Books, Activities and more!

Yesterday after searching all morning for the Health Department online... I stumbled across the local Library. Well, any of you that know our family that is like finding "GOLD". It had a calendar of events listed, and they had story hour on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. We decided to take the kids out to check it out. Another much needed break from the daily grind, of the same four walls. :) Having explored the city yesterday we knew roughly were to go. Library found, kids out of the car and running, we headed into the library. The children's section to this library is double the size of Madison's library if not more. The kids instantly fell in love. They had tons of books, puzzles, and computer's with just children's programs on them. Off to one side was a huge rug on the floor for story time, tv, and a puppet stage. While waiting for story time to start, the girls put puzzles together, and looked at books. Hunter checked out the Star Wars books (big surprise). Then both Hunter & Rachel got to use the computer for 30 mins. Didn't that make their day! The story time itself was amazing... she read a story, did a couple puppet shows, showed a quick movie, and then had an activity for them at the end pertaining to the theme. This weeks theme was "Lost Things"... It was really nice, and the kids really enjoyed themselves. However, they were sad cause we needed proof of our physical address in order to get a Library Card, so they weren't able to take out any books. They got lucky though, and the lady gave them each a book they could keep. The girls and I are anixous to be able to go back next week. The theme being "Owls"...... The best part being they are only like 10mins away with heavy traffic. It is nice to have another piece of our normal life..

Waiting.....

Has anyone ever told you how much waiting stinks?? Well, today that is all we have done. We set out on to accomplish some stuff today, not knowing how much waiting would be required. In order to get Hunter in school, we had to have an immunization record up to date, which we had...but it had to be on a specific blue paper. Then when they finally called us in, wouldn't you know that Hunter had to have 2 shots to be up to date in Florida..... Well needless to say that did not go over very well for him. He screamed...kicked, and wanted out. We waited, no joke 2 1/2 hrs for this stupid blue paper! How ridiculous is this? They only do this on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday... you have to be there first thing in the morning, and they only take 15 people a day for this. OH MY GOODNESS! We just squeaked in today...we were number 13! Luckily they show a movie, so this kept the kids entertained for at least a little more than half of the time. On a good note they don't charge you to have their shots... :) Then from there we looked around to learn our way... and then we came home to get some papers we needed, and got some lunch. Then we figured we might as well get our license (and ID) changed to a Florida one... Since in some places you have to have this to obtain a job. So, off we went to the Department of Driver's Licenses. We got in line, stated what we needed, gave them the papers required, and sat to wait AGAIN! This time 1 1/2 hrs later, we were finally called to go to the room behind us, to answer the questions, do my eye test, take the picture (that never comes out right) and pay the these lovely people. Then go back and sit to wait another few minutes to print out the pretty picture! :) The only plus side to this time waiting, was I met this nice lady who lived here, and had a daughter the same age as Rachel, only she was born two days later than Rach. Pretty neat huh??? Although, in the telling the kids to quiet down, sit down, and behave, while having my name called.... I forgot to get her number so we could get together again sometime. BUMMER! So, all and all today 4 hrs of my day was wasted. At least it was air conditioned right???

The Simple Women's Daybook!

THE SIMPLE WOMEN'S DAYBOOK FOR TODAY

September 29th (Can you believe that it is the last Monday
of September?)

Outside My Window... The sun is out, its 80, but feels like rain soon.

I am thankful for... Our safe arrival in Florida

From the kitchen... The dishwasher is running..but we are having Kielbasa, asparagus, and noodles for supper.

I am wearing... My Jean shorts, my grey t-shirt, and no shoes!

I am reading... The Magic Tree House Book number 20 to Hunter

I am hoping.... that Andy finds a good job, and Hunter transitions well into school :)

I am creating... scrapbook pages, and a pretty blog

I am hearing... My kids playing in the other room

Around the house... it is very quiet.....

One of my favorite things... seeing the pretty smiles on my babies faces!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

Go get Hunter registered at school, job search, find the library, explore a little more, help my in-laws, clean, go to Disney, and have fun! :)

A picture I'm sharing.....
My kids at Downtown Disney with Mr.Potato Head!

A day out of the house.....

