Big Four Year Old!

Elena turned 4 on the 6th of July, and we celebrated by throwing a HUGE block party! Just kidding, it was only us and Grandma Feagin. We did a Hello Kitty theme, as Elena feels like she is her own personal friend. (Don't worry we don't promote fantasy worlds beyond the norm with our children.)

I made the cake. It was a risk I had to take after searching several stores who had no cake mold, and I can't afford the lady at work who makes cakes as a side job.

So what did I do? Improvise!!

I went online and got some ideas. I made the cake on a rectangle pan and then froze it overnight. Then I drew the outline on a regular piece of paper and cut it out. The next day I put it on top of the semi-thawed cake and cut around it. Success! Then I used those hand-dandy frosting-in-a-bottle thingies. And voila!

I was very proud of the results. Every time something turns out right I feel more confident to try something else new! And it was right tasty too! Lemony inside, and cream cheesy outside.

However, we did not eat the cake until after our little scavenger hunt. I placed little wrapped Hello Kitty goodies all around the house, inside and outside, along with instructions as to where to find the next present. Aaron and Daddy had a blast helping her find everything. As did she, of course. Here's the loot--

The final prize was a new Hello Kitty bicycle! It's her first bike of any kind, so we get to learn on some training wheels! She loves it to pieces.

We got to open some other frizzits too! (frizzits=presents)

I can't believe my baby is FOUR! **sniff, sniff**

Next year she'll start school!!

crazy, crazy...

A Vision and High Temperatures

One day in May I woke up with an idea in my head. Something I had been pondering for a time and a vision formed. I did a little reasearch online, then headed for home depot. You see, I have been wanting for years to have a successful vegetable garden. But because of many factors; abundant wildlife, poor soil, awkward location, etc etc.- I have been unsucessful. Until now! This is the result...

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Drumroll please!

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A 4'x4' raised bed garden! Fully enclosed with a net to keep birds and vermine out (supported by pvc), and underneath the box is a fully reinforced steel mesh to keep out burrowers who like to munch roots, as well as a mat of burlap to keep weeds at bay. I must say, I was incredibly proud of my efforts and the results. It took maybe 4 hours tops, and the kids splashed in the pool while I hammered and poured dirt. Jim was pleasantly surprised when he got home from work, expecially since he had no idea it was brewing. This photo was taken a month ago or so, and the plants are doing really well. I do my best to keep it watered in this 100 degree weather.

Which brings me to the next topic at hand. The Heat! They say in the month of June, our area had 16 days of over 90 degree weather. 2 of those days were over 100. So far July is pretty much the same. Yesterday it reached 105, hotter than Vegas, baby! Hopefully today it will only be 100. So we've been doing a lot of swimming.

Ahhhhh, sweet relief!

We don't have a membership at our pool, and it would cost like $16 for all of us to go swimming one time. So I am grateful to have a good friend who lives in an apartment with a pool!

Here are the kids on the 4th of July, waiting for it to get dark.

We had fun watching our local fireworks display. Hope everyone had a happy holiday weekend!