Croup & Sillyness!

So this is old information... but figured I would still share it...

A couple of weeks ago I went to Safeway and they had these huge boxes of strawberries and the strawberries were huge so I bought 3 boxes since they were like $4 a box and made my first batches of strawberry jam! It is delicious. The entire time I made it though I was thinking about Monica from FRIENDS and her plan to get over her man! And how Joey would take a jar of jam with him to the movie theater... yeah you like it if you like FRIENDS!!!

It made 27 jars... 17 8oz, and 10 16oz... so dang good! All freezer jam. I gave some away to my ladies I visit teach and the rest is just awaiting to be eatten! Yummy!

Here is the sillyness... I have curtains instead of closet doors because in such small space it really does make a difference... well Daphne loves to play in them... if you look really close you can see her face through the curtain... she is so funny!

A few weeks ago it was nice outside and so I decided to find out how far away Zips was on my bike. So I loaded up the girls and we rode there, it wasn't half bad. I deserved the food after I got there...

The girls had popcorn chicken and I ordered a sandwich trying to be good and well... the chicken was just too good and the fry sauce... yummy!

Than I had found a new park and so I drove them up to it, and let them play...

Later that week I was reading a book where this girl has to pick out her wedding dress and it made me want to see if mine fit since I have been dieting and exercising and can see my back dimples again I figured why not..

it fit everywhere except the back would not zip up... least I have a goal! I love that dress it's a bummer I only wore it one day!

So pretty I couldn't resist!

So my kids have never had croup but one day Daphne was barking like a dog and so I pulled out my trusty kids sickness book and discovered she has croup and of course steaming her would be the best solution. So one night I turned on the shower and sat with her and the room filled with steam. It was working great... than she decided she wanted to look in the tub and before I knew it she had climbed it. She wasn't complaining and so I just let her stay in there until the water got to cold to be effective...

This girl is growing like a weed... but her hair is not... I can sometimes get it to stick up... but she is so cranky all the time and she used to be so good. Usually she will wake up from her nap and be happy... lately she wakes up I give her 10 min and than I put her back in bed... she falls back asleep so apparently she needed it!

Sami vying for my attention... so cute girl and so smart... I can't believe that she is 4 soon! When did that happen?

Some Serious Cabin Fever!

Getting ready to head to church... Dave decided to capture a good kodak moment because both of my girls were cuddling up to there mom unexpectedly... so we have to capture those moments!

Sunday night the girls had a bath because we planned on going out on the town Monday... no such luck there. I always put bubbles in the bath because than I don't really have to soap up there bottom halves and they clean there own faces that way too. Sami didn't know who Santa was until she watched a Dora Christmas episode, and so she put the bubbles on her chin and said "Ho, ho, Ho" it was classic. She used to call Santa, Grandpa... she has no grandpas that have a white beard and so I don't know where she gets that from. Oh, if your wondering about her nose... she fell off the bed and fell onto the filing cabinet and so we put a bandaid on the bleeding part. Than when it was better she refused to let us take it off, well this is what happens when a bandaid is not removed for a week... the oils cause the skin to dry up and irritate... it got ripped off Sunday afternoon to her dismay, and now is almost completely healed up. Monday as most of you know we got hit with the biggest snow storm prior to December ever... I have lived here for the better part of my 30 years and so I can honestly say that. When Dave got off we were supposed to go see Harry Potter 7 part 1 but since the weather was so awful we decided to just drive down the street to Round Table Pizza and have a family date night. It was fun, especially once I figured out turning the flash off you could see the effect the black light had on our clothes. This is to show that no matter what pair of shoes we put on Daphne, she always some how gets the right sock and shoe off, she must give up after that and the left side always stays on, but whenever socks and shoes get put on... the right side is always the one to come off quickly and so we just give up and keep it off inside... I couldn't fit I was too big! My front door display. I made this awesome wreath out of felt rolled up... it's so much fun, and it's still not done. Can we say, 'Picture window' notice the only floor you see is the pool water, which is not frozen... and no they don't cover it during the winter time. Welcome winter to Tri-Cities... the good thing is I get to hang out all day in my comfy pants and warm socks, and drink hot cocoa, and keep warm with our wall heaters, and craft up a storm getting ready for our Christmas Event which is next weekend... oh gosh... so excited. After last year I will stay in doors when it's this bad outside because there is no way I am driving in this crap!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving week everyone!

Happy 4 Year anniversary!

Thursday July 22 was me and Dave's 4 year wedding anniversary. We are going out of town this weekend. We have been wanting to go to Famous Dave's and so we planned to go for our anniversary! It was delicious...