After the last few days of the kids being stuck in the car, and then stuck in the house....we decided it was time to get them out and have some fun. Where better to go in Florida than Disney??? Unfortunately, mom was working today so we didn't want to go to one of the parks. As this would be the first time of Rachel going (and remembering as the first time was when she was 6 months), Sage's first time going at all, and Hunter well....his first time going and remembering it all. I'm pretty sure he remembers bits and pieces of going when he was 2, but not like he would now. So, we wanted to be sure we could go with Nana & Papa. So, where did that leave to go... well Downtown Disney! It is a marketplace next to Disney, with things like Cirque De Sole', Pleasure Island, Planet Hollywood, and then a bunch of little places. We went on the market place side, and just checked out some of the stores. Rachel & Sage were in heaven with all the princess stuff... Sage said at one point "check this out dude! I just can't believe this!" It was so cute! I'm very excited to see Rachel's face when she sees the real princesses, and Sage's when she sees Mickey Mouse (her favorite character at the moment).... Don't worry we will take lots of pictures! Hunter loved the Lego store of course. They have huge statues Lego people, and a big Lego serpent in the water. I'll post pictures of that next time we go there. We saw the construction of the new Dinosaur restaurant going in....looks like it will be cool. Suppose to open in November! Then we went over and saw the other Toy Store, where there was Buzz and Potato Head. After that we let them run around in the water. They have this spot where water jumps up out of the ground, and the kids can run threw it.... to cool off in the heat. They had a grand old time in that! It was a good day, and nice to get out of the house.

Down the East Coast!

And we are off! I was pretty worried about how our trip down the east coast would be. I figured the kids would be grouchy and whiny! Boy was I ever wrong.... the kids were excellent. They were quiet, looked at books, watched movies, and slept. Unbelievable! I was shocked! Happy, but shocked! :) We started out on Tuesday around 6pm...with a quick stop off to say "Goodbye" to Di & her family. Then we hit the road, not literally of course. (needed a sense of humor to make it through this adventure) Our first stop off was at the Kennebunkport rest stop.... for a bathroom break, and to fuel up the car. Then we headed onward.... hit Boston about eleven... not much traffic. Our next big city was New York, around 3am... prefect time to go threw there...There was no traffic to speak off, just a ton of construction. Night construction is the worst! Bright lights, which make it extremely hard to see! By morning we had made it to Delaware. We stopped at another rest stop, let the kids get out and run around a little... and color at a picnic table. I took a quick cat nap, and then we moved on. Our next major stop was in Virginia. We stopped off for some lunch... sandwiches, chips, and grapes. After that we were on for the long haul... North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The longest straight ways for the who trip. North Carolina kinda looked like Maine in my opinion, with the constant stream of tree's. It took us about 3 hrs to get threw North Carolina, and another 3 for South. When we came into South Carolina we stopped at South of the Border. Everyone told us it was a neat place to stop and check out. It wasn't bad, we were there about 7ish..... so it was pretty dead. The kids thought the animal statues were neat. We had supper there, checked a few things out, and headed back out. Georgia took us about 2 1/2 hrs to get across. I was so excited when we crossed the Florida State Line. Jacksonville was beautiful in evening! It seemed to take forever, but we finally made it to Orlando, and that was a relief, cause it was only 20 minutes longer to get to our destination. We finally arrived in the driveway at 6:15ish... What a relief, but a nice trip. We really enjoyed it! The kids found the bridges to be the coolest part, when we were up high, and they could see the boats.

We arrived!

I just wanted to inform you all that we arrived safely! I have some more blogs and pictures to put up when I have some time to sit down and do it. We had a very nice trip. We drove straight thru for the most part, leaving at 6pm on Tuesday night, and arriving in Davenport at 6am on Thrusday morning. We would have been in late Wednesday night, but we made some stops to get a quick nap, or to let the kids run around and stretch their legs. However, I must say for having a 6,4, and 3 yr old in the car with us, they did an awesome job. Thanks to the people who called us along the way and kept checking on us. :) We are now getting settled in, and starting our job search.... I'm off to bed in a few to catch up from the lack of sleep. More blogs, and pictures soon.

Time spent at Grammie's!

