Fun during the Blizzard

 

I’m sure you have all heard by now that the Northeast got hit with a nasty Blizzard last weekend.

Let’s just say this blizzard and I are not friends.. it turned our Saturday upside down. Monkey Man was suppose to have his Blue & Gold Banquet and that got canceled. Plus we were suppose to go to Disney on Ice, which is a yearly thing we do. The kids look forward to it every year. They canceled that as well.

How do you explain this to 3 very anxious Monkey’s who just want to have fun? Well, very carefully. Of course, they understood the weather was bad, and that it wasn’t safe. However, that doesn’t always make it better (even for adults).

 

So super mom to the rescue.. I looked for local theatres to see what was playing. Wouldn’t you know it was the one weekend of the year, that they had no children’s movies playing!!! Great!

Then I had a light blub go off, bowling! We hadn’t been in 2 yrs, and the kids really would enjoy it, and we could have fun as a family. Off we went.. the roads were still a bit slick, but I knew I could make it to the next town over. We were the only ones in the Bowling Alley for the first hour. It was wonderful!

The kids had a blast, and I kicked everyone’s butts in both games! Despite my shoulder.. yeah, might have wanted to think that through a bit more, but the pain was worth it!  Check out our pictures.. (they are not the best, cause I took them with my cell phone)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we played a few arcade games, and came home to have dinner, and watch the Flintstones. So while we were disappointed we made the best of it. Where you in the Blizzard? How did you fair?

 

First State Park of the year…

 

 

This year I decided to buy the State Park Pass. Why? Well, last year our summer was mostly working in the garden, or mowing the lawn. (not that this isn’t important) We didn’t get out nearly as much as I wanted too.

 

Therefore, my thought was if I spend money on the pass. I will actually make an effort to get to these places. Making it our goal this summer to see how many State Parks we can visit. I will do a bit of background on each one with the kids, so they can get a bit of school out of it of course. (part of being a homeschooler, your mom is always thinking school LOL)

 

Monday was our first visit to a State Park for this year. We decided to visit Damariscotta Lake Park. It is a very nice little park. There is a playground, picnic area, and a beach. I of course surprised the kids with this, they did not know that we were going there. Their faces were priceless! I love still being able to surprise them.

 

 

 

 

 

I invited a friend of mine along with us, so we were able to visit, and enjoy a conversation while the kids played in the water. Which I think was still a bit chilly for me. Plus I got in some pictures…. you know me, always got the camera ready!

 

Did you know there is over 30 State Parks in Maine? I did not know this until I started looking. I can’t wait to visit most of them. Stay tuned for our adventure!

 

Weekend plans??

 

 

Every year Disney on Ice comes to our big city here in Maine. I usually just take the girls, cause it’s a princess kinda thing, and Monkey Man really isn’t into that. Can’t imagine why can you??

Well this year, it was Peter Pan, and Loin King in it too. So, I gave the option to him to go. He decided that he wanted to join in.

There spark the fire for my inspiration for a weekend away. We NEVER take a weekend again. After the last year of changes, and months of stresses, I decided it would be good for us. We needed a stress free weekend of fun, just us (our family of 5).

Our plans started coming together, and as you read this… we will be sitting at Disney on Ice. The kids are super excited, and so are we. We are going to spend a few extra days in the city, at a nice hotel. We are going to relax, swim, and just enjoy each others company. (Ahh.. )

I will post pictures when we get back! You can look for some sneak peaks of our weekend on twitter, or my Facebook page. Both links can be found on my right sidebar!

See you soon!

Our #OralBCrestFORME Mommy Party …

 

 

 

 

was a hit! We had tons of fun..

We were recently got the opportunity from Oral B and Crest and BSM Media to host a Party.

Our party was super fun, and we had a good turn out. There was 15 kids, and 5 moms there. We watched the “Cars 2” movie, ate popcorn, decorated cookies, and learned some teeth trivia.

We wanted to jazz up our party a bit, so we decided to include a bit of cookie decorating in with it! Here is a taste of the fun we had…

 

Then the kids watched Cars 2, while snacking on some delish popcorn in our cute little bags included in our party pack.

