Everyone's Invited To.....

A Night of Sweets

I am a hosting a Pampered Chef Cooking Show at my house , and I want you to join in the fun!

At the show I will prepare a wonderful recipe using many great Pampered Chef tools. We will all get to enjoy the recipe along with other sweet delicious recipes. Plus we get to know one another while we shop… and eat!

Bring a friend too. The more the merrier! You will receive a prize.

I will be doing a few drawings throughout the show to give away some great Pampered Chef products. And best of all I will be drawing the name of one lucky person who will receive all of the host benefits for the show, which includes: free and discounted products, half price products, 10 % off for a year, monthly host specials up to 60% off and free shipping!

Please come you might be the lucky person who goes home with lots of new Pampered Chef things.

Date: August 6^th 2009

Time: 6:30pm

Place: My House (call and I will give you directions)

If you are able to make it please call me at (920) 831-0977 or email me at palmer.laura @att.net If you aren’t able to come and would like a catalog or to hear about some upcoming specials , just let me know.

Preview the catalog at www. Pamperedchef.com

4th of July Weekend

Just wanted to quickly post some pictures from last weekend. We had a great time with 4th of July festivities and a visit from Uncle John and Aunt Lindsey (or as Gray would say "Uncle Don and Aunt Lizzy").

We had a great fun filled weekend. This week we are enjoying Lifest down in Oshkosh this weekend so hopefully this week I will get lots pictures of that up.

An Update On Us

It is amazing how quickly summer can go by.  I think we have just about every weekend this summer planned.  It sure makes the summer feel short.  

Well this has been one crazy house over the past 3 weeks.  It all started when Gray came down with Pneumonia.  Just when he got better I started getting a fever and a few days later the cough started and I ended getting phenomena.  Unfortunately I had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic the doctor gave me and ended up getting very sick.  By 5:00 pm that day I was so dehydrated and week I had to go into the hospital for I.V. fluid, antibiotic, and medicine that would stop me from throwing up.  I am so glad that is past me and I hope we never have that passing through our house again.

On tale end of that we were bless with extreme heat and humidity.  We spent the week in the kiddy pool in the back yard. (Yes me too!)  I feel like I have not gotten anything done the past few weeks with being sick, recovering and the heat, so my house is now in desperate need of some cleaning attention.

This week is a big week for me.  Both of my girls are gone for the week.  Haven went to Aunt Debbie and Uncle Jon's on Saturday. She is having a great time and I am not even sure if she misses me.  She is having a blast and I can't wait to see her.  

Rylee is at Lake Lundgren Bible Camp for the first time.  I dropped her off Monday and it looked so fun I wished I were  8 and could stay with her.  When did the kid's get so big that they can leave their Mommy for the week.  I am sure they are fine and having a blast, but I am a wreck, I miss them so much!  I will get to see them tomorrow night and I am sure they will both have lots of stories.  

So that's what's going on here.  We are looking forward to a long weekend with Steve's brother John and his wife Lindsey coming to visit.  So, Happy Forth of July!!!!!f

Gray's 3rd Birthday

I can't believe 3 years have gone by with our little Gray, or as Gray would say," I BIG Gray!"  He is such a blessing and I love having my little boy.  

We decided to celebrate his big day on Saturday since Sunday was a very busy day.  In the morning we packed a picnic lunch and headed to the zoo in Green Bay after we were done there we went to this little park along the Bay called Bay Beach.  Steve grew up going there as a kid and has always talked about it.  I have always wanted to go so we decided since we were already in the area to stop by.  This park had lots of good kid size amusement rides. Most of the rides were only 25 cents so the five dollars we spent went a long way.  After that we went to McDonald's for dinner and headed home for cake and presents.  

On Sunday Steve took Gray to a Timber Rattlers baseball game.  They had a great time despite the cold and wind.  

Here are some pictures of our weekend:

Last Day Of School

Last Day of School

1st Day of School

    

 The school year is over and I now have a 3rd grader an a 1st grader.  Wow! time flies!  I can't help but feel a little sad.  Both girls had wonderful teachers and the girls and I are going to miss them.  I hope that we are always bless with great teachers like we have had the past three years.  

     The girls will be going to summer school starting on the 15th of June and going until mid-July.  It is only 3 hours in the morning so will will be nice for them to get out of the house a bit each day. 

     I am looking forward to the summer and having my girls home with me and have a little more relaxed schedule.

The Backyard Project

     This past winter I had been doing a lot of thinking about our back yard and what I would like to change and what we could do to make it look better.  So after doing a lot thinking I had this thought, so I said to Steve, " I have a great idea! Lets dig a large hole in our backyard and make the neighbors think we really are crazy!" NO!  that's not what I really said, but I think that is probably how Steve heard it because he was very hesitant and not really motivated to start this project.  Since Steve is such a smart, wonderful husband he knew I would keep pestering him until it was done so he reluctantly said okay and helped me plan out what we were doing.  

