Summer Food & Drink Fun!

It's officially summer! And if you're like me you're trying to come up with ideas to keep the kids busy-You can always come up with some cool kitchen creations together! Here's some especially for summer fun! :

Especially during the summer I love to make some refreshing smoothies for breakfast or snacks. I really love a tropical smoothie made with Orange Juice,Mixture of Tropical fruits(Banana,Mango,Pineapple-Even a dash of Coconut),and of course Ice Cubes. I like this smoothie cause it's a non-dairy 1 that my son can drink. Of course there's plenty of other smoothies you can make with milk/yogurt,fruits,even peanut butter! -We've tried a peanut butter/banana smoothie with milk,peanut butter, and banana's-Yum!

Summer is perfect for a nice picnic outside and you can make some sun tea or lemonade too!

And last but not least-Dessert!

A summer-time favorite of icecream or popsicles! Again you can get creative and make your own! We bought a popsicle maker/container from the dollar store and the kids have fun experimenting with different juices-etc.

So don't be afraid to make your own summer food and drink experiments. And feel free to share your own special recipe's! Have Fun!

Deals for Dad

This coming up Sunday is Father's Day!
There's plenty of good deals out there for Dad here's a few I wanted to share:
At Chick-Fil-A Sat. June 20 2009 if dad comes in with child he can recieve a FREE 14oz. handspun milkshake! Yum! Must check out their website for participating restaurants;And a special thanks to Penny Princess for pointing this out. Speaking of milkshakes have you heard about Wendy's Father's Day Frosty Weekend? This weekend June 20-21 for every frosty sold $.50 will be donated to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (DTFA) Along with that you can also click the link above and check out the FREE Father's Day E-Cards; when you create a card $.25 will be donated to the DTFA!

Some other deals for those in Oklahoma are FREE admission for Dad to the Oklahoma Aquarium on Father's Day! And also FREE admission for Dad on Father's Day at Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art both in Norman,OK!

Hope everyone has a Happy Father's Day!!

Daughter's Birthday/Party -I survived another 1 !

It's that time of year again my daughter's birthday!

Ever since we've lived in this house (about 4 yrs.) we've had her B-day party here at our house to help save on funds and all. Besides I happen to think we have a pretty nice yard and everything. But, after doing the same type of thing for a few years it all seems kinda-blah! I was thinking about going somewhere else -Yeah not slaving away to clean the house before and after does sound nice too ;) We thought about some kind of mini golf thing or something but, after realizing how expensive it would be and especially after our vacation we decided to have it here again. I always try to think of a different theme -I again felt kinda blah on that -We've done a Treasure hunt theme,Hawaiian Luau theme,Hannah Montana theme. (Good thing we did Hannah Montana last year-Cause like Duh! My daughter doesn't like her much anymore-since like forever-You know like a few weeks ago ;) Anyways, I like to start on a theme and go from there-I like the idea of doing a craft with the theme that the kids can take home -We've done a treasure chest to hold their treasures, Sand Art,a Backstage Pass. This year again I was getting kinda stumped -It's hard having a tween! Can't do anything too kiddish but still want to do something. Luckily my family helped me come up with a garden theme. My mind started going then...

So we had the party this past Saturday! - The gals painted a plant pot, I also got little kits that had a little plant already to go in a little pot-(Gotta love Target's Dollar Spot!) They seemed to enjoy doing that and just playing outside. Then of course we did the usual Presents,Cake-etc.

It all turned out pretty well! Check out the pics! If you notice my daughter and her BCF (Best Cousin Forever) even wore matching outfits :) And here's some of the finished products /decorations!

One Lovely Blog Award!

Thanks again Jana @ Golfersmom blog for awarding me with a Lovely Blog Award!

I'm still trying to get caught up from vacation and planning my daughter's B-day party-coming up Saturday. So, I may not be caught up on all my blog lists but -I'm passing it on to some great blogs! See Below:

Here's the rules:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who given the award and his or her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.I tried to pick blogs that didn't get this award before-recently anyways. And I know it can be hard to pick 15 blogs-But, there's a lot of great blogs out there! Check the blogs I'm passing this award to:

1. A Joyous Journey

2. Bet's Best

3. Blahbitty Blahs

4. For Childrens's Sake

5. Kels Korner

6. Lady Mama

7. Let the Wild Rumpus Start

8. Mama Notes

9. Mommyhood is Thankless

10. Spearmint Baby

11. The Crazy Suburban Mom

12. This Life According to Amy

13. Thrifty Southern Mama

14. Tropic of Mom

15. Unpretentious Style

Atlanta Vacation Part 3!

So where I left off- The next day (last Tues)-Guess what we did?! If you guessed climbed another mountain you'd be correct! We went to the Kennesaw mountain-Which is technically where my BIL and his family live -Not the mountain,Just Kennesaw ;) Well,I guess you can say they kinda do live at mountains though =D

But, seriously we did walk up the trail to the top of the mountain and saw cannons-etc. Then when we got back down we went thru the small civil war museum there-That was about it for that day.