 

 

We learned some cute trivia… Like did you know that no two people’s tongue print are the same? I didn’t!! Super neat!

At the end of our party, we had some really cool gift bags to hand out! Each bag included, Cars 2 Vitamin Gummies, Oral B Stage 3 Toothbrushes, Pro Health for Me Toothpaste, Pro Health for Me Toothbrushes, Flossers, Tooth brushing information, and some money saving coupons.  

 

After the kids had some yummy goodies, they had the opportunity of trying the Pro Health for Me Rinse.

Thanks Oral B, Crest, and BSM Media, for helping us throw such a great party! We had so much fun! The kids were super excited to get such great products to take home… and we love to share such great products. My kids love the Pro Health for Me products.

 

* I was provided samples of products from Oral B/Crest, in partnership with BSM Media in exchange for hosting a mommy party and an honest blog review.  All of the opinions are 100% mine and my monkeys!

Looking for a laugh?….

 

 

Just cause I think everyone should laugh a few times a day.. you need to check out these new video’s from Betty Crocker. They are trying to sell the Fun da-middles.

Tell me which one is your favorite?

 

 

 

 

Ferris Wheels, Dough boys, and more…

 

 

 

That’s right you guessed it, the fair is in town! Being that we are in 4H this year, we were anxious to visit and see how well our group placed on the Educational Display. Plus my mother & I had put in some photo’s to be judged this year, and the suspense was killing me to know if I placed. 

We decided to go the first day.. but I had to wait for my mom to meet me there. Why? We promised each other we would wait until we checked out if we placed.  

Unfortunately, I did not place with any of my photo’s. I was a bit disappointed, but finally did something I had been wanting to do for years. Now, I can start preparing for next year! Lol.. In one of the categories the first place person was a friend of mine, from over at The Berry Patch. She placed first with an amazing picture of a Bald Eagle.

My mom did place 2nd with a painting that she put in though. I am so proud of her, and now she can see that everyone else thinks she is as good as I know she is.

After checking out the exhibit halls, we headed over to meet a friend. The kids checked out the elephants, tigers, and the other animals. Here are a few pictures of the animals we saw.

 

 

 

 

Then the kids wanted to see the magic show. It was rather funny, and two of my monkey’s got picked to go up and be the assitant.    They also ended up with a ton of ballon animals and such. It was really cute to watch.

 

 

After that we got a bit of a scare with Little Monkey’s Eye, so we had to make a trip to the ER. She is ok, and we are sighing a sigh of relief.

On our way home from the hospital we saw the fireworks being put off from the fair. All and all it was a great day out with the family. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

A few days later, we went back to the fair.. to participate in a 4H parade around the horse track. The kids were super exciting for this. Here are a couple pictures from that.

 

Little Monkey had to ride in the truck cause of her eye (didn’t want dust in it)

 

Happy Fourth of July….

 

 

 

hope everyone had a great day! Our family sure did… It was nice to just relax and not stress about things to get done for the day.

We went to my Brother-in-laws house to watch the local parade… they live right on the street it goes thru. Which made it really nice this year, not to have to stress about getting their early, or worry about it being to hot. They could go inside if they needed, use the bathroom, etc.

The parade was a couple hours long, but the kids had fun! After that, I got them something to eat at Hubby’s store, cause he had to work of course. Then we headed home.

For dinner we had traditional Hot dogs, Burgers, and Macaroni Salad. Yummy!!!

After that, we all went for a dip in the pool to cool off, and headed to bed.

We decided to skip the fireworks, cause we were all tired, and it was 2 hrs round trip to see them.  The kids were ok with that decision to.  

What did you do??

Red, White, & sugary?

 

This year Hubby has to work on the 4th of July again, so we decided to spend it with some family.

However, today we did a bit of pre-celebrating at a local park. They had battling of the bands, lots of bounce houses, and lots of stands with delish food!

I’m always saying I need to relax and let go a bit more.. so I decided to do so today! I told the kids they could have whatever they wanted to have for lunch. Totally their choice! (I was being very brave)

Monkey Man choose to have Fried Dough, in which he covered it in lots of cinnamon, powered sugar, and caramel. He loved it!

