House Full of Kids Cooking!

The Friday before school started (that would be just over a week ago), I had two extra kiddos for the day. Our friends were on a tour in India, so I had A and E with me. A and Rylee go to the same school and my friend, Kristin, has a daughter who will be in A's class. So, I decided to invite Kristin and her crew (4 kids) over to make cookies with us.
Ellie, our amazing kid sitter, has not been over recently since Dani came to see us and then I've not worked with having extra kids, so she wanted to do something with us for a day. Cookie making was Ellie's idea. She's just awesome.
So, we had 9 kids...ages 10, 8, 8, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3. (Yep...4 three year olds!) Ellie and I made the cookie dough and stuck it in the fridge just as Kristin and her kids were arriving. The kids played while us older folks talked. Then, we decided to roll out the dough.
The kids rolled and cut shapes. The dough really wasn't cold enough and got sticky. But, it was still fun.
As we finished the last of the cut-outs, I took out stuff for making personal pizzas. I had 2 rolls of Pillsbury dough that I cut into chunks for each kid to squish. Then, I had little bowls with sauce, pepperoni, ham, and pineapple. We cut parchment paper for each kid and then just slid each piece onto a big tray to bake....made it so much easier!
The kids cleaned up while the pizzas were baking, then we all had a little lunch (fruit, carrot sticks, and some chips rounded out our meal). We cleaned up from eating and the cookies were cooled. So, we tinted the icing I made and let the kids get to work--only this time we did two shifts with younger kids first and then older kids.
The kids had so much fun decorating! We made about 8 different colors of icing (well, Ellie did the tinting), had a half dozen types of sprinkles, and had a big mess going! (Did I even have to say it was messy? Isn't that a given!)For those of you who know me well, you know I don't really like messes. I don't care for my kids to paint because it's messy. It takes a lot for me to get out the playdoh. But, I'm a sucker for something that can be used--like cookies to eat and share and pizzas for lunch.
I talked at Christmas time about crafts and projects. I decided then that if it involved food, I was up for it. Remind me when December rolls around! Do not let me buy anything for crafts if it doesn't involve food! Or, invite me to your house to do the non-food craft thing!

Getting Used to School

Here we are, day 3 of kindergarten for Rylee. She had a great day yesterday, proclaiming as she got settled into the car after school, "We didn't have recess today. I took a nap. We had P.E. I ate all my lunch." Guess it went well.
We had our regular Tuesday night prayer for GFA last night. It's a later night since we wrap up around 9pm and then have to come home and get ready for bed. This morning, Rylee woke up saying she didn't want to go to school. She didn't feel like it. Ugh. Already?

We talked. I asked if I could take a day off from caring for her and the twins because I didn't feel like it. No. How about Daddy; can he stay home because he doesn't feel like going to work? No. Wasn't really helping her. I mentioned needing to take a towel to lay down on for nap. When I mentioned finding the princess one, she perked up.
After some breakfast and getting dressed, she was much more ready for school. So much so that I only had to mention taking this picture and she was ready. (She wanted to take several shots...one with the backpack and one without.)
And, I guess we're off to a fine start when she insists I take a video of her tapping!

Mornings can be rough at times. I am NOT an early riser/morning person. But, it's all about the attitude. My prayer is that she'll have this spunky tapping attitude at least most days.

Rylee Starts Kindergarten

Rylee had her first day of Kindergarten today.

She was very excited. She had a hard time going to sleep last night, but finally settled. She was up once and was excited then. Finally, at 6:45 this morning she came in asking if it was time to get up for her first day. So fun!

She went right in with all the other kids where they were assembled. They will begin each day with an assembly. Then they are dismissed by grade, youngest to oldest. We watched her walk down the hall with her class. She didn't even notice we were there.
Our friend, Abby, was with us this morning. Her parents are overseas for a tour, so we had the honor of taking her to school for her first day.
The girls looked so cute in their uniforms!

They both reported "it was a great day" when I picked them up this afternoon. My baby's in Kindergarten!

I'm Done

This is a post of frustration.

