It's almost here!!

The Fourth of July, that is. I'm pretty sure it's Eric and Kelton's favorite holiday. They've been out shooting off fireworks for the past 3 nights, yet somehow I haven't managed any pictures yet. Good thing I have plenty more chances, as I know they'll continue shooting them every. single. night.

Speaking of 4th of July, my mom and I made Katie, Layla and Savannah some red, white and blue tutus. I left it sitting out Sunday night and Katie couldn't wait to put it on when she discovered it on Monday morning.



One of my favorite things about summer is asparagus on the grill!! One of the things I dislike the most is flies in the house. Anyway. I insist on having some every time we grill. So I buy a bunch when it's on sale and make up extra foil pouches and throw them in the freezer. This way when we're grilling, we just take one out and toss it on. And Mommy's happy because she always gets her asparagus!



One of Katie's favorite summer foods? Corn from Nana and Papa's garden of course!! Notice we put her high chair away and she's in a booster like a big girl now!


I've decided to stop counting my crockpot days. We'll now have Crockpot Wednesday! Yea, I got bored with it. Once a week will be fun but not overkill. Today I went with Big Easy Meatloaf

The only thing I changed was to use some bratwurst instead of andouille sausage and I didn't cook it first. That was my plan at least when I had E set the meat out last night. Then I woke up to discover all we had were beer brats (beer = gluten = not for Bugs). I was trying to decide what to do because dragging all 3 kids out just so I could make meatloaf wasn't exactly on my agenda. Then I remembered...I live in the best neighborhood on earth. A few text msgs later and I had some gluten free brats in my hands!

Kon knows a good man when he sees one!
(although it was his wife that saved my meatloaf)

So I mushed all the ingredients together with my hands. It was very satisfyingly smooshie! I plopped it in the loaf pan and stuck it down in my 6 qt crock.


This was my first time cooking with a seperate pan in the crock, but it seemed to work really well! This cooked on high for 4.5 hrs. Towards the end, I tipped the pan up and dumped the grease into the bottom of the crock because it was really grossing me out.


I served it with some veggies and sweet potato fries. E and Moosey each had seconds. Bugs cleaned her plate also. I thought it was okay, but I think prefer traditional meatloaf (aka however it is my mom makes it). I can't wait to try Stephanie's crockpot meatloaf recipe.


Finally, I have an urgent call to prayer. Kjerstin Webb, the sister of one of the families that lives in the very best neighborhood in the world was in a car accident over the weekend. She was very seriously injured, so please lift her up in your prayers. Pray for strength for her family and friends, who are undoubtedly weary. Amy, who also happens to live in my wonderful neighborhood, has a very nice blog that she is keeping up to date with information as well.

What a weekend!!

Finally everyone was healthy for a whole weekend, so we made sure to make the most of it!!

Friday evening, I got some laps in at the pool and did the shopping so I wouldn't have to worry about it over the weekend.

I started at Walmart, spending $22.91 and saving $23.05. Batteries are so expensive. Almost half of this were just the 2 little packs of Rayovac!


Next was Target. Obviously, I'm a bit addicted to SoBe!
I spent $20.26 and saved $45.21.

Finally there was Dillon's, where I got the majority of our groceries. The total was quite a bit higher than normal, but this was 2 wks worth of shopping instead of just one. Since there was so much, there's no picture. I spent $92.16 and saved $78.01, plus I got a coupon for free milk with my next purchase!

Saturday morning when we got up and around, we headed out to pick strawberries. We had such a great time last year and the kids couldn't wait to go again! However, when we arrived at Sargeant's Berry Farm, we learned there weren't strawberries anymore, so we picked peaches instead!
Can't forget sunscreen!

Ready to start picking!!


It didn't take Kelton long to start tasting!


We picked TONS!!






We literally could not keep Katie off the ladder.
That girl has no fear!




Thirty some lbs of peaches later, we were finished!

After naptime, Katie and cousin Acacia got to make a trip to the mall to go to Build a Bear!

Acacia doesn't have a shy bone in her body and was ready to get her bunny made. Katie wanted a little help from Daddy.





They were too funny! It was great to listen to them chatter back and forth to each other even though we had no idea 1/2 of what they were saying!




The best was when we got back and they fought over Mimi....
"My Mimi!"...."No! My Mimi!"

After all the kiddos had finally hit the hay, E and I got to work on the peaches. What a freaking chore! After all was said and done we had two 4 cup freezer bags of sliced peaches, 2 batches of peach freezer jam and 8 pureed peach popsicles (I used some Sun Crystals to sweeten them a touch). I think our entire kitchen was sticky by the time we finished!



We definitely all slept good that night!!

Summer Fun!! (and crockpot day 23)

I signed Bugs and Daddy up for wet wigglers swimmings lessons at the DRC. I figured it'd be good for them to get some special time together. I'm looking forward to taking it with Konnor later this fall. Needless to say, they're both loving it and they'll both probably be disappointed next week when it's over.




Since the temps have been nothing but insanely hot outside, we've been trying to find more fun things inside to keep us busy. I learned this trick when I worked at a daycare center.....spray some shaving cream out on the table and HAVE A BLAST! Everyone stayed happy long enough for me to go through some mail and get some bills paid.










I've learned to have my camera ready when Katie says, "Looky Momma!" Lately, if she sees a pair of shoes laying around, she puts them on. This time, is was Bubba's.


I do love me some sweet potatoes, so on Wednesday, I wrapped a few in foil and cooked them in my crock. They cooked on high for about 5 hours. I had one for lunch yesterday and I'll eat the other sometime this weekend. YUM!


I was super excited to get to Walgreen's this weekend for the RR deals they're having. I was clapping for myself on the way home because I got all this stuff for $6.42 and I have $13 RR to spend on my next trip!


I've got a trip to Target and Dillon's planned this weekend. We skipped grocery shopping altogether last week, so hopefully I can still stay under budget! We've got another busy weekend ahead! Hopefully everyone stays healthy so we can finally have some fun! I'm not sure if I'll be crocking and now that I'm back to work, I'm thinking of designating one day a week specifically for crockpot cooking. Maybe Wednesdays?