Jello Jigglers

Check.  I was going to put a tutorial, but my camera battery died, and c'mon the directions are on the side of the box.  Summarized version? Ingredients: 4 small packages of Jello, boiling water, cookie cutters-and that's it. I almost felt cheated.  Do you remember the commercials for Jello Jigglers?  They looked so cool, and always seemed really complicated-nope, it was a lie.  The only hard part is the waiting for them to cool.  However, if you do it in the morning without "help" (I do not desire my helpers to help with boiling water-just my opinion).  Leave them in the fridge and bust them out for dessert-you are officially the best Mom ever.



Yah, that's right-we brought out the holiday cookie cutters!

They were enjoyed by all the boys.  I must give caution that you note the ......"outcome" of blue Jello.  You can't say you haven't been warned.

Our "Garden"

Summer check list: Plant Veggies
Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures when they were wee babes. But just as an idea, I bought the veggies at lowes, and the herbs at Walmart. You know what they looked like-pretty small.  I have always wanted to have a garden, but we live in a condo.  I decided I wanted to plant a couple things-and I am not going to lie, I was pretty sick of paying a ridiculous amount at the grocery store for a green bell pepper.  But also, for some reason, it seems like when you grow your own they just taste better.

I wish I could brag and say I had a "green thumb", but I think they are pretty easy.  

That being said, store bought+miracle grow soil+water and sunshine=

Parsley, Basil, Green Bell Peppers, Tomato tree...I mean plant.

I have done the first two, but never veggies. Check this out:

The tomato tree kept growing and growing, taller than Abram..

And it now has SEVEN tomatoes on it!! I am SO excited, we are a tomato lovin' kind of family.

Check out these bad boys!!  We had them in a salad the other day-AWESOME!

Dear Green Bell Pepper Plant,

Thank you so much for already paying for yourself.  You were SO worth taking a chance on. We are so grateful.

Love, The Raisors

Summer To-Do List

At the beginning of Summer, I made a "to do" list of fun things to do with the kiddos this Summer. I am happy to say that we have completed quite a few things. I am blogging about it to help keep me accountable.  I am definitely a list maker-I love lists, I love the idea that one day I will be organized.....one day. 
On with the list...in no particular order.
1. Plant veggies and herbs-check (In fact the tomato plant is now bigger than Abram and has 7 tomatoes on it, the green bell pepper plant has 3 bell peppers, and we have been using the basil and parsley all Summer!)
2. Make homemade ice cream
3. Go  to a splash pad
4. Ride bikes- check, but in need of much more riding
5. Make edible playdough
6. PLAYDATES!- check, check, double check, and hope to check some more!
7. Picnic at Sequoyah
8. Go to Farmers Market- check, and got some delicious honey jelly, made biscuits the next morning and Abram ate seven of them!
9. Go on a hike
10. Play in a creek
11. See Fireworks (hopefully that will be checked on Monday)
12. Catch lightening bugs (and let them go)
13. Go to Ijams
14. Go to drive in-check Cars 2, not impressed with the movie-but we had fun with fun friends
15. Go to a movie ($1 movie-Despicable Me, lasted a little over an hour before Reese couldn't take sitting still any longer)
16. Daddy/Abram date
17. Daddy/Reese date
18. Mommy/Abram date
19. Mommy/ Reese date
20. Go to Ohio and see family
21. Berry Picking-check
22. Make freezer jam- check
23. Go to Volunteer Landing
24. Make Tie-Dye t-shirts
25. Eat popsicles -check
26. Play Freeze dance
27. Fingerpaint
28. Cedar Hill Park
29. Make bathtub paint-check
30. Daddy/Abram camping
31. Make Jello jigglers- check, and not as complicated as I thought, the kids LOVED them. However, if you decide to make "berry blue" and your 4 year old eats a lot, you may have a conversation that goes like so: (Coming from the bathroom)

Abram: "MOM!! I NEED YOU, HURRY!!!!"
Me: "Are you okay?!"
Abram: MOM, HURRY!! HURRY!!
Getting a little nervous I hurry to the bathroom, to find a wide-eyed boy looking into the toilet, "MOM YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!! MY POOP IS REALLY GREEN!!"
I look down and see flourescent green in the toilet, and sigh.
Me: "Well, that's what happens when you eat a lot of jello, I guess."
Abram: "Aww, I wish it was blue."

Summer= fun in all shapes, sizes, and apparently colors.

Art Project in the Bathtub

I have been eyeing blogs for a while with fun Summer stuff to do.  One idea I found was from The Idea Room making paint for the bathtub. Super easy and super fun.  Wanna know how? I will tell you.

*note: if you have smaller children, you might not want to let them "help" make it, unless you do not care to clean up :) But then again, most of your children probably don't insist on their dinosaurs "helping" too....

First you need supplies (which you may already have)...

I used a muffin tin, but you can use any sort of container. That may be easier than holding the tin the entire time.
Add 2T of cornstarch per muffin tin....

Add 1/4 C baby shampoo to each...

Add 4-5 drops of food coloring...

Stir until smooth, then add a little bit of water to thin it out (by this time I was a little nervous about carrying upstairs to the bathtub and asked the "helpers" to head on up). 

Then you just paint away.....

And have sponges on hand for a nice clean up....

High five for a clean bath tub!!

