Kids and Cops

Saturday was the annual Kids and Cops for Lake Dallas (the little po-dunk town we live next to). It is where the local cops try to have fun with the kids so they are not so afraid of them.  It is always a lot of fun. This year, Jacob was in Austin at a goal ball competition, so he had to miss the fun. We forced Josh to come along in spite of his deciding that he is too old for such celebrations now. Haha Emma and Elaina each received a t-shirt and a bag full of fun things like a coloring book, ruler, matchbox car, pen, pencil, and such. Josh was actually jealous of the stuff the girls got in their bags, since he was too "mature" to go get one himself. haha There are also fun activities for the kids as well. In the past, Lifeflight was there to let the kids look inside their helicopter . They must have been called away because we saw them fly over the house before we left. :) One year they had pony rides for the kids. Elaina loved that! Then another year they had some bounce/trampoline things for the kids to jump on and get really high. Emma really enjoyed that. This year, the petting zoo was back again. It is always a big hit with my kids as well as LOTS of other kids that come.

They also had a little train for the kids. Elaina is the only one who rode the train. Josh just wasn’t up for it for some reason. Haha Elaina was thrilled.

They also had the local animals from the shelter there for the kids to pet and beg their parents to bring home with them. Don’t worry. Emma didn’t disappoint. She even had real tears because I told her TWO cats were enough. I might feel different if I weren’t the one who mainly cleans the litter box and cleans up after the cat throws up on the floor. Oh who am I kidding? Two cats are more than plenty for these kids. :)

Another attraction at the Kids and Cops get together is all the FREE food! You get as many hot dogs, sausage dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, and soda that you can handle. I felt sorry for the cotton candy people. Once my kids (and Mike) found out they had banana flavored cotton candy, it was all over. Haha

We also got to go inside of the jail house and take a look at where the prisoners get to live. They had the hallways filled with helium balloons and the kids had a really good time finding just the perfect balloon/string combo. Haha

The local boys and girls club also had some bounce houses set up that the girls really enjoyed. All in all, we had a great time... all for FREE! We’re already looking forward to next year!

Our "new to us" car!!!

Last Saturday on the way home from a scout campout, Mike was in a car accident. It was raining, and someone stopped suddenly in front of him. They swerved to the left to miss hitting the car in front of them, and Mike tried to stop before hitting her. The car slid and he hit her on the right side then went off the road into a small grove of trees. Mike and the guy with him were fine, but the car won’t run now. It doesn’t look all that bad, but its innards aren’t good anymore. Haha

We spent most of Saturday afternoon thru the evening looking up cars on craigslist and autotrader.com. We decided on our budget of $3500 (we could go a little over if absolutely necessary, but it would make it uncomfortable to live for a few months). Thank heavens we hadn’t spent our income tax money yet like we were going to do. :) Then while sitting at home Sunday night, we got a big knock on the door. Actually, it was more of a banging on the door. :) We went to see who it was and all we found was an envelope taped to the door with cash inside. It took our breaths away. Never in a million years would we think something like that would happen to us. Mike thinks it was the young men’s presidency who took up a collection for us. I don’t know. I’m just thankful. It was to be the first instance of Heavenly Father letting us know he was aware of our struggles.

Then Monday, Mike took off work so we could go find a vehicle. We had found a few Winstars that were about the same year as our wrecked van. He thought we could take parts and pieces off the wrecked van and used them on anything we bought. :) Apparently, this was not to be. We did a lot of driving Monday, but found vans that needed more work than we had the money to fix. For such a small budget, we didn’t have many leads. Then we were checking out a van south of Dallas. It ended up being a dud as well, but another vehicle caught our eye. They had a green Dodge caravan for $1799. We looked in it and it was spotless. Someone had really taken good care of this car. We had just talked ourselves into looking somewhere else when the salesman walked up. We took the van for a test drive and it ran really good. We ended up paying $2000 for the caravan (tax, title, license, everything).

It isn’t much to look at. It’s a 1995 and it’s been around the block a few times. The hood and roof are a different color than the sides. But, it’s a really nice, running, we don’t have to do anything to it, completely paid for car. The girls absolutely love it. They got upset this morning that Mike took it to work. “Why did daddy take the good car” is what I heard from Emma when she saw she had to ride to school in the blue car. The manual windows are her favorite part of the car. It’s funny to see how something I see as an inconvenience is her favorite part! Haha

Happy Earth Day!

Ok. I will admit. We are not a family big on earth day and such. We do have our recycling bin that gets picked up every Thursday with the garbage (different truck) and it’s usually filled to the brim (our bin, not the truck), but that doesn’t make us an eco friendly household. We try to reuse our plastic garbage bags and not waste anything, but that’s just normal everyday kind of purposeful living, right? Our latest purchase (before the new car) could really be deceiving if you didn’t know us better. :)

If you have ever stayed the night with us and chosen to take a shower during your stay, you would have noticed that our hot water takes quite a LONG time to get hot (especially in the master bath). Mike got tired of seeing all that money water go down the drain while waiting for hot water. We decided to collect that water and use it on our garden.

