So I don't normally do this...

So since Pinterest has become the new craze, I have been diligently utilizing it.  I also have been struggling with meal times for my family for as long as I can remember.  As a result of finding this site on Pinterest, I am super excited to say that Mealtimes are starting to look up!  Shrinking Kitchen has a post about Meal planning called Meal Plan Your Butt off.  We have tried the Quinoa Stir Fry - YUMMY! We have also tried the Skinny Enchiladas, which again - YUMMY.  I highly suggest that if you are looking for recipes and shopping lists and all of it for staying healthy.  And while I am at it, I also highly suggest another blog Put That in My Mouth.  This blog is a VERY dear friend who lost a lot of weight.  They share recipes in which helped them do it.  So here is to healthier eating and less fuss!  Hopefully!  Enjoy!  Kari

Birthday party

Do you remember when you were young and would just die if you could not attend some one's birthday?  Now a days birthdays get forgotten and mostly because adults don't want to remember how old they are.  Not Children!  It is all about the fun! And Kenzi got invited to a classmates birthday party at Planet Pizza.  Is is like Chuck E Cheese.  Kenzi loved it and had a great time with her friends!

 Kenzi and the birthday girl.  Thankfully her friend liked the Hello Kitty hat Kenzi picked out for her.

Enjoy! Kari

Cosmic Jump

So over spring break we met up with some friends from school at Cosmic Jump.  It is a place that you are constantly jumping.  It was great exercise for Kenzi and she loved it!

 Here she is playing Dodge ball.  She loved it until she got hit in the face twice.  Then it was not such a great idea to try it.  This is actually what I am going to do for Carter's birthday this year.  Yep, we are playing Dodge ball!

Enjoy! Kari

Open House

So many of you may not know, but I volunteer at Kenzi's school three days a week.  And this week everyone is abuzz getting ready for Open House!  Well it went really well!  Kenzi was very excited to seat us at Mrs. L's Lunchbox.

Here is Chef Kenzi.  Isn't she adorable!

So here Chef Kenzi is showing us the "What will I invent" board.  Her sheet said she would invent a robot so it would do her homework!

Here Kenzi took us to the "When I grow up" board.  Kenzi is going to to be a teacher by day and Batgirl by night.  She wants to be Batgirl because there are not enough super heroes in the world.  She wants to be a teacher because she likes to play with kids.  The thing that she will have to do to become a teacher is read.

So this was an Open House for me too.  I made the tree that we are standing in front of.  I got a lot of compliments on this tree.  It was a lot of fun!  And it is great to see every one's work on it!

Thanks for reading!  Later, Kari.

Jump Rope Workshop

So KeEnzi had an opportunity to learn how to Jump rope after school.  She loved doing it though I am not sure she was actually jumping rope by the end.  But maybe she will practicing and get better.  She was so easy to pick out of the crowd!  Enjoy!  Kari

Hello Blog world!!!  This has been the longest that I have ever not posted.  And there is way too much to catch up on so I am only moving forward!  As you can see Kenzi is growing like a weed!  She makes a great arm rest.  Soon I am sure I will make a good one for her!  We all are alive and well and have a had a lot going on.  I think it has finally slowed down enough so that we could share what is going on with everyone.  So keep an eye out for more fun posts!  Later!  Kari

Prezzi ideas

So I have been wanting to share something I made for cousins weddings.  I actually gave this to a friend for her wedding too.  I have gotten positive feedback and it is simple.  My biggest problem was trying to make it be something that each couple would like and go with their decorating decor.  Red is a fairly obvious decorating color for LOVE.  But what do you do when the bride says she likes blues and turquoise.  Well look below...

 This is the turquoise fan and I thought it turned out great!  I used a paper towel to get the bloches of dark paint.  I then used rhinestone stickers and put them on wrapping them wherever I needed.  If you find the stickers popping off and out, then snip where it would need to bend and lay it back where it would go.