     I believe the neighbors thought we were putting in an in ground pool or maybe that we were just board and wanted to dig a hole in the yard.  What we were actually doing was digging out a large section of lawn that swing set and play structure sat on so we could fill it in with mulch and make it look nicer and be safer for the kids when they are playing.  The other reason for doing this is because the grass wasn't looking so good from the kids playing and the dog's doing there thing on every corner of the swing set.  It seem like a simple, fun, cheap project......I was wrong!  After 7+ of digging out sod and dirt I was second guessing the idea but you can't really go back.  Let me just say I have a great husband, he knew all along it wasn't going to be fun or easy that is why he was reluctant to start and he went along with me anyway.  We went to bed that night very tired and sore and woke up the next day feeling the same way. We put nice garden edging around to help keep all the mulch in.  After wrestling with that and hauling load after load of top soil and sod out of the hole it was ready for the land scape fabric and mulch but since it was now 8:30pm on Sunday night we ran out of time and realized that the back of our little Ford Explorer wasn't going to hold all the mulch we needed to fill the large hole, we decided to beg Steve's parents to come the next weekend with the truck to help.Thankfully they said YES.

     So now a week later we were ready to fill the the hole and be done.  We had a truck coming and a few extra hands perfect!  Not so much!!  Steve thought he would take a trip over to the city where we were going to get the mulch the next day, FOR FREE. You will never guess!  Yup, nothing, they were completely out of it.  So now we have the truck and no free mulch.  You see this project was going to be a very cheap one.  I got all the garden edging for free from various places, I had to buy spikes to put the edging in and the land scape fabric, staples  and that was it.  Unfortunately we were forced to spend $106.00 on the mulch that was suppose to be free.  

All I have to say is it looks great and was well worth the money and it smells great because it is cedar mulch.  It wouldn't look that good with the free stuff we were going to use.  I am just glad it is done and I think Steve still loves me??  My arms and back don't hurt anymore and we can now return our new lawn mower because we can just trim our back yard with scissors since there isn't much lawn left.

England Here I Come!

Well, it is official, I am going to ENGLAND!!!!!!! Yahooooo.. I am a little excited if you couldn't tell.  I will be going to see my sister, Marti, and her wonderful husband Steve and their six, supper, great, beautiful kids.   I will be going on the 13th of August and coming home on the 25th.  My mom and I will be traveling together so I am sure we will have a blast.

Honestly I am a little anxious about leaving my kid's and Steve for 12 days, but I have a lot of time to let it settle with me  and I am sure my August 13th I will feel better about it.  I am sure it will be hard to say goodbye at the airport but once I meet my Mom in Detroit I'm sure I will feel much better.

It will be good for the kid's to have some time with Daddy and Grandma, which we are so blessed to have help Steve throughout the 12 days.  

Rhubarb Streusel Bread

I just wanted to share a recipe with you all, if you enjoy rhubarb.  We have a few huge rhubarb plants in our garden and it is all ready to be eaten.  The kids love to go and pick it and just munch on it while playing.  A little to tart for me, but I do remember doing the same thing when I was a kid.  I found this recipe on the Land O Lakes web site, I ended up using butter flavored criso instead of the butter in the bread part because I didn't have enough butter to make the 4 loaves I wanted to.  Yes 4 loaves, I was in a baking mood this morning.  Who knows maybe you will be one of the lucky ones to get one of the 4 loaves??  I hope you enjoy it! 

A Solution To Our Problem ( We Hope)

The last few days have been very difficult with the girls.  To say it nicely to wasn't the best weekend or Mother's Day.  Lots of disobeying, arguing and the use of bad words.  Now when I say bad words I don't mean they are cursing but the constant use of words that are associated with things you do in the bathroom.  I don't understand These are girls!! they aren't suppose to talk like that.  For instance, here are some of the frequent words and name calling our girls use, which then gets repeated by Gray:  Poop-Head, Fart-Butt, Diarrhea-Head, Stupid, Idiot, Diaper-Head, Crack-head ( oh yeah she call me that one!)  and Dingle-Berry.  Just so you all know Steve and I don't go around talking like this so I don't know where they get it from.  So anyway Steve and I figures it is time this stops.  So this is what we came up with.  Each week the girls have the potential to earn $2.  We put $2 worth of nickles in a jar with their names on them.  Each time they say a dirty word or a mean word we take a nickel out and put it in "Mommies Jar"  So the likelihood of them getting the $2 a week is pretty slim, at least till they get use to it.  We will see how it works, we just hope they don't run out of nickels by mid-week. Haven already lost one this morning for calling me a butt head while I was combing her hair. She seemed very disappointed that she lost a nickel so I think this might work.  

By  the time the kids went to bed tonight Haven lost 12 nickels and Rylee 0.  You can see where the problem started.  There is something with kindergartners!  At one point tonight after Haven lost a nickel she told Steve that she "doesn't want to play this game anymore".   At dinner tonight Haven asked Steve, "if Mommy says a bad word does she put a nickel in my jar?"  I think there may be some confusion since there is a jar with my name on it.  This should all be interesting, I will keep you posted.

