Random Stuff....................................

Morgan's class had their end of the year swim party on Tuesday. Yup' 22 kids all in one backyard pool. It was fun though and we had the most amazing weather. We were asked to bring cupcakes so we made 24 cupcakes. Morgan put shark sprinkles on the yellow ones and turtles on the pink ones. I think they were a hit. :) sad that someday they will think putting sprinkles on cupcakes with mom is lame huh? Here is her last class picture for the year. Mrs. Witt and Mrs. De Ward were amazing. And Morgan just fell in love with them. Her class had tons of energy and character. Fun memories for the year.
I took every ones advice and went with the gift cards. I found out each teacher had a wish list of personal likes that they kept in the Scrips office. So I went in there and bought them gift cards to their favorite places. Below is the box I made for my friend and carpool buddy. She likes these cookies I made so that is what it is filled with.
OK, so for weeks Christy P. my fellow blogger friend and firefighters wife has been braggin' about her saving at the grocery store. Every fiber in my little competitive self wants to play along and see if I can beat her. But since I don't grocery shop at regular stores and Trader Joe's and Clark's does not do double coupons I had to find a way to get in on this with her. :) I swear some people NEVER grow up. :) So any-who, this past Sunday I got the Michael's add in the paper and they were having this huge sale on paper, paint, stickers, ribbon etc. You name it and it was on sale for a $1. Well, I don't scrapbook but I have two little girls that love to cut, paste, color and create so with a full summer ahead of us I figured I would stock up on a few things.
30- pieces of scrapbook paper

6-bottles of paint

2-paint brushes

2-bags of colored beads/marbles

2-sketch notebooks

2-ceramic figures (for the girls to paint)

6-rolls of ribbon

2-packs of cute napkins (for me)

1-box of photo corners

2-packs of puff stickers

1-Suduko book (for Dan for his fathers day bag)

All for the grand total of $40! Now I am not as patient as Christy so I am not going to sit and do all the math to tell you how much I saved so you will just have to take my word that at .25 a sheet for paper and $1 for ribbon I saved big and the girls will be thrilled. Of course I came home and hid everything so that when those precious words that American children should be ashamed they even utter come out; "mommy, I'm bored!!!" I can pull things out.

Here is a great picture of my beloved worn in, shaggy lookin' flip flops. This is really a tribute of sorts to them. Yesterday morning my friend next door and I were standing at the fence talking. Soooooooo Lucy and Ethal. Anyway, she mentioned that she had just heard this study on the radio about flip flops being the second worst shoe for your foot right after heels. She said,"maybe you should consider that with your arthritis and bad knees. I think the look on my face (which I don't make much effort to hide anyway) was probably enough to kill someone. I mean I know she meant well (if your reading this I love you my dearest friend) but come on! I mean not the flip flops! If you know me then talking bad about flip flops is just well; I don't know sinful. I LOVE my flip flops. I wear them all year round. I don't think I ask for much in this life. A smile here and there, polite kids, decent food occasionally, for my husband to take the trash out and for flip flops to reign free throughout my house. I tried to explain to her that sometimes cute itself is just a factor and it's hard to be sporting cute feet all year long but someone has to do it and I don't mind taking one for the team. My final argument that I stand by in going to old lady shoes just because my knees are giving out (ghee's you'd think I was dying or something) is this; I have given up dairy, wheat, gluten and pretty much as much refined sugar and caffeine you can without being dead. I can manage that. In fact I embrace it. I quit dreaming about pizza, I no longer crave real ice cream and have learned to love salads without ranch. But nobody, not no how messes with the flop. Capishe?

Pools, more pies, nudity and plauges......

We were at Costco about a week ago and decided to pick up this little 18' pool for our kids to play in this summer when its to stinkin' hot to do anything else and we dont want them in the house anymore. Seriously, it's either gas for the SUV or air conditioning people. We have gone back and forth for years about whether or not to have a "real" pool put in and even had plans drawn up. But neither of us could stomach having the debt of what it would cost to put in a pool so we opted to have peace about a $500 pool that we could pay for out right! :) Dan put it together and I did what any good wife does and I watched. Oh, oh and I brought him iced tea. ;)
The kids; Just know when I say the "kids" I also mean our adopted children from next door. :) The kids got to finally christen the pool on Sat. It was freezing cold still and their lips were blue but they didnt care. We have this amazing view from every angle of our backyard so I am just waiting for the water to be warmer so I can lock the kids in their rooms, lay on a raft with a cold drink and............oh wait this is for the kids right? ;) Ok, now on to pies; we had such a great response to our pie the other night that when our friends next door offered to BBQ for us Saturday night we decided to make another. It was even better I think. The girls and I have gotten a bit confident and have decided that this week we will be going up the hill to the farm to pick blackberries. Then on Fathers Day while Dan is working we will surprise he and his crew with fresh blackberry pie and homemade apple pie. We are taking orders if anyone is interested. :)
So on to nudity, I wont be including a photo for obvious reasons. Although I did put one of her above to remind you of her cuteness which I am always telling you is a disguise. Friday night Dan had an OT so the the girls and I went to our friends house to let the kids play before she moves and so I could go through some papers I needed to see; long story short, Ryanne decides to take her clothes off in front of the little boys and show him her privates! Now you might be thinking,"well, kids do that kind of stuff right?" Ok yes, but this is like the 4th time! The kid has a serious issue with flaunting her stuff. She has even done it in sunday school where lets just say they were a little less than thrilled. I meanshe DOES NOT get this from me. It has to me her dad. She will do anything for a laugh. So when the boys laughed she took off more. Can anyone say "pole dancing?" Scary thought. I mean I am sure I am the only mother who has to stop her kid before they go into church and say something like,"Honey, if oyu take your clothes off in here or give the kids a class on anatomy you are soooooo dead when we get home are we clear?" Ya' welcome to my life!

Last but not least, our pastor has been working through the book of Exodus and we are talking about the plagues that God sent to Pharaoh and his people. I got really cocky last week thinking,"hello, I mean how stupid do you have to be?" God would have had me at the flies and frogs. But the boils? EEWWW no. But then I was talking to my friend Yvonne and I was telling her that I realized I am Pharaoh in that how many times does God have to tell me to soften my heart and let him have control? He doesnt send plagues per say (three year old naked) but what I am getting at is God wanted Pharaoh to obey, to see that God was powerful and in control of all things. Do I have a healthy fear of the Lord and if so how do I live that out daily? Good question huh? Serioulsy though, you can keep your frogs, flies and baseball sized hail I AM listening! :)