A Day at the Park~

Elise invited her good friend from school, Paige, over for the day.  She plays soccer with our neighbor Nathan.  So we decided to invite them to the park for a picnic lunch and time to run around.  It was a perfect day.  Hot but not humid, and a great breeze.  I got caught up on all of my magazines while the kids ran around!

Paige Peterson, Elise, Nathan and Jayden Davis

They all tried really hard to climb this tree... it entertained them forever!

We ended our day with some yummy ice-cream at TCBY!

Annual Greenwood Hills Block Party

It was another miserably hot day and of course it's the day of the block party again.... but, we made the most of it and had a good time, especially the kids.  We had a smaller group this year but still had good food and great company. It was one of those days where you can't wait to take a cold shower and hang out in the basement of your house because it's so dang hot out.  I think the high was 102 degrees today and to boot, the dew point was crazy high.

Getting the balloons ready for the fight!

Elise, Faith and Lauren had a Kool-Aid stand.  Lauren would yell at cars as they drove by "KOOL-AID FOR SALE".  She was able to stop a few cars too.

Barricades are up... no cars in the street for the next 4 hours... at least.

Bikes are decorated for the parade..

Lined up and ready to go....we even had patriotic music!

Caroline Murphy making her way back up the street.

Elise's good buddy Ella Murphy

Lauren Wood and Percy march in the parade.

Trevor and Joe Feuerhelm make their way down the street.

The Fire Department stopped by the party too.

Elise and Ella missed out in the group photo so they got a their own photo taken.

Chow time!!

The slip-n-slide was about the only thing that kept the kids cool today!

Along with the water balloon fight that lasted maybe... 3 minutes.  All of that hard work filling them and it was over in no time.

Lauren gets Daddy! (Gloria Wood is running for cover in the back ground too!!)

Mairin Murphy... just chillin'

All of the kids... and of course Boston Grimes is right in the middle!

Happy 4th of July

We went over to Grandma and Grandpa Hubbard's house for the 4th.  We kept it simple with Pizza and cake!  Then we headed just about a 1/2 block down their street and watched the Waukee fireworks behind us and the Des Moines Golf and Country fireworks right in front of us.  It was perfect.

The GIANT sparkler... we stayed in the street because the grass is so dry from the heat and drought.

oooohhhhh

AAAAAHHHHHH.... you know, you have to make those noises when you see the cool ones!

BBQ with neighbors

Last night we had a BBQ with the neighbors.  It's become a summer tradition that a couple of times throughout each summer we get our families together, grill out, let the kids run around and stay up late... and enjoy the company.  I have such wonderful and fun neighbors and I feel really blessed to have found a neighborhood that reminds me of my neighborhood as a kid.  It was a blasted hot day and I think the dewpoint was 75%... for those that don't know what that means... it means miserabley humid and you look for reasons to have to come inside. 

Our group of families that we hang out with most of the time are:  Ryan and Katrina Davis (boys Jayden and Nathan), Roy and Gloria Wood (daughter Lauren) and Kirt and Jes Freundl (daughters Natalie, Lauryn and Olivia).

I made this oh so yummy Black Bean Salsa... one of Lucy's recipes that I make all of the time.  Perfect on a hot day.

With the 4th of July coming up.. thought these were fun and festive.  I am a total sucker for anything Patriotic.  Not as decor but anything else... I just love it all.

Beverages are ready to go.

Lauren, Elise and Natalie using the water rocket launcher.... and watering Ryan's grass.

All of the kids.
Natalie, Lauren, Olivia, Lauryn, Elise, Jayden, Nathan and Lauren

All of the Lauren's or Lauryn's... we all thought we were choosing the unique name of Lauren that we hadn't heard in years... and there are 3 just in our neighborhood.. it's like the new "Jennifer" from when I was growing up.

Miss Oliva and Lauren.. having fun in the pool.  They are two peas-in-a-pod when it comes to personality.

Safe Ice "cream" Cake

Safe Ice "Cream" Cake!

-Rice Dream or other safe ice cream
-Crunchy cereal and/or crushed safe cookies
-Safe candy for decoration (optional