What We Have Been Up To

This past week was a very busy week for me as you can probably tell since I haven't blogged since the 1st of May.  Well this is what we have been up too.  To start, I ended up having one of the kids that I watch Mon-Fri from 6am-5:30pm. instead of the Tues/Wed schedule that I usually have, plus the other 2 kids I had at different times throughout the week.  It  just made for a crazy week and limited schedule.  On Thursday the 7th was my Birthday.  Steve made me a delicious dinner with my favorite wine. Throughout the week I got lots of yard work/gardening done while kids were napping or playing .  I got some new plants from Steve's mom the weekend before so I had to get my flower beds ready so I could put them in before they got too wilty   We cut down two big ugly cedar trees that were on each side of our house and planted a hydrangea and type of peony shrub?? in place of the overgrown trees.

Saturday morning we woke the kids bright and early to go downtown because Steve was running in the Soleburner.  Unfortunately it wasn't the the sunny 70 degree weather that we had, had on Friday.  Instead it was rainy and in the 40's.  Steve enjoyed the run and the kids like to watch Daddy go through the finish line.  After the race we walked to Starbucks and got hot coco and coffee and then hit a few garage sales and the greenhouse to get a some plants.  On Sunday Steve made lunch and we worked outside in the yard, made a trip to Menard's and stopped at Culver's on the way home for dinner.  I am very ready to start a new week and hope to enjoy it a little more than last week.

    

                                                    

  Laura enjoying her Birthday dinner.

                                                                Steve before his race

Steve after his race

.

Starbucks after the race

.

Rylee and Kenai snuggling Sunday Morning.

     

Happy Birthday Andrew!!!

We hope you have a great 9th birthday.  We miss you guys so much and wish we could be there to celebrate your big day.  Enjoy the video!

Oh by the way, the part about the "chicken" I didn't know the camera was still recording and we had our chicken cooking on the grill.  :)

A Busy Day

          I am looking forward to tonight when I get to crawl into bed and know this busy day is past me. Today started off with me waking up at 5:15 so I could get a shower in because there is no other way I would get one.  I have all three of the three kids I babysit for coming today, the first one at 6am.  The other at 7a and the last one I picked up on my way home from walking the girls to school.  I am now drinking a cup of coffee and just ate my breakfast.  Gray woke up drenched, his pull-up did not hold all it needed too so instead of me getting to eat breakfast I had to give him a bath.  So now I am sipping my coffee and writing this while the kids are playing peacefully around me.  I better hurry and finish because it won't last long.  

          Today is a big day for the girls because I am letting them walk the 4 1/2 block from school all by themselves.  I am a bit nervous, but I thought today would be a good day to try it so I won't have to wake three sleeping kids from there naps to go and pick them up.  We have been practicing and I am sure they will do fine.  I told Havens teacher this morning and she is so sweet, she said she would wait a little bit to leave after school and drive the route they will be walking just to make sure they are okay.  She is such great teacher!

          I am making nachos and applesauce for dinner for Steve and the kids because as soon as the 2 extra kid's leave around 5:30 I have to jump in the car and drive to another town where I will be doing a pampered chef party at 6:30.  I am hoping the kids nap okay so I can get my stuff ready while they are sleeping and take a chance to change my cloths and look in the mirror to make sure I don't look to scary! or like I have been chasing after 4+ kids all day.  

    I am sure the day will fly by and tomorrow will be lots better.

A Great Saturday

What a nice relaxing, rainy Saturday we had today. We all slept in. Its nice to finally have kids at an age where they wake up on a Saturday and go watch cartoons and let Mom and Dad sleep in. Rylee even got everyone juice in a sippy cup.
We took a drive to New London which was about 30-40 minutes away to find a spot along the Wolf River to watch the Sturgeon spawn. If you have never seen a sturgeon before they are amazing! They are a prehistoric fish that can get really huge and they are a little freaky looking. Anyway they swim up along the shore and lay their eggs along the rocks then the male fish come along and fertilize them. It was neat because we were able to get a very close look at them and we saw some very big ones. Its weird to see a fish that is right in front of you that is larger then your 8 year old (in a fresh water river). In the winter they spear them through a large hole in the ice on a lake just south of us. This winter a woman speared one as large as her. Don't ask me how she got it out of the water without falling in.
The kids had a great time and it was fun to see there excitement when the fish started splashing.
Enjoy the video of the action...

Hi

Okay, this is my first post.  I am excited and hope to keep up with it so all of you can keep up to date with the happenings of this crazy family.   I will try to post lots of pictures and fill you in on the comical things that the kiddo's say and do.   I may post some yummy recipes that I try and my family likes.  My sister Marti does this a lot and I really appreciate it.  So I hope you all enjoy reading this as I do taking a little ME time to write it.

 

All dressed up for Easter.

Gray on Easter Sunday!