Memorial Day

Home of the FREE because of the BRAVE

As we were driving around this weekend, I actually saw this on a bumper sticker. I also saw the bumper sticker "God Bless the Troops especially the Snipers." I think it is really important to teach our children about Memorial Day. Chuckles made a flag out of Legos.

Memorial Day is not only to honor those that died trying to protect our freedom but those who continue to preserve it as well. Thank You!

Summer Plans

School is winding down. School gets out on June 15th here. That is early for us. We had zero snow days this year.Summer planning has been on going here for a while. We are planning a big trip to celebrate Pappy's 90th Birthday. More details about that are on their way. I am home with my kids all summer long other than our big trip. Some things we plan on doing

*the beach

*Adventure Van trips with Mrs Epi and family. Some are adventures are found here and here

* Hiking- both Chuckles and Bones have specifically asked to hike to Squires Lake, again

* Letterboxing - Here is one of our local letterbox adventures

*Summer Reading Program through our local library. Chuckles is also going to be doing Book Adventures

*Get Movin- this year the program is run through the Whatcom County YMCA and offers free programs - In the past, the program offered free passes to the local aquatic center, YMCA, along with other events. Details on page 19 of their summer program brochure.

*#1 Son is doing a computer course through the local community college

happiness is...

A JUMBO marshmallow! Who knew they make them in Giant.

I found these at my Fred Meyers store. Fred Meyers is part of the Kroger chain for you not in the PNW. I am now officially ready for Memorial Day. ( I was in no way paid to endorse this product)

Do you have a PLAN?

Do you have a menu plan? I have seen numerous blog posts on this subject in the last week such as Carol's Cookbook and Life as Mom. There are whole linky parties devoted to Menu planning. So if you ever run out of ideas there is plenty of inspiration out there.

Yes, menu planning can save you money. I am definitely a fly by the seat of my pants menu planner. I browse the grocery ads on Sunday and grocery shop on Monday. I try to base my menu on what I have already stock piled and what is on sale. Things in my world work better when I know what I am making for dinner. I need to be pretty flexible. I fail a lot in the whole menu planning arena but sometimes you just got plan failures in to the plan. By failures I mean, I don't want to cook, I forget there is after school appointment, dinner doesn't turn out or I don't have all the ingredients on hand. I plan on having one of those once a week or so. The breakfast sandwich is my back up meal idea or my failure meal as I call it. I almost always have eggs on hand and bread. I can usually scrounge up a side of fruit or veggie. It is also a meal that my hubby likes to make and everyone will eat without complaint. I keep my plan all scribbled down in my handy dandy notebook. This is what this week looks like.

Mon - Hamburgers/potato salad/beans
Tue - Turkey Rope Sausage/macaroni/potato salad/beans
taco salad-(ground turkey)/corn
breakfast sandwich/fruit
Pizza/green salad
hot dogs/oven fries/fruit
chicken?( got a couple of fryers in the freezer) garlic mashed potatoes

Things I had to purchase this week that weren't in my pantry
Hot Dogs
Hot Dog Buns
Pizza Dough
Pepperoni
Pizza Sauce
Bag of Potatoes
milk

Nerf Party

We had a very high energy Nerf party to celebrate Chuckles 8th Birthday. There was a lot of controlled chaos. We set up a 6 station obstacle shooting course, played find the Giant Man Child, and played captured the flag. We also made targets out of paper plates and tissue paper. That was a big hit.

Of course, there was cake and snacks too. I think a good time was had by all.

I Spy an Eight Year Old

Happy 8th Birthday

Chuckles !!!

Book it 2010 - May Update

I am joining the Book it 2010 linky party over at Life as a Mom. While I haven't made any progress this month on my Book it 2010 list. I have read a lot of books not on my list. Here is my book it update.

I our last book club book was Sarah's Key. We weren't able to secure enough copies through our library so we purchased the book at Costco. The book is about the round up of Paris Jews during WWII. This is a fictional story about a true event. Sarah's Key is a real tear jerker because it tells about a family being rounded up and the little boy being locked in a hidden cabinet by his sister, Sarah.. The rest of the family is taken but the little boy remains locked in the cabinet. The parallel story is of journalist who is researching 60th Anniversary of "Vel d' Hiv "and finds that there is a family connection to this story.

Everyone in our book club really thought this was a good read. I am happy to report all of us read the book. None of us really had heard of the Jew roundup in Paris. This hit home to me as my hubby's grandparents met in Paris during WWII. Pappy was a US soldier and his soon to be French wife worked in Paris during this time period.


