We loved WALL-E

My DH took all three of his girls to the movies to see WALL-E. The last movie all four of went to was Shrek 3 last summer, which was Princess G's first movie. Princess A was just mesmerized the whole movie. She did have a few questions but I tried to get her to wait until the movie was over. Princess G did well but did get a little bored since there was not much dialog. She wanted to play a little but was soon watching the movie. Daddy got us a large popcorn and lemonade to share. Princess A drank most of it so as soon as the movie was over we made a beeline for the bathroom. As soon as we came out Princess G had to go too. We loved the movie and as soon as it comes out on DVD we will be buying WALL-E!!

Summer Has Arrived

We finally had some hot weather, it hit over 90 degrees. We have been playing in the kiddie pool and staying in the shade. I know 90s it not horribly hot but to us it seems like it. I think the heat is about to end as a thunderstorm is starting to brew outside. Tonight we went to a birthday party at a Bouncy House place. The girls had a blast. Beside the 20 minutes it took for cake and presents they were on the go for 2 hours. Princess A wants to have her birthday party their next year. I think we will. It was so much fun!! Even Princess G got into the act. They had a very tall super slide and she climbed up all on her own. I climbed up up behind her just in case most of the time but she was so fast she got ahead of me a few times. All in all a great weekend.

Limes for Dessert

Yesterday at the grocery store the girl really wanted a lime to get a lime. At first I wasn't going to buy them a lime to eat but then I thought about it. It is a fruit and much better than asking for candy or cookies. So I bought them a lime. As soon as we got home they wanted to eat it right away. We made lunch first and then they forgot. They remembered again after dinner. They said they wanted a lime for dessert. I cut them some slices and they started to eat it. They really liked it but said it was "Ohh so sour!!" I offered a little sugar to go on the slices and they loved it even more. My DH just shook his head and said "Ah my girlies!" I remember that as a kid I loved eating lemons with and without a little sugar, my grandparents had a huge lemon tree when I was growing up. Kind of funny my girls love eating lemon and limes too!

Popsicles, Snakes and Necklaces

The princesses received a princess art kit from the
Easter Bunny and wanted to make some more things. First they played with Popsicle sticks. Princess A made a boat for her princess dolls. She decided that since the boat could not hold all of them Daddy should have it for his Star Wars figurines. Princess G made homes for her glitter snakes (glitter glue), she would squeeze out a snake and then put a stick right on top of them to protect them. She squished the snakes and said "See, they are safe now."
Next Princess A wanted to make some necklaces. After she made her beautiful necklace she helped Princess G with hers.
Princess G is posing with all of her pretty glitter snakes.

Swimming in the Bathtub

Even though it is more than halfway into June it is only 57 degrees outside. The girls have been asking over and over if they can go swimming in their kiddie pool. Of course I say "No! It is freezing outside!" Last Thursday Princess G asked if they could go swimming in Mommy's bathtub. What a great idea, so they did. They put on bathing suits and climbed right in. Today I decided to let them go swimming in the bathtub again. This time they wanted bubbles. I put their hair up in a ponytail but as they dumped buckets of water on their heads I could of skipped that step.

Tackle it Tuesday

My girl's/guest bathroom. I finally cleaned out the cupboard under the sink. I found enough space that I later put the bath toy basket under there also.

Strawberry Scones, a Family Favorite

I had a few strawberries that no one wanted to eat. I bought 4 lbs a few days ago and I think the girls are strawberried out. I did not want them to go to waste so I suggested that we make Strawberry scones. They were very excited as they love to make "sconies" for Daddy. I chopped up the strawberries and the girls helped with the rest.

STRAWBERRY SCONES

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, chilled and cubed
1 cup of strawberries - chopped (can use more or less)
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons white sugar

DIRECTIONS
Measure flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt into a mixer bowl. Add butter with mixer on low until crumbly. Add chopped strawberries and milk. Mix on low/medium to form a soft dough.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface (if the girls are helping I split the dough in half and put each half in a bowl for the girls to knead). Knead gently 8 to 10 times. Pat into two 6-inch circles. Place on a splatmat or greased baking sheet. Brush tops with milk, and sprinkle with sugar. Score each into 6 pie-shaped wedges (I forgot this step).
Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 15 minutes, or until browned and risen.

The girls wanted to show off their creations and each wanted their own picture.

Fancy Nancy, We love these books

My girls recently received a few Fancy Nancy books from my Mom. I had seen the books when we were in book stores but I never picked one up. They are so cute. We currently have Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy, Fancy Nancy's Favorite Fancy Words, Fancy Nancy and the Boy from Paris, Fancy Nancy at the Museum, and my Princess A's favorite Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly. She has memorized almost every word. She likes to read the books every night to Pinky and Sunny before lights out. A new one, Fancy Nancy Sees Stars, comes out in October and I am sure we will be picking it up when it comes out. I love that the Fancy Nancy books are about a girl who is not perfect but tries to do the right thing. She also is always dressed up very fancy just like my girls. I usually get them to wear pants in the winter (which we are still having, it is 50 degrees outside) once or twice a month. The rest of the time the are in dresses. Even on days I get them into pants as soon as we come inside they are changing into dresses. I also love that they use 'fancy words' which are advanced vocabulary words. I don't dumb down my language for my girls and I love books that don't either. I have even started using the Fancy Nancy phrase, when my girls ask me what a word means I say it is a fancy way of saying a word they already know. Lastly I love that they put in a few French word (Fancy Nancy loves all things French). My daughter is learning a few french words and encourages my DH to speak French with them also.

