Strawberry Pie

It's been really really hot here in the Midwest. Unseasonably hot for June. We have spent every hot day at the pool since school got out. My kids are tired of the pool. already. It's going to be a long summer! So today my sister and I decide to take the kids to a u-pick strawberry farm in Indy. We had a great day making memories! The kids picked strawberries for about 2 minutes and 26 seconds, and then they went back to the van to play their DS games. So my sister, my parents, and I continue picking until our buckets are full. Here is Devin with his "Big Mamma" strawberry he found!

And here is Dalton and Audrey before they started picking. Audrey said it was "way too sunny" to open her eyes for a picture.
After we had all the fun we could handle at the strawberry farm, we head to a nearby park. We pull in and these two say they are just going to sit in the van and play their DSs. "Oh no you're not!" the moms bark in unison from the front seat. So they get out and play fight until we can't take it any more.
On the way back to my sister's house, she stops and gets 2 pie shells and some yummy Wick's pie glaze. Then we go home and pick stems off the berries, wash and dry them, then make 2 beautiful pies. We are so proud of our beauties. These are works of art. Later I load up my van and all of our stuff from the day (including my beautiful pie), and one of my sons (who will remain anonymous) steps on my pie! Oh. my. word. So much for my work of art!

The one in which my husband calls Kirk Cameron "Dude"!

I grew up watching Kirk Cameron on Growing Pains! I totally had a crush on Mike Seaver. I mean come on, what girl my age didn't? I had pictures of him from Teen Beat all over my bedroom walls. I dreamed of meeting him and him deciding I would be his girlfriend and we would live happily ever after! Okay, then I grew up and realized that would never happen.

Now Kirk Cameron is famous for a whole different reason. If you saw him in the movie Fireproof, you would know him as fireman Caleb Holt. Since then Kirk Cameron has become very passionate about saving marriages. We were able to join some friends of ours and go to Kirk's Love Worth Fighting For seminar. We were blessed by what he had to say, and I never thought I would get to actually to speak to him. We chose not to pay extra money for the meet & greet after he spoke.

So it's the end of the seminar, and my husband and I with our friends go out a back entrance. We parked in different locations, so our friends exit out a side door and head to the parking lot. My husband and I continue walking down the hallway (I'm a few steps behind him) and he starts talking to the guy in front of us (which if you know my husband, this is nothing new!). I am totally oblivious to what is going on and am reading the locker room signs. The guy asks him if he enjoyed the night. My husband tells him yes it was great and thanks. And then I realize he is talking to Kirk Cameron. And I start getting a little nervous. So at this point the conversation goes like this:

My husband: "Dude, could you do me a favor?"

Kirk Cameron: "sure, what?" (he is totally sincere)

My husband: "Could you say hello to my wife?"

Kirk Cameron: "sure". and he stops and says (to me!) "hello". And shakes my hand!! "Did you enjoy tonight?"

Me: I think I said something like "yes. thank you. we want you to come to Greenfield, Indiana"

Kirk Cameron: "Greenville, Indiana?"

My husband: "No Greenfield"

Then his publicity guy whisks him away into the crowd to go sign autographs for all the people who paid extra to meet him. Then I in my high pitched very excited voice scream, "how did that just happen?"!! So that is my Kirk Cameron story, and if he ever comes to Greenfield, Indiana, I will definitely pay extra so I can get a picture and autograph!!

gogo's crazy bones

If you have school aged children, maybe you've heard of this newest obsession. GOGO's CRAZY BONES are the new cool thing in our neighborhood. We were able to share with some friends of ours. Here are the boys with their favorite crazy bones.

It didn't take long for the boys to make their way through the bowl and then begin trading with each other and putting stickers in their books. There are a total of 80 to collect, so let the collecting begin!
And you can check out their very cool website and learn all about how to start your very own collection.

My 200th Post!!

