Soak City in L.A.

We headed out of the desert on Father's day since Soldier Man had to work a long day anyway.  We had big plans to leave the heat & spend a day playing in the water.  So we left & headed to Soak City outside of LA & had a blast!  My crazies are fish & love anything to do with water so they had fun playing in the wave pool, sliding down the slides, & running through the water.  We arrived at noon & closed the park down & most definitely beat the heat!

The crazies with their Meme.

Water fun!!

Aunt Lala & Paige

K on the water pads

 Paige sunbathing

D dancing in the waterside line

K loves the sun!

Me & D -- K refused to move from laying out

Cotton Candy makes a great treat

Group Shot with Meme

Headed out

It's Been a While

So it has been awhile.  And I don't apologize.  My mom arrived here about 2 weeks ago & we have been busy making up for lost time & exploring the West coast.  She is a teacher & lives in South Carolina, where we are from & still call it "home".  As her "summer break" approached she was counting down to come & see her new West Coast crowd.  We of course live here in the middle of the Mojave & I have a sister who lives in Las Vegas, which is about 2.5 hours from here.  It was funny how it worked out that way. Her husband is in the Air Force & we were both living on the East Coast in GA & SC, but received orders to move to the West Coast to CA & NV within about 1 month of each other.  And when Mom is here, we are like the Kardashian's where we do everything together.  And so for 2 weeks we have been  catching up, sightseeing, & just having fun!  And so the posts from our travels will begin... I've got lots to catch up on before I head to SC for our 2 week vacation, um, tomorrow!

My sister, Me, & my Mom all ready for a gals night out!!

Father's Day Creativity

Today is Father's Day so I thought I would share what we did for the important men in our life.  While most people don't love shopping for men as much, I find them pretty simple & take advantage of that.  Usually some food certificated go a long way as does a game of golf.  Or you can replace things that seem worn that they look over everyday -- new wallets, watches, socks.  But, I also can't take a day to be practical & bypass any opportunity to be a little crafty.  So we made sure to do something fun for all of the men.


For all of the grandfathers, we used the crazies feet to write a little love note.  We painted their given "name" on their feet & then took a picture with these signs.  It was a little more difficult than it looks, only because of the age of the crazies.  "Sit up. Don't squint. Hold your sign straight. Smile.  Feet straight up."  I swear, it took like 30 minutes with me saying these things over & over, but with older kids it should be easier.  They turned out super cute so we placed them in a frame for all of the grandfathers.  

And for Soldier Man, there have been some cute pictures lately that I wanted to do something special with.  The crazies are into dress up so these were some pictures that I captured around our house.

 So I made this with a fun frame from Hobby Lobby, some paint, some vinyl, & the Cricut.  It turned out cute & I LOVE reminding him what exactly he means to the crazies.

Father's Day Cookie

Today our one & only grocery store here in the desert, the commissary, was offering a Cake Decorating Class for kids in preparation for Father's Day -- so I took the crazies.  We met a couple of friends there so that we could have one big sugar party together.  The crazies had a blast!!  I assisted in helping them pipe the icing along the edges as well as to write "We <3 Dad" just to have them cover it completely up with sprinkles & cake stick decor.  They got sprinkle happy, really happy, to the point where K wouldn't even take her eyes off of the cake in the store for a picture.  And they were thrilled to give it to their Daddy when he came in from the field tonight.  And thrilled to be able to finally eat it with him... making a 10:30 cake & waiting until 7:00 to eat is a huge test in patience for a 3 & 2 year old.  In the end, they loved being able to give him something completely done by them!

Picking out sprinkle colors -- you know, the important things on a cake.

Their finished product

"Look at our cake Dad!!!"

They Were Meant to be Fish

The crazies were meant to be fish.  Really.  They LOVE the water & choose to spend these hot summer days at our oasis in the desert. And so we do.  And they are fish.  At 3 & 2 years old they can swim & even I am surprised.  I was able to capture some shots at the pool today while we cooled off in the water.  I must get video though -- the pics don't do it justice.  Especially for my K, she is hilarious with her underwater skills.

