Ice Cream Sundae Pops!

One of the things the kids wanted to do was make different types of Popsicles this summer. The first kind we tried were ice cream sundae pops. We started with these ingredients:

Dixie cups, Popsicle (craft) sticks, peanuts, peanut butter, hot fudge (not heated up), Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and vanilla ice cream.
You can use whatever combination of treats you like. We are big peanut butter & chocolate lovers in this house, so that's why we chose these.

Everyone started out with a layer of peanuts in the bottom of the cup:

Then everyone added whatever else they wanted in whatever order they wanted in between layers of ice cream:

When it was almost full, we added a last layer of ice cream and a popsicle stick:

After a couple of hours in the freezer, we got them out, cut/tore off the paper cup....

and enjoyed them!

These were YUMMY! They were a little big though, so next time I will either get smaller cups or only fill these half full. Either way, the kids called this a success & something that we want to do again!

Silly String & Sprinkler Fun!

One of the things the kids got in their summer fun bucket was silly string. The other day, we headed out to the backyard with their swimsuits on to spray each other. They had a blast!!

When the string was all out, I turned on the sprinkler to get all of that silly string off of them. :0)

Emma was watching them from the deck and yelling at them. =)

Then I moved her closer so she would get sprayed when the wind blew the water towards the deck. She wasn't too sure about this. LOL!

After they were all sprinklered out, they dried off and had some yummy treats. Lemon ices for the boys:

A sundae cone for Lily:

And crackers for Emma:

An afternoon of fun for $3.00 worth of silly string. :0)

S'Mores!

One of the things that always makes our summer list is S'Mores. We love traditional S'Mores, and we love them with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but this year, we thought we would also try the Girl Scouts Thanks-A-Lot cookies because they have shortbread & chocolate in them. (and we have a lot of GS cookies left....) We even got the marshmallows that are specifically for S'Mores! (They are flat and rectangular.)

Jeff got the fire going & the kids started roasting their marshmallows.

It's always fun to sit around and eat sweets together. ;0) And I'm glad we did this before it got too hot! 

Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I don't normally put recipes on here, because I am usually a strictly follow the recipe kind of girl. I am not good at throwing things together to make something delicious. But, I had seen a picture of a recipe for mozzarella stuffed chicken on Pinterest & thought it sounded good. Of course, it was one of those pins that led you to only the picture.....no recipe. :0( So, I thought I could kind of make it my own. The first time I made it, everyone (except Lily, who doesn't like anything) loved it! So, when I made it again, I decided to make pictures so I could share it on here.

This is what you need:

Boneless chicken breasts, plain breadcrumbs, basil leaves, garlic powder, mayo, and a block of mozzarella.

The first thing that you do it cut the chicken lengthwise so there is an opening for the cheese:

Sprinkle on the bay leaves & garlic powder, and lay down two slices of cheese:

Roll the chicken up so the cheese is tucked inside & place on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. (I use foil because the cheese will leak out. This is easier to clean :) I still spray the foil though.)

Next, spread mayo onto the top & sides of the chicken, about a tablespoon full.

The next thing I did was sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top & pressed them in with my hand:

Cook these at 350* for 20 minutes or until done.
Ooey gooey goodness!

Enjoy!

Botanica

The kids got out of school at noon on Thursday, so we went to lunch, and then headed to Botanica. On Thursdays, Botanica is only $3.00 per person! And now through July they have a cool Once Upon A Time section!
We started out at the butterfly house. Lily & I have been to Botanica before, but the boys never have. They were pretty excited about all of these butterflies!

We even got to see some coming out of their chrysalis's!

They tried really hard to get the butterflies to land on them, and finally they did!

(We also saw a snail)

After we had our fill of butterflies, we headed over to the Children's Garden.

Lily kept saying, "You are going to LOVE it boys!!" :0) I'm glad they did, because she hyped it up a lot. ;0)

After the Children's Garden, we went over to their temporary exhibit, Once Upon A Time:

It was really cool. They had buildings that went along with different fairy tales. Here are Riley & Lily trapped in the witches candy house. Oh No!

The kids being bears:

They had these funny signs all over the place:

The princess & the pea:

They had storybooks at each spot where it would tell the story if you pushed a button.

This is Little Red Riding Hood's Grandma's house:

And Jack's house, complete with a beanstalk:

Riley was hanging out by two of the three Little Pigs' houses:

Then the kids discovered costumes! Here is Zach as the Big Bad Wolf blowing down the pigs' house:

And here he is after he died from not being able to blow the brick house down:



Aw! Little Red Riding Hood.....

Uh Oh! Little Red doesn't know what is sneaking up on her!

Watch out Red!

Too bad, he got her. ;0)

 Meanwhile, in Once Upon A Time Land, Riley became a witch and caught some children.....

and cooked them.....

(Come on, no one was surprised by this turn of events.) ;0)

Two of the pigs must have rebuilt their houses!

After all of the excitement over there, we saw the king & queen:

and their court musician....

Before we left Once Upon A Time Land, they wanted to do one more thing. Here is Grandma sleeping, Little Red Riding Hood knocking on her door, and the Big Bad Wolf creeping up on them.

Ha Ha! Such silly kids! =)

After that, we walked around Botanica looking at all of the plants.

We all had a lot of fun, and the kids want to go back again soon!