Ouch!

My husband just paid $58 for a lunch at a conference in Washington D.C. I decided the dinner that night for $150 EACH was a little bit out of the budget...as well as the $72 White House tour. Seriously - do these people think money grows on trees?!?

Peaches

I was going to go into a big long story, but I've done a lot of posts tonight and I have to be up in 6 1/2 hours, so this will be short and sweet. This is my new friend Heather. Her husband is going to law school with Andy but is not in the same section and thus not in any of the same classes. We met at a Spouse and Significant Other night during the first week of school. Turns out they are from Utah and LDS (along with another really fun couple) but just aren't in our ward. My kids LOVE her little boy who is almost 2, especially Emily. She and baby Jack got to stay for dinner and her first canning experience on Friday! I found some fabulous LARGE peaches, so we canned and made some jam. We just might have to do it again one night this week.... By this time it's about 10pm, and I am sure dragging a little bit. However, canning with a friend is SO much more fun and our conversations kept us going!

Success! Yummy peaches and peach jam. SO glad everything sealed, no jars broke, and a clean kitchen! (Notice all of the pictures in the background are crooked. I purposefully put pictures low enough for Emily to see and touch. She LOVES them! She will walk through the hall and touch people and excitedly tell me who they are. Thus, why one frame is down for me to put it back together...)

Thanks, Heather! So much fun! Can't wait to eat them - starting mid-November! Anyone else for canning???

An Action-Packed Saturday Morning

Saturday morning my normal workout friends all bailed because of some leadership training meeting (I didn't have to go and neither did Andy!!! :)), so we layed in bed and listened to the kids play above us. Somehow we missed the sounds of this stool being set up. Ben came running down the stairs, "Emily's in the gum!!!" She went through 2 1/2 packs of gum. She had the wrappers nicely hidden behind my empty candy dish. What a stinker!!!

Then we went to Lowe's for the kids workshop. Emily loved her goggles so much, so wore them for the next two hours before her nap. We went through the grocery store with Emily driving the fun cart and me pushing. (A few of the nicer stores around here have babysitting for kids 3-9, so Ben and Annie were in there!) She made quite a few people smile!!!

These are the drums we made. Annie did so well hammering in all the nails! When we got home, everyone wanted to color their drums. Love those kinds of projects!!! No cutting or pasting!!!

Car Washing Fun

Another Saturday study day for Dad!!! A few weeks previously a friend mentioned washing our cars. Well, my dear Ben never seems to forget a promised activity that he deems exciting! After numerous reminders, we finally got to wash our cars! This is my friendly neighbor's house that you see. Apparently about 4 years ago, the guy who owned our house had a double lot and decided to split the lot when he sold the house. She cleared a few of the trees and built a beautiful new house! She is very friendly and the kids love to chase her down as soon as they see her car pull in, literally. I try not to mention to them each time she is doing yard work because they all LOVE to talk to her! Here are Ben, Carter and Annie scrubbing all the dirt off that van! Ben is still wearing his goggles from our morning activity. Sweet Emily. She is just such a doll. Notice the nice car seat in the background getting a thorough washing as well. *Sorry* (Behind the grass is the forest the kids love to 'explore' and chop wood for their pretend fires. I love that this keeps them busy and happy outside! They aren't supposed to go more than 5 or so feet because the dreaded POISON IVY thrives in Ohio!)

Time to wash the other van! Jensen, Carter (also in Annie's preschool class), Annie, baby Miles (who has the BEST thighs!), and our friend Angie

I was so excited when Andy came home! He had called from his cell phone, so we were talking when he pulled in. First thing he said, "Did you wash the car today?" Yippee, I thought, he noticed! I asked if he'd noticed how nice it looked. "Well that and all the soap in the driveway." Yeah - not such a productive activity, but it was fun!

Yeah... House Pictures!

Okay, not really inside pictures, but this should help picture more of the yard! Our landlord said there were some bricks in the driveway to make a fire pit if we wanted to do that and showed us in the middle of the yard where there were plans to make one. Last Saturday I was trying to kill time until Andy came home from studying, so the kids and I made this fire pit! Tonight was our maiden roast in the new house!!! Although this picture looks smokey - it wasn't that way at all! All the smoke went up and stayed away from the people. The mosquitoes were different story though... (in the back you notice the OPEN window - our high today was 81 - and bigger windows on the left are above the kitchen sink so I can watch the kids play outside while cleaning those dishes! Also the box on the porch is a frog's home. Poor frog is probably completely traumatized from all the handling. Maybe he will warn his buddies to find another yard to live in!) This cute little boy is in Annie's preschool class. He'd NEVER had a roasted marshmallow before and DIDN'T know what a S'MORE was!!! (completely deprived child, obviously!) As they were packing up to go, he was still asking for more marshmallows. Yippee!! Another convert!

Andy - working his magic to make me the perfect s'more. Love these bricks because we can lay the bottom graham cracker down to begin the chocolate-melting process! I sent Andy to the store to get the chocolate and he came home with peanut butter cups, a symphony bar (with the toffee), a cookies and cream bar, and the regular chocolate. They were so yummy!

What a great FHE! This weekend some of the law friends are coming over to do s'mores. Can't wait! But next time we'll have bug spray readily available!!!