#5: Walk to Dairy Queen

One of the things that the kids wanted to do was walk to the Dairy Queen by our house.
It's not very far....but it's not really close either.
Especially when it is 95 - 100 degrees outside. =)
The other night, it was only 85 - 90 degrees outside,
(still really hot.....)
but we thought that it might not get any cooler anytime soon,
so we headed to DQ.

The kids and I walked.
Jeff hyper-extended his knee about a month ago,
so he isn't really up to walking long distances.
But, he drove and met us there.
After the long, hot walk, the kids really enjoyed the ice cream they picked out!!

One more thing checked off of our list!

Lily's Birthday

Happy 3rd Birthday Lily!

Lily turns 3 years old today!

Happy Birthday Lily!

You are such a girly-girl, but you can keep up with the boys when you want too.

You are definitely a Daddy's girl.

You think you are the boss of the house....and sometimes I am not too sure you aren't. =)

I can't believe how fast you are growing up!

We love you Lily!!

11 Years

Jeff & I have been married 11 years.
11 years.....
Wow! That seems crazy to me!
These past 11 years have FLOWN by!
I couldn't imagine sharing any of them with anyone else.
Jeff, I am SO blessed to be married to you.
Thank you for the past 11 years, and I look forward to many, many more years together.
I love you!!

Another Garden Update

Our little garden has been busy growing!

The kids were especially excited about the watermelon.

I can't wait for everything to be completely grown!

#10: Cooking

So far this summer, the kids have helped me cook chocolate chip cookies and banana/chocolate chip muffins, but I thought this next "cooking" project would be more fun to blog about.

Jello Oceans

We used gummy lifesavers, gummy fish, teddy grahams, and berry-blue jello.
First we made the jello.

Then we poured the jello into glass glasses so we could see the blue "ocean".

We put our glasses in the freezer and let them set up half-way.

Then we added the fish to our oceans.

They floated about halfway down the glass and looked like they were swimming.

While we waited for our jello to set up the rest of the way,

we put our teddy grahams in their life preservers.

When the jello was completely set, we added the teddy bears to the top.

The kids thought they were YUMMY!

These were a big hit with my kids and easy for them to help make!!

Lily & Ares' 3rd Birthday Party!

We celebrated Lily & her cousin Ares' third Birthday on Saturday.
Ares turned 3 on Sunday, but Lily won't turn 3 until next Sunday.

Here is my Birthday Princess:

And here are the Birthday kids:

We had a Princess/Dragon theme.

The girls all got tiaras and the boys all got crowns.

We even had color your own shields!!

My sister Mary made Lily's cake.

Are you seeing a pattern where I don't make my kid's cakes...

and why would I when I have a sister who can do this:

She made a beautiful princess castle....

complete with Lily's very own princess cake.

TOO CUTE!!

My niece Karen (Ares' aunt) made this cute dragon cake for him.

Super job Karen!! You are such a great aunt!

After a yummy lunch, the kids sat down to open their presents.

Lily got lots of cute clothes, shoes, princess things, My Little Ponies......

and Ares got lots of dragons, art supplies, bubbles, etc.

I think they both took in a pretty good haul. ;-)

Then it was time to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake!

Lily enjoyed eating her own personal cake.

Well, actually she basically just ate the icing, but hey, it was her party. =)

Thanks Ares for sharing your Birthday with Lily again this year!!

Lily had a lot of fun with you!!

Happy Father's Day!

I asked the kids to tell me one word to describe their Dad.

Here's what they said:

Zach: Awesome!

Riley: Nice!

Lily: Happy!

(This was really hard for Lily...she kept wanting to say he was pink.) =)

Happy Father's Day to the most awesome, nice, and happy Daddy in the world!

We love you Jeff!!

Happy Father's Day too, to my Dad.

Thanks for being a great Dad & wonderful Granddad!!