The last few days we had left in Maine, we spent at my mom's. They were really great.... since the kids were driving us all nuts. With there world being crazy at the moment I can't really blame them, but it still makes for a hectic day, and way to many time outs. Ugh! The kids had a fun with their grandparents though. Hunter and Grampie, got in a few walks in the woods. Hunter loves to go for walks in the woods. He came back with shoes covered in mud. Good sign they had fun! They rode their bikes a little, and played outside. Hunter & Rachel helped dig up the rows of potatoes. They got a whole wheel barrow full.... Hard workers they can be! :) They also helped clean up the garden, and harvest the last of the corn, squash, cucumbers, and onions. Mom made them Oatmeal pancakes one morning, which they all devoured! We enjoyed some fun games of UNO! Hunter is getting pretty good at it. ;) They were so nice to put up with us!

The Simple Women's Daybook

THE SIMPLE WOMEN'S DAYBOOK FOR TODAY

September 22nd

Outside My Window... its a bit chilly this morning, but the sun is out!

I am thankful for...
The time I have to spend with my mom and Norbert before I leave!

From the kitchen... My mom is making the kids pancakes!

I am wearing... My Blue Jean's and Light Blue T-shirt, with my Grey Sweatshirt over it!

I am reading... The Magic Tree House Book number 19 to Hutner.

I am hoping.... For some nice weather for traveling and a safe trip!

I am creating... lots of luggage, and a mess!

I am hearing... My kids yelling as they play!

Around the house... it is very empty, and kinda odd. :)

One of my favorite things... Time spent with the people who matter, your family! :)

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
Pack some more, clean, spend time with my mom, go apple picking, visit some more friends, load the car, run some errands, and get ready to go on a long road trip! Florida here we come!! :)

Apple Picking

As one of our last fun things to do in Maine before we left, we decided to go Apple Picking with my Mom & Step Father. We decided to go to the Apple Farm in Fairfield, but darn close to Skowhegan. We go there almost every year. It was a nice day to go, warm but a nice cool breeze. The kids love to pick apples, and I love to take pictures of them...LOL! I usually make apple pie filling with the apples, but cause we were on are way to Florida the next day, we didn't take but a couple with us. I left the rest with my mother. I hope that they enjoy the apples. We had a really great time, and was very grateful to spend the time with them. The apples were delicious! I will greatly miss picking them next year.

Quick Update!

Just a quick update to inform you that, boxes are packed, things are being shut off, water being drained, car being packed, and snacks being picked out.... Amazing how much their is to do in a week. :) We are almost there, and hoping nothing gets left behind. We are leaving in 5 days! The count down is on... We just want everyone to know we are going to miss you all dearly. We won't be on to blog after Monday, so.... but you will be attacked by them when we arrive in Florida! :) There should be tons to tell you!

My own Jack O' Latern!

So, I mentioned that Hunter's tooth was loose...... I knew it would only be a matter of time till he lost it, since it was so wobbly! I was afraid it was going to pop out while he was eating at school and he would sallow it. :) He didn't... At my mom's tonight, he decided to let her pull it out. Guess Grandma has the magic touch. HUH? So, mom pushed on it, and out it POPPED! Now I think he looks like a Jack O' Lantern. He is so cute with all three missing on the bottom. Now, his fourth bottom one is working on getting loose. I'm beginning to wander if the top ones will ever come out!

"Goodbyes"

I'm not really huge on "Goodbyes"...why?? Well, mostly cause they always end in tears being shed. This time their was no tears shed, although close. This evening we had a Family Dinner... with my mom, stepfather, grandmother, and my aunt Maxine. The kids of course ate up the attention....My mom made a very good Lasagna, and Beef Stew. As always with any of our family functions way to much food. :) It was good times, and lots of laughs. We enjoyed each others company, and stories. We said our goodbye's to Aunt Maxine, as we probably won't see her again before we leave. Grandma, gave us a going away card, and made sure to get lots of pictures (with her new digital she is learning to use) The tears were spared, cause we are staying with my mom, before we leave, so our tears will come the day we leave. :) Can I tell you how impossible it is to get three kids to look at you when trying to take a picture???

