Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes and Entertaining the Kids

 I have never made cupcakes in ice cream cones before. I had told the kids that we could make and decorate cupcakes, but when we got around to making the cupcakes I realized we were out of liners for the muffin tins. I quickly came up with a plan B and we made our first batch of cupcakes baked inside of ice cream cones.

 Mia carefully selected sprinkles to decorate her cupcake.

 She placed them perfectly.

Max threw the sprinkles onto his cupcake and got right to the eating. Oh well!

I am the full-time party planner, activity chairperson, and event coordinator at our house. I very much enjoy this job. I spend a lot of time planning our days. I am always looking for new ideas. If you have some suggestions for me I would love to hear them!

Patriotic Ribbon Wands

 I wanted to do some fun red white and blue crafts this week to get ready for Independence Day next Monday. We threw together these red, white, and blue ribbon wands with some ribbon and wooden dowels.

Super easy and they loved dancing through the house with them.

Splash Zone

 We found a big pack of water "bombs" at the store and brought them home for some fun. They are soft balls that fill up with water. Perfect for soaking your brothers and sisters on a hot summer day.

I filled our big pink bucket with water, ice, and the water bombs.

 Max was really the only one who understood that the balls were meant to be thrown and used for soaking. He wanted Zac and Mia to throw the balls at him, but they just couldn't quite get it.

They just threw the balls around the yard and scooped all of the ice cubes out of the bucket.

 Either way everyone had a good time,

 Just another fun way to keep cool in the summertime!

Happy Splashing :)

S'mores on a Stick

I love this idea from Brown Paper Packages.

I think it would make a fabulous fire free treat on the Fourth of July :)

Mcdonalds Morning

 I took the kids to our favorite Mcdonald's in Yucaipa for hashbrowns this morning. The playplace is huge, and as we found out today, completely deserted in the mornings!

 Everyone got to run around and play. I got to sit and read a little Rachel Ray :)

After breakfast we visited our little fruit stand and stocked up on strawberries and artichokes. Then we decided to stop by my parents house and pick some apricots. It was a very fun and busy morning.

 When we got home this is what happened.

I guess it was just too much for them!

I was glad for the time to work on my music for Sunday. We are going to be playing "Name That Tune" for m&m's. I made sure to buy several varieties of the candy. My personal favorite are the peanut and peanut butter, but so many kids have allergies so I got some of the regular and pretzel kinds as well. 

Looking forward to a happy and rested afternoon!

Pizza!

It's Friday.

Tonight we are taking the family to a double feature at the local drive in movie theater. We are meeting up with some friends from the ward and everyone is bringing their own dinner.

I am dying to make this portobello pesto pizza from the Brown Eyed Baker, and I think our movie night will be the perfect opportunity to give it a try. Happy Friday!

Birthday Cake!

 There is a European style bakery in my hometown called, Michelle's. They make the very best cakes, and my very favorite cake they create is the Victorian chocolate raspberry. It has been a long time since I have been close enough to have one of these for my birthday cake!

My mom brought it over and I couldn't wait to have a piece!

It's so nice to have a special day and a special treat. More and more as I get older I appreciate the little things and this cake means a lot!

5 thoughts for Monday

1. I am 16 weeks pregnant and according to the baby center website the baby is about the size of an avocado.

2. I love avocados!

3. I lost Zackary at the library today and found him outside wandering into the road. I am so grateful to have found him safe! I brought him straight home and locked him in the house.

4. I am trying to decide between baking the "Baked" brownie today or making some no-bake cookies. I think both sound delicious, so it is really a question of do I want to turn the oven on or not???

5. Tomorrow is my 28th birthday. I was reflecting this morning on what a wonderful year it has been and all of the blessings I am enjoying right now. I think 28 is going to be pretty awesome.

For the Fathers

In honor of Father's Day weekend, I am reposting this video.

I love this song. I heard it on the radio yesterday. I think it expresses so well what a big job the men in our lives have and how they can be overwhelmed by all of their responsibility. To all of the great men in my life, thank you for all that you do and all that you are!

Father's Day Prep

I am hosting the Father's Day festivities this year. I am so excited! We have our dining room and table ready for entertaining and I am finally close enough to my parents to invite them over for the celebration. This morning the kids and I went shopping to get all of our supplies for the very manly day. I have been working on the homeade beef jerky. I found the recipe HERE. Ty loves beef jerky. I am hoping it turns out great!

