Turkey Blueberry Salad

I just made this really yummy salad for lunch and had to share about it because it's something different and oh so delicious! I had made a turkey breast yesterday for dinner and had a lot left. For some reason, I thought it would pair nicely with bluberries so I googled in turkey bluberry salald recipe to see what would come up. I got a recipe that I had to change a little, but it turned out great! I used romaine lettuce with turkey breast, yellow peppers, bluberries, and sliced almonds for the salad, then made a blueberry vinegarette in the blender using blueberries, vinegar, oil,salt,sugar,diced onions.
It was really pretty to look at, too, with all the color in it, but I forgot to take a picture!

First Day of Summer School

Ellie is enrolled in the Pre-K Summer School program at her elementary school. She will be able to get a feel for what Kindergarten is all about and keep her pre-reading and writing skills up over the summer. Yesterday was her first day and she was so excited, although she was disappointed to learn that Mom was going to drive her--she thought she was going on the bus!
Her teacher's name is Ms. Berry and the classroom is very big. She has a cubby with her name on to put her backpack and snack etc. She attends from 8am-12pm.

Hollister's Bath

Today was the first time we bathed Hollister outside. usually Steve has done it in the bathtub. Hollister does not love it, by any means, but he is a good boy and lets us scrub and hose him down. Now he smells so much better!
Ellie had fun being Daddy's helper.

Saturday Bargains

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love a good bargain and I always seek them out. I enjoy going to yard sales and spent yesterday morning going to a few. I spent a total of $16.00 and this is what I brought home: A cute nightstand for Bethany's room (she needed one and this one exactly matches her other whitewashed pieces of furniture), $5.00 !!, pieces of name brand clothing for the kids($1.00 a piece) and an exact replica of a monkey robe Ellie has now in the next larger size (brand new for $1.00!),storage baskets 3 for $1.00), and a star Christmas Decoration that will hang on the wall where I have a regular star now, $2.00.
After I came home, the girls, their friend, and I went out for lunch at Tropical Smoothie where I spent $20.00 for all 5 of us to eat lunch and get a drink or Smoothie each, because I had several buy one get one free coupons.
We shopped at the mall, where i scored some winter clothing items at Abercrombie for them for $6.90 a piece (GREAT deal in this overpriced store where one pair of denim shorts is $44.00 retail!)
Bethany kept showing me cute things and asking "Do you like this?" I said "Is it on sale?" and she would say "I don't know!" or "No " and I'd reply, "Well, I'll love it when it's on clearance!"

Learning to Swim

Ellie has always been very cautious in the water, nervous about going under, hanging onto the wall when she's in the big pool, etc. Yesterday I told her that she was going to start swimming and she was crying"No, No!". I put a life jacket on her and took her out in the 4 ft. water where she couldn't stand and then asked her to follow my instructions. She was crying, but I followed through anyway. I told her that she would be able to practice kicking and moving her arms in the water without the fear of going under because of the life jacket. I let go and her look of terror very quickly turned to a smile because she realized she could do it!!!! She was giggling and then doing it over and over agin, throwing a ball out into the water and swimming out to retrieve it. Now the next step will be trying to accomplish that without the life jacket, but for now at least, she feels so proud and happy that she can do it. Bethany took some photos for me.

Typical Summer Day

This summer so far, we've had a definite schedule due to swim practice every morning. I take Felicia to practice at the YMCA and while she's swimming, I take a class and Ellie goes into the Kids Camp. Bethany and Sam hang out at home. When we get back home, it's close to lunchtime. After lunch, we go to the pool or have something else planned or the kids play in the neighborhood. Today we didn't have practice, so we got to do some of our favorite summer acticities all in one day.
First we went to the free kids movies with the neighbors. Ellie and I and friends saw Barnyard, but the older kids and friend decided to see Mr. Beans Holiday. They did not like it much, but had fun anyway. After the movie, we went to the library to sign up for the summmer reading program and choose books and movies. We usually get to the library once a week in the summer.The older kids were silly at the library, playing with animal puppets in the children's area. After the library, we met friends for lunch on the spur of the moment, because , of course, you can do that in the summer!!!
I love this time of year!

