200th POST!!

Well, I have been holding out because I wanted my 200th post to be a really good one. Originally I wanted to do a giveaway, But I just was not pulled together enough to get that done. So I have compiled a few months worth of activity's into one post!

We made a trip to the beach with some friends on Leo's birthday (and my friends birthday as well). It really just happened to be coincidence that we were both planning on going. Katie and I both ended up getting taken down by waves but not at the same time. Katie was first and she was pretty shaken up. She ended up getting sick after that but wanted to stay at the beach so she did not ruin Leo's birthday. What a good big sister. She ended up throwing up about 4 times. The last time being when we got home. Then she was fine.

So here she is being a mermaid. This was after she got sick the first time and we marked the "no play" zone with Hugh's shoes on a mound of dirt.
Some of the boys taking a rest after playing in the water.


Hugh has been promoted to Captain and this is him in his last few moments as a Lieutenant.



Being sworn in as Captain.



Simon has been learning to ride his bike. He has grown a lot since Christmas. We have had to raise his seat 2 times and he is starting to pick up his legs for brief moments while riding.


Katie and her best friend decided to have a Lemonade stand. They moved in the last couple months of school and both Katie and Leo had a friend to play with and their personalities matched so well. It was very sad to have to move when we finally got neighbors we blended so well with.


They made $5!!!!

We had a frog visitor one evening a few nights before we moved. We had fun looking at it and touching it.

Simon did not like it so well when it hopped in the bucket when he touched it.

I then had to say goodbye to good friends. It was hard but not so much at the same time knowing that a lot of them are moving over the summer as well. That's what happens in the military. This is my friend SuEllen, she was the RS President and I was her Secretary.

We then had a quick stop in SC to drop off our stuff while we went on vacation. It was over my birthday and boy was it adventurous. That day we were at my brother-in-law's with his wife Stacey and a terrible storm suddenly hit. From the time we first heard the thunder to the storm hitting only about 5 min. had passed. The wind picked up so quick while we were gathering pool toys and towels. We watched at her back door and I say some dust pick up and I ran to the front to see what it was doing and I swear it could have been the beginnings of a tornado but then it ran into some trees and ended there but that wind still was scaring the heck out of me! Only about a 10-15 min. storm but it was fierce. We ended up all sitting in one room waiting for it to die down. Not too much damage and way more details I am leaving out, but I think the biggest loss in it was my Sister-in-law's (next door) trampoline ended up across the street about 50 yards into a field, may not seem like far but there house is set back a bit and the trampoline was in the back yard. They are lucky it did not hit their house and it flew over their neighbors fence at 2 different sections and it did not damage anything. It was torn to pieces. That's ok they needed a new one anyway.

We then headed to Disney World where I didn't get nearly enough pictures. But I got a few and they are some good one's. We fires hit Epcot and I do not think I took any pictures there. The next day we went to Disney Hollywood Studios where we got to go on the Star Wars ride. Simon was too little for a lot of the rides but he was the only one that go to sit on this!!


Hugh decided it was way more worth waiting in line for Lightning McQueen than Phineas and Ferb.


This was the "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" playground. The kids loved it. Everything was giant!
Spiderweb


Play dough
Dog's nose
Tinker Toys, and that is a stalk of grass next to them


We did eventually see Mickey Mouse. Simon had fallen asleep so he was out with Hugh.


Winny the Pooh had no waiting after we saw Mickey. There was a line before that.


Ice Cream sandwich has a whole new meaning now! LUNCH!!





Hugh's favorite character Jiminy Cricket!

We took a break from Disney to go to Sea World. First show... Shamoo!!
We were on the 3rd row "splash zone". They were not kidding! The kids and Hugh went higher after the first signs of getting wet and they announced that we would be getting wetter. We did not want more crying kids. But stayed and by the time it was over I was soaked head to toe. But it was so worth it to be that close.


Last day was Magic Kingdom, and our rainiest day the whole trip. See that nice streak of rain off to the left.
But we still made the most of it and the rain ended up not being to terrible. But we got to meet some Princesses.



Everyone has to go on the Dumbo ride. You have not experienced Disney until you have been on that one.

Katie, Simon, and me waiting in line for the Small World ride while it poured down rain. And Simon's cute hat that got left in the hotel at the last min. I am still heat broken and still plan to get another one.

Simon likes Buzz Light-year and we enjoyed to ride. I think I scored like 150,000 points and Katie got like 14,000.
In the hotels they have to hand towels and it was perfect size to wrap around Simon. It was on better, this was after he walked about 5 steps.

Now here we are all moved. Getting settled. We have already put up a tree swing, I will take pictures of that fun soon. Katie is loving her new chores of feeding the dog and checking the chickens for eggs. And Hugh is loving catching June Bugs to feed to the chickens.

I am in the process of helping my Mom get her new craft room set up, organized and usable. But not without stopping to do a project first.

Remember this? Well I think I have finally gotten around to partially taking care of that craving.

It is going to be a quilt for Katie. It really is a lot simpler than it looks. But it has been fun doing it. I still have some edges to but around it then I am going to hand quilt flowers on it.

Oh and a couple last mentionable's. During the whole move I have been sick. I finally went to the Dr. and it turns out I have bronchitis. And I have just been called as the 1st councler (the only councler) in the YW presidency! So excited!

So thats my last 2 or 3 months in a nut shell. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I do have a few more things to post but that will be for later. Like the video of a guy singing a song about Katie and Simon right after we got out of the Lion King show!

Lulu Beach Cruiser

This is so cute!!!!

I know right!
Well here's the thing. It is cute, yes. Very cute! So cute I wanted it for my very own! Did I get it? Yes, yes I did. Took it home. And like most new bikes it needed some adjusting of brakes, seat, handle bars, that sort of thing. But not before I took it out for a test spin!!

