I'm kinda back...

Rich's grandfather passed away last Tuesday and the funeral was Saturday. (He is really going to be missed!) So, with the funeral overwith, I'm starting to get back to normal around here. The only thing is 'normal' is busier than I remember it! I don't think I realized that summer came while we were away and now I have a bunch more to do. I need to be working in the garden, potty training Blake, getting things ready for a trip, spending more play time outside and the list goes on. There is a lot more going on that tends to be filling up our weekends, too. For all these reasons, I think I'm going to continue my break from blogging-maybe for the rest of the summer. I'll probably have an occasional post up, but blogging seems to have become another chore to add to my list and I want it to be fun-not work.

Even though I won't have as many posts up, I still hope to stop by and visit everyone. I feel like I've made a lot of great blogging friends and I want to keep up with all of you, so you'll still see me around on occasion. :-)

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer! Take care! :-)

Asking for Prayers

To say that this last month has been rough would be an understatement. We lost my grandfather a month ago today and now we are about to lose Rich's grandfather as well. (Unless God has an extra miracle to send our way-we'll take it!) This is all unexpected and it has been really hard on the whole family. I just wanted to ask for prayers and let you know that I won't be around much again.

The Giveaway's 1st Birthday Bash!

Hey everyone! I was just wanting to let you know about The Giveaway's 1st Birthday Bash that will run June 5th-12th. Haven't heard about 'The Giveaway'? It's this great blog that has several easy-to-enter giveaways starting every week!

And the Birthday Bash will be the biggest week ever! There are over $2100 in prizes to be given out! Starting with a Giveaway Carnival on Friday, June 5th, a Photo Contest on Saturday, Scavenger Hunt on Sunday, regular giveaways Mon-Thurs, a LIVE Grand Prize Giveaway on Friday, June 12th, and Daily Door Prizes. This is going to be HUGE!

For more info on the Birthday Bash, here's the link.

Remember, it starts this Friday, June 5th with The Giveaway's 1st Annual Birthday Carnival! So if you are hosting a family-friendly giveaway on your blog, you can enter it in the Carnival and be entered to win a great Prize Package, as well as Friday's Door Prize!

Wordless Wednesday: Such a Little 'Guy'

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Go Graham Go!, Healthy Moms and PB and Smelly's Dad.

Awards

I've been stockpiling awards these last couple weeks! I'm sorry to those of you who passed these on to me for taking so long in accepting!

I received the You Don't Say Super Comments Award from Cascia at Healthy Moms.


The Friendship Chain award is from Andrea at MomWriterMe.

And the One Lovely Blog Award is from Jenna at A Mom's Balancing Act.

Thank you so much, to all three of you, for thinking of me for these awards. I am truly honored and very grateful to you for the wonderful recognition! At the same time, between these three awards, I would need to come up with around 30 blogs to pass them on to. There are many blogs that I would love to share these with. Unfortunately to link to 30 blogs and inform all of them of their awards would be a bit much for me right now, so I won't be passing them on.

I, again, am very honored! Thank you Cascia, Andrea and Jenna! :-)

It's Up!

Friday was a busy day, but the basics of the play set got together. What didn't get done Friday, Rich finished Saturday, except for the canopy. The canopy will be added when the wind dies down enough for it to be safe to put on. (I'll take another picture then, so everyone can see it totally finished.)

Rich took about an hour on Friday to take all the pieces from the bundles and lay them out in numerical order. He took a break for a while to start planting the garden. I was babysitting Rich's buddy's little guy (the 5 month old) while the buddy, Dave, was working. Dave stopped back about 2:30 to help Rich put the play set together. (I still babysat until Dave's wife came, then she stayed for a while too.)

All in all, the play set went together really well. We came in about 9:30 Friday night, but Rich had finished a while before that. (Yeah-we were playing!) There were a few setbacks as you'll see in the little slide show, but if the guys could have worked nonstop, it would have been together quite quickly.

This was my first time making a slide show like this. It's a little over 4 minutes and there is actually music! (Just the sample music that came on the computer. Maybe I'll try a little harder finding some different music the next time.)


Isn't the play set great?! We're extremely happy with everything about it!

• The instructions that came with it were really easy to follow. There was even a check off list that Rich made sure to go through before starting.
• It is made of wood that we never have to stain. Plus it is a beautiful color!
• The chains are coated so the kids' fingers don't get pinched.
• The slide and swings are just awesome! You can't help but smile when you get to the bottom of the slide and I don't think I've ever sat in more comfortable swings.
• Rich loved being able to put the rock wall together the way he wanted to. (He made one side the easy side and the other side the hard side.)
• The kids just love everything. They would stay out there all day if they could! :-)

I can't thank Dad Blogs and Kid's Creations enough for this amazing prize! It is truly a wonderful play set that I know my kids are safe on and it will probably last long enough for my grand kids to play on. If you are interested in a quality swing set, definitely check out Kid's Creations. You won't be disappointed! :-)

I wanted to thank Dad Blogs again for the camera as well. Without it, I wouldn't have gotten such great pictures of putting the play set together and of the kids playing! (I'm seriously in love with the new camera! LOL!)

It's Here!

The play set is here!