 

Littlest Monkey wanted to have Ice Cream but their wasn’t a stand open, so she had Fried Dough as well, with the same stuff as Monkey Man but with Chocolate sauce!

 

Then Middle Monkey wanted Cotton Candy, but their was no stand open for that either… and then she wanted Ice Cream… again no stand open. So, she shared some of the other two monkeys.. but then I decided to take them all to Mc Donald’s and get them a Caramel Sundae.

Was I crazy?? Maybe, but I needed to show them that I could be laid back too! It was a nice afternoon with our family.

The rest of our celebrating will be on Monday when we join them again for the parade, and activities at the park again. We will miss daddy’s presence, but will enjoy the evening with him!

Happy Fourth of July!!! Be safe and happy!!

Do you have a summer bucket list?

 

 

With Summer upon us, we are always racking our brains to think of things to do…

This year, we decided to try something new… We are going to make a Summer Bucket List, and see how many things we can cross off.

It is almost finished up so, we will post it a bit later this week… and see what you all think.

 

Do you have a list for the summer? We would love to hear it!

Memorial Day

 

 

Does your family have any traditions for Memorial Day??

We don’t do anything big usually… but we try to do something fun!

This year, it was a beautiful day… and Hubby didn’t have to work til late in the day.

So, we went to a local parade here in town… where my son was in it with his Cub Scout Pack.

 

 

After that, we brought hubby to work. Then headed to the playground for a play date with friends followed by dinner at McD’s. All and all it was a fabulous day!

HexBug Party

 

 

 

I got an offer to do a HexBug Nano Party, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Since Monkey Boy’s birthday always falls close to Easter, we usually tie it in somehow. Well this year, we were having a hard time coming up with an idea… until we received the HexBug Nano Easter Eggs.

In our Party package was a Starter kit, and 10 Hex Bug Nano Easter Eggs, with bugs of different colors, with bunny ears on. They were rather cute!

My kids where really excited to play with them, so holding them off til our party was a challenge!

In the egg

On the day of the party, we hid the eggs outside and gave each child a clue to find their bug egg. After everyone had found theirs they came in and played with them on the floor, and in the Starter kit.

 

Two of the bugs

One with Bunny ears

All the kids had a wonderful time, and we really enjoyed playing with the HexBugs. Even the adults got into playing with them.

 

Do your kids have HexBugs?

 

*Product was supplied by MommyParties, in order to write this post. All opinions are mine or my monkey’s.

Easter Part 1

 

 

It is very rare for us to celebrate a holiday in just one day! Why?? Well simply because we love to do things with other people.

So for Easter we are having two celebrations yet again. Friday we got together with our very good friends, and did an Easter Egg Hunt with them. We really couldn’t have asked for a better day… the only sad part was Littlest Monkey was still sick and running a fever, so she was not able to join us.

 

 

We ended the Egg Hunt with a yummy Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcake. Then let the kids play for a few minutes with there new findings before heading back home to get Littlest Monkey from her grandma.

We have spring fever….

 

 

so we decided to do something about it! What do you think of when you think spring?? We always start to want ice cream cones! Nothing like a nice ice cream at the end of your evening while hanging around outside right??

We couldn’t quite go with ice cream cones, but we did make some nice homemade ice cream. It is so yummy!! Plus it is fun to do!

Monkey Man likes it cause he is not suppose to have regular milk, so we can make him any flavor he wants with Lactaid or Frozen Yogurt! It is wonderful!

This time we made peppermint. Here are a few shots of them making ice cream! Yup we have an ice cream ball.. and an electric ice cream maker. We will be having lots of ice cream this summer!!

 

Volcano’s can be fun….

 

 

incase you didn’t know that. In hopes not to bore those of you that don’t have any interest in Home-schooling… I’m going to mention some of our fun stuff, here but will have it linked to my new blog strictly for Home-schooling… Incase you didn’t see my post about it, you can check out my new blog The Monkey School about our adventure in Home-schooling.

Well over the past couple days, we got daring… and made Paper Mache’ Volcano’s. Why you ask? Well we needed them for Co-op class… (which we missed last week due to Hunter being sick)

Here are a few pictures of our fun, but you can also check out more about our fun here and here. Be sure to stay tuned for the eruption in a couple weeks!