was bright enough to jot it down with the help of her DVR. I thought for sure I could delete the episode off my DVR, and just find the recipe on google, but I had NO SUCH LUCK. Thank you!

Rosy Perfection Salad
1 Envelope Unflavored Gelatin
1-1/4 c Water
1/4 c Sugar
1/4 c Vinegar
1/2 t Salt (or to taste)
2 c Finely Shredded Red Cabbage
1 c Chopped Celery
1 jar mandarin oranges, drained and chopped

In medium saucepan, soften gelatin in 2 tablespoons of the water; let stand 1 minute. Add rest of water and, over low heat, cook until gelatin dissolves. Add sugar, vinegar and salt; stir until sugar dissolves. Chill until partially set. Fold in remaining ingredients and chill 3 hours or overnight.

One of my most favorite blogs to check daily is MoneySavingMethods. I love the way Carrie thinks and how organized she is with all of her savings and online earnings. I am aspiring to be just like her! I am going to add a Savings/Earnings drop down menu to my sidebar, I figured it would benefit myself greatly but I also thought it will be fun to watch those numbers rise It’s not exactly how I want it YET, but by tomorrow it should be. I’m tired and done fiddling with it for the night.

I had to change my blog template for the gazillionth time because one of the pay per post sites I use requires a certain tag in my HTML and it didn’t work with my butterfly one, so I had to dump it. I am so sad, I really liked it. I will just be plain jane for a bit til I find a new one!

This will come in handy for Summer parties! I got it in my email, but it looks like anyone can use it!

$5 off $25 at Party City

Expires 6/29/08.

I tried out a new recipe for Father’s Day - it was a huge hit… everyone loved it. I’m saving it!

Potato Casserole
Courtesty of Food Network

2 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 cup sour cream
House Seasoning, recipe follows
1 small onion, sliced thin
1 small bell pepper, sliced thin
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar
4 medium potatoes, cooked
6 slices bacon, cooked crisp

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread mashed potatoes evenly on bottom of casserole dish. Layer sour cream evenly over top. Sprinkle House Seasoning, to taste. Saute onion and bell pepper in butter; evenly layer over top of sour cream. Slice potatoes and layer over onions and bell peppers. Add butter. Sprinkle House seasoning. Finally top with cheese. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and crumble bacon over top.

Yield: 6 Servings

Cook’s Note: Leftover mashed potatoes work wonderfully in this recipe.

House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder
Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

I posted a couple of weeks ago that my budget for McKenzie’s birthday party was $30. We had her birthday at the park in town. It was a beautiful, gorgeous day. This was her request, so we paid $0.00 for her venue I had a list of 6 games, we only played 5 of them. We ran out of time.

I made a treasure hunt for the kids. I cut out large letters that arranged correctly, would spell TBall Field Dugout. I put two letters in boxes I had from our recycling bin, then wrapped them with wrapping paper and numbered. There were 8 of them. David went a little bit before us and hid the packages throughout the park play area. I found a really cute cardboard treasure chest at Dollar Tree that I hid the goody bags in, which consisted of candy I purchased in bulk at Winco, pencils, bouncy balls, stickers, little notepads, whistles, and that type of thing. I spent $5.79 on the bulk candy. I bought a package of mini air heads at Walmart with a coupon for $1.00. I had some blow pop suckers already at home that I also threw in. The goody bags were from the dollar store, $1.00. I spent $6.00 on the favors to put inside the bags. Adding in tax and the cost of the treasure chest, that brings the total to roughly $15.60 for the treasure hunt and party favors.

I purchased 5 party favors that I used for prizes at Dollar Tree. I also used several things I already at home from my gift closet (which is getting lean). $5.45.

The next few games were played using things I already had at home. We played a balloon stomp game, where you tie a balloon to one ankle and the kids have to try to stomp/pop each other’s balloons without breaking their own. This game was tough… because of the grass. I didn’t account for that being so pokey I guess. But it was still fun! Cost $0.00

Then we played a relay game where I took a big egg carton and cut it in half. I wrote numbers on each egg holder on the carton. The kids had to take a plastic spoon and carry a bean from the line to the egg carton, making sure they had the right # of beans in each spot. They also had to go back and start over if the bean dropped. They couldn’t put their hand over the spoon at all. This was a fun game. $0.00.

Our next game, I reused the teasure chest and poured cereal into it. You had to take a straw and suck a piece of cereal so that it stuck to the end of the straw and get it from the treasure chest into a paper bowl. The winner was whoever got the most pieces of cereal in the bowl in 30 seconds. Myndi won LOL. That was a fun game.. the kids wanted to keep trying to get more. $0.00.

We decorated cupcakes which I had baked in ice cream cones. I did purchase 1 tub of frosting, which was .79 and I purchased mini m&m’s and a few other small candies from bulk foods. Total was $1.89 for the candies. I had the cake mixes already. The ice cream cones were $1.29. Total: $3.97 and it was an activity the kids enjoyed too!

That was pretty much it! It was exactly what McKenzie wanted for her party this year. The only thing I would have changed was the day we had the party. Sunday was a bad day for alot of the kids. But, we figured since her actual birthday fell on a Sunday, we’d just have her friend party that day also. There were enough kids there to have a good time and McKenzie felt special on her day - goal accomplished.

The only other things I purchased were paper plates, 1 plastic tablecloth - both from Dollar Tree and 1 box of capri suns. $4.16

I spent roughtly $29.18 if I did my math right. So I kept my budget and I didn’t feel like any quality of the party was sacrificed and it allowed us to spend more money on the birthday girl!

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