(And then you may want to let the water out and refill with clean water in case they decided to paint each other's hair and the water is too dirty to wash it out-just sayin'. But totally worth it.)

I Heart Thursdays

(So just as an update, Reese still goes when I ask him, but doesn't really ask to go unless we are near the potty-which is upstairs-and personally I think it's for the song and dance Abram made up for when he does go. That, and flushing the toilet-he's a big fan of flushing.  Which is better than playing in it-which he used to be a big fan of-yuck.  On with the post..)

On Thursdays, I get to watch my nephew Isaac.  And the best part is the boys getting to be with their cousin. They are super cute together. As evidence by:

(Too bad my kiddos look like they are rockin the "bum cutt" in this picture, otherwise it would be perfect.  Who am I kidding-they are still adorable!)

There is a wee hill behind our condo that Kris pull the kids up in the wagon and lets them go-a  redneck rollercoaster-if you will.  They love it.  And they love being pulled around as well.....

I Am SO Not Ready For This....

Reese has been grabbing his diaper the past few day saying "Itchy!" and when I check him, usually his diaper is wet.  You see, I went through a long, long, long potty training period with Abram. So I decided to be a lot more laid back with Reese.  Tonight, just for funsies I got out

just to get him used to the idea.  He got really excited about it.  It was before bath time and I just had him sit on it and we talked about how you pee and poop in the potty-and he peed a tiny bit. I thought it was a fluke and he wanted to keep sitting, so I let him. 

Eventually he got in the bath, mid bath Abram needed to get out to go potty. Reese followed and sat on the frog potty-and went.  He stood up and Kris, Abram, and I all started cheering, to which Reese replied, "Tank you! Tank you!" He did it two more times before bed.  This is probably just a fluke, right? Right?......Right?

Ricky Skaggs and Grandpa

My family and I went with my Mom to see Ricky Skaggs in concert this past Saturday.  Unfortunately I was really rushed, because all day we thought it was going to be cancelled because of the severe weather we had.  Therefore, there are no pictures.  About an hour before the concert, the sun came out and we decided to go.  Because of the rain, the temperature cooled down and there was a nice breeze.  It. Was. Perfect.

For those of you who don't know who Ricky Skaggs is-he is a Bluegrass singer (he also sings Gospel).  My Grandpa used to listen to him all the time, and took us to a concert when I was about Abram's age.  I can remember sitting with my grandparents, and the stage seemed far away, but I remember feeling so happy. I also remember my mom being able to go backstage and meet him, and the next couple of years we got Christmas cards from his family.

It's funny how music/a certain song can take you back, almost to exact moments in your life. I remember being at my Grandparents one Summer and playing a Ricky Skaggs tape in the gray "boom box" in the kitchen and rewinding over and over until I had the songs memorized. I remember my Grandpa often coming in and catching me singing at the top of my lungs-but he never told me to turn it off.

I think about him often, and especially at Father's day. I have a hard time even typing about him. But there are certain things you have to just suck up and do-especially because you don't ever want to forget them, and because you need your kids to know. If I close my eyes, I can still remember the way he smelled, and I can hear his laugh.  I can see the mischevious grin on his face.  My Grandpa was a quiet man, but when he spoke-everyone listened.  I remember him being very kind and respectable to others. He was a hard worker.  He had a huge garden in the backyard, and sometimes we would walk around it and he would pick a turnip out of the ground and peel it with his pocket knife and we'd share it.  I remember a lot of evenings just walking around that garden.  I think about him everytime I smell fresh tomatoes, or corn. I think of my Grandma stringing green beans with a huge bright green tupperware bowl.

We'd go to family reunions every year. They were really important to my Grandparents.  The ones in Kentucky were my favorite-some of the men would play bluegrass, the ladies would make the best food, and we would play all weekend. We would load up the camper and drive to the holler (no, seriously-boon docks) and we would drive up this mountain where my sister and I would get nervous because one slight move of the steering wheel would take you down the mountain.  Grandpa would purposely drive on the edge to make my Grandma mad. I can still hear her yelling at him and he would just have this grin on his face. I remember holding my breath as we crossed this OLD bridge where you could hear each plank as you drove across.  That bridge has been replace by concerte now.  The first time I crossed it after it had been redone, although I felt a lot more safe-it was sad. 

My Grandpa was my father figure growing up.  He was very patient, kind, and loving.  I was constantly in his lap, and when I got too big, I just sat right beside him.  There is something to be said about that ya know? Just sitting in the same room with a person and just by sitting with them it makes everything okay-safe and loved. When he was alive our whole family would get together every Christmas Eve-there was the traditional Bengals vs Browns arguements and someone always got him a tin of popcorn.  I remember with all of the chaos/fun of those nights, his eyes would just shine.  He had "his chair" that he would sit/sleep in and every Sunday we would watch old westerns together.  If I fell asleep on the couch, he would take the cordless phone and extend the antenna and stick it in my ear-by the time I jumped up he had hidden it and was watching the TV.  I caught on by the thrid time.  He was so patient and loving to a redheaded kid who was going through a lot, and sometimes wasn't very loveable.  I could go on and on, but I have snotted through a half a role of toilet paper just typing this much.  Maybe I will do it it spurts, I can't take all of this emotion at once.  And I know this post is a downer-I am sure that something really akward and embarrassing will happen to me soon.....I will leave you with this: