Mmm, refreshing

I have started making a lemonade slushy for when we are working outside on a hot day. Maybe you would like to try making it. :)

 lemon ice

4 Tablespoons lemon juice

4 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup water

14 ice cubes

blend together in a blender until smooth. enjoy.

Summer days

 

This summer has been busy already. It has been HOT. We have been having fun. I bought the kids a little wading pool and they have spent many hours playing in it. The girls also got new swimsuits last week. that was exciting.

 

One Very hot (100*F+) Sunday afternoon we went for a walk at a state park not to far from our home. It was really pretty. We went down quite a long large hill and across a creek. then met a sign explaining that whatever way we went it would be up hill and several miles. We opted to go only a little farther along the creek and then go back.

  

We had to climb the very big hill in the very warm weather. some of our group were afraid they were going to have to just live at the bottom of the hill it seemed to hard to get to the top.

 

We all made it, but as you can see it was exhausting. :)

  Today the kids had a bike wash going on in the garage. I did some spray painting touch ups on a couple of the bikes. It made it seem like they had new bikes. Oh, we aired the tires too. Molly also took the broken hand brake off of hers.

The story of Lemon

I have told you about one Lemon before. But we have had other Lemons in our life. Molly had a friend Lemon who also lived down the road and we would hear about the wonderful things she could do as well. Most recently Lars has had a friend Lemon come play with him.
 His friend is a boy and has spent many nights at our house sleeping on the chair in Lars' room. There have also been times that I stepped on him because I did not see him in the hallway. He and Lars often play with swards and take turns being the bad guy. He eats meals with us a lot. He always brings his own dishes and his own food though he eats the same thing we are having, unless it is something Lars does not like and then Lemon will have what Lars wishes he was having.
 Well, now we have a puppy and we feel that since we have always had  a Lemon around anyway now we can see her. Heidi wasn't sure it was a romantic enough name for her but the rest of us are very comfortable with it.
 This Lemon has been very sweet all except at 3:30 this morning she felt the need to cry loudly about her lonely little bed.
 I'm really finding it hard to believe I have invited a dog to live IN my house, shedding hair and all that comes with being a puppy. I have never been found of animal hair in a house.
 I probably will survive and even enjoy her company. My kids are loving her so much which is one big reason we wanted a dog. I hope she can open the door to animals for them. I really pitied their fear.  

140

One hundred forty skittles later.... We are doing well. But we miss you a lot.
 so yeah, one skittle a day and we are counting down. the jar is not nearly so full. do you realize this means we have only around 40 left!? 40 long days-short days-crazy days- hopeful days-lonely days- fun days.... They will all be all of those. because the last 140 were as well.

Beautiful Days

Last week end we went for a walk by a pond. When we came to a stream with a bridge we thought we probably should play a game of Pooh sticks.
Whenever we happened to find a nice stick we would get it and take it back to the bridge to throw into the water. I thought some of the kids' choices of stick were a little large. especially when we had so far to walk before we got back to the bridge. Molly's did make the biggest splash...

See, we were all there. :)
Who's stick is going to win the race?

I digress

And we got totally stuck.
tonight at dinner the topic of conversation began with talking about where we lived. The question then was, is that in America? yes, the USA.
This moved on to the US Army and what they do. Heidi said that pirates shoot cannons too. And, I admit I was the one to digress, I said, and forks. This began a debate on things which one could shoot. After they got over the shock that I said something so random!
"socks!"
"Pineapples!"
"Alligators!"
"Candy! Yeah, that is the tip top, We can't get any better than that." ......Well, maybe there is something else floating around up there.
Pine cones!"
And on and on and ON. They did this back and forth for all of the rest of dinner. When they are talking they take a very long time with dinner. Nearly an hour.
Kids are awesome. Have fun and laugh.

Day 38
G day

Day 5

• We had our first school day. It went very well. The kids were very happy to be "doing school."
• I rearranged the kitchen dinning room.
• moped the tile floors.
• The kids played hide and seek around the house.
• the kids took a bunch of pillows and got into the pillow cases and jumped up and down the hallway.
• Lars reported that he had killed his pet. And I thought oh no he's killed the fish. But no, he had killed the fly that was in his room. His heart was fairly broken.
• We went to Aldi and Wal mart.
  
• We had fresh broccoli with our supper. I really like the taste of fresh broccoli cooked in the microwave with butter and salt and pepper. The kids don't find it as lovely as I do.
  

Day 4

• We, went to church this morning. It was lovely. My class had a breakfast potluck and fellowship time intead of regular classes.
  
• After church we joined our church family for a spaghetti dinner. We did not join in the cake *auction but we were there at that time.
  
• I did stuff to get ready for our first day of school tomorrow. I am very excited to get started on that.
• We spent time sitting around the table coloring pictures together.
  