Dave got the smoked brisket, which he couldn't take a bite with out saying mmmmm... after ( we were supposed to share our food but I didn't like the smoked taste) I am really not that sloopy but we wanted to be silly in our pictures... I had the chopped pork... which is one of my favorite things, or so I thought. We left the restaurant and were headed to Richland to pick up the girls, and had to stop at McDonald's on steptoe because it wasn't sitting well...

It tasted good but I think maybe the sauce was a bit much I don't know I just have a delicate constitution... (has anyone else had this problem there?) It was good though. I downed like 4 glasses of Diet Pepsi and so I was shivering. We were gonna go on a walk on the pier in Richland but it wasn't warm outside and so we opted out. Dave didn't want this picture... can you tell!

Samantha turns 3!

My big girl has turned 3, and it makes me a little sad. Since the Sunday after her birthday was Father's Day my family decided to sing to her and my sis-n-law on the Sunday before there birthdays. So we had strawberry shortcake!

We did not light the candles because Sami is terrified of fire, and candles. It all goes back to her first birthday when she put the candle out with her hand, and than last month when we were having a barbecue and the flames got a little out of control! Next to my parents house is a house that has been there for as long as I can remember. It is next to a park that has changed in ways but is still the same, but surrounding the park it used to be just orchards and has since been turned into a road, and now houses. As I was leaving my parents house and driving past this pasture where horses roam, I noticed a mother Duck and her ducklings walking across the road. I was happy I had my camera because it was so cute. If you notice there is still one duck trying to jump the curb... he does it I stayed to make sure but she waited while each of them all jumped up the curb than she lifted the fence for them and they all went into the pasture and disappeared into the grass. It was so cute! Perfect display of being a mother! I worry about my 2 kids let along her 8 that I think she had! So a month ago I ordered Sami's birthday present a kitchen. And a week later it got here and so we put it in her room, in the box, and put blankets over it. She wasn't too distracted by it. So since her birthday was Friday, Thursday night I put her to bed and got it all set up for her. And since she already had a set of princess dishes and some food I put that all away too. (I love play kitchens and miss my strawberry shortcake kitchen I had when I was little) It was the best because it has a cherry border. And when we were deciding on which one, that was the deciding factor... mom has a cherry kitchen, it's only fitting for Sami to have one. I had my sis-n-law make her a matching cherry apron, I haven't gotten a picture of it yet, but it's adorable, she sells them. Friday morning... Sami comes out and she sees her kitchen... I think she likes it, don't you? It has a working burner that when the pots are on it it makes cooking noises and has a phone that actually dials... it will go in there bedroom Monday but for now we are enjoying her playing with it in the front room. Before church today she was washing her hands in the sink and we were making sure the water wasn't burning her... (of course the sink has no real water). Lately I hardly get smiles and when i do, they look like this! That afternoon before we went to McDonald's to meet up with my mom and sisters for lunch. I know this is previous to that because she isn't glued to the new Ariel doll that grandpa gave her. It took me several tries to actually get this moment captured. She didn't mind, they are good sisters and love each other! So happy, this is before she got sun burned on her upper arms and forehead (yes the sun lotion will stay in my purse this sumer, and her hat), and before she got her cold. Daphne is a mover, since she learned to sit up with hardly any topples she hardly ever goes on her stomach unless it is something she really wants. This is after she got into something she really wanted, and since she can only scoot backwards, she just got further and further under the couch. We had Sami's party at the sprinkler park and we were afraid that we would get rained out, but it turned out to be a great day. This is Sami waiting for her friends to show up. My party display. I have decided I love crafting too much, that I make everything cutesy, I hope that I don't stop being that way, because it's too much fun! We had handi snacks for treats, strawberries, and I made goodie bags that had bubbles, candy necklace, sea shells, and a glow in the dark bracelet in them. They were a hit! It was an "Under the Sea" party and so I had fun with my cricut. I got a new cartridge that has Ariel on it. She is tough to make but Flounder and Sebastian were fun, Sebastian was the easiest. They were my cup cake toppers! There is an Ariel in the middle. I cut her out and didn't know what to do with her until I got there and decided she could be Sami's cupcake. We let one of her friends take it home, I can make more! Sami in one of her new outfits that grandma Ransom bought her. It is so cute! It was breezy and so I did have her wear a shirt under the tank top. Of course an Ariel swimsuit... wish I would have gotten a bigger size... it won't last through the summer. cousins Elizabeth and Olivia in the sprinklers... you can see what kind of day it was.. but they still had fun! Kids don't care. When we woke up and noticed it was raining I got really bummed and we talked of re-scheduling but I didn't want to do that... I had just made 3 boxes of cupcakes. I figured if all else fails the kids can play in the rain, kids love playing in the rain!

Thanks to all of you that came and shared the day and celebration with us, it was a success because of you. She has not stopped playing with her many gifts. Now on to celebrate Father's Day!