Ice Cream Making

One of our neighbor's learned a recipe from her daughter's Girl Scout troop leader to make handmade ice cream, and she shared it with all the neighbors. A cream mixture is mixed in one zip loc bag and then this bag is placed in another zip loc bag of ice cubes and rock salt. I will post the exact recipe when I get it. I want to do this for Edward's birthday. The mixture is mixed by hand which gets very cold to the touch so gloves were recommended;) Then eating:) Did I mention JiaLi now pulls herself up on her own...yes, my heart goes pitter-patter every time I turn my head and see that she has done it... This last one is not related but had to post. She had her cape on and I asked her what she was doing and she said she was "SUPERMAN TO SAVE THE PANDAS!!!!"

Happy Fourth

I just have not been able to post. We have been so crazy(a good crazy)with summer. Last week, we had Ice Cream Making with the neighbors, then over the weekend we had Daddy's family reunion and early this week, we were away. So needless to say, I have lots to post and I will but I am feeling guilty that I did not make 4th of July cards. The post I made earlier in June/end of May with this photo of JiaLi and everyone joking about me making a card...I seriously wanted to make one and even packed a bag of stamping supplies to make them while we were away. Just never got to it...But I found this freebie today for 4th of July and decided to put together a layout. I was going to title it "Proud to be an American";) I would post one with all the kids but I really don't have a Patriotic one of them all and since her face is so funny, (this was right after falling asleep in the car coming home from the parade)just had to put something together. We hope everyone has a fun weekend!!

A Truly Wonderful Wednesday

Wednesday morning Joseph was invited over a friend's house. I drove him and then made plans with my sister for later in the afternoon. It was one of those days in the low 80s, not too hot so we(or I should say I) decided to go hiking. We have some trails right around the corner from us. We packed a lunch and a large water bottle with pink lemonade and headed off. The kids were so cute..both Danny and Edward said "this is actually fun." We were limited for time because I had to get Joseph and because we had plans with my sister but the kids now want to return. I apologize that I am posting so many at once. The photo of Jenise with the red dot on the tree is a key. We followed the red dots along the path but this particular tree was a landmark for our smaller return sidepath. When we returned to this spot, none of the kids believed that it was the tree...even with me showing the picture and matching the surroundings. Because they did not believe me, we ended up walking a little further in the other direction until we came to a location that was obviously not previously seen. We were joking about listening to Mommy;) JiaLi using her binocular eyes to spot the red dots:) Jenise joining in:) After hiking, we went to my sister's and her husband brought the kids (+me) tubing:) This time to save time, the kids doubled up. Edward is riding with one of his best buddies. This one of Joseph asking to slow down cracks me up:) Jenise rode with JiaLi and it is a good thing she did not ride alone today. She had no nap and with all the hiking, she was wiped. She almost fell asleep in the tube. Jenise had to boost her up because she let go!! Since Jenise was willing to ride with the little ones, she was able to ride on her own--and she had quite a ride!

Baseball and Bugs

What is there to do at big brother's playoff game?? According to Daddy and the kids, eat sunflower seeds!! Sunflower seeds has been the thing this year for the baseball players to have and also Daddy...It drives me crazy to see them spitting the shells to the ground but I suppose it's better than other things. Danny had his last game Friday night and now Spring sports are done and with school done too(last day was the 16th), we are enjoying summer. The kids each have a camp that they are doing during the summer but we have just been enjoying being with friends and family and each other:) My favorite time of year:) When those shells are too difficult to crack, it's great to have Joseph or Jenise around to crack the shell;) And when the downpour happens during the game, it's great that Daddy parks close enough to see the game while waiting for the rain to pass AND color in the car:) Here are some photos of the girls that I took over the weekend. JiaLi's new thing is to catch bugs with her brother's bug holder. At this point, she is carrying a ladybug around. She now has a worm!! Don't let JiaLi fool you...Jenise is there to catch the bugs because JiaLi is too nervous to do it herself:) The photo below is a repeat from the collage but I just love her expression. She looks so proud to have the bug:)

All By Herself

Last week on Friday, we had our last playgroup. We all went to my sister's and walked down to the beach area at her in-laws. We were lucky enough to have her FIL home who offered to take the older kids tubing. JiaLi enjoyed riding in the boat with Mommy and watching Edward on the tube. When Edward was finished, we were getting ready to get off the boat and JiaLi began to cry because she wanted a turn. I honestly don't think her want was because she "wanted" to ride the tube but more her brother did it so she "wanted" to do it too. She did it all by her self. The boat was kept nice and slow for her and she was a little uncertain at first but as the boat got faster, her smile became larger. Unfortunately I caught her with her eyes closed. We are so lucky to have family so close. Did I mention Daddy is building a treehouse? Daddy has been talking about doing this since we moved to our current home and Joseph for an art thing at school made a drawing of a tree fort that gave Daddy the urge to do it:) Now, Daddy is not an official builder but he has built some structures in his life with his Dad so he knows a little bit but it's fun that he is not an official builder and that he is just doing it with the kids. They are loving it and ask every day if they can work on it:) If you click, you can see their expressions better.

Just A Quick Post

We went to visit cousins today and we got to go swimming. JiaLi only has one bathing suit(we had 2 passmedowns but they don't fit) and Auntie who is always swimming had an extra for her to borrow that no longer fits her kids. Now it's the only bathing suit she wants to wear:) I was so proud of JiaLi. It was a very last minute decision to go swimming and I was not dressed to swim so I put a vest on JiaLi for safety. She tried to swim the right way with both arms and legs:) JiaLi is making sure her cousin is o.k. in the swing and rode the swings with her but then decided pushing would be more fun. Yes, her cousin has a cast on her leg. Yes, she tried flying--off her sister's bed. Found out that she couldn't:( She is doing great though:) We are saying prayers that she does not try this again.