Well, the test spin did not go so well. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being very best the cuteness of the bike is by far a 10. However, the overall quality and comfort I would have to say is a mere 4 (and even that's pushing it, like lower end f 4). Yep, that's right folks. Don't be fooled. Now if say you are just looking to be cute, then YES! This is the bike for you, or its sister that is all pink with white lettering. Another very cute one. But I did not enjoy riding it like I thought I would. It just seemed so cheaply made. I was very disappointed. I was really looking forward to getting it and going on bike rides. So I loaded it back up in the truck and took it back to the store right then. I didn't want to leave with no bike. I really want a bike so I can go on rides with and without my kids.

I came home with this...

I like it. Fits me way better. I guess I am just more of a mountain bike girl. A little sad they did not have it in hot pink, just kidding. There was one in blue but it was a 24 inch and adults fit 26 inch better, I discovered. So again a little adjusting of brakes first then the test drive, I am satisfied. I do need to adjust the handle bars as well. And the tires were low. But all is well now with that.

On the way to exchange the bikes it did start to rain a bit. On the way home however it was pouring! I was a little sad I couldn't go for a joy ride once I got home. But it gave me time to fine tune her a bit. It cleared up a bit so I got to go on a test spin on my street. And that was enough to satisfy me for today.

But lets just say it, if the store is going to have free assembly then they should do it right or just not do it at all. If I had the option to put it together myself without having to wait for shipping I would.

But there it is, my new way of getting kids to and from school, well sort of. Leo still isn't very strong on his bike. But I am sure with practice he will get there. And short rides with Katie are going to be so fun! Looking forward to my new ride.
Now if only it wasn't going to rain the next 2 days...

Boxing Boys

Step by Step Canning Strawberry Jam

Go to a local strawberry picking patch and pick strawberries to your hearts desire!! Leo and I picked about 22.5 pounds.


Cut off tops.



And rinse


Mash the strawberries until you have 5 cups of mashed up strawberries. Do one layer at a time.


Be sure to have all ingredients ready. This recipe includes 5 cups mashed strawberries, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 package pectin, and 7 yes I said 7 cups sugar (however I am going to start looking for a recipe that calls for less it is just a bit to sugary for me.) There are pectin packages that you add little to no sugar and I think that will be my next batch.


I put my prepared jars in a pan with about 2 inches of water in it and I place it in the oven to keep them warm. To do this turn the oven on to 400 degrees for about 2 min. then turn the oven off. When you are ready for the jars take the pan out of the oven with hot pads just in case it is still to warm.


Have your lids in a pot on the stove set on low in water just covering them. The bands do not need to be warm, I just have them in the picture to show you to have them ready.


Add strawberries, lemon juice and pectin to a deep pot. I will show you why you want it to be deep.


Heat that to boiling and add sugar slowly while stirring. This is when I added the sugar.


Keep the pot at a hard boil while stirring for 1 min. And you can see on the side of the pot how high it bubbled up. This is why you want the pot to be deep. After the hard boil remove from heat and skim off foam immediately! I learned my lesson with this batch. After I did the boiling I went to eat dinner quickly. And I think I ate pretty fast...


I guess since the foam on top is the first thing to cool down it gels pretty quick and I could not get the foam off as much as I wanted so now this batch of jars has white foam pieces at the top of the jam. I am sure it will still taste fine, just does not look as pretty. Moving on, ladle the cooked jam into your warmed prepared jars. I keep the jars in the pan for easy clean up and one more tip in the next segment.


Place lids on top of jars and then place bands on them finger tight. *Be careful the jars are VERY HOT at this point.*


I keep my jars in the pan and return them to the over again with preparing the oven by having it on for about 2 min, to keep the jars hot. I do this because I use the same pot I just cooked my jam in, to then cook my jars in it. Its my only deep pot. So if you have a spare pot that is deep enough feel free to have it ready for right after you have ladled the jam into the jars. I had to go out and buy the pretty green basket because I tried to do my jars in just the pot but one jar busted when it touched the bottom of the pot. It was just too hot for direct heat like that. So be sure you have some sort of rack on the bottom of the pot or this nifty little green thing I got at Wal-Mart for $10.


Insert jars into water (I don't know if it should be boiling already or not, mine is, as long as you start the time when it does start to boil.) Boil for 10 min. or as recommended according to your own altitude. Then remove from pot when time is up.


Using a jar lifter place jars on a towel and allow to cool and set for 24 hours.


You are now ready to place them on the shelf or open a jar and use it. After opening store it in the refrigerator and it should be used in the next 3 weeks. And I am sure this is something that has a shelf life of a year. If someone knows different let me know and I will correct it.

My 1st batch got me about 11 1/2 jars (however one broke in boiling process) and my second batch I used ever so slightly less strawberries and got 10 jars (and again I had one bust on me during boiling.) I have about one more batch to do!!


*****BEWARE*****
Watch for strawberry eating monsters as you are doing this!!

Thank you for the concern Deb! We are fine. The was a tornado or 2 that hit very close to our house. But we are good. The storm was awful and Hugh was out of town. On his way home as the storm was hitting us he called to tell me the damage he was seeing on his way home. Now normally I would be interested in what it was but at that moment when the rain is going sideways.... I really didn't want to know. But we are well for all who were concerned.

I just HAD to share THIS!!!

Fellow readers, it is true. Those are some lousy things to say. I have a friend (another military wife) that added a # 15: Don't freaking ask if we all watch Army Wives! Heck no I don't watch that crap- stupid actresses PRETENDING to be what I am every day?! VOMIT! (Her words that I agree with!)