Cookies

We were suppose to make Lofthouse Sugar Cookies on the 4th of July - but that didn't work out - so we tried to make up for it by making them today and decorating them for FHE.  They were so good and the kids had a lot of fun making and eating them!

 Celeset LOVED the frosting

For the recipe go to http://addictiveallens.blogspot.com

Thank You

I just got done catching up for the past two weeks with 12 posts!  Happy reading!  One thing has struck me as I've gone back and posted about our lives and that is how grateful I am for our blessings.  I'm grateful we had a house to stay in that had air conditioning.  I'm grateful that despite the heat and lack of power we had fun and still did some fun activities and had lots of family time.  I'm grateful that our kids enjoyed the adventure and didn't complain (just I did).  I'm grateful for the MANY kind offers from friends and neighbors - we had lots of help and offers of help and people looking out for us and I appreciate it.   Thank you Chacon's and Sister Beadles for offering us a place to stay, thank you to Nekell for letting us come play one afternoon, thank you to Brother Malan for checking on us after the storm, thank you to our neighbors for offering us a generator if we didn't get ours back and keeping us posted on the progress, thanks to everyone who asked how we were or if we needed anything.

Tomatoes

Today I was out tending the garden.  I just piled everything I picked into a large bowl and then around the bowl.  Celeste was 'helping' me.  I should've known when it got quiet that she was up to something.   I guess she likes large tomatoes!  She had more of it on her shirt and diaper then in her mouth!

Busch Gardens

Despite the heat we went ahead with our planned trip to Busch Gardens.  It was very hot, but they have lots of shade, misting machines, water rides, and we brought lots of sun screen and water.  We had a great time.  Here we are all cooled off after our ride on Roman Rapids (a large 'tube' with seats that floats down a river and under water falls).  We were all wet, but I was thoroughly drenched.  I was ok with that, it was 100 degrees and very humid!

Madeline and Lilah found a new favorite ride - Elephant Run.  I think they rode it 5 or 6 times through out the day.  It wasn't very crowded, so with such short lines they could!

The best part of the day was when we got home at around 5pm and the Dominion power trucks were just leaving.  We had our power back!  We turned on the A/C and quickly left to go find some dinner.  It was 100 degrees upstairs and 93 downstairs.  It wasn't much cooler when we got back, but with cool air coming out of the vents - it sure felt better!

Happy Birthday America!

For the fourth we really just hung out at the rental and played games, watch a video, played hide and seek and anything else we could think of.  When Mike got home we grilled hamburgers for dinner and then had our own fireworks and s'mores in the back yard.  It was a hot, but fun 4th for us.

Chillin'

Even with air conditioning, when it's 100 degrees every day and it doesn't really cool down much in the evenings - it's just hot.  Especially when you are going back and forth between houses and trying to get things done!  To cool off we went to the out door mall and let the kids run through the 'squirty things'.  Everyone had a great time.  Celeste wasn't so sure she liked getting squirted.  Notice the stink eye at the end of the video as she yells at the water!

It's been a stressful few days for me.  Mike remembered that our computer screen is actually a TV - so he brought that and our antenna over to the rental so I could spend a little bit of time just relaxing.  It was a nice surprise.

Eating on the Floor

We are so grateful to have a cool place to sleep - but it's hard too.  I don't want to move our whole house over here, we don't know when the power will come back on or if our tenant will decide they do want to move in - so there is a bit of uncertainty.   I try to do as much as I can at our house and not have to haul so much stuff over to the rental - but with limited power and 90 degree temperatures (in the house) it's hard to do anything there.   Probably the hardest thing is meals.  There is no table or chairs at the rental, so I do as much food prep at home as I can, bring everything else over here and we eat on the floor!  The kids think it's a great adventure!

 Taco salad with strawberry lemonade smoothies.  

Celeste is probably having the hardest time.  She doesn't like the heat and she doesn't like sleeping in a pak n play