First Swim Meet

Felicia took part in her first ever swim meet tonight for the Midlothian YMCA Tidal Waves. She swam the freestyle, the backstroke and the Butterfly. She kind of groans when she has to go to swim practice, but she really enjoyed competing in the meet. It was my first time ever attending a swim meet and it was a very busy event. I enjoyed watching Felicia's events and the time went very fast even though we were there for 4 hours! Looking forward to next week's home meet!

Fajitas, Ellie style

Last week we had fajitas for dinner. I usually do chicken, peppers and onions,lettuce, shredded cheeese, sour cream and salsa. I also had cut fruit (oranges and grapes) to go with the meal. Ellie took a lot of time constructing her fajita masterpiece which she never ended up eating except for the fruit!
"Look, Mom, I made a face!"

Father's Day in Yorktown

We've lived in the Richmond Area for the past eighteen years and we've never been to Yorktown, which is very close to Colonial Williamsburg adn Jamestown, both of which we've visited several times. After hearing about a cute beach area at Historic Yorktown, close to the yorktown Battlefield etc., I planned a day trip to visit on Father's Day. We left early in the day and spent the morning at the beach area. It was so pretty, clean and everything was close and free!!!! We parked only a block away and as we walked down the hill, we could see the York River, the bridge over to Glouster, the Riverwalk area with cute shops and restaurants, a fishing dock, and a picnic area. While we were there, we even saw a wedding on the beach!
After we ate a picnic lunch we had packed, we hopped on the free trolley and went to see the yorktown Battlefield museum and the actual battlefield. That was interesting. They had a replica of the inside of one of the Revolutionary Warships in the museum and that is what the kids are looking out of on the top photo. After sightseeing for a bit, we got back off the trolley at the beach again and spent some more time there before heading home for the day. Of course, befroe we left, we had to pop into Ben and Jerry's for a treat!

National Flip Flop Day

Today was National Flip Flop Day and Tropical Smoothie was giving away free smoothies to the first 500 customers that came into their store wearing flip flops. On our way to the pool this afternoon, we stopped in (all wearing flip flops)--Sam and his two friends, Bethany, Ellie and another friend. Felicia was already at the pool,with other friends we were meeting there. So, 7 of us went into Tropical Smoothie and received our smoothies to take with us to the pool. How fun ! And what could be better than celebrating wearing flip flops?

Ellie's Boyfriend

Today we went to visit a good friend of mine who once upon a time happened to be my 3 older kids' kindergarten teacher. When Felicia was in her class, she had a baby and I kept him while she worked, since Ellie was a baby at the same time. For two years, I kept Cody while she taught, so Ellie and Cody became best little friends. When Ellie first learned to talk, she called him "Co Co". Now she is older and can say his name. She also tells me that she is going to marry him one day. Cody's Mom, Carrie, has since had three more children since Cody came along, so now she is a stay at home mother and we visit with one another about every two months. It is fun to watch Ellie and Cody growing up together and seeing that they still have their special little bond.

Go Bulldogs!

Well, tonight another playoff game was cancelled due to rain, so we'll now play tomorrow. The girls played Tuesday night and lost after a nailbiter of a game. They were tied in the last inning, but the other team managed to score a run for the win. The Bulldogs played hard, though and we were so proud of them. Felicia made a nice catch during the game and helped make some outs at home plate. Way to go, girlie!
I took this picture of the team before the game.

No Raggy

Last night Ellie went to a friend's house for a sleeepover and she announced before she left that she was not going to bring Raggy. (Her lovey that she's slept with for every night of her life since birth !). I said "Are you sure ?" She said she would not be needing Raggy, it was only one night. Now this is a girl who will wake us up in the middle of the night if she can't find Raggy in her own bed ! I was a little concerned but she sounded so confident that I actually believed she was probably going to be fine and guess what ? No late night phone calls from the friend's Mom--she did it ! another milestone reached in Ellie's life, another bittersweet moment for me to be proud and a little sad about at the same time.

