Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy 4th of July!







Meghan just got home from camp today....I will post some of her pictures later this week!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Yummy Cake Pops!


Alyssa had invited me, her sister Cara, and some of her school friends over to make cake pops. This was the first for some of us (me included), but it looked like a lot of fun! To make the cake balls, you take a cake mix and bake as directed. The website we used said to let it cool completely and then mix with a tub of icing. It seemed to work better if the cake was still warm so it could melt the icing. You mix it together in a big bowl and then make cake balls. I made mine big, as you can see from the picture, so I had to cut the balls in half and make them smaller once I was at Alyssa's. You need to put them in the fridge to help them stay together better.

We ended up putting them in the freezer while we worked and pulling only a few out at a time. It seemed to work better this way. We had a lot of fun working trial and error until we finally got it down! I had trouble getting some of my cake balls to stay on the stick, so they became cake ball truffles....lol. Needless to say, this is why I don't have my own cooking/baking blog...lol. I would love to try these again...after all, I can only get better, right?


Here we are in Alyssa's kitchen, hard at work. It was nice to just sit and chat while everyone did their own thing.




I have to say, the finished product turned out better than I thought it would when I first started. Trey and Lily loved them when I brought them home! Here is the website to check it out! Oh....use an entire container of icing...it works so much better!



More Florida Pics








These are pictures from our visit in Orlando with Jane and Jack and Mindy and Jim and their crew. It was a lot of fun, swimming and playing!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Florida 2009

Our trip to Florida was so much fun....we hated to leave! Here is a summarized version of our trip:
Thursday: left around 8:30pm for Florida....caravaned down with Dan, who drove Erin and her crew
Friday: got to Mimi's around 1pm....just before a lovely Florida storm hit. After the storm blew over, we went swimming in Mimi's neighborhood pool. Trey and I went down the waterslide 3 times! He loved it!
Saturday: we went canoeing (for the second time) down the Little Manatee River. It was 110 degrees that day! HOT HOT HOT! We did not see any manatees this time, but saw lots of turtles and a 6 ft alligator. Daniel wouldn't let me take the camera...so no pics of this adventure! :(
Sunday: we headed out early to go to Mt. Dora, FL on the way to Orlando. It was kind of like Brown Co. Indiana if you have ever been there. Would have been more enjoyable if it hadn't been so hot (a lot like Saturday). Once we got to Orlando, we went to the hotel and checked in. Our room overlooked the lazy river the hotel had, which was so much fun! The kids loved the pools....they had 3, not including the lazy river!
Monday: we were on our way to Magic Kingdom for Lily's birthday! They were so nice to us....gave Lily a cute button that said Happy Birthday, Lily! She loved having everyone wish her a happy birthday all day. The kids had a blast.....it was around 105 degrees, but we rode the AC rides every so often, so that helped cool us off. We were able to ride a shuttle over to the park, so we came back to the hotel for lunch and birthday, then went back late afternoon. It was a really great day!
Tuesday: we were going to go to Hollywood Studios, but there was a big storm over night and looked like rain all day, we decided to put it off until another day later in the week. We swam at the hotel until time to check out and then went back to Mimi's house. Poppy left from the airport to head back here and then Carol, Katie, the kids, and I went to IKEA while Daniel played golf. I haven't been to an IKEA store in a long time and I could have bought soooo much! I loved it....I did pick up a few things....I couldn't resist, even though we have one fairly close by.
Wednesday: we headed to the beach today and Ellenton to do some outlet shopping. Meghan and I got cute khaki mini skirts (yes it is weird that my almost 12 year old and I can shop in the same store) from the Gap. I got Meg some jeans for $6 at Aeropostale...can't beat that! The beach was really windy, so again, no pictures....Daniel didn't want sand in the camera. :( I had really been hoping to get some cute beach shots....oh well.'
Thursday: we headed back to Disney to go to Hollywood Studios. I stayed with Trey while Katie, Carol, Daniel, Meg, and Lily rode the Tower of Terror. I got a call from Carol saying they were stuck on the top floor and had been for a little while and Lily was freaking out. She was crying and I told her all she could do was wait it out. Come to find out, I think Mimi was more afraid than Lily! Lily came off the ride with a big smile and she said "I didn't even scream!". It was cute! The weather wasn't as hot, but the lines were much longer (smaller park). We rode a lot and watched the Beauty and the Beast show, which I loved! The HSM 3 show was good as were some of the parades with so many of the characters. Trey loved this! He also loved Playhouse Disney....especially Little Einsteins! Who knew....we don't even have cable!...lol.
Friday: we just hung out until we drove BACK to Orlando again to see Aunt Jane and Uncle Jack, along with Mindy, Jim, and their crew. This was one of my favorite days! I just loved hanging out with Mindy and Jim and watching our kids play. Darius and Anthony have gotten so big, as had Mya and Henson. I wish we lived closer to each other!
Saturday: Lily, Trey and I went with Carol and Katie to look at some model homes around the area. Can I just say WOW?! I so want to have one of those houses! We went thru one that was selling for $1 million....yes $1 MILLION. It. Was. Gorgeous! Huge too....4500 sq. ft. I would get lost in a house that big! Not to mention, I would hate to clean it! Afterwards, we picked up Erin and Rori and headed to the mall. Meghan was playing golf with her daddy, Uncle Jimmy, Ethan, and Finley. She was having fun "driving"! We went out to eat to celebrate Katie's upcoming bday and then left around8:30pm. We made better time coming home and got in around 11am Sunday morning.
I have more pictures that I will post later.....enjoy!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The 7 yr Checkup

Lily had her 7 yr checkup today with the doctor. Everything went well....she asked Lily her favorite food, which Lily replied "strawberries and grapes"....my fruit eater! She was in the 90th percentile for height and weight (52" and 66 lbs). Her growth for height and weight has stayed consistent....she always seems to be in the 90th percentile. The best part was NO SHOTS! She was so excited not to have any and kept asking me "not until I am 11, right Mommy?"....just to reassure herself over and over. All is good and she goes back in a year! Now I just have Trey's to worry about in a few weeks....hopefully no shots for him either!