Bubble Bath

Maddie & Reagan wanted to take a bubble bath and have me take pictures.  I was a little reluctant at first because I knew that if there was still a bubble bath mess when Mark got home that he would be stressed.

 Goggles in a bubble bath, a definite necessity.

 Scrubbing with bubbles

 Put your best foot forward!

The sparkling clean tub after they were finished.  The bathroom really did look cleaner when they were done then when they started.  Good job girls!!

BYU Freshman

I drove out to Provo with Marissa to bring her to college.  We drove her car out so she will have a car at school and then I flew home.

 Putting things away in her dorm room in Helaman Halls.  Her bedspread matched perfectly with her room mates even though it wasn't planned.

At first Marissa was disappointed that she couldn't get into Heritage and ended up in Helaman instead.  However, now she is so happy that happened.  It is great to not have to worry about cooking food and Helaman Halls is so much fun!!  She also loves her room mate.

Maddie's 10th Birthday

We ate these cupcakes to celebrate Maddie's birthday before Marissa and I left.  Maddie's actual birthday was on a Wednesday and Mark had Young Men's.  I asked Maddie where she would want to go and she wanted to go to a lady in our ward's house, Michelle.  Michelle was thrilled that Maddie wanted to come to her house.  She picked up Maddie & Reagan and took them to McDonalds, played games with them, made playdough, flew remote helicopters, etc.  Maddie loved it and I loved knowing that she was doing something really fun for her birthday.  Rob gave her a Toy Story ds game (because I discouraged against getting a ds baseball game).  Rob wrapped it in many different boxes so it was really fun for her to unwrap!  When Mark took them to the store, she picked out a baseball ds game.  I wonder who was at the store shopping with her!!  I must admit, though, that she has played that baseball ds game alot.  We just barely ordered a Monopoly ds game, too, and she is really excited for that one!

Mets Fans

I took some pictures of the kids today, because this was going to be the last time I would have them all together before I need to send out Christmas cards.  This picture isn't perfect, but it was the best of the bunch.  Rob had enough Mets attire to share and outfit all the kids and Kate!!

Fun with Kate

 Rob & Kate share a popsicle.

 Kate wearing Rob's glasses.

Kate dressed as a Mets Fan!

First Day of School

Maddie & Reagan started on Thursday and Rob & Morgan started on Friday.

 Reagan getting ready to start 1st grade and Maddie getting ready to start 4th grade.

 Morgan getting ready to start 7th grade.

Rob getting ready to start 10th grade.

Meet the Teacher Night

We went to the elementary school for Meet the Teacher night.  As always, the girls were really excited to meet their new teachers.  After we met the teachers, we went outside and played on the new spider web on the playground.  

I was PTO president last year, a job that I really didn't enjoy much.  Way too much drama for me!!  However, when I see this new spider web on the playground it makes feel like I definitely at least helped do one good thing for the school!  The school is about 10 years old and this is the first time that new playground equipment has been added.  The PTO had a lot of money sitting around and the principal likes to use the PTO money has her overflow budget.  It was nice to use the money on something that all of the kids in the school can enjoy!

 Left to right from the top:  Maddie, Morgan, Reagan, Rachel, Sarah, Nancy.
All of my girls climbed immediately to the top, including Reagan.  They were so excited!!

It turned out that the spider web was a little shaky so when school started the kids weren't able to play on it for a couple of weeks until they got it fixed.  Now when they play on it the younger kids aren't allowed to climb to the top.  Kind of a bummer for Reagan, but I can see why they need to do it for safety.  Not all first graders have the gymnastics background that Reagan has!

Rob's Birthday

Ever the negotiator, Rob negotiated to go to the Royals game for his birthday.  Reagan stayed home with Marissa and Mark was at work so the rest of us went to Kansas City.  We ate lunch at Chick-fil-a in Kansas City (a place we LOVE that they don't have in Wichita).  We then got to the game in time for batting practice.

 Morgan, Rob & Maddie at the game.  The girls really do love to go to baseball games with Rob!

 Some of the Royals before the game.  Hosmer, Moustakas & Giavotella are rookies playing for the Royals this year.  The Royals lost to the Yankees, but we still had a great time.  As we were walking around before the game, it seemed like there were more Yankees fans then Royals fans.  However, during the game the Royal fan were louder than the Yankee fans.

 We got back from the game really late so we did Rob's cake the next day.