I found an old bucket in the garage and we used it to gather the water in while the shower gets hot. What is truly sickening and amazing is that we poured the bucket into our handy dandy water pitcher and we have been wasting at least 2 gallons of water a shower!

We quickly realized how much we really NEEDED some water barrels. I had been eyeing the one at Sam’s for quite some time, but I just couldn’t bring myself to pay $80 a pop for one.

Then while at Lowes one day, we came across some water barrels on clearance.

They are 50 gallon tubs with a cool screen on top to keep leaves and debris out. The top pops off like a normal bin so you can get inside if you need to. They also have two hoses (one at the top and the other at the bottom) so you can get the water out of the barrel/bin. We went ahead and bought the last two on clearance. I have been pouring our bucket of shower water into the barrel when I don’t have time to use the water pitcher. Then I discovered it’s much easier to just open the lid and dip the water pitcher inside and water the garden that way. I have had enough water in them to use the water pitcher and water the garden with lots of water still left inside with little to no rain. Funny thing is that the kids now will not take a shower unless there is a bucket in the shower to collect the water, even if the water is already warm. Haha Who knew being “green” (even for monetary reasons) could be so funny! :)

Hungry?

I figured I would share a recipe I came across a couple of weeks ago and finally got around to making last week. This was a big hit at our house! I REALLY want to make this again soon. :) If you haven’t looked at Our Best Bites, you really should. They have some absolutely great recipes that are easy to make. :)

I made Sweet and Savory Flank Steak. It was delicious! It has kind of a teriyaki flavor. Mike wants to use this marinade to use for his beef jerky he makes because it is such a good flavor. I cooked mine longer than most people would, because pink meat grosses me out. Mike says I like my meat in the “shoe leather” category instead of rare, medium rare, or well done. Haha Even cooking this longer than called for, it was still absolutely wonderful. Mike even liked it and he likes his meat to be just short mooing. Haha

I also made Lime-Cilantro Rice with Pineapple. I will admit that this sounded really gross to me. I like pineapple, but not with rice. Actually, I don’t really like any of my food to touch on a plate, let alone be mixed up in one pot. Haha I have grown to accept many casseroles over the years, but not one mixing fruit with vegetables. I just couldn’t go there, until now. Haha Well, I thought I would go ahead and try it. I was pleasantly surprised. Mike even liked it by the time dinner was over. It took a few bites to get over the initial oddness of pineapple in rice. :) It was really good, though. I will be making it again as well.

Emma's new ring

Emma has been having a rough time lately because she wants to grow up and “look the part”. She has some jeans that fit her really well, and she wears them as often as possible. She has some nice shirts that she wears and takes care of them. She likes jewelry, but is confined to wearing earrings and necklaces. She has been blessed with extra thick fingers and has an extremely difficult time finding any rings that fit (that don’t look like plastic gumball machine types). I found out that my sister, Chris, has some rings that are Emma’s size that no longer fit her. She was willing to send one to Emma. Apparently Chris was blessed with Mothers’ love of gaudy jewelry aka too big and “old looking” for Emma. HAHA Yesterday, an orange envelope arrived for Emma. I brought it with me when I went to get the girls from school. Emma was really excited to have mail. Then to open it and find a ring box with a beautiful ring inside made her ecstatic! Thanks, Chris. Emma loves it!

a little of this and that

I figured I would share a couple of fun things I've found recently.  While on a trip to the local Resale shop, I came across a pair of shoes that I knew Elaina would LOVE.  I know I probably shouldn't have gotten them for her, but I just couldn't resist.  It made it even nicer that I was at the Resale shop where everything is $1.98 or less! 

Yep.  I spent $2 on a pair of shoes that Elaina wears EVERY day.  Alright, I know how they look (like the 60's) and I know why we get funny looks when we go to the grocery store (these shoes with any array of clothing that completely doesn't match), but I still think they are adorable.  You want to know the saddest, yet most amazing part?  I can wear them too!  I can't wait to have a date night and pull out these lovely shoes.  I think I might reach Mike's nose if I wear them.  Wouldn't that shock Mike if I suddenly grew 2 inches taller?  haha 

I also happened to go to Kroger one evening and I came across the coolest bowl ever.  Did I just say a Bowl  was cool?  Yep.  I did!  It was on clearance for only $3.99.  Can you imagine?  I am so excited.  I now have two big glass bowls.  I use my glass bowl set that Tina gave us when we got married all the time.  I have a metal set, but they are all scratched up and they just don't work the same as glass.  :)  The funnest thing about this bowl is that it is shaped kind of like a lemon.  It has the end that you pour out of and then the end with the "handle" so you can hold onto it when you pour.  It's great!  I have used it SEVERAL times now and I just got it a few weeks ago.  :) 
     
Dana sent a link to make an egg wreath.  She and Abbie made one, so I thought Emma and I could too.  When will I ever learn? I am now convinced that she is superwoman.  Emma and I made one, but it wasn't as simple as Dana made it look.  I think Emma had fun, though, so that's what counts.  :)   I had grand plans to have Elaina make one too, but after the one with Emma, I think my egg wreath days are over.  haha