Wow! My 200th post! My 100th post was March 4, 2009. It's taken me over 2 years to get to this point. I don't really have a goal when it comes to blogging. I just blog whenever the mood hits. I read LOTS of blogs and I have come to realize I will never have a huge following, I will never write a cookbook, or a novel, or a decorating/organizing book, or have my love story published. But that is okay! I write mainly to remember and to brag on my kids. One day they will look back and realize how important they are! So without further ado......here are 100 more things about little. old. me.

1. I dislike humidity.

2. Humidity makes me grouchy!

3. I live in the Midwest-it is very humid here in the summer.

4. I just graduated from MOPS.

5. My kids get out of school May 26^th.

6. My kids cannot wait for school to end.

7. I wish summer break was shorter!

8. I don’t know what we are going to do this summer.

9. I need to start planning summer activities.

10. I have read 26 books so far this year.

11. I love, love, love to read.

12. I wish I could get paid to read.

13. I would be a wealthy girl if I did.

14. I would rather read than clean or cook.

15. My house is picked up, but not spotless.

16. My favorite TV show right now is THE MIDDLE.

17. I am starting a book study on prayer tomorrow.

18. For Mother’s Day, I got a gift certificate for a mani, pedi, & facial.

19. We are going to Myrtle Beach this summer.

20. I walked a half marathon last year.

21. I plan to register for another half marathon this fall.

22. I am going to train better this year and hopefully beat my last time.

23. I need to buy new sheets for our bed.

24. I need to drink more water & less diet pop!

25. I was one of those moms who said we would NEVER have a trampoline.

26. We are on our third trampoline.

27. I’ve learned to never say never!

28. I love to swing and ride bikes.

29. We just adopted 2 gerbils.

30. My sister and I have big plans to get our craft on next year while our kids are in school.

31. My new favorite word is HORMOTIONAL (hormones + emotional = hormotional)

32. Kids tend to gather in our back yard.

33. I just watched the movie Back-Up Plan. It was good!

34. I want my haircut & colored like Anita Renfroe.

35. Her song In the Muthahood cracks me up!

36. I love to meet authors!

37. I want to go on a cruise for my 40^th birthday (August 5^th, 2014)!

38. I wished I blogged more often,

39. I often have really, really good intentions, but poor follow-through!

40. I love entering contests!

41. My boys never pick up their Legos.

42. I hate when I step on little tiny Lego pieces. They hurt!

43. I hate putting laundry away. I would much rather wash, dry, and fold!

44. I love to be outdoors (as long as it’s not humid).

45. I love getting a summer tan.

46. I am a nurse and know tans are not healthy!

47. I think everyone looks better with a little color.

48. In January, everyone gets pasty white in Indiana.

49. In February, I sometimes go to the tanning bed.

50. I am a nurse and know tanning beds are not healthy.

51. I love going to Goodwill.

52. I try to go once a week and check out their new stuff.

53. I have bought 2 pairs of shoes (I wear sz 11-hard to find!) for myself there.

54. Danskos are my favorite shoes ever. Maybe one day I will find a pair at Goodwill!

55. I do not use credit cards.

56. Dave Ramsey is my hero.

57. My husband got to meet Dave Ramsey; I did not!

58. My favorite season in fall.

59. Last year we planted a garden; the weeds took over.

60. We are not planting a garden this year!

61. I review books for 3 different publishers.

62. We have lived in our house for almost 6 years.

63. I don’t know what’s for dinner yet.

64. My favorite color is green.

65. I really need to re-do my master bedroom.

66. It’s the only room exactly the same since we moved into our house.

67. I am a minimalist when it comes to decorations.

68. I love couponing.

69. But I am not an extreme couponer!

70. I’ve never paid a couple dollars for 3 carts full of groceries.

71. I love Paper Back Swap!

72. I’ve saved $175.50 using Paper Back Swap!

73. I rarely buy a book. I’d much rather borrow or rent from the library!

74. I could talk about books for hours with anyone.

75. I am going to see Kirk Cameron speak in a few weeks.

