Happy Birthday Little Girl

Well little girl's birthday was this past weekend.  We celebrated with a movie and spend the night party and a cook out.  I let the birthday kid pick out special foods on their birthday.  One thing that she told me that she wanted was dirt dessert which is a family favorite.

Here are the ingredients:

 

I mixed up the pudding in a separate bowl and then creamed the butter and cream cheese in a separate bowl. 

 



 

 

I then stirred in one cup of powered sugar and stirred in the pudding.  I then folded in the cool whip.  We crushed the Oreos and then layered them with the pudding mixture and put gummy worms on the top.  Yum!

 

 

It never lasts very long around here.

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 4th

Well, our fireworks got rained out.  We were supposed to go to the rec department to watch fireworks with our church, but it rained and stormed so it was cancelled.  We went to my brother and sister in laws house instead and cooked out.  We had fun.  At first I didn't want to go.  Family gatherings have gotten weird in the last year or two.  Steven's parents won't come to anything that involves us.  They are angry at us and won't talk to us or discuss anything with us and when we ask for forgiveness from them they say no.  This has been hurtful to us and our family, but now I have decided that if they want to be that way then so be it.  If they want to stay home and miss gatherings and birthdays of their grandchildren then it is their loss.  We can have fun without them and we did.  Happy 4th!
 
Tomorrow we are going to the beach, so today we are packing and getting ready.  We don't have to pack much because there is a washer and dryer there and a Wal-Mart on the island.  We will cook in while we are there because it is too expensive to eat out, but we will go do some stuff like putt putt or the water park.  I would rather have extra beach time anyway.  We will also go shopping at a few places on the island and look into the quirky local shops.  Fun!  I have budgeted $250 for food for the week (how else can I get 5 pounds of shrimp and cook it) and $200 for things to do.  I will get out the cash today. I will let you know how it went with the spending.

Green Beans

Well no longer did I get done with the salsa then it was time for green beans.  A friend traded beans for some squash and cucumbers.  He let us pick and we got two five gallon buckets of beans.  This is what they looked like after I snapped them.

 

We then canned 30 quarts of green beans.

 

 

I would like to go and pick again because 30 jars won't last us a year.  I would like to do about 20 more but we are going to the beach next week so canning is out for that week.  I still need to do some peaches and some blackberry jelly.  Yummy!

 

 

Something that I think is funny.  Little girl gave me for mother's day some coupons for doing chores and today I cashed in one.  The girls bathroom really needed the shower cleaned so I put her to work.

 

 

So funny!  It got clean though.

 

Happy fourth!  The older girls are at the beach with my parents and we are supposed to go watch fireworks tonight at the rec department.  It is a little rainy and stormy outside so we might get cancelled.  I hope not.  My sister and her family is coming to eat and watch with us. We are having chicken wings and pasta and a yummy chocolate cake for dinner.  Yum!





Canning Salsa

Normally during the summer I try to get in as much canning as possible.  We eat it all through the year and it doesn't take up room in my freezer.  So far this season we have been making  pickles like crazy and this week I made a big batch of salsa.  The tomatoes were free from the garden as were the peppers so the only thing that I had to buy were some onions and another set of jars.  I figure that I spent about $15 on the whole process.  Here is the salsa cooked in the pot.

 

Here is the finished product.  17 jars of salsa.

 

I saw in the grocery store fancy salsa for $5.00 a jar, so I figure that this is $85 worth of salsa made for about $15.00 including an extra set of jars.  Not bad savings and so much better tasting.  

VBS

Every year my whole family participates in vacation bible school.  If you are too old to participate then you help out.  So far this year the little girl and little boy are participating, middle girl and big girl have been helping with the younger kids, and the big boy has been helping with recreation.  Steven and I have been teaching the three year olds.  He and I have a good system worked out.  I do the lessons and activities and he does crowd control.  I like for all of us to help as a family and do our part.  We can all learn by helping and teaching others.  It does make for a tiring week though.  I am just blessed that I don't have to work in the summer and can sleep in and let the kids sleep in.

 

 

These are some of the little ones enjoying the music.  We were having so much fun!



Three weeks into summer

Well we are officially three weeks into summer and I don't feel like I have relaxed yet.  Steven had his neck surgery and is going good.  The first four or five days was a little rough, but our church family rallied around us and brought us lots of food and prayer.  This last week he was up and around more and starting to get stir crazy.  The doctor released him to go back to work today with a lifting restriction of 10 pounds so he was happy.

We also started vacation bible school this week.  We go five nights and it is a lot of work and tiring but worth it for the kids.  Last night we had 180 kids which considering we only have 500 members in our church is great!  Steven and I do the three year olds and the teens help out in various places.  Tonight we do it again!

Summer

Yes I know that I took too much of a break, but now summer is upon us.  The kids have been at youth camp all week and the little boy and little girl went to the beach with Grandma.  I thought that I would have all this time to get stuff done in the house, but I spent most of my time in the road doing things for the youth camp.  Oh well, I have all summer to organize the house.

Tonight is the dress rehearsal for dance and tomorrow is the recital.  It is also Ashley's birthday tomorrow and Evan's is on Sunday.  He is just going to ask a few boys to go swimming and have some fun on Thursday night.  On Saturday we will do Ashley's.  I am going to take her to take her learners test one day next week.

Steven is having neck surgery on Monday.  He has been having so much pain with a pinched nerve that we have to do it.  I am a little nervous, but I am excited to get it done and over with.

Well, I have to get the kitchen cleaned up and shower and get breakfast for the kids.  We have to go pick up the girls at noon so that they can nap and shower before dance tonight.