Special Friends

Today Rachel had a special "Goodbye" meeting with her friends "BC" and her other friend "BS" (we will call them this to keep their names private). "BC" has been meeting with Rachel for almost 2 yrs now. Boy, does time fly.... So, needless to say she has gotten to know and become very close to our family. "BS" has been meeting with us for about a year. (Time sure does fly HUH?) Anyway.. Rachel and "BC" decided to make Homemade Silly Putty as a special treat. It was funny to watch them make it, they added food coloring to make it pink even. Rachel picked the color (one of her favorites). What fun they had making this! Sage of course got in on the action too. The kids really had fun with this project. It is now in my frig, waiting for the next time they want to make it.
Also in lieu of special get together, Rachel wanted to make her friends a cake. So, we made a yellow cake, with chocolate frosting. As you will see below the pretty cake she helped make and frost! We had a great time, and we are going to miss "BC" & "BS" very, very much. Thanks for all of your support and help! :)

Teeth....

Hunter has lost two teeth, and I couldn't resist to take a picture of the third one working its way out. It was just hanging there, so I had to take a picture. :) I can't believe he is losing his third tooth on the bottom. So I have my own little Jack'O Lantern! :) I'm pretty sure histooth will be out within the day. I tried to get him to let me take it out tonight, so it wouldn't come out when he bit into something at school, but he said that it hurt to much. So, we shall see how many more days it last!

Welcome to the family Johnathan!

On August 22nd around 6pm we welcome a new addition to our family. His name is Johnathan.... He is very cute! He was down around 6lbs when he left the hospital, he is now up to 7lbs 4oz. :) Just wanted to put up some pictures of our new addition! Isn't he just adorable???

Love the big blue eyes!

Kaitee turns 10!!

In between the packing, and the chaos of life... we decided to get out and away from the house for a few hours. What better way than to go to a birthday party.... Right?? My niece Kaitee, turned 10 today. We had a small little birthday party for her...just family and a close family friend Cassie. All the grandkids from the Bertone side were there. It was nice to get out and chat with some family, see how the kids were enjoying their new school... and not stare at the mess in my house. We had a nice easy dinner, cake, and ice cream. It was a very enjoyable time.... nice to see everyone, and lots of laughs!

THE SIMPLE WOMEN'S DAYBOOK FOR TODAY

September 16th

Outside My Window...
its partially cloudy, but warm..

I am thinking...
What is on the list for today!

I am thankful for...

What little sanity I have left! :)

From the kitchen...

Nothing.... grabbed a water and went!

I am wearing...
My dark blue jeans, and my lavender t-shirt, and purple croc's!

I am reading...
Magic Tree House & ABC Mysteries Books with Hunter

I am hoping....
That I won't forget anything!

I am creating...
lots of boxes in my living room...

I am hearing...
Andy talking to Chris on the phone....

Around the house...
Is a huge mess still, and lots more to be packed, and tons of laundry to get done!

One of my favorite things...
My kids giggles, they are so precious!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

Pack some more, clean, help with the book fair, help my dad with some stuff, go to a birthday party, and have dinner with friends.... and spend some time with friends and family before we leave. :)

Logan turns 12!

Wow, Logan is 12! Time sure does fly... Seems like it was just yesterday he was born. Life is crazy, and fast! We celebrated his birthday on Sunday afternoon. Our normal crowd.... Logan, Di, Chris, Ashley, Grammie & Grampie Haulk, my kids, and Ashley's friend Logan. We started out by having a bit of a tussle. While Di decided to video tape us.... I can't stand being video taped, by the way! Grammie Haulk brought little blowers, and the kids thought those were like the best ever! Then after that, Logan opened his presents, got some cool stuff. I must say by far his favorite present was a Whoopie Cushion! Boy did he have fun playing with that! :) Happy Birthday Logan!

The pressure is on........

Oh my goodness.... time is of the essence! I don't have a deadline, except our own personal one...but oh my! So my lists are like piling up everywhere. Kids clothes packed- check! Kids toys-check! Pillows & Blankets--Check! Important stuff to keep them occupied on the trip-- Check! Kitchen essentials, you don't want to have to replace-- Check! Scrapbook essentials--Check! So, what are we missing! That's right, our clothes, toiletries... important paperwork, oh and that is right my sanity!

