Oh What Do We Do in the Summertime; When all the Kids are Sick.

Well, a few weeks ago we had some sort of sickness.

Mainly headaches. Some coughs.
When we had dwindled down to just one sicky,
I decided we needed to brighten the place up.
And what better way to brighten a place up than with a
RAINBOW!
And what better to make into a rainbow that Play-dough!!


I have a drawer in our kitchen
It is the kids' drawer.



In it I keep toy dishes.
Also play-dough and tools.
(This is a trick I learned from my former MIL and current friend.)
This gives the kids something to do while I cook dinner,
mop, clean up, or do dishes.

Hope this gives you something to do if you need some cheering up,
or just want to add a splash of color.

Here is the recipe I use to make playdough:

1 cups flour

1/2 cup salt

1 cups water

2 TBSP vegetable oil

1 tsp. cream of tartar

food color

Mix dry ingredients

Mix wet ingredients in separate bowl

Add together in a saucepan

Cook on low until the dough thickens to playdough consistency.

Kneed until the dough cools to

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I Can Fly

Miss K was wearing her wings and was flying down the stairs.
Landing on pillows and blankets at the bottom.
So much fun!

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Family Wedding

This wedding has been very much anticipated.
We all love both of these guys.
The main thing I did in anticipation was make 4 dresses
for the 4 girls born in 2008.
That was so fun.
I had to take 2 patterns and stick them together.
Then I had to lengthen it to be long enough and it could be worn longer.

But the most fun was the kids and how excited they were.
When we told the kids they were getting married,
Little Miss D asked, "Is O going to be a princess?"
I said, "Yes." Then asked, "What does that make R?"
After some thought, D said, "Happy!"

And yes, it does make him happy.

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Summer Swim Lessons

Last summer I didn't do swim lessons at all.
Not sure why.
Surely two 2 year olds wouldn't make it rough.
But needless to say, they did great even with the break.

Swim lessons this year were at a pool where afterward you could swim.
This made it even more fun.
We would take a snack and play in the water.
Sir Spoil-Her-Highness said that it's strange to think of food near the pool.
He was a lifeguard and there was no food aloud on the deck.
A big no-no!




Master J did great.





He learned a lot of new skills.
The Little Misses had a blast.
Little Miss D was swimming by the end of the summer.



Little Miss E was fearless.





Same with Miss K.




And that was the main activity for the summer.
We didn't camp or anything.
Just swam pretty much everyday.

The last session they were joined by their cousins.
That made it even more fun.

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Laundry Tips: Stinky Towels and Wash Cloths

I use bath and dish towels.

I use washcloths and rags.
And I wash them quite often.



But sometimes they still get smelly.
I hate it when I go to use a dish cloth and my hand stinks after.
And what germs were lurking in that cloth??

My Sweet Father-in-Law told me what he uses to fix this.
It is so simple, I was in awe!

Ammonia!


That's it!

He just puts it in where he would use bleach.
Then wash like usual.
The towels and wash cloths come out smelling great.

And I have found that I don't have to worry about
pulling one from the drawer
and having my hand stink afterward.
I also don't have to worry about spreading germs all over.

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A New Member

My niece was baptized this year.
Such an exciting day.
Together, she and I made her a scripture bag.

Her mom and I made a quilt.

Do you think she loves it?


Then I sent the camera around with my other niece to take pictures.
(Brave, I know, but I had a sick one I had to take home.)

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Fourth of July Shirts

Each year we love to do something fun for us (or atleast the kids) to wear.

Sometimes this is a matching shirt or some thing.
Last year it was skirts and hair pretties.
This year it was shirts.

To start off with, we found a shirt we could copy from Cafepress.


Then we purchased shirts to iron onto (mainly from Kohls).

Pulled up the Silhouette software.

Found some fonts I liked.
(Rockwell Extra Bold for "America" and Microsoft Sans Serif for "all" & "boy")

Then added some stars.

Reversed the image.

Cut out "America" on blue.
And "all" & "boy" in red.

Here is the finished product:


So of course we made some for the whole family!


The girls wore their skirts and hair bows from last year.
Jayden, poor kid, was the only small boy.
You can tell this from the above photo.

And they were a hit!!

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Neighborhood Shin Dig

Our neighborhood has this fun party every year for the 4th. This year was so fun. They rented a bounce house, paid a face painter to come, shot a candy cannon, and had a yummy BBQ. Then they did fireworks. We had a blast!




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So many fun ideas, so little time!

I love the 4th of July for many reasons.
The first is family.
I have a son (Master A) whose birthday is the 4th.
Hanging out with family.
Parades!
Fireworks!
Food!
Activities.
Crafts.

I so wish there was enough time in the day to be able to fit all these things in.
But I am so grateful to live in this country.
So thankful for the freedoms we enjoy.
And there is always next year.
And the year after.

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So many fun ideas, so little time!

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The Things I Wish I had Known

I'm not sure how this post is going to go, so for those of you who don't need to read a downer, maybe just skip this post and come back later after I vent.
Thank you!

Okay, so I'll start off with some background info.
To start off with, if you don't know, this is my second (and favorite) marriage.
My job title is The Queen of the Castle.
Child support DOES actually go to the children, even though it is the mom who receives it.
You don't have to have a lawyer for a child support modification case.
It is pretty cut and dried.

So, now for the story:
About 18 months ago we modified child support.
This was when Cheerful Cheerleader went to live with her dad.
He thought that I could just send him some of the money he paid for support back to him.
I told him we hadn't had child support adjusted for a while and I was sure that it would be increased since he was making more.

Well, Gorgeous Graduate (pka Sweet Senior) graduated this year.
This means that child support doesn't need to be paid for her.
Her dad was going to have her dropped.
He figured that since he has one and I have the other,
this makes us even for child support.
Well, since I don't have an income and he does,
then child support is still paid.
(Think of what happens when it is joint custody
and the kids spend 50% of their time with each parent.)
So I said we should just see what the judge says.

In come the lawyers!!
We haven't had a lawyer before.
We haven't felt we needed it.
(Even my cousin, who is representing me, said we don't need one.)
But apparently they did.

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