76. I want to buy a new pair of Birkenstocks now that the weather is warm.

77. I am an excellent speller.

78. I would love to go back to Hawaii.

79. I love fountain drinks from the gas station.

80. My kids drive me crazy some days.

81. Some days I forget how old I am and have to do the math in my head.

82. Birthdays are really not that exciting to me.

83. I love a big salad better than any meal!

84. I am working on praying more and better.

85. I do not miss studying. I don’t know what I would do if I still had to take exams!

86. I want to collect sea glass. It intrigues me!

87. I wish we had a Chick-Fil-A in our town.

88. I would go there a lot if we did.

89. I enjoy riding on the back of my husband’s motorcycle.

90. I have never driven a motorcycle and have no desire to.

91. I would love to be a camp nurse for the summer.

92. If my boys are outside, their shirts are usually off.

93. I yell “shut the door” at least 50 times a day.

94. We have one dog. A labradoodle named Dash.

95. I love sitting outside and reading books.

96. I do not know how to sew.

97. I love getting packages in the mail.

98. Doing homework with the kids is never fun!

99. Some of my nicknames are Gert, Domo, & Aunt D.

100.If you read through this entire list, I love you!!

And if you're not bored yet, you can read my original 100 things about me.

Being a Mom!

I am the mom to a 10 year old (how is that possible?!?) and two 6 year olds now! The boys only have 14 more days of school! I only have 14 more days of freedom! How does the school year go so fast? It feels like I just put the Christmas decorations back in the attic, and soon it will be summer! Here are some pictures of our birthday celebration with the family! My sister was so creative with her gifts for the boys. She loves making crafts, and next year when our kids are in school all day, we have grandiose plans to scrap and craft like crazy!!

The crazy cousins decided to smash cake in their faces. On GG's white carpet, of course!
Here is the best picture of the twins that I could get. They love being 6, and I cannot believe they are almost done with kindergarten!
We were able to borrow a small bounce house for the day. Unfortunately it was cold and rainy that day, but the weather did not deter the kids. They still had tons of fun nontheless!!

What to do at a 99th Birthday Party....

I still have one living grandparent. She turned 99 on April 2nd. My boys reminded me today that "Grandma Fisher is almost 100!". In honor of her birthday, we had a small family gathering where she lives. I love the fruit bouquet with the 99 made out of pineapple.

We had to get a group picture with Grandma Fisher and the 7 great-grandkids that were there!
And when things got a little boring for the kids, they broke out the conga line. Yes, that's my mom (or GG as we all call her) bringing up the rear of the line. I wonder what we'll do at GG's 99th birthday?!?

April!

I cannot believe it is April already. 2011 has flown by. Summer will be here before I know it. Last week was the boy's Spring Break, so we took off to St. Louis for a few days. We were excited to get away and enjoy a change of scenery. The boys were so excited to swim at the hotel pool. They all said that was their favorite thing! Here are a few of my favorite things from the trip.

1. The Arch! Sadly they were sold out of tickets to ride to the top by the time we arrived at the arch. I didn't know you can reserve tickets online in advance. So now we have an excuse to go back to the city.

2. The St. Louis zoo. It was a great zoo and the admission price (free!) can't be beat. Every move was strategically planned by the boys.
3. This boy turned 10 while we were away. I cannot believe I have a 10 year old. I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. 10 years goes really fast!!
4. My husband decided I needed to be in a picture with the boys because I'm always the one behind the camera. So the one picture I actually get in, all three of my boys decide to make goofy faces. Nice.
5. And lastly a St. Louis cardinal. I love cardinals and my boys have become very good at spotting them and pointing them out to me. We all get excited. St. Louis is also VERY into their Cardinal's baseball team...there were cardinal's fans everywhere! So we all got excited about seeing a real St. Louis cardinal!!