I was sitting here making a list of things for Wal-mart, and I remembered what my week looked like and it scared me! AH! I need to get health records for the kids, tires on the car, meeting on Monday, errands to run on Tuesday, Soccer on Tuesday, a birthday party on Tuesday, I think Wednesday is clear, Open House on Thursday, Dinner with my mom on Thursday, kids last day of school on Friday, final packing on the weekend..... My, My that is a lot. Of course there is a list with all of that, so I guess I need to get better at following them huh?

Ahh... I feel better now that I have vented a bit. :)

An Update:

Its been a week, since we have started in our moving process. I just wanted to thank everyone for there encouraging words, and support. We have managed to get a lot done this week, although a good amount left to go. LOL..
Saturday we are having our last Lawn Sale in Madison, with a friend. After all that is sold, or brought to goodwill our house shouldn't look quite so cluttered. We are tackling the girls room tonight..... if I don't come out, come looking for me please! :) Trying to decide on what we want them to bring for toys. This could be a difficult decision process. Hunter was really easy, the girls never can make up their mind.
Other than that, we are getting the car ready for the drive. Yes, we decided to drive down after all. It will be an extremely long drive, but I have faith that my kids can make the best of it. (I'm crazy) We plan to leave in the evening, and drive threw the night the first night. I hope we have packed plenty of activities, and books for them. Plus I'm hoping they are going to be excited about going threw the different states. Hunter has a cool atlas to follow... and we are going to look up a couple car activities for them. We are also looking at a few inexpensive places along the way to stop and see, so they can get out and get their mind off of being in the car for so long. If anyone has any ideas for me, please feel free to let me know!
The date of our departure, is still up in the air. All we know is it will be no later than Oct 1st. With that said, we are very excited to start our new adventure. I will update again soon.

Pizza.....

As anyone who knows me well, I'm not a huge fan of Tomatoes that are cooked. I just felt the need to share this new pizza with you that someone else told me about. Its a Bacon & Tomato Pizza, with no sauce. Can you believe that I eat the tomatoes? It is a really good pizza, and I suggest that anyone who might be interested to try. :) We get it from Kniffin's here in Embden, but I'm sure you could ask for it anywhere.

What a mess!

The mess begins! As we all know when packing a mess is gonna happen! We are getting there slowly... managed to get most of the storage space cleaned out!! Hunter's room is packed... and we are moving on to the kitchen, and our bedroom. Figured we would leave the girls room for last. :) So far, so good! Boxes, boxes, and more boxes! Oh my!

The kids are very excited about moving. Sage asks every morning when she wakes up, are we going to NANA'S today??? Rachel just wants to know when we are going to pack up her room. Guess she is concerned we are going to leave her stuff behind. Hunter went to school today and spread the news like Wildfire... ...crazy boy!

As you can see the girls are very involved in helping with the packing process, and are very quick to make sure that their stuff is right where it should be!

Til the next time....

THE SIMPLE WOMEN'S DAYBOOK FOR TODAY

September 8th

Outside My Window...
it is beautiful... sunny, and warm.

I am thinking...
So much to do, so little time!

I am thankful for...

My family and friends who support me!

From the kitchen...

Nothing.... I got coffee this morning.

I am wearing...
Shorts, and my tie dyed t-shirt

I am reading...
Nothing at the moment..

I am hoping....

That our trip to florida goes smoothly.

I am creating...
a mess in my house...

I am hearing...
Adawna and Hailey talking...

Around the house...
Is a huge mess, and I am making more... and the girls are going in and out of the house. :)

One of my favorite things...
The smell of fresh laundry off the line.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

Pack some more, clean, have some meetings, and work a few days, get my car ready for travel, and spend some time with friends and family before we leave. :)

The Packing Process has begun......

