Here’s a peek into my freezer.
Please ignore the disorganization of my top two freezer shelves.
Focus on the contents.
ice cream sandwiches * 4 tubs of ice cream * freezy pops * popsicles * ice cream bars
Two reasons for this:
1 -Our family loves ice cream
2 – It’s 108 degrees outside!
Shopping with my children is going to cost me big.
In fact, it’s starting to add up right now.
Just this morning we were in our neighborhood grocery store picking up a few items when it happened.
Again.
While holding my two year old, I began placing apples in a bag quickly. I was focused on buying the few items we needed and getting out of the store as fast as possible.
The boys, who had been following behind me, were now picking up fruit and weighing it on the scales. First an apple, then a cucumber, but then they decided they needed to go bigger, finally settling on an enormous Christmas melon.
Just as I turned around from the apples, I saw the melon fly from Alex’s hands and land on the ground. With a thud and a splat the melon split open.
Alex looked up at me with big eyes and said, “Oops.”
It was here where my moral drawbridge came crashing down. Without children I would have picked up the fruit, placed it gently back on its former resting space and walked away nonchalantly. My eyes would have remained focused on the fruit in an attempt to avoid all eye contact with other customers or grocery store employees.
With kids though it’s another story.
If I walk away from the fruit while I’m with them, I’m convinced I’m leading them into a life of crime. When they are standing before Jugde Wapner and being sentenced the only statement they will give is, “Well sir (in my mind they may lead a life of crime but they will still be polite) I was just doing what my mother does. My mother once ripped a shirt trying it on and she just left it in the changing room.”
I let out a sigh and had Alex place the melon into our cart. I explained that if you damage something in a store you are still expected to pay for it. At least when you are with me.
So with my $3.79 melon combined with the $5.95 doll I had to buy earlier in the week due to my daughter ripping open the box, I am out $9.74.
So as you can see my children are costing me a fortune. I’m thinking of starting a tab for each one of my children. Each time they damage something in a store I’m taking it out of their first paycheck.
And I will be charging them interest.
When Alex turned 5 four years ago he requested a CARS party.
It was tons of fun and fairly easy to put together.
Since it was a race car party we needed a race track cake. The track is made of black sugar crystals while the side boards are cardboard. We made the “start” and “finish” signs and placed some of his hot wheels on the cake.
 Race Car Birthday Cake
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The first activity of the party was to take some Crayola Air-Dry Clay and use it to form their own race cars. This activity didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked. Some of the kids were not satisfied with their creations and complained since it didn’t look like Lightning McQueen.
While the clay didn’t go over so well, the bean bag toss was a huge hit. We took a large piece of wood, cut 5 holes in them, and modged podged some large CARS stickers on with various point values underneath. HUGE HIT with the 5 year old crowd.
 Creating Cars from Air-Dry Clay
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 Bean Bag Toss
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Another favorite outdoor activity was “The Big Race.” Alex and I decorated 2 diaper boxes and turned them into cars. Alex put race numbers on them as well as headlights and wheels. Two at at a time the kids raced around the yard usually laughing the entire time. The plastic helmets I bought added to the excitement.
 “The Big Race”
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 Little Brother wants to play too
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After running around the backyard the kids were ready for an inside activity. I made the CARS Bingo cards, laminated them, and created call cards. I went a little over board and created 15 individual cards. All of the kids loved the bingo game and played several rounds.
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CARS Bingo Game
It’s a Printable!
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Would you like a copy of the CARS BINGO game?
Please go here & print a copy.
Please consider becoming a follower of Big D and Me if you decide to download the game
Having difficulty downloading? Contact me and I’ll email you a copy.
Took the kids to the circus yesterday.
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It was tons of fun.
Only problem is that my boys are now practicing on their beds to become Chinese acrobats.
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I am sure a trip to the hospital is imminent.
Here are some of the games our family is enjoying this summer
YAHTZEE – I’m taking my six year old to Vegas based on his history with this game |
MEXICAN TRAIN One of the greatest games for all ages of your family |
CLUE – An oldy but goody on the game front – Just played this today with my 6 & 9 year olds and lost |
DON’T BREAK THE ICE – My two year old is still learning the concept of taking turns so she usually smashes for fifteen seconds and the games over |
MONOPOLY – We actually own Oceanolopy so we are buying and selling codfish by the hundred |
BLOKUS – New game to us – great for those who like puzzles and visual challenges
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What are some of your favorite games to play?
We recently returned from a two day mini vacation in San Antonio where we visited Sea World (“Yeah, you are the best parents in the world!”) and The Alamo (“This is soooo hot and boring. Can we go home now?”).
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Derek chose our hotel since it was close to Sea World and I must say it was quite nice. Whomever designed the space thought it out well except for three design flaws which I have taken issue with. I have composed a letter outlining the three areas in question in hopes that they will rectify the situation before our next visit.
Dear Mr. Hotel Room Designer:
I just stayed in one of your hotels with my family and had a pleasant stay. However, I could have enjoyed my stay more had the following issues been addressed when you initially designed the rooms.
#1 – I applaud you for putting a sink in the bathroom. Many third world countries skip that step so again, I applaud you. I understand that 65% of Americans do not wash their hands after using the restroom. We, however, like to think of ourselves as part of the other 35%. So perhaps next time you could design a bathroom where the sink is out from the corner and larger than an airplant sink. Rinsing my mouth after brushing my teeth was quite difficult and required more flexibility than Mary Lou Retton ever had.