Ice Cream King

Steve has started a new business venture with a colleague of his from work. They have bought a truck and outfitted it with a freezer etc. and now officially are the owners of The Ice Cream King. They already have events lined up to start this week and they just bought the truck last week, had ice cream delivered Friday and had a test run this afternoon. The kids are super excited and don't mind helping Dad a bit with the workload!!! They got paid today with an ice cream treat of their choice.

Swim Team

Felicia's new adventure this season is being a part of the Midlothian Ymca's Swim Team. We haven't been able to make it to a lot of the practice's so far due to softball, but tonight I was able to get a few photos of her during a practice relay. she was the 4th swimmer on her team and she did a great job swimming freestyle, but when she got near the wall and did her flip turn, she flipped too soon and wasn't able to push off the wall. It slowed her down a little, but she still made her Mama proud!

List Maker

I am a huge list maker. I make lists for everything, mostly because I can't remember anything without writing it down. I make to-do lists, errand lists, prayer lists,grocerylists, packing lists,chore lists for the kids, cleaning lists, shopping lists,etc..
I read an interesting article a few days ago that said Research shows that list makers are healthier and happier. The articla also gave suggestions on creating different types of lists besides the to-do list, such as :

a daily graditude list
a list of your happiest moments--people who reminisce often are happier overall and will recall those memories for a longer period of time and more vividly.
list of your life priorities
list of your top 100 pleasures --this is a way to gaining joy every day, by making sure you are engaging in the things that bring you the most pleasure often.

Last summer, the kids and I made a summer fun list, writing down all the activities we wanted to do and the places we wanted to go during the summer. Of course we never got to do all of them, but we checked off quite a few and had some fun new adventures!

Surprise Attack !

Every year it is a tradition in our neighborhood to greet the kids at the bus stop on the last day of school with water balloons and water guns. The adults and older kids all take part in squirting the kids as they exit off the bus and run through the yard trying not to get wet. After the water is gone, we serve ice cream with loads of toppings for them to build their own sundaes with.
This year, we did it all again except that since they would expect it on the LAST day, we surprised them by attacking them a few days early. They never saw it coming.....

Our Church

WE belong to a great church that is close to where we live. We found this church a few months after we had moved into our Benmore Ct. home. The first day we visited, it was mid-September and we took the kids to Sunday School. When Sam walked into his 3rd grade class, he saw his actual 3rd grade teacher from his elementary school! How cool was that! So, she taught him Mon-Fri. and then also on Sundays that year. She must have gotten to know him pretty well! Anyway, it was the first church we had visited that the kids all were excited about and now, 4 years later, I can see why. We have wonderful kids programs and plenty of them to choose from!! On Mondays Bethany and Sam go to Rock Gospel Show Choir practice with their peers of middle school age. They work hard all school year and then perform on tour for a week in the summer as a ministry. Sometimes on Tuesdays we'll go for the weekly dinner, with youth service and kids classes afterwards. Wednesday nights are for WOW, which stands for Wonders of Worship for 4th-6th graders. They eat pizza, learn new songs and play messy games. Sam and Felicia have done that this year with two of their neighborhood friends. Felicia and her friend even went on the WOW road trip in April, when they got to go to Great Adventure in MAryland and then perform for a northern VA church the next morning. Ellie also was part of the preschool choir, which practiced on Wed. nights. We feel like it's our second home. I have done bible studies,MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers group), helped put on the VBS for a few years, and been part of some of the small groups there.I'm glad we were lucky enough to find a church like ours to keep the whole family plugged in.

The Ice Cream Truck!

Remember the sounds of the ice cream truck coming through the neighborhood when you were little? It still send kids today flying out the door as fast as they can go chasing after a cold and creamy treat. Today the kids enjoyed one of summer's simplest pleasures....mmmmm