Gloves in a Bottle

I was sent a sample of Gloves in a Bottle and Princess G loves it. I actually had to hide the bottle. I pulled it out for this review and she has already asked for some on her hands three times. She is rubbing it on her hands, arms and tummy. The lotion is very soothing and really seems to keep our hands soft. Once it absorbs, which does take a minute or two of rubbing it seems to protect our hands. It does feel a little slimy if you wash your hands within 10 minutes of applying and it seemed that every time I put it on someone needed their hands washed. Princess G is still slathering it all over. She really, really likes this lotion. Now Princess A is the one who hates lotion and she kind of likes this one. She let me put it on her hands more than a few times which for her is a ringing endorsement. Her finger tips are very dry and the lotion seemed to help heal the cracks. Her hands are definitely better. Princess G is still putting more on I better go hide the bottle again or it will be empty by the end of the day.

Favorite things to when I was a kid

When I was a kid I just loved playing outside all summer long. Next to our house was a huge willow tree that was taller than our house and our house was three stories high on four foot pilings. Near the tree we had a five foot retaining wall. I would climb to the top of the retaining wall, grab an armful of branches, and jump!! It was so much fun!! You did have to make sure you grabbed a big enough armful because if you didn't the branch could break. Believe me it hurt when you landed. It happen once and I learned my lesson. Oh, but to swing through the air just like Tarzan, a nice Tarzan yell made it perfect.

I also loved swimming in the river behind our house, I was a little fish. The best was when the two of our neighbors had their Grand kids visiting. One of the neighbors had a second story deck built on their dock. We would climb the ladder to the top and jump off. If the current was going the right way we would float (my siblings and I always had to be wearing life jackets unlike the other kids) down to the other neighbor's dock and climb out. We would run up the levee and back to the first dock to start all over again. We could do this for hours, especially in August and September when the water was warm.

Lastly I loved the water-slide/slip-n-slide my Dad made us. Some family friends brought a slip-n-slide over one day when they were all the rage. My Dad figured he could make an even better one. He took two old waterbeds and cut them in wide strips. We played for a while when my Dad thought it would be more fun on a hill. Then he placed the waterbed strips on the levee going down into our backyard along the fence. We had a small section about three feet across that did not have a retaining wall. We turned on the hose and had a water-slide. It was a blast!! It was a little tricky since the wooden fence was on one side and the other had a tree stump. We didn't care, we would play so long that we flooded our yard and the neighbors. Eventually my Dad and the neighbor put in a drain in both of the yards.

I have become a Wii stalker

It started out innocently at first, whenever I was in a store that carries Wiis I would wander through electronics and see if they had any. After a while I started asking at the counter "Do you have any Wiis?" I started to become more desperate, I started calling stores and asking if they had any Wii in stock. Now I know when certain stores usually get their Wii in stock. I have a schedule of stores to call at certain times and days. One place even recognizes my voice and I don't even have to ask the question. As soon as I say "Hello." They answer "Sorry, none in stock." I finally found a possibility (Toys R Us is having a Wii day on Sunday) but as I am trying to get this for my husband for Father's Day that will be kind of hard to sneak away. I think he will notice if I a missing for 2 hours Sunday morning, plus who says I will get one. The sales person said they expect a line when they open up. What am I going to do, I am running out of time!! I guess I need a little luck and better stalking/hunting skills. Any suggestions?

Tackle it Tuesday

I wanted to go to the park today but as it is rainy and very windy we are staying home today. Since I am home I tackled the hall closet. This is my first Tackle it Tuesday!!
My hall closet before:
My hall closet after:

Need to Plant

I really need to finish planting these plants in the garden. The girls and I bought a bunch of seed packets after Easter. I bought 20 seed packets but at 10 for a dollar I figured let the girls have fun, I know some will not make it. We had a really nice warm day and planted most of the seed outside. We kept a few seeds and planted them in paper cups so we could watch them grow more closely. The next day it snowed so I did not hold out much hope for the seeds outside. Eventually I found a few carrots, zucchini and three sunflower plants outside. As for the seeds inside we planted pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe and tomatoes (beefsteak and cherry.) I planted the pumpkins, watermelon and had just started on the cantaloupe plants Friday evening when Princess G had a small accident. As it was getting close to bedtime we just went inside. It has rained the last 2 days so I am hoping tomorrow is nice enough to get them in the ground. I am sure they are becoming root bound. I really hope we get some food from at least one plant this year. Last year we had an early snow storm right before the tomatoes were ready.

The Kid in You

Last Saturday we went to a birthday party at the YMCA. All of the kids were having a blast on the rope swing. My girls wanted me to swing with them so I hopped on. It was so much fun!! I swung with each of them a few time and then it was my turn. I was having so much fun that soon all of the other parents wanted a turn too!!

End of year teacher gift

Princess A wanted to make thank you gifts for her Pre-K teachers. I had some compact mirrors and told her she could decorate them. I asked her if she wanted to cover them with fabric/ribbons or to paint them. Of course she said "Both Mommy!" So we did both. She cut out

two circles of fabric for each compact and I glued gunned them on.

Then the girls mixed paint with glitter and started painting.

Princess G helped too, her paint took over a day to dry since she used so much paint!

The girls then decorated some gift bags with stickers and stamps. Princess A drew pictures on the back of her thank you notes (I have photo cards I ordered from Shutterfly with Thank you and her pictures). Friday was her end of the year program and she handed out the gifts them. She still has two more snow days to make up but I thought that it was a good time to have her hand out the gifts to her five teachers. They seem to like them, especially since she made them herself. She was so excited she made them open the gifts in front of her right them.