This book also reminded me of the book My Enemy's Cradle by Sara Young also set during WWII but about mother's homes. It is about the Nazi Lebensborn program. A Lebenborn was a maternity home for girls carrying babies of German Soldiers. I read that last year


I also read another outstanding book about this time period but set in America in Seattle, Washington called The Hotel At the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. I read this earlier this year. This book deals with the wartime persecution of Japanese immigrants in the United States as seen through the eyes of a 12 year old Chinese boy who falls in love with a 12 year old Japanese girl.

Last Jog-a-thon

(#1 Son in Blue Shirt)

It was #1 Son's last Jog-a-thon for Elementary School. I have attended many Jog-a-thons and I have to say the one at this school is top notch. The main reason is they have the ladder truck from the fire department and they spray the kids. I love the chanting from the kids at recess to get sprayed too. You can probably hear "Spray Us" a mile away. #1 Son did about 20 laps.

Innaguration of the Fire Pit

Yesterday, we had our first fire of the season. You know the marshmallow season. We burned some marshmallows. We didn't break out the red cups yet. You have to ease yourself into marshmallow season. It was all good.

The Cane

My Dad made a beautiful cane for Pappy. He made it from reclaimed wood (he found the wood at the recycling center). The handle is antler. I love the twist he carved into the cane part. It is beautiful.

Stress=Creativity

Me - weird is the new normal

When I am stressed, I craft. When I am mad, I clean. When I need to think or clear my mind, I mow. As most can tell, I don't get mad often enough.

Lately, I have needed to craft some. Oh boy do I need a diversion. I did a grown up version of birds on the wire. This was with supplies on hand. I used my circle punch and xyron.

I convinced The Diva to help me with this project. The whole thought bubble thing has been banging around in my head. I love the pictures Katie at Color Me Kattie takes. They make me laugh. I thought that doing thought bubbles might be fun.

Diva- My thought of the day is that tests are smelly and hard and boring and some times easy but thy are still boring.

Photojojo has chalk board thought bubbles that are really cool, too.

My Life

My Life

The most important thing about life is that it gives you a second chance.

No matter what's happening.

Mad,

Sad,

Angry.

The most improtant thing about life is that it gives you a second chance.

written by #1 Son (11 years old)

Thrift Therapy or When Pigs Fly

I have decided that thrifting is mine and Mrs Epi's therapy. Sometimes in GW, Goodwill, we just need to rearrange. I am sure the employees love us. We were able to find 11 piggy banks on the shelf. We have entirely too much time on our hands. Here is a post about a similar rearranging experience.

Happy Pre Birthday

May 9th this year is a double whammy type of day at our house. It is not only Mother's Day but THE GIANT MAN CHILD'S BIRTHDAY!!!

This picture just goes to show you are never too old to learn how to long board. He has mad skills.

***Edited to add Photo was taken by the one and only Polyester Princess

The Making of a Pool Shark

Big E and I have been playing a little pool. He had been asking me and asking me if he could play. I finally said sure, why not. So, our pool table has got the most action it has seen in a year. The pool table has been used for everything but pool. It makes a great wrapping station, quilt pinning table, and picture framing table.

All the Tuesday playing has really improved my almost non-existent game. Big E's enthusiasm is pretty infectious. He is pretty good. Check out the cat. He wants to to be in on the action, too.

Linky Love

Fed up with School Lunch is following a Teacher as she only eats school lunch. It is really eye opening and I really like her interview with a lunch lady. She also has a lot of guest posts. It is worth a read.


Hey, Giant Man Child check these out these shelves from Knock-Off Wood. (THAT IS A HINT)


Top 10 Blessings of ADHD really touched me.


6 year Med and Polly Pockets- Kids say the darnest things.


Exercise Block - This made me laugh. Check it out.

Birds on the Wire

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo. It takes a few minutes to load but it is very cool. I showed this video to the kids. They liked the video. I keep looking at birds on wires and thinking does that make music.

The Diva made "Birds on Wire". It was a fun little craft from Frugal Family Fun blog. I wasn't able to find the stickers at my local Dollar Store but the local grocery store had them for a buck. The kids went on to so various creations with the remaining stickers. It always good on a Monday to have a non messy craft.

My Cats think I am the Greatest

I was inspired at my parents house. They have a bird feeder that they can see from their kitchen table and they spend a lot of time watching the birds. I decided to get my own. I bought this thinking this will be great for the kids. You know where this is going, right. I am really the only human interested in watching the birds. My cats sit there for hours and watch the bird traffic. My cats think I am the greatest. At least, I got that going for me.

Goodwill Coffee Love

I found the coffee grinder at GOODWILL. I couldn't pass it up for $5. I wouldn't grind coffee beans with it but I think it looks pretty good up there. I think that completes my whole coffee decor look.