Bear was even excited to see it!

A super nice delivery guy from ABF Freight came at 10:45 this morning and unloaded the 1100 lbs of play set all by himself. I would have helped, but I think someone would have ended up hurt. (Most likely me! LOL!) He had it all under control with his lift and hand truck, but I sure felt bad for him because it was HEAVY!

As you can see, there is still the big job of putting it together. I'll post another update when we get to that. I'm hoping we have the chance this weekend, because Morgan is REALLY excited about her new play set! :-)

Thanks again to Dad Blogs and Kid's Creations for this AWESOME play set!

Wordless Wednesday: Fresh Scents in our Yard

Our yard smelled wonderful last week because of these:

Lilac

Apple Blossom

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Go Graham Go!, Healthy Moms and PB and Smelly's Dad.

Potty Time Tuesday: Accidents

I haven't been working with Blake lately, so I thought I'd mention what has been going on with Morgan.

Saturday afternoon, I took the kids out to play after their nap and a sippy cup of juice. They had been playing for a while, then we took a walk and when we got back I ran into the house for a minute to check the time. When I came back out, Morgan was fussing about something, but I couldn't see her, since she was standing behind the snowmobile in the garage. When I got over to her, she had wet her pants. We got her changed and I didn't think too much of it. She had drank a full sippy cup of juice about 30-45 minutes before and maybe it was just an accident. (She has been potty trained for over a year, but still has the occasional accident.)

We stayed outside for another hour or so, when I decided we should probably head in. Morgan ran ahead and on into the house, while I struggled with Blake. (He can sure put up a fight when he wants to stay outside!) When I got to Morgan, she was standing on the landing with a puddle all around her. I honestly couldn't believe that it happened AGAIN! I got her changed and the mess cleaned up yet again. While I was cleaning I was trying to figure out why she wouldn't have told me she had to go twice in a row? Plus, she was close enough to the bathroom the last time, that she could have just ran in and went!

I still don't know if I got it figured out, but I'm thinking that our tractor ride the night before might have had something to do with it. If you didn't happen to read that post, when we were on the tractor Morgan told me she had to go potty, but with no potties around I let her squat behind the tractor. She had been potty trained a year and I never thought once that it might confuse her, but with two accidents, I'm wondering if it did. I've talked to her about it over and over again, plus I have been constantly asking her is she has to go potty since Saturday. Thankfully there have been no more accidents even after having to squat in the weeds again Sunday night during another tractor ride. I hope she had just gotten a little confused and after our talks she has it all straight now. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed! LOL!)

To participate in Potty Time Tuesdays, head on over to Healthy Moms.

Make Something Monday (a little early): Patriotic Gelatin Salad

I just made this for Morgan's birthday party, but it would be great for a Memorial Day BBQ too! (I'm actually posting a little early, just in case someone wants to make it. It works great when it's made the night before!)

Patriotic Gelatin Salad
Be careful to leave enough time for each layer to almost set before adding a new layer. I allow the first couple layers at least 15 more minutes than recommended because they start off warmer.

• 2 packages (3 ounces each) berry blue gelatin
• 2 packages (3 ounces each) strawberry gelatin
• 4 cups boiling water, divided
• 2-1/2 cups cold water, divided
• 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In four separate bowls, dissolve each package of gelatin in 1 cup of boiling water. Add 1/2 cup of cold water to each and stir. Pour one bowl of blue gelatin into and oiled 10-in. fluted tube pan; chill until almost set, about 30 minutes. Set other three bowls of gelatin aside at room temperature. Soften unflavored gelatin in remaining cold water; let stand 5 minutes. Heat milk in a saucepan over medium heat just below boiling. Stir in sugar and softened gelatin until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and vanilla until smooth. When blue gelatin in pan is almost set, carefully spoon 1-1/2 cups sour cream mixture over it. Chill until almost set, about 30 minutes. Carefully spoon one bowl of strawberry gelatin over cream layer. Chill until almost set. Carefully spoon 1-1/2 cups cream mixture over strawberry layer. Chill until almost set. Repeat, adding layers of blue gelatin, cream mixture and strawberry gelatin, chilling in between each. Chill until firm, several hours or overnight. Yield: 16 servings.

The first time I tried making this, it tasted great, but looked miserable! Using the bundt cake pan, then turning it upside down onto a plate, then driving down bumpy roads in the Spring time to make it to the Easter gathering did not do the looks of this salad any favors! The layers all separated and it looked like a disaster. (Luckily it was a family gathering and they all understood.)

The second time I made this, I thought it would be nice to put it in a glass 9x13 pan, so you could see the pretty layers still without dumping it onto a plate for them to separate. That idea may have worked for some, but with our uneven kitchen/refridgerator, all the layers still looked like a mess! (That time it was for a 4th of July party-I don't think anyone cared? LOL!)

All the following times, I've just stuck it in a regular metal 9x13 pan, so all you see is the top until it is cut. At least it looks decent in the beginning! LOL! I actually make it quite often now. I make it for Easter, birthdays, 4th of July and graduation open houses. I've even changed the berry blue layer to lime for the Christmas gatherings. It tends to be a pretty big hit!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day weekend! :-)