They are serious about the pool.

 Kennedy swimming

and Deacon doing his "laps"

LOVE his smile!

Kennedy dancing underwater

And some shallow diving fun!

Divine Fruit Cups

During a recent Girl's Night I was searching for the perfect fruity finger food.  What I wanted to make was a fruit pizza kind-of-dish but I wanted something with more finger food potential.  Then it came to me... make the fruit pizza recipe but into mini-cups.  And Whalah!  My fruit cups were born.  All were gone by the end of the night so they were a true success!

Fruit Cups:

1 package square cookie dough (yields 24)

1 cup strawberries, diced

2 kiwis, peeled & diced,

1/2 cup blueberries

strawberry cream cheese

Place the individual sugar cookie square & place them into a mini-muffin pan.  Press the center of each one down into the pan creating a mini-tart sort of appearance.  Bake according to the package directions.  When done, let them sit for approximately 5 minutes in the pan, then remove them -- for some reason the 5 minutes has been my golden time for not letting them crumble on me OR stay glued in there from sitting too long.  

While they are cooking, mix together all of the fruit & set aside.  After the cups have cooled, pipe the cream cheese into each cup & then place about 2 tablespoons of the fruit into each cup.  And you are done... so easy & so divine!

A plate of Yumminess!

 So perfect looking... but effortless!

Prepping for Pre-Pre-K

As a couple, we have always agreed to keep our crazies home until pre-K, the year right before Kindergarten.  Our train of thought is 1. they have their whole life to be in school so why start 'em so young, 2. kids should learn early through play & we did not want to pay just for that, 3. they are only young once & there are things that we just did not want to miss, & 4. we felt strongly that if I am a SAHM it was part of the SAHM role.  I do enjoy my crazies & they mostly make life fun, so it has been a blessing to be able to be home with them & teach them in our day-to-day life.  I should throw in here that we DO NOT judge people who do put their kids in a program -- these are our thoughts for our family & our life & we feel strongly that this is what works best for us. 
So, I went to register D for his pre-K year because this fall should be it -- his turn to (finally!!) be in pre-K. WRONG.  My little guy has an October birthday & in this state that means we have another year before he is 4 in September which is the eligibility for pre-K.  WHAT?!?  That took me a while to wrap my brain around, but I think I am there.  Finally.
So, the crazies have been in Cooking Camp this week & I have taken that space of time to sort prepare for another year home with D.  I have been actually looking & printing all of those pins on Pintrest to get ready to do our own sort of Pre-K at home before he is able (age-wise) to get into a program.  I've tried to focus on writing letters, writing numbers, sight words, tiny math & then concepts like seasons, states, money, planets, & time. And of course as holidays or unique days roll around there are TONS of crafts/activities/experiments to do to tie into whatever your focus is for the week or month.
I thought I would share some of the links that I have been using in case anyone is looking for any help as they gear up for their own version of school at home.  And now I will use this weekend to organize & come up with more of a game plan on the execution of everything... all while we wait on one more year.

education.com/worksheets
This site has AMAZING worksheets & you can select the age-appropriate & topic you are looking for.  Example: pre-school - math - subtraction.  I got a TON from here.

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/
This site has some great printable pages that are categorized by themes or holidays making it very easy to search through.  I printed off some fun color by number sheets here.

http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/mommy-school
I LOVE this sight as she provides many themed packets with activities, songs, crafts, & sheets to complete.  Example: if you need a M is for Monster packet, this has a lot for the preschool age.  I have been using this site for about a year now & have tons of things already on stock that we will re-use or just start doing now with K.

http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com
This blog has some good printables as well, some themed & some not, but all good to help stimulate the little people.  


Here are just some examples of what I've been able to print, for FREE, to get D & K ready for their pre-pre-K years.

I got a little print-happy, but I'm thinking I will copy now to use for K later!

There are sheets like this for every letter A-Z.

Again, sheets like this for every number 0-10. 

And just more examples of what is available... all for FREE!!!