10 Things

1. Lillie has discovered that time old tradition of climbing up the door frames by pressing your back up against one side and sliding your feet up the other side.

2. As I write this I am listening to the Mills Brothers hit Diga Diga Doo. Very jazz speakeasy. It makes me want to break out into the Charleston.

3. Elsie is walking around in a diaper with a sword stuck inside like a pirate. I repeat, in her diaper. Which was just freshly changed, complete with Desitin. I think the sword will be getting a bath tonight after she goes to bed.

4. Ian was helping me make pancakes a few days ago and, sliding his arm around me, said "I like being crazy in the kitchen with you Momma."

5. David is almost home! Should be here before I finish writing this.

6. Elsie is cutting her back two molars. Think of me tonight while you sleep undisturbed in your beds.

7. It rained all day today. From 9 am till now. A nice steady rain without lightening. I do love a good thunderstorm but this was calm and pleasant.

8. I put two shelves up on the wall all by myself. Be impressed because I am. I gave myself a mental high five when I finished. I felt like Rosie the Riveter.

9. Lillie bought an unfinished 3 story wooden dollhouse at Goodwill for ten dollars. She is excited and has already bought some craft paper for carpet and wallpaper. There are few traits that my children posses that I can stand up and say "That is mine. They got that genetic modification from me." They are remarkably like their father in almost every way. But the uncontrollable desire to craft, that is all Leah.

10. I have 4 quart bags of frozen jalapenos. And more coming every day. What am I supposed to do with this many peppers?

Paper Plate Aquarium

The kids wanted to craft while Elsie slept so I trolled Pinterest for ideas and we made these: 

Paper Plate Aquarium

Supplies:

• Clear plastic wrap
• two paper plates for each aquarium
• crayons or markers
• thread
• glue stick
• tape
• scissors
• printable of marine life

1. Cut the center out of one paper plate. Tear off a piece of plastic wrap and lay the plate on the wrap with the plate curving away from the wrap. Got it? Then take the wrap, stretching it smooth as you go, and bring the edges up and over the edge of the plate. Tape the edges secure. 

2. Color the inside of the other paper plate blue. 

3. Color the marine animals and cut out. 

4. Glue the animals to the blue plate, saving a few to hang on string. 

5.Tape a piece of string or thread to the back of the animal. Place it on the plate where you want, then tape the top of the string to the top of the plate. Attach the rest of the animals.

6. Place the plates together, making sure the side of the window plate with the taped plastic wrap is on the inside. Secure with 4 or 5 pieces of tape across the edges. 

Ian's sharks can now fight without any innocent casualties.

Adding to the Repertoire

I have been out of the cooking groove lately. Probably because we haven't been home for enough days in a row to make it worth while. Since our schedule seems to be slowing down, I found a few new recipes online that I am going to try.

• Zucchini Banana Flax Seed Muffins
• Smoked Gouda Pasta Salad
• Healthy Homemade Granola
• The Best Baked Spinach
• Broccoli, Cheddar, and Wild Rice Casserole (with Chicken)
• Skillet Fresh Green Beans
• and a homemade applesauce recipe given to me by my Aunt Rachel

Pick one out of the list, make it and tell me how it turned out for you. I will post results of my attempts later this week.



Here are some photos of our Fourth-of-July lake trip. 

This was Elsie's attempt to lay on her stomach like the other two. 

Her second attempt wasn't any better.  But the lake looks wonderful. 

If you look behind me and to the right, you can see a lady sitting in a lawn chair. If you look closely, you will notice that she has a large green and yellow parrot perched on the back of her chair. 

The Men

Cherry juice stained faces.
They enjoyed the novelty of spitting out the pits. In fact, I'm quite sure that is what Ian has clenched in his fingers.

This was seconds before she stood up and the chair fell over backwards. 

These photos are not from the lake but the kids are cute anyways. 

Fourth of July

We had our first little family vacation of sorts this holiday weekend. We have always wanted to take the kids to the lake for a day of fun in the sun but just hadn't gotten around to it yet. Since David had the 4th off, it worked out perfectly our day trip.

We started off the holiday by going to watch the fireworks at the mall. We sat on a hill about a half mile away and had a wonderful view of not only the mall's show but others as well. We sucked on Sonic slushes and cuddled on blankets.

Friday morning, packed and loaded, we headed up to Crystal Bridges Museum to see the current traveling exhibit. We had tickets for the 11 AM slot and about 11:30, the two youngest kids were crying and Lillie was asking when we were going to be finished. I guess walking around and looking at paintings and sculptures while having to be quiet was asking too much. But David and I enjoyed it. I saw my first Renoir, Picasso, and Lautrec.

After the museum, we headed out to the Prairie Creek Marina on Beaver Lake. We payed our day pass and headed down to the swimming beach only to realize that we were on the wrong side for the Marina Restaurant. So we crossed over the little inlet to the Marina and JJ's Grill. There was absolutely NO parking. We had to park a good way down the road into the Marina and hoof it in. Thankfully most of the cars were there for boating and not for the restaurant. The grill was very fun. It is out on the water and has long windows that open up. So you can actually sit outside on bar stools and eat in the windows, sort of like those restaurants you see on old photos of Coney Island. As you walked down the pier to JJ's,  they had lots of docking slips for folks to park their boats to come eat, just like parking spaces for cars.

The kids were about to come unglued so the beach was next. There we were faced with our next problem. They had closed the bathrooms and put out port-a-pottys to handle the holiday traffic. So my bright idea of changing into our swimsuits in the bathroom was nixed. But I found a solution. I had several picnic blankets with us and I rigged up a changing room of sorts in the backseat of the van. David and I had to sit on the back seat, hunkered over because of the blanket, and try to slip into swimsuits while not letting someone get a glimpse out of the many little holes in our cover. Fun times. Even with the doors open and the air conditioning running, I was sweating everywhere by the time I got out from underneath those blankets.



We slathered on sunscreen and loaded everyone up with gear and headed down to the beach. It took us what seemed like an eternity,  when you have an arm full of chairs, to find a shady spot and lay out our little campground.

We finally made it to the water.

It was actually fun. Not too cold. Not too hot. There were people everywhere but it made it feel that much more festive. We watched skiers and pontoon boats, jet skis and windsurfers, paddle boarders and kayaks. It seemed like just about every kind of water sport was being enjoyed on the water. The kids loved it. The water was surprisingly clear and the beach had smooth sand without any flotsam. After some snacks and then lunch, we had one last dip in the water.

On our way home, we stopped by this little 50's drive up diner in Rogers, Susy Q's. It has been open for 52 years and we all had a ice cream treat. They had great malts, floats and shakes. While we were there, this older gentlemen drove up in a black restored convertible Cadillac. I'm not much of a car person but that was a fine ride! David and I discussed the possibility that he drove a car just like that when he used to come here as a teenage. Talk about reliving your childhood.

On our way home, Lillie informed us that "This was the best day of my whole life!" I think we will be trying to hit the lake again this summer.

I will post pictures later.