Rob's birthday cake.   16th birthday!

Mini Apple Pies

We made these mini apple pies.  I got this idea from by Best Bites cookbook which has definitely been my new favorite cookbook this fall.  This was a summer cooking project that we did to "learn a new skill".

 Morgan and Maddie pretty much made the pie crusts by themselves.  They did a great job!

The finished mini pies.  I'm pretty sure that we were supposed to use jars that were a little bigger.`  It was a cute idea, but there was a high proportionate of crust to filling.

I am happy to say that we finished our summer cooking & summer fun activities.  We had 7 categories of cooking and 7 categories of summer fun. We did at least 10 things in each category.  Towards the end, the kids were getting tired of my determination to finish all of our summer activities.  However, I just felt like we were too close to completely finishing it to fall short.  This is my last post of fun activities we did this summer.  We had such a GREAT summer.  I usually have summer plans that are so high and mighty that after a couple of weeks I give up.  However, this summer my plans were realistic and we followed them to the end.  I will definitely be doing something similar next summer.

Fun in the Kitchen

Some of the fun treats we've made lately.Morgan making ice cream bowl shells. She used balloons as the molds, but by the time I got home the balloons had all ready been popped.
Morgan shows off her cherry chocolate ice cream in the chocolate ice cream bowl. Morgan and I LOVE that cherry chocolate ice cream we made, but most of the rest of the family aren't cherry ice cream lovers. That works good for us!

Maddie wanted to make a smoothie using the fresh and frozen fruit that we had. I also tod her to make some orange juice & lemonade to use with her smoothies. Rob helps Maddie make a smoothie.
Maddie making up the lemonade. The drinks were an adventure. They turned out pretty good, but they were quite sour. We learned that grapes aren't a real desireable smoothy ingredient!

Crafty Fun

It is great now that the girls are getting older and they can find a lot of their own ideas to do, too. Morgan loves to get onto pinterest and bookmark fun things to do on her i-touch.Mod Podged paper flowers. This is an idea that Morgan found on Pinterest.
Marissa, melting spoons over a candle while Morgan and Maddie watch. The candle wasn't working too great.
Eventually, Marissa got the spoons to melt without burning and it turned out pretty neat. She used hot glue to reinforce the petals so they would stay together. Marissa found this idea on pinterest.
Crocheted t-shirt bracelet with glow in the dark beads. The girls also made necklaces & headbands using this technique.
A loopy knit hair clip used from a tie from an old pair of shorts which were in the bag to go to Goodwill.
Marissa & Maddie color with their heart shaped crayons which they made.
Close-up of the heart shaped crayons.

With all the fun activities we've been doing lately, we are completely caught up on our summer fun activities. Its been a great summer and its hard to believe that in a little over a week the kids will be back in school.

Facials

Marissa suggested to do facials and the girls loved the idea.Reagan with her cucumbers and a facial made from half and half, honey & baking soda.
Marissa with her client, as the cucumber falls from Reagan's eye.
Morgan's facial was made from milk and gelatin. She had to wait for it to harden and then she peeled it off. Mark was worried it was going to make a mess and kept telling her to go wash it off. Morgan thought it hurt when she peeled it off, but she liked how soft it made her face.

Creative Lunches

These are some of the fun lunches we've done lately.Birds in a nest. We ate this later in the day so it was a combo lunch/dinner. We served spaghetti sauce on the side. The beaks are made of orange peels and the eyes are candy eyes.
Strawberry Lunch

Morgan made this lunch. The original idea used strawberries to decorate the sandwich and for the small butterflies. Morgan just adapted and used what we had.
Maddie fixing the angry birds lunch.
We waited and did this lunch after the boys got back so they could have it, too. The facial features are made from cheese and olives. The base of the sandwich is hard salami on mini bagels.

Rainbow Cookies & Cherry Limeade

These rainbow cookies kept the girls entertained for 2 hours. They loved making them!! However, the only kid that liked eating them was Reagan. Mark and I both thought they were fine to eat.
Morgan is wearing a knitted headband that Marissa made and a crocheted t-shirt bracelet that she made.
Marissa makes some cherry limeade while the girls work on the cookies.
The limeade was awesome, but the cherry limeade wasn't as good. The kids all thought it tasted like pickles!
Morgan made Marissa a steak.
When she bit into it, it was rare!
Rare is not Marissa's favorite.

Some of the cookies that the girls made.