 This was for a cousin that said she would decorate with modern Asian minimalist theme.  I am sure I am not stating that correctly.  But anyhow, after the letter was painted a bright red I used mod podge to adhere the vellum with the Kanji word for love printed on it.  I then found the Asian flower for love which is a red carnation flower.  I cut a hole in the letter so the flower would not poke out too far.  If the flower pokes out to far, the letter would not stay standing.  I used liquid class to adhere them.  This was easier to have dry as I just laid the letters down. I also made sure to not have the flowers in a straight line as I was not sure I would be able to get them exactly straight and that would only bug me.

 This cousin said she would decorate in earth tones.  So I used a dark red paint to cover the letters and used paper to cover the front.  I didn't want to exactly copy her sisters above so I choose one  rose for one letter.  I used liquid glass adhesive and a ribbon to adhere this flower to the "L".  I would have used a glue gun but I did not take it with me on my vacay!  I did have to put weights in the back so this letter would not fall over.

I think that all of these turned out better than I had planned. These three different types were for three cousins that are sisters.  There is one more sister to get married so I will need to make one for her.  I really enjoyed making them and think it is a nice touch to have anywhere in the house.  Enjoy! Kari!

So some of you may remember Kenzi's house that she got as a birthday present from Gram Mac in 2008.  Unfortunately, the house was falling apart and we feel that with being analyzed to adopt children it would be seen as a hazard and not a cute and safe play area!  So as we lovingly remember our time with Kenzi's house we approached Kenzi about having to take it down.  I thought there would be crying and whining.  "DO I GET TO USE MY HAMMER!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

So on a nice Saturday morning,Shanette came over and we got to work.

 Can you believe that pile of wood was once a house?  While we will miss the house, it was A LOT of fun tearing it down!  Later! Kari

Labor Days Activities

So on Labor Day we had plans of going to Fort Worth to the Cowgirl Museum and the Museum of Fort Worth. We did not quite make it after Kenzi had a rough morning. So after we got some chores done at home and Kenzi changed her attitude we headed to the park to fly her kite. It was a pretty windy day and great for Kites. We also thought it would be good to get the dogs out. They loved it! Enjoy!

My camera is doing this wierd white wash on my pictures but it has been so hot and we are in a drought that the grass in this picture is pretty much what most yards look like.

I thought this picture was cool because you could see the shadow of the kite and Kenzi.

Kenzi got this kite for her birthday and we finally were able to fly it. She LOVES it!

We are thankful to have cooler weather and I am REALLY excited for winter. Bring on the freezes! Kari

Six Flags...

So another fun thing we did was go to Six Flags, which used to be Marine World. So they still have a lot of the animal shows. Kenzi said her favorite was the Dolphin show. It was pretty cool! Enjoy!

Kenzi was soooo happy to have ridden the bumper cars! She was happy to be at Six Flags. She was still talking about her trip to Six Flags over Texas that she went to when she turned 5. So I am sure this is just going to add fuel to her memories even more! That is fine by me!

Kenzi riding one of the kids rides ALL by herself.

Since I get really sick, yes pucking and all, on the teacups, Uncle Ken went with Kenzi on them. Of course, he is such a big guy that they thing in the middle you use to turn the cup was rubbing on his legs!
Kenzi eating the cotton candy at the Dolphin show.

Kenzi and her old friend, The Flash!

I kept asking Kenzi if she got the Penguin but she kept telling me that she was not looking for them!

They have a "water ride" for kids and she LOVED it. It was a warm day so she got cooled off really well. After her turn was done, I told her to go hug Gramma, but she was not there so she hugged Grampa instead. He LOVED it. Again it was warm!

A picture from the dolphin show. Do you know they actually give dolphins a time out when they have done something they are not supposed to. No joke! They gave them a time out right in the middle of the show!

The tiger show was fascinating! Tigers cannot climb trees but they jump high and they are great swimmers.

We had a great day at Six Flags and with the family. Thanks Mom, Dad, Ken and Norma! We miss you guys! Kari