CUPCAKE PLAYDATE

I decided I would "kidnap" one of our friends daughters for a cupcake decorating play date. The plan was to let the kids use a ton of sprinkles and make a mess..mission accomplished!!! The little ones loved decorating their own just the way they wanted. Each one dumping sprinkles everywhere with a few of them ending up on the cupcakes.

Jen took extra time to make sure each one was a work of art. They all had to have some sort of pink on them along with a candy flower.

In this bowl are the sprinkles that I scooped off of the table-this does not include the ones on the floor, chairs, clothing or face.

What a beautiful and tasty work of art. The mess was well worth it and my canister in my vacuum has never been so colorful.

Jen's First Time At Girl Scout Camp.

Thank You to everyone who bought a box or ten of Girl Scout cookies. All of the profits went to sending to girls to camp this year. Jen and I were soo excited to go to sleep-away camp, we could hardly wait.

We had eight moms and eight Daisy girls on the trip. Even though Camp Hawthorn is only 30 minutes away, to the girls it seemed liked an eternity. The weatherman said to expect thunderstorms all weekend, but we didn't believe him---we should have.

When we got to the camp (9:00am and RAINING) we checked in and put everything- by everything, I mean enough for a small army- into a huge cart and they pulled it to our cabin. The girls had to carry their pillows and sleeping bags themselves. During the entire walk, which was probably 1/4 mile they complained about the bugs, the heat, the RAIN and how their legs were about to fall off. Imagine that, legs just sitting in the middle of the road.

By the time we reached the cabin the girls were exhausted and needed a break from the great outdoors. Each girl got to pick out their own bunk and by the end of the night, they had all switched spots again.

Exhausted by another long walk, the girls were happy to see the pool. Our time slot was from 10:00am - 12:pm and it didn't matter that it RAINED the entire time. If we didn't use the pool we lost our slot. So the girls played in the rain and the moms hid under the covering.

The plan was to cook a hot dog lunch over the fire, but since it was still RAINING, we had to cook them inside. The cabin was huge with 14 sets of bunk beds, a separate room for the leaders, a huge stocked kitchen and bathroom- no outhouses for us!!

We were happy that all of the girls played so well with each other. The girls all had their turn playing hostess in their own bunk.

One of the leaders was in charge of a salt clay project. It consist of 1 cup of salt, 6 cups of flour and some water. The plan was to have the girls each mold in into something special to take home with them. For a brief moment, the RAIN stopped and we decided to take the project outside. Everything was going good, until we discovered we had only brought a salt shaker with us, not close to the cup we needed. A mom ran inside and found a replacement....garlic salt. Same thing right ??? So the girls all made a treasure out of garlic salt clay. Some made it into a heart some made little bowls and a few very lucky moms got a garlic salt clay necklace to wear- good if they ever ran into a vampire.

For dinner we made pocket potatoes and vegetables and grilled chicken. The girls were less than thrilled but all of the moms loved it.

This one is Jenna's. It consisted of carrots and butter only. She did not like the food and next to the bugs this was her biggest complaint.

Finally after spending almost 10 hours cooped up in a cabin with the RAIN outside, it was time for bed and time for the moms to get their cards on. After the long day, they fell asleep very easy. Jen had a good time and said she would want to go again. The mom decided that we would go "camping" at The Great Wolf Lodge next year instead.

I love my Jimmy...but some times he knows just how to get me laughing instead of yelling. I got into the shower for 5 minutes and when I got out, there was a trail of Trix cereal on the floor and this was at the end of it. Smiles and all..and I'm sure he was laughing and thinking how funny he was when he was doing it. He LOVES to get a laugh out of people. How do you even get Trix to stick to a face ..and do I even want to know???

My sweet cupcakes decorating cupcakes

Partridge Creek Mall has a bakery in it called Cupcake Kitchen. They serve over 65 different flavors of cupcakes and hold decorating classes for kids during the week. Since none of us have ever met a cupcake we didn't like, we were off to the mall. The instructor gave each of the kids a bowl of icing and a styrofoam cupcake to decorate. They picked out their color, put the icing into the piping bag and jumped in.

Jen of course picked pink and Jimmy got blue which was nice since he was wearing blue and the frosting would blend into his shirt if needed. I'm not sure why the bakery would give a child styrofoam instead of the real thing. They must not have kids and don't realize that a child would eat it anyway - Jimmy wanted to.

After, we had to sample a couple of different kinds of minis. Jen picked out chocolate with pink vanilla frosting and Jimmy picked banana cream and we brought a couple more home for Daddy. They gobbled them right up. It is hard work to be a cupcake maker and taster for the day!!

Meet and Greet with Spiderman

Jenna showing off her web face paint. She wanted her entire face painted like Spiderman- but they were not doing that- big bummer I don't get red face paint on my white towels .

The greatest aunt in the world AKA Aunt JuJu gave each of the kids some spending $$$ which came in handy during the 20 minute wait to see the big guy. We took turns with the kids in the candy shop, which just so happened to be next to the Spiderman line. She took the older two and I took the little ones. I think I got the better deal on this one. Jen and Kaiden took forever since it was the biggest decision of their lives. Jimmy and Lanie were so excited to see the rows and rows of candy at their level, they didn't care they just had fun filling the bags.The next time someone uses the phrase "Like a kid in a candy shop" remember these faces because this is what it looks like.