Then last wednesday we went to Atlanta again to the World of Coca-Cola Museum! It was cool seeing all the Coke memorabilia,taking a pic with the Coca-Cola Polar Bear,and going to the room where you taste all different kinds of Coke products from around the world. I heard about the Beverly from Italy so had to try it-It was true: Bitter-Yuck! There was a few that were ok I liked 1-called Sunfill from Africa -It was kinda minty!

Then Thursday we headed out- back home! Before we left we visited a Gone With the Wind Museum. That was also pretty cool-Seeing all the memorabilia and all. Good thing it was pretty small so we get back on the road.

Again we fit in about 13hr. drive in 1 day! Do you ever find yourself doing strange things to pass the time on a long trip? I know I love to take pictures-everywhere. So of course I did some of that but, I also found myself getting the grass out of our blanket we used to lay on the lawn to watch the Lasershow. I had my own little technique going that I like to call -Lint n Pick-I would use a lint-roller we had in our van then pick more out that the lint roller wouldn't get-I know -weird! =D

Anyways, so we finally got home technically early Fri. and that was about it! Now enjoy some scenic pics I took on the way there and back:

Gah! Sorry the pics are in a bit of a weird position-IDK I always have a hard time getting them the way I want =)~

Atlanta Vacation- Part 2 !

Ok so I know everyone is dying to know what all we did on our vacation -Right?! =D

Well, last Monday we we went to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History -I like the dinosaur exhibits and the hands on learning section. It was all pretty cool -I also liked how even the floor tiles had fossils in them!

Then we were on our way to Stone Mountain Park -They have all kinds of different things to do there. 1 of the coolest things is a carving into the mountain of southern heroes of the Civil War-Jefferson Davis,Robert E. Lee, & Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. It's the largest relief sculpture in the world measuring 90 by 190 feet,surrounded by a carved surface that is larger than a football field-No wonder it took over 66 years to complete!

The crew we were with are very active/athletic type people and LOVE to climb mountains! So we climbed up the mountain-But, some of us only went part way up. Then we decided we'd better go to the plantation part before we all met for dinner at 1 of the restaurants at Stone Mountain. (I have a fondness for houses/architecture-Especially love plantation houses!) Once we all met up again we staked our claim on the lawn in front of the mountain where they have a Lasershow Spectacular. Then ate dinner;came back-the kids played-etc. until it was time for the show! It was awesome! But,needless to say we were all pretty pooped after that-We got back to my brother in law's house and got ready for bed. I think I'm about ready for bed now- So,I'll tell you what all else we did-In part 3 coming up soon! But, for now enjoy a little part of the Lasershow Spectacular! :)

Back from Vacation!

Hey everybody-I'm back from our road trip/vacation! I have to say not too much mayhem to report it went fairly well. Even though we did fit in a 13 hr trip in 1 day. We went from here (Oklahoma) to Georgia and stayed in the Atlanta area. On the way there we went through about 5 states not counting OK- Arkansas, Tennesse, Mississippi (and yes I did just use that little poem to spell Mi-ss-i-ss-i-pp-i ;),Alabama,and Georgia. I tried to get a pic. of all the states signs but Alabama and Georgia eluded me -I think I was asleep when we hit Georgia =D.


The most mayhem that happened on the way was getting a little lost in Memphis and Birmingham but,not too bad. On the way we did pass through Conway,AR and Tupelo,Mississippi -2 hometowns of great singers-The newest American Idol-Kris Allen and of course The King of Rock n Roll-Elvis!

One day I hope to go back that way and do an Elvis tour-Graceland;Tupelo. But,being that we were already on a 13 hr. trip -we got to our destination late-Like about 1:30am after having a few stops to eat and all. By the time we got there we were ready to crash so, we did.

The next day (or later that day)-Sunday was pretty leisurely hanging out at my Brother in-Law's house. The kids had fun playing on their trampoline,going to the neighborhood park,swimming pool-etc.

I even got the shower situation figured out I used the shower upstairs and went down to the half bath to finish getting ready-I've figured out that it's not that I take all that long of a shower 15 minutes or so but, other things can take just as long. Brushing teeth about 2mins there,putting my contacts in a few min's there-depending how cooperative they are,other personal hygiene rituals a few minutes again. So,I do take a good 30-45mins in all. Which seems pretty normal to me-But, I'm glad we got that situation figured out. What I didn't expect is the lack of internet -They actually turn the internet off at their house most of the time-So you have to ask permission to have it on and then generally have a little while to use it-even though I took my laptop -I didn't use it much. So, I'm just getting halfway settled in back at our house and will tell you more about our vacation later- Stay tuned again!