• I stayed up way to late last night reading one of my new books. bad girl. Now I am very tiered!
• Lars fell asleep on my lap while we were watching a youtube thing on the computer.
  
• Lars went to Sunday school class by himself without fussing and then had a very good time while he was there. amazing. I gave him a little talking to before we left about how he was a big boy now and that he would go to class with out a fuss - "no, no, stop fussing while I'm talking to you about it too... Okay, remember you are a big boy and you will have a good time."

*Oops. thanks for pointing that out.

Day 3

• The kids played at the neighbors for awhile.They drove the little battery powered cars around about the whole time. They also gave Lars a little bike.
• Went to a Yesteryear Festival. It was a small colonial reenactment. I guess there was a fort or "arsenal" here at that time.All that is left of it is some footing stones. They have also made what they call a ghost tower because it is like a trellis in the shape and size that the tower was. There were men dressed up as soldiers from the revolutionary war. They did some firing of canons and muskets.Making pewter stuff. I can't remember what he was making while we were watching.

We also got to taste some fresh pressed apple cider.

• did the laundry - completely.
• the kids played at the neighbors again this afternoon.
  
• I bought two books from the author herself at the reenactment. They are historical fiction about the colonial times her in North Carolina. I read the first one this afternoon. It was a good read.

We had a busy good Saturday. thought about Keren a lot today. Happy Birthday little sister!

Day 2

• Mowed the grass. Which means I picked up tons of pine cones.
• Cleaned out the truck and car. The truck really needed it. I should have washed the outsides of them but did not.
• Went to the LAB this morning. For some reason it really hurt when she put it in the left arm and then it would not flow... So, I almost fainted and we had to sit there for a long time trying to keep me from passing out. Finally my head started feeling like it should and she was able to get it in my right arm. Crazy Phobia!
• We went for a little drive, just to see what where the road would take us. We were also keeping our eyes open for any playgrounds.
• Bought corn at a farmers market.
• Lars started singing at the supper table. I was not sure what he was singing but then Molly joined him. He would join her for the last part of the last word for each phrase. They were singing, I'm in the Lords Army. When Molly sings that song though it is one of those songs that never ends. So I had to remind them to finish their dinners.
• Bathed all of my children tonight.

• Called the Cell phone company. Oh, yesterday some sort of cable company guy called. He started off saying that he had a better deal then what I had and kept going on about this good deal he had for me. When he finally let me say something I told him I had no TV. He was totally baffled by this and then mumbled something about wasting his time!

I got a new seed catalog in the mail today so I think I will get ready for bed and go enjoy that.

?

PT...MSE...ACU...BCU...HMMWV...M142HIMARS...
FRG...FA...MWR...BOSS...PX/BX...AAFES...ASAP...
ASYMCA...ACAP...ACS...AFB...SSC...NCO...LT...BC...AMIC....
PCS...
So yeah you get the idea. A lot of acronyms happen around here. Everyday, All the time. So why, when Derek gets an Army notepad, does it say memorandum on the front? Everyone else knows that if you just write "memo" it's okay.

Yes we are alive and well!...

Hi! I haven't been blogging lately, we've been really busy and I get tiered of uploading pictures all over the place.
If you would like to see pictures of my lovely family, please get a facebook account and be my friend on there. It is really easy to set up and use (even for you mom) and I put almost all my pictures on there.
I will try to blog still too but summer is kind of hard for that.
We have made a trip to the Zoo this summer. ^

-Spent many afternoons at the neighborhood pool. ^We have spent a lot of time in the car. (or truck as the case may be.) ^
We also went to see the ocean once. ^

Also I have made several trips to the Doc. to figure out about my thyroid. Thankfully I do not I cancer but I do have a really large lump that will have to come out sometime. We are planning on having the surgery in October. Please keep that in your prayers. I am a little worried about my thyroids function after the surgery.

Until next time....

A Note To The Do-It- Yourself-ers

When you have a problem with your Auto, Please, Please, do NOT use expanding foam under the hood- anywhere!
Today Derek is replacing the washer pump on our truck. it happens to be A LOT harder to do because the previous owners, whoever they were, tried to fix the washer fluid hose with expanding foam.
So, when somethings not working, use duct tape. just kidding. fix it the right way.:)

the flu

This past week we have had the flu. it was awful. we are starting to feel better today finally. We all still have coughs though.
maybe I will have time to do this once and awhile again now.

My Fisherman

I just wanted to tell you something about Derek. :) he really likes to go fishing but he doesn't just fish when he's out, he makes things too. the picture of my poor baby who dived off a picnic table is so you can see my necklace. Derek made it when we were on a camping fishing trip a couple of years ago. He made it from fishing line and some sort of stick he found in the north woods of MN. This summer Lars broke it and I lost the beads for it. This month Derek found some bamboo and dried it then made this new one for me. He is so cool. I like him a lot. :)