Ice Cream Sandwiches

 I bought a big box of the snack sized ice cream sandwiches. My kids love ice cream sandwiches and the ice cream man has been coming around a lot so I thought stocking up my own supply would be a good idea!

 I sent Max and Zack outside with their ice cream treats.

I peeked outside and saw them sitting together at the little picnic table.

Cute little boys :)

I relish......

Have I mentioned how much I am loving having all of the kids at home for the summer! I love the lack of schedule and the freedom. I love not having to wake anyone up to go anywhere and I love not having to worry about bedtimes!

This morning we made a trip to the library for new books and movies. Later we are headed to Mcdonalds to meet up with my mom and to enjoy some air conditioned play time. After that I am stopping at the local fruit stand for more strawberries!

I love summer :)

Santa Monica

 We spent the day in Santa Monica playing on the beach and enjoying the pier. It was not a hot day. It was cloudy and breezy for most of the day, but we were still able to have a great time.

 Zackary loved running through the sand and chasing the seagulls. I had to keep a close watch on him.

 Max was eager to participate in all of the classic beach activities. He dove right into the waves and then Ty buried him in the sand.

 Zack came over and started rubbing his sandy hands all over Max's face and there was nothing Max could do. It was not very nice, but pretty funny.

 Max and Mia found this dolphin on the pier. Mia decided it was a baby.

 We took the kids for a ride on the carousel. They loved it.

 More Max in the sand pictures.

 Ty helped the kids build a sandcastle.

 Zackary decided he was king of the castle and kind of destroyed the whole thing. He is very good at destroying things!

 After playing in the sand the sun did finally come out and it was right about when things got really beautiful that my camera battery died! We walked on the boardwalk and made a stop at muscle beach. Ty impressed us all by climbing the ropes and swinging across the rings. He is so very strong :)

On the way home we stopped at In N Out and I had an order of animal style fries. Holy Cow! So terribly bad and so terribly delicious!

It was a great day. We are looking forward to our next beach trip already!

The Marshmallows!

 The toothpick/marshmallow project was a big success!

 Max is a builder. 

He created many cubes and then connected them into one great building.

 Zackary enjoyed sticking marshmallows onto the toothpicks and licking them like lollipops.

After the marshmallows we used the toothpicks to hold together little roll-up sandwiches for lunch.

Then Max carried a gigantic bowl of marshmallows upstairs and ate them without me knowing!

School's Out!

Time to Play!

What are we going to do today!

We will be starting our morning with a trip to the library. Time for books and movies!

Next we will be doing a little crafting with marshmallows and toothpicks.

I found this idea over on the Happy Home Fairy blog. We love us some marshmallows :)

Next a little baking project that I found on the Brown Eyed Baker website.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars. Yum-O!

Happy Friday everyone.

The Last Day!

 We finally made it to the end! The final day of kindergarten arrived today!

There were slideshows and treats and awards. Each child got a picture of themselves in a cap and gown. The pictures said Kindergarten class of 2011....High school class of 2023.....College graduate in 2027!!! Holy Moly!

The kindergarten classes put on a little program and the kids sang songs. It was adorable and as usual, I cried.

Congrats to our little grad, Max!

Gilmore Girls!

Ty got me seasons 6 and 7 of the Gilmore Girls series. They were the only 2 seasons that I didn't have on DVD. I have been having way too much fun indulging in some serious girl time!

Strawberry Picking

Today we drove to Oak Glen to pick some juicy red strawberries!

Zackary was not very interested at first, at least not until he got his first taste of berry! After he discovered the yummy berries he sat himself in a comfy spot and ate berries as quickly as he could pick them.

After the berry picking we stopped by the Village candy Kitchen and everyone got to pick out a treat. 

It was a happy Saturday outing and now we get to enjoy our strawberries the rest of the weekend!

In The Dining Room!

Ty grabbed a neighbor and moved everything inside this afternoon!

I am so excited for this table!

Oh the dinners we shall have!

Before and Afters

 Here are a few quick before and after shots of the table and chairs. They are all still in the garage so I will take some more pictures when we get everything moved in.

 Starting with the before pictures

 The work begins :)

 ugly chairs right?

 Onto the in-between shots

 chairs looking a bit better

 The finished table

and the finished chairs, that refuse to be rotated......

More pics tonight when everything is in the dining room.

(I'd like to give a big shout out to TY. He is awesome and did amazing work on this project. Also....our great big, little helper MAX. He sanded with the best of them.)