Have you ever really noticed how much stuff you accumulate after just a few years?? I mean we just bought our house 3 yrs ago, purged then.... Then we moved the house a year ago, and again purged then... Now we are moving to another state, so we are really getting rid of stuff. Though, one would think after that many times, we wouldn't have that much stuff left right? Wrong!!! Today started the process of packing. First room up, Hunter's... mostly cause his is the smallest, and is going to be used as storage for now. I must say I'm very proud of everyone for their enthusiasm of getting rid of some of their stuff. Today we started what will probably be our 2 week long yard sale process. So far so good. Course we haven't hit storage yet, so their is another big task ahead! What we don't sell, and don't want to keep is going to charity. I'm in hopes to get half the house down this weekend. I'll let you know how that feat goes! At least, the rain held off for today.

Counting Down!

As some of you may have already heard... and if not, well you will be now. Our family has made the big decision to move to FLORIDA! Yes, you heard me correctly. My In-laws, have been wanting us to move there for a few years now. Reluctanly we didn't feel we would do well done there, or wasn't sure that is where we wanted our kids to grow up, so never went. I have lived in florida before, and I did like it there. Minus the cocroaches, and the nasty water bugs! ICK! The fire ants aren't really pleasant either, but there is always something you don't like about some where right?

Anyway, with Andy graduating.. we have been in a job search for a couple of months, and I have been looking as well. Nothing is in this area, unless we move to Portland, or somwhere down towards Southern Maine. I figure if we are going to go anywhere we might as well go where the money is better. :) So, after a few dicussions, and our fears layed out, we decided at this point in our lives, this is the best thing for our family to do. Scared, yes, excited, yes, but if we stick together, and give it our best, we shall rise from this adventure!

After some talking to his parents, we have decided we are all going to go down at once. We will be staying with them for a little while, as we start our job search. Which I am hoping won't take long, as their are so many jobs down there. I found 10 online the other night just for entry level IT, and with good starting salaries! I'm in hopes this could mean good things for our family. I'm tried of scrapping by to make ends meet. Its to stressful, and I want to be able to change that. :) I hope that or friends and family understand. We are going to miss them dearly, but hope we will be able to come back to visit once we are established. Or you can always come visit us!! I will always keep you updated on here, and we will email and talk often!

So, here is the date... Are you ready?? We are leaving in a month. I know, not alot of time, but we are confident we can get everything done we need to. So, wish us luck, and I will keep you updated!

Rachel's First Day of Preschool

Excited did you say?? Beyond belief this child was excited to start school again. For a week straight she complained because Hunter could go to school and she couldn't... "It's not fair" are most of the words I heard. :) Keep in mind this is the 3rd year, of going to Preschool. So, I guess for her to be that excited is a good thing. Though, this year it is a bit different. Instead of attending the afternoon class, she is going in the morning. The bus picks her up at 8:20.... (she was on the other bus which picked her up at 7:50, but they switched) and she arrives at school for 8:45... Where they have breakfast. Or in her case, a snack. Since she is awake at 6 every morning with her brother, she eats breakfast at home as well. Anyone that knows her, would know we can't wait almost 3 hrs to give her breakfast, she just simply wouldn't have it! Lol.... Then they do their daily routine, which i am still not a hundred percent sure of. I just know they have a circle time, free time, and go outside everyday. On certain days they do get to go to the library, and do gym. Kinda like they would get to do in Kindergarten... Then this year another new thing added....which she is very excited about. Rachel gets to eat lunch at school, and not in the classroom like Hunter always did, but in the Cafeteria with all the other "Big Kids". She was very excited about this, and said she really enjoyed it. I guess with that being said her first day went off without a hitch! Hopefully the rest of the year will stay like that. I'll keep you updated with any other big news in the preschool world!


By the way Paula, notice she is wearing her Tinkerbell Jacket! :)

Pic's

Some pic's I took of the girls... As you can tell I love to take pictures and play around with them! Hope you enjoy!

She really is a HAM!

I love Black & White Photo's... Don't you??

Fine Dinning

by Andrew Bertone

Every once in a while we like to try something new for dinner. Usually we find a really interesting recipe online that looks really good, so we either write it down or save it in our online cookbook. Today our choice was either going with a hamburg and macaroni soup or a hamburg and green bean soup. We chose the hamburg and green bean soup because it had rice in it and it looked easier to modify to our children's tastes.

It was a surprisingly easy recipe to follow, as most of the online ones are, being written for the common person, by the common person. You simply brown the ground beef, add your desired seasoning, then add some tomato soup and some tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, add the rice and veggies, and turn down to a simmer. Once the rice is cooked you remove it from heat and let it cool before serving. Pretty simple, huh?