I am trying my hardest to save money for our family. One of the biggest expenses we incur is for food. Our grocery budget seems to always dip into the red and then our restaurant (aka: convenience) budget does too. We are determined to get them in the black and stay there.

So, you would think I was being a good shopper when I saw the recent posts (on blogs and verified by the main site) for a rebate from Kraft. Buy $25 in Kraft products, get a $20 rebate and a $5 coupon for your next purchase at the same store.

I headed to Albertsons with my coupons and my list of Kraft items to buy. I got to the register and found out...nope--no promo that we know of.

I came home and double checked. I had to really search. I finally found something that said Albertsons in Arizona, Texas...(and a few other states) aren't participating in the rebate!

What??! Thankfully, I wasn't too embarrassed to tell the cashier I wanted to not get some of the items in my cart. I only purchased what I had coupons for and the ones I thought were a decent deal. I still spent more than I probably would have. I don't usually shop at that store. And, I would not have gone today except I thought they were having this good deal.

So, I think I'm done. Done with looking at these websites that talk about couponing and working to get good deals. We're just going to eat less and tighten up on the budget.

I really don't like feeling like I got cheated--especially when I'm the only one to blame!

Mac Ads

I like almost all Mac ads. A friend sent this one to me and Joel. I really like it. Watch it to the end and you'll see why!

Mac Vs. PC clip

Freebie things

I entered to win a free coupon organizer here.

You can enter too!

Check it out.

Celebrating My Birthday

My birthday was August 6. We went to lunch as a family. But, we didn't really do anything else very special. My friend, Sarah, offered to watch my kids one day for a few hours so I could go do something fun.

On Wednesday I dropped off my three to play with her two, and Dani and I headed to the Galleria.
We went ice skating, then had lunch at Grand Lux Cafe. My friend Pam posted pics from having lunch there with her granddaughter. It looked so good, I wanted to go!
Neither Dani nor I fell on the ice...yeah! I even turned a few circles and skated balancing on one leg. (Not that I looked graceful doing it!)
At the Grand Lux, we had some yummy food and saved room for dessert. My belated birthday dessert was a huge slice of chocolate fudge cake! It was delicious!
It was a nice belated birthday celebration. Then, Joel took me a date Friday. Wow! Guess we just needed to prolong the celebration a little.

August

Our friend Dani arrived on August 3. She was mobbed at the airport by three adorable kids who were very excited to see her!


We have had a good time of hanging out since she's been here. Vacation Bible School started the Saturday after she arrived and lasted 5 nights.She went to Six Flags while she was here (I don't have pics of that...sorry).And, we've been swimming several times. The kids love to show Dani their new tricks.On this particular day, we met friends Sarah, Henry, and Elizabeth at the pool.

It's been a fun month. Now, we're wrapping up all the fun and getting ready for school to start. Rylee begins Kindergarten August 24th and the twins will start preschool September 1st.

We'll get a few more swimming days in before that comes, though....

Please Pray for Our Friends

To get the latest updates on Tyler, please visit the Derr family's Caring Bridges site. Click here!

*****

Please pray for our friends, Jason & Chrissy, and their son, Tyler, who will celebrate his 4th birthday this Friday.
Tyler was hospitalized last Friday for left side paralysis. The doctors discovered his left ear was completely blocked with a bad infection. After more testing, they found a large mass between his ear and brain. They are continuing tests to determine what is going on. They will do a biopsy today (Monday) and a hearing test.

Please pray for complete healing for Tyler. Pray for peace for Jason, Chrissy, and Tyler. Pray for the Lord to show Himself mighty and for Him to be glorified.

Thanks for praying!

*****
Updated Sept. 1st

Tyler has T-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. Doctors found additional masses in other areas of his body.

He started chemotherapy a few weeks ago and is getting weekly treatments at this point.

Please continue to pray for our friends as the Lord leads.

*****
The Derr family has started a website for Tyler to update everyone on his progress. They also give specifics on how you can pray for Tyler throughout each stage of his treatment. To visit their site, click here. Thank you for praying!