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Now that it has finally gotten hot outside this summer we have to try these homemade slushies (Momadvice)  with some of those packs of kool aid we have laying around. 

And to add to the fighting and bickering this summer, I can let the kids throw these sponge balls  (BetzWhite) at each other…or perhaps I will just throw the sponges at the kids.

And since we are taking lots of bike rides, the twins would love making their very own Handlebar Bag (Giverslog) from a recycled water bottle.

The sour cherries are ripe on our tree.

Now it’s just a matter of beating the birds to them, and finding the time to make stuff with all of them.

So far I’ve made pie….There’s always time to make pie.

Three of them to be exact. 

And there is no pie left.

I wasn’t quick enough with my camera, so I didn’t even get a picture of one of the completed pies before it was cut into.

It was very very yummy.

Sour Cherry Pie

2 - 9″ Pie Crusts

4 cups pitted sour cherries

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup Flour

1/4 cup Corn Starch

Mix together the cherries, sugar, flour and corn starch.  Pour into pie crust.  Top with second pie crust and cut 3-5 air slits into the top crust with a sharp knife.  Bake at 375 for approximately 1 hour or until pie filling is just starting to bubble through the slits.

“Bring the whole tithe into the storeohouse, that there may be food in my house. 

Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty,

“and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

Malachi 3:10

I needed peace and quiet for an hour.

A problem easily solved by turning on the tv or letting them play a computer game (but then they become little zombies and would sit quietly for hours on end.)

But I wanted them to do something ‘more creative’ yesterday, and it never hurts to recycle, and get rid of some of the ’stuff’ that’s laying around.

So I grabbed empty toilet paper rolls, cereal boxes, fabric scraps, popsicle sticks, scraps of tissue paper, crayons, glue, magazine pages of animals, stickers, tape and scissors.

And they got busy and made some ‘things’.  Jarod’s is obviously a car for his stuffed monkey…Makenna’s started as a house but turned into something else.

I will admit, this activity did not provide me with total peace and quiet, since there were issues over who got what craft material.  Plus Jarod was troubled as to what he could make, since he feels creatively inferior to his sister and always thinks everything she makes is better than his.  But once we got through the minor issues it was alot of fun.

What do you put in a rainy day/quiet mommy time craft box for your kids?

There’s nothing quite like going on a weekend camping trip with three kids to leave you exhausted on a Monday morning. 

Go camping by a stream and have it rain for 70% of the time and it’s even more fun. 

My morning has been spent doing loads of wet, muddy, mildewy smelling laundry because kids don’t mind a little rain and mud coating their entire body.

Luckily we were able to have a campfire one night and got to toast (and burn) plenty of marshmallows, because  what’s a camping trip without stuffing yourself with half burned marshmallows until you feel sick.

I’ll be done with laundry soon, and then I’ll have to clean all the mud and grime out of the travel trailer, but luckily another relaxing weekend won’t be coming up for another 4 days.

I finally got around to trying to making pillowcase dresses for the girls.

Yes, Jarod is still begging for his shorts I have been trying to make for three weeks, but dresses are so much more fun!  And you can tell that the photo shoot did not go well, so I took a few photos minus the tempermental models to give a little bit better view.

I’m pretty happy with the way they turned out since it was the first time I made a dress without a real pattern.  I took directions from here, and had to modify and redo and redo Makenna’s to get it to fit nice since she’s almost 8.  The next ones I make will be easier.

I didn’t make either one from an actual pillowcase.  I just took some fabric from my stash, thank you Aunt Jane, and sewed up the bottom and side as if it was a pillowcase.  Then I cut the armholes.  That was my biggest issue, it just didn’t seem like 3 to 4 inches of depth for the armholes was enough for Makenna’s, but it was.

I raided a box of old lace doilies and table runners, because apprently ’back in the day’ all my relatives used doilies and table runners, and I recycled (or shall I say upcycled) a lace runner.  I was most excited about that, because I literally have boxes and bags with the things and hadn’t known what to do with them until now.

Lastly, Makenna made a little yo-yo flower for the top since the dresses looked a little empty.  We still have to put one on her dress, but we’re going away for the weekend and she will have plenty of time sitting in the car to stitch a few of them.

The bottom line is that I will be making plenty more of these quick dresses in the next week or two (after I finish Jarod’s shorts…I promise).  And Makenna is begging that she really, really, really wants to take the photos of her little sister next time.

We went to the Lehigh Valley Zoo for my birthday.

I love animals, so it was lots of fun.

We fed the fish, and watched the penguins.

 We played wolves in the wolf den….although we didn’t see any wolves.

My favorite part was feeding the pretty birdies nectar from a cup.

My sister and I loved that: my brother, not so much.  He screamed when one landed on his shoulder and scared a few kids off from coming in to the birds….it was kinda funny, but don’t tell him I said that.

After the zoo we went on a bike ride and I screamed alot. 

I was tired. 

The zoo was exhausting. 

I can’t be expected to be cute and adorable all the time.

Our baby turns 2 today. 

My cousin is quick to point out that she’s not a baby anymore; but I just ignore her.

Alexandra will always be my baby.

Look to the Lord and his strength;

seek his face always.

Remember the wonders he has done,

his miracles, and the judgements he pronounced.

1 Chronicles 16: 11-12

So Jarod is playing tree house…. in a tree (I specify this because Makenna plays tree house under a picnic table), and I’m nearby, and he says, “mom, a bird just pooped on one of the branches.”

“Ok,” I said, as if this news required some sort of response.

“Well can you go in the house and get a rag to clean it up for me.”

“Excuse me, why should I have to stop doing my work to clean it up.”

“Because you’re the mommy,” and he laughed, knowing full well that the birdie poop was going to stay right where it was unless he cleaned it himself.

Note to self, add to list of ‘mommy jobs’…cleaning bird poop off tree branches.