It may not look like much but it actually taste very good. Next time we make it we plan on trying peas instead of green beans, and adding some more spices, but those are simple changes.

Of course the best way to serve this would be in a bread bowl, which we didn't have or with flaky roll, which we also didn't have. If push comes to shove you can easily serve it with bread and butter,... hey what do you know, we had that. :)

As long as you don't have any picky kids, or guests, you should end up with a lot of satisfied eaters and a few people asking how it was made. With any luck you won't have to make room in the fridge for leftovers, just find someone to help with the dishes.

Labor Day Weekend Part 3

Our last and final part to the nice long weekend... I hope you have enjoyed our blogs along the way! :) I know we had a fun weekend. Our Holiday Monday started with a Bottle Drive for the Rec Dept & Boy Scout Troop. Early for a non school day we arose, and Andy made us breakfast again. Eggs & English Muffins.... YUM! Then we packed for our day... loading in activities to keep the kids busy, a doll for the girls, and of course the cooler with drinks and food.... Must always have the staples on hand with three kids. Off we headed to the Town Office, were we had volunteer to sit for the 3 hrs, that we were waiting for people to drop off bottles. We have hard working volunteers that love to collect those bottles. .... This is how many they brought before heading out to collect.

Pretty impressive huh? All and All we ended up with this trailer rounded, a smaller trailer rounded, and two big truck beds full! So, I think we made out pretty well. Thanks to all those that helped collect, and all those that donated bottles to us!


While we were there to collect bottles... Andy & I cleaned the Town Office, so I wouldn't have to make another trip in for that.

After we finished with the bottle drive we took the kids to the Playground for some fun.. Decided they deserved it to hung out with limited things to do for almost 4 hrs. Not bad in my book for a 4, and 3 yr old. Hunter ended up going out to collect bottles with the Cub master. They played hard on the playground for awhile... as daddy shot pictures of them. Might I add they eat it up when we take pic's! Here is one of them at the playground....


After the playground, we headed home for a late lunch. The kids decided to eat outside on their little picnic table. It was actually a nice day for eating outside except for the big gusts of wind we kept getting. Oh MY! The kids decided to stay out for an hour or so playing.










Then we decided to do some art. Yes, we occasionally throw in a few educational things along the day to do with them... We decided today to do Leaf rubbing.... Sage even got the concept very nicely, and was excited to see the leaf appear. Here are some that Hunter, Andy, and Rachel worked on. As you can see Sage was very proud of her work!

After our fun with Leaves, we started dinner. Well Andy was in the process of making that, Hunter said he wasn't feeling well, and wanted to lie down. Like I was going to stop him! :) As we were getting ready to sit down to eat, Andy tried to wake him up. He was not getting up, as all he could say was "I'm tired"... So, I guess the fun filled day wore him out! Amazing what a little fresh air will do huh???




Isn't he cute, all past out on his rug?? Don't mind the mess! He hadn't gotten to picking up his room yet.

The girls, Andy & I ate dinner. After dinner we decided to make a quick dessert that I had found on a recipe site. Peanut Butter Balls, no cooking required, and very easy to make. Sounded good to me, and a nice way to end our really nice weekend together.

The girls enjoyed helping daddy make the dessert.. They helped pour in ingredients. Hunter woke up right about the end of making it, so he got to help with the smashing of cereal, along with the girls. It was a very fast recipe, and they were good... and nutritious. Can't get much better than that right? Wrong, it was also a hit among my children, cause it had three of their favorite things in it.... Peanut Butter, Honey, and Cereal! Here is a glimpse of what they looked like. If anyone is interested in the Recipe, I will post it tomorrow..

So there you have our nice long 3 day weekend in a nutshell. I hope you all enjoyed yours, cause we sure enjoyed ours. Back to the grindstone tomorrow.... of looking for a job, and cleaning the house! LOL... Also, Rachel's first day of preschool for this year, so be watching for pictures! Both kids also start Soccer tomorrow... so lots going on. We will diffidently keep you posted however!
Hope we didn't bore you this weekend!