Stake Pioneer Breakfast

Saturday, we celebrated Pioneer Day, with a Stake breakfast. It was a nicely organized event
including; a yummy breakfast, live music (Strings of Fire) and good company. The decorations were provided by the Primary children in the Stake. Each primary was asked to have the kids draw, color, design Pioneer pictures. It was fun to see how each ward did something different. Our ward had the kids draw on different colored papers. When they were put all together they formed a mock quilt. Cute!

Abree's pioneer contribution.

Treyson's covered wagon.

Taylee's oh so cute pioneer girl.

Ewwww!

My kids saw this online and HAD to try it out.

Stick spaghetti noodles through cut up hot dogs and boil as usual.

Voila! A meal only kids would love.

I couldn't decide what to top it with... ketchup, mustard, spaghetti sauce? So we just left the noodles plain. In my adult opinion, I would give it a 1 out of 3. I would only make this again, if my kids requested it for a special day or if it went with a party theme some how. They remind me of squid or octopus or maybe Halloween Hairy Toes.

The Future's So Bright...

...they've gotta wear matching shades!

I'm sure Rylee and Charity are thinking COOL.

I'm thinking FUTURE EMBARRASSING PICTURE.

Before the sleepover, we went shopping. I challenged the girls to find an outfit for under $10. We went to several second-hand stores, The Dollar Tree and Walmart. They each found a shirt (not pictured), at the first stop, for .50 cents. Then they decided they had pants/skirts to go with their new shirt, at home. So then then focus became an accessory. They looked at shoes, some jewelry, but ultimately decided on matching sunglasses for $2/each. They were so excited and felt so cool. Then the shopping spree got weird. They bought binkies, baby bottles, blankies, apple juice and snacks, with their left over cash. For the rest of the night they drank from their bottles and sucked on binkies.

I guess it could be a lot worse. Pre-teens are so weird. :o)

(I can say that, because I was one and I live with one.)

4th of July Weekend

We enjoyed a full weekend of fun with J.C. and Julia's family.

Friday night, we went to the movie in the park, at Settler's Park. It's a unique experience. It has a drive-in movie feel, without the car and tiny speakers. You bring your camping chairs, blankets and snacks and sit in the grass and watch a movie on a HUGE blow-up screen. The movies aren't new, but the experience and atmosphere make it fun.

The next morning, we went to our ward's pancake breakfast.

There were a lot of people in attendance, but our activities committee did a nice job feeding the masses. Joshua and Julia ready to eat.

Cameron the jack-o-lantern.

Abree

Taylee

Matthew's "Before" picture.

He had a late night, early morning and was hungry. Not a good combo. This picture was taken BEFORE the mini meltdown. Poor kiddo.

Treyson and Adam After breakfast, we enjoyed a flag-raising ceremony, including the Pledge of Allegiance, a patriotic musical number and a congregational hymn.Next, was the bike, scooter, stroller parade. The kids had decorated their scooters the night before and morning of, and were ready to show them off.

Slowly, but surely, everyone made the rounds at least once.

Abree taking her own sweet time.

Then we headed over to our neighborhood 4th of July celebration. We had missed the parade, but made it in time to play in the hose spray from the fire trucks. The mist was fine enough that you didn't HAVE TO get soaked, but many kids did.

This was such a fun time. The firemen were so kind and generous. They let anyone who wanted to, try their hand at spraying the big hoses. Cameron thought that looked fun and took a turn.

After lunch, when J.C. and Jason returned from work, we decided to go swimming at our neighborhood pool.

We played and played, until we were water-logged and hungry again.

We had a nice BBQ, including a potato salad, made from the bounties of our small garden.

In the evening, we went down to Storey Park, for live music, bouncy houses, and fireworks.

The Spiderman bouncy house was first on the boys agenda.

We also played in the park.

Abree enjoyed the swings.

Another thing the kids tried out was this.

What do you call it?

"Bop 'em and sock 'em"?

The kids said the clubs were kind of heavy and it didn't take much to knock them off their plattforms.

We did some sparklers and enjoyed the big firework display. Then went home for a few more fireworks of our own.

A very long, but fun filled day.

Sleep Over

Abree got this notion the other day...

"I want to have a sleep over at Audrey's house...and Rylee can come with me...and I'll bring my blankie...and..." she went on and on. I explained to her that the most polite thing was to have someone ask us to come over to their house. She was just sure Audrey wouldn't mind. We continued to talk and eventually she came to the conclusion that she would like to invite Audrey to come to HER house for a sleep over. I called Karen and the plan was set in motion.

Abree started planning all sorts of things for them to do...

First up, Spaghetti-Os for dinner.

Next, it was Play-dough time.
Dress up and a tea party was next on the agenda.

They had Princess Teddy Grahams, crackers with Easy Cheez and Lemonade.

Audrey enjoyed the tea party, but may have enjoyed Treyson's Lightning McQueen car and Mack even more. (Audrey LOVES vehicles!)
Treyson was invited to the tea party and came dressed up as a football player.

Before bed, the kids went swimming at our neighborhood pool.

A fun-filled day.

I think Abree may have a future in party planning.

The next week, Abree was invited to Audrey's house for a sleep over. Abree went for dinner and played, but wasn't feeling herself (a little stuffy nose) so asked to come home around bed time. Waking up the next day, she was bummed that she hadn't stayed. She asked for a "play date" at Audrey's. I had to explain that she would have had plenty of time to play, IF she would have stayed. Oh well. A good learning experience for her.

Hot Tuna

Just a little post to let you know how much I'm enjoying saving money by couponing. My latest and greatest deal has been tuna.

Albertsons has the Starkist tuna pouches on sale for $1.25 each.
Here's the deal senerio if you buy 30 pouches:
30 pouches @1.25 =$37.50
-15.00 ($5 discount each time you buy 10- automatically at the register)
-15.00 (10 coupons @ 1.50/3 -given to you by manager or customer service at the store)
-6.00 catalinas (coupons that print out at the register to be used on next purchase)
=$1.50 Total OR .05 per pouch!

Details:
-The pouches are about 1/2 the size (oz) of a can, but at that price it's still a good deal.
-You have to ask for the coupons from a manager or customer service. They may or may not have them. Calling first would be a good idea.
-The coupons that print at the register have to be used on the next purchase. So maybe doing more than one transaction is a good idea. So you can use them while you're still at the store. They do expire.
-Sale goes until July 14th.

Fabulessly Frugal is having a drawing for some of these tuna coupons. By posting this I get an entry.
http://www.fabulesslyfrugal.com/2009/07/local-tuna-coupon-giveaway.html

Wish me luck!