Jimmy and Lanie showing off their loot. They were so proud of their bags that they got to pick out themselves.

Another distraction from the long line - Aunt JuJu took the kids up and down the escalator a couple of times.

Jimmy's dream came true when he got an autograph from Spiderman himself. He couldn't stop staring at him. Spiderman also gave him a trader card that had a super hero challenge promise on it. It stated things like I __________ promise not to be a bully, help others, stay in school do not use alcohol or drugs and the best one....not to smoke. I found that extremely funny since Jimmy picked up a pack of "Spiderman sticks "( which looked alot like the candy cigarettes we used to get) from the candy store just 20 minutes before and 100 feet away.

This is the best picture from what I got on my camera, but what do you expect with four kids looking in four different directions.

After we went out to eat and I couldn't help but take this picture of Lanie eating a hamburger almost the same size as her head. That little piglet ate almost the entire thing too. We had a great day out and all but Jenna fell asleep on the way home.

HOMEMADE ICE CREAM -DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!

Another great idea came from a grocery checkout magazine - NOT!!!. I thought it would be a fun project for the kids to do and keep them busy for a bit. It sounded easy enough. You start out putting 1 cup of whole milk, 1 tsp of vanilla and 2 tbsp of sugar in a quart-size zip lock bag ---hardly sounds like Breyers recipe to me.

Then you put 4 cups of ice and 1/4 cup kosher salt into a gallon-size ziplock. You place the milk bag into the ice bag and shake for 6-8 minutes.

You shake and shake and when you think you can't shake anymore...

you keep shaking. We ended up having to double bag the outer bag.

When your arms have fallen off your reward is this lovely bag of mush. It looked more like frozen cottage cheese and the taste was not much better.

Jen said " It doesn't taste like ice cream but it's pretty good anyway" and Jimmy just gobbled it up. I think next time we will just buy the real thing.

Tonight we packed our dinner and took the kids to the Detroit Zoo for a picnic and concert in the park. The zoo has 'Wild Summer Nights' on wednesdays in July and August , where they keep the park open until 8:00 and have different artist come and sing. Tonight they had James Coffey who sings all childrens songs. In the front of the stage all of the children danced and sang to the music, it was like a little mosh pit of 3-5 year olds. Jen and Jimmy only stayed up there for a song or two and had enough.

Jimmy was so excited to have his picture taken with the tiger. Every time we've been by the statue, there are a ton of kids and we haven't been able to get it done. The smile on his face says it all.

Jen found this statue of a frog prince. She kissed in hopes of it turning into her Prince Charming. Hopefully she doesn't have to kiss too many frogs in her lifetime.

On the way home we stopped at an old ice cream stand called Jims. When I was little, my aunt and uncle lived on the corner house on the street behind it and we used to walk up there with my cousins. They would sell something called a mistake for like 20 cents or so. They were all of the mistake ice cream they had made and they stuck them in the freezer. You never really new what kind of ice cream was underneath the hard shell or sprinkles. For old times sake, I had to see if they had any mistakes, but they didn't.

Jimmy didn't care if his order was correct or not. He finished the entire ice cream cone and was covered in the gooey mess. I love taking my kids to places that I visited when I was younger and hope to build the same kinds of memories for them.

Nature Center take 2

Jenna 5 1/2, Kaiden 5, Jimmy 3 and Lanie 2

Since we can't go anywhere without someone getting hurt, Jenna offered up her arm to a bumble bee. We were walking up to the entrance to the Sterling Heights nature center and Jenna got her first bee sting. Not a good way to start off the day.

They did have an ice pack and some ointment for her and luckily there was no stinger left behind. Soon she was healed and we were on our way.

With Grandma Chance as back up, together we took all four kids today. They Loved the center!!! This center was much better then the one at Stoney Creek. They had a lot more animals and is more of a learning center. They hold classes and show movies for kids throughout the summer. You can also rent out backpacks filled with outdoor goodies to take on a hike.

Lanie looking through a magnify glass to see the bird feather. She had to do whatever the big kids were doing.

Kaiden acting like a crazy beaver. (Kaiden's the one on the right)

The center had turtles and birds loose in between the double doors. As long as you stayed on the cement pathway, you could touch them all you want. Poor turtle, I'm sure he is bothered with all day long, and he may have gotten stepped on by Lanie.

Behind the center there was a playground area and this huge tree which all of the kids climed.

SOMEONE'S IN THE DOG HOUSE!!!!!!

I rented out Bolt for the kids today, which I thought was a good idea - guess I was wrong again! Jen pulled out her huge box of make-up and wanted to do a make over with her friend. No problem since all of the make up is wash off - right ??? WRONG!!!! They decided to make themselves look like Bolt with a black dog nose. She did look cute...and then I saw Jimmy.....

It appeared as if he also had taken part of the make over, but his nose wasn't as dark as Jen's. It looked as if he rubbed his nose off somewhere...but where??? It didn't take me too long to find it...

There it was nose and all on my white towel. My kids know not to use the front of the bath towels ever. They have been pretty good about lifting up the towel and using the back side only. Part of a baby registry should include things like brown towels, sewing kits, super glue, and a bobby pin to unlock the bathroom door that keeps getting locked - by accident of course. I guess I have been pretty lucky until today with the white towels and need to search for new ones..maybe with a earthy ( mud and grass stains) pattern.