Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!  Hard to believe it is the official start of Summer!  

Before I say anything else I need to say one thing:

Happy Birthday to my Mom!!

WHOO WHOO!

It is her birthday today and she is actually at my house "celebrating"!  

What are your plans? 

Today, my parents are here helping us replace a porch and enjoying some family time.

The kids are going home with them and my husband and I are enjoying a couple of days of doing whatever we want at home.  

My plans?  I have a few crafts on my radar to finish up; I want to do some very minor landscaping (mulch, some annuals to look pretty in my garden area and maybe a few veggie plants.); the basement.  Yes, you read that right.  I want to get the basement done - or at least a chunk of it.  No kids, no pressure, no hot and muggy days - this is the time to do it. 

We, as in my husband and I, want to get the covering on the play scape and clean out the garage. 

With that said, I'm taking a much needed blogging break and don't plan to have anything posted until Tuesday.  So enjoy your holiday and lets get ready for summer!!! 

      

Food Friday - Ken's Fruit Salad

Ken's Fruit Salad
adapted from . . .the family

One of my brother's developed an allergy to certain type's of fruit several years ago (Apples, pears, melons, ect) which made us get creative with fruit salad at family gatherings.  This version has become a family favorite and I often take it to gatherings.  I will admit that it is a more pricey salad due to the fruit used but it is well worth it - especially when the fruit is in season :-) Right now, I almost always have a bowl of this in the fridge - my kids like to pick out their favorite fruits!

Ingredients:

1 jar (or 2 cans) of Manderian oranges with juice
1 pint of blueberries
1 sm carton blackberries
1 sm carton raspberries
1 carton of straberries

Directions:
Wash all of the fruit.  Slice the strawberries in half or quarters.  About 1 hour before serving, add the oranges with the juice and stir.  (the juice helps blend all of the flavors.)

The salad does last several days but for serving fresh the first time, the oranges should be added within an hour of serving (other wise some fruits like the raspberries and strawberries may start to get soft). 

Weekly Menu - Memorial Day Style

Whew - we've had a taste of summer weather - hot summer weather - and I don't like it Uuugg!  It is supposed to be nicer this weekend (as in - 60's!!) so that makes me happy!

This week we get to celebrate Memorial Day weekend . We are having company on Saturday and then the kids are going home with Papa and Nana for a few days.  For once, my husband and I have nothing planned.  We are looking forward to staying home, working on whatever we want to do and not going anywhere.

Friday - Darryl has the weekend off so he and I will order in tonight.  The boys will have Mac and Cheese!

Saturday - This is our big "Memorial Day" party.  My dad and Darryl will be working on replacing our front porch so instead of making them stop to grill, I'm working on a menu that is a little simpler.  That's as far as I've gotten.  Stilling trying to decide 100% what to have so you'll have to wait until I post about our weekend to find out!

Sunday and Monday   - No kids :-)  I have no idea what we are eating yet. 

Tuesday  - This is the last day of gymnastics so my parents are bringing the kids back and staying around to see the boys "perform".  Then we are headed out to Taco Bell to "Celebrate"

Wednesday - My plan is - left overs and Mac and Cheese for the boys.  Darryl will have practice.  If by chance there are no left overs, we'll just have to go get a burger ;-)

Thursday - Slow Cooker Balsamic Shredded Beef with potatoes and corn.  Yum!

Should be a fun week with good food and I will admit - it is very possible that Darryl and I will eat out one of those meals on the weekend (or more) - I think it will just depend on what we are hungry for and how much I feel like cooking!!

Marking things off that List

I've been able to cross a few things off of my Craft/Pinterest/Goal list finally and thought I would share!

First up, I finally ordered this awesome toothbrush holder from Perfect Darlings Etsy shop.

The packaging was super cute and showed the care the shop owner takes in her product and the actual product is flawless.  I look forward to using them as we camp and travel this summer.

Second,  I also finally order this wall decal from VG Wall Decals.  The turn around time was so fast (I had it two days after I ordered) and the quality was some of the best I have ordered - it went up so easy.  I already have quite a few other sayings saved in my favorites to order.  Also, the price was great too - very affordable compared to other places I've checked out.

Third, guess what finally got hung last week?  Yep!  My coat rack.  I've had it since March and finally remembered to have Darryl hang it up for me last Thursday.

Fourth, I finally emptied my store bought soap bottle and use this post from The Frugal Girls to make foaming baby soap. 

This soap is fantastic.  It works perfectly and I love that my kids won't have "tears" anymore when they get it in their eyes or lick it off their fingers.  I would like to get a prettier bottle though!

Finally, I finished up my birthday reminder board that I shared on a Pinterest goal list from Eighteen 25.  This was a pretty simple project since I had everything on hand to make it.

Very simply, I printed the pages from Eighteen 25 on white cardstock, trimmed some scrapbook paper and used adhesive to attach it to the bottom of each page.  The clipboard I had on hand and spray painted it green and then added ribbon to the clip (left over from my last wreath).  I really love it and it hangs next to my calender so I can see quickly who has a birthday coming up.

One last thing - I've added more letters to my ABC wall - here is an updated photo!  The plan is to get letters H-L and complete them over Memorial Day weekend :-)

I do have a few other crafts I'm hoping to get done over the weekend - my new wreath with flip flops, some boo boo bunnies, and the first page in the boys quiet books. 

Oops . . .Too Cute . . .

So, I'm running a little behind on writing posts and kinda forgot to look for new Too Cute Ideas!  :-/  So this normal, weekly post will return next week. 

I do have a post almost ready to go up tomorrow that will actually show some of the things I've completed off my "Too Cute" and "Pinterest" list!  So that is my excuse - I've been too busy DOING things to find NEW things.  Oh, and it is way hot right now so I don't do much anyway!

Enjoy your day.

Summer Preschool Fun and Ideas

Welcome to my first "installment" of Summer Preschool.  This week I thought I would share two of the boys current favorite games.

First up is Wedgets which are stacking blocks.  I have the 30 piece Starter Set and just recently picked up some beginning building cards.  The boys love to try and make the towers that are on the cards (and keep telling me we need more pieces!). I actually bought this over a year ago and they have just now started to play with it so I do plan on buying a few more/different sets to add to our collection.

 Second is a great game that my sister-in-law just passed on to us and it is called Zingo.  It is a Bingo/Matching game and is perfect for my 3 and 4 year old. 

Another game that the boys play at the library that is the next on my list to purchase (and I will buy two of this game because BOTH boys love it) is Rush Hour. It is a matching/building game. 

 

This week the boys played outside quite a bit despite the infestation of Mosquitios in the area.  We are thinking of buying stock in bug spray :-/.  We have sprayed our yard, which has helped, and the neighbors are going to be spraying theirs as well so hopefully it won't be too bad.  

I've been working on my prep work for June and July and hope to have that done this coming week.  

Are you writing a Summer Bucket list?  That is one of my goals.  To write ours out to make sure that we get to the beach as many times as possible, go on hikes, get ice cream, and more!!  I hope to be able to share our list next week :-) 

 

Family Photos

A week ago, we had our annual family photos done and, as always, we were not disappointed.  Our photographer at Signature Photography always captures the perfect shots.

 This is actually my second favorite family pose but this gives you a good idea of what we look like :-)  When I get the actual disc with photos, I'll share our favorite!

 This is by far my all time favorite photo of the the whole shoot.  I'd like this one blown up into a poster and put on the wall!

Such fun memories !