#2 – I appreciate technology as much as the next person and realize it must be at our fingertips but I ask you, must it really be at two year old fingertips? In my opinion, your front desk employees’ time would better be served helping your paying customers instead of constantly answering my daughter’s room service requests. Fortunately, she didn’t spend all of her time with the phone. The television was also at her height so she enjoyed turning it on and off repeatedly, much to the dismay of her brothers.
#3 – I understand you went to a high priced design school in New York and know design but I was wondering if next time you might decide to pass up the frosted glass doors for the bathroom. I love my family, it’s just that I’d rather not see the outline of them doing their business while I watch Law and Order reruns. Perhaps since you knew the two year old would be controlling the television you decided to provide an alternate method of entertainment for the adults. My husband and I have always wanted to perfect our shadow puppet routine and you gave us the opportunity.
In closing, I would like to thank you for allowing my family to stay in your fine establishment. It was extremely relaxing once my children fell asleep. Please consider making the above changes.
Yours truly,
Jennifer
I have to admit when I first found out I was having a girl I thought…I can’t do girl. I know boys – Legos, Star Wars, wrestling. Then Caroline came along and eased my fears, at least for now. Thankfully, she enjoys all those things but is girly as well. She wears a super hero cape but insists it has a coordinating hair bow.
I can’t french braid, put hair up in a twist, or even put in pig tails. Although to be honest, I haven’t needed these skills yet since Caroline has very thin but extremely curly hair. So far, spraying it with water, brushing it, and fluffling it in the morning has worked.
Caroline likes to have bows in her hair but they rarely stay in due to her thin hair. Through etsy.com I found McClippies and decided to take a chance on their bows. I ordered them and have been thrilled with them. They stay in Caroline’s hair and are beyond precious.
Go ahead and check them out if you are in need of some adorable hair products.
I bought four clippies but wish we had several more. You can see the clippies Caroline has below.
Aren’t they adorable?
I was a shameless mother to Caroline.
But in the interest of full disclosure I should tell you this.
After consuming a dinner of milk, orange slices, and cheddar biscuits at Red Lobster last Friday night, Caroline proceeded to vomit her entire stomach contents on the restaurant floor.
It was a lot. I’m talking change of shoes and clothing bad.
I’m pretty sure I will never eat another cheddar biscuit for as long as I live.
Oh, and it was our first and only trip to Red Lobster.
The following day Caroline and I ended up in the children’s book section of Borders while the boys finished up in a movie. One hour into the movie and she was done so we went for a walk.
Caroline and I were standing side by side browsing the movie section when I let quite a foul smelling gas escape. It was silent. I do have some pride.
At the moment of release, a woman stopped directly behind us to examine a book.
I’m not proud of what I did next.
I bent down and said, “Caroline, do we need to change your diaper?”
Yes. I Did. I blamed her for the smell.
Let me just remind you about REGURGITATED CHEDDAR BISCUITS ON THE FLOOR!
A little tit for tat.
I am pitiful and shameless.
And smelly.
Recently, I discovered the “My Little Pony” of yesterday and the “My Little Pony” of today are quite different.
I turned on the television for Caroline in an attempt to distract her so I could cook dinner. Seeing as my only two choices were “Scooby Doo” and “My Little Pony,” I went with the later, and walked into our adjacent kitchen.
I listened to the show as I was taking out the boxed macaroni and cheese, frozen chicken nuggets, and applesauce began cutting some fresh vegetables for dinner. As I listened to more of the dialogue I realized something was amiss.
My sisters and I had a whole herd of ponies when we were younger. First came the ponies which later morphed into the unicorns and seahorses. In fact, we were such My Little Pony connoisseurs we even had the plastic traveling case. I know…we were the cool kids. We played for hours on end with the ponies, combing their hair with the color coordinating brushes and creating stories for our menagerie.
Good childhood memories.
As I walked back to the television, I was convinced the soundtrack must have been switched with another show. I had always associated My Little Pony with sweet stories of friendship and this is not what I was hearing. Something must be wrong with the channel. I pulled up the synopsis of this particular episode…. shortly before I ended up changing the channel.
Here’s what it said:
Friendship is Magic: Part 2
Twilight and the rest of her friends join forces to fight the evil Night Mare moon, who has not only stolen the magical elements of Harmony from Equestria, but also kidnapped the pony kingdom’s beloved Princess Celestia.
Not quite the “My Little Pony” that I remember.
In fact, it sounds a little like the description of a porno movie to me.
*Thank you friends and family for inquiring about my health. I am on the road to recovery and will be back tomorrow. For now, I’ll leave you with this inspiring story*
This was on the editor’s page in our local paper:
On a hot Friday afternoon, the teen director at the local Family YMCA walked his 19 teenagers – ages 12 to 18 – across the street for a well-deserved treat at the local Sonic Drive-In.
Some of the teens had enough money to purchase lunch, but several could only muster $1 for a drink and had brought their lunches from home.
As the director and his teens were getting settled, a Sonic employee came over and opened his hand, revealing a wad of cash – $100, to be exact.
As the Y’s teen director looked up in surprise, the Sonic employee pointed to a white bearded man in a tan SUV pulling away from the Sonic. This kind gentleman had given our YMCA teens $100 to enjoy lunch.
Our teen director quickly took the opportunity to educate his teens to pay it forward. As the gentleman drove off, the teens all signaled their appreciation to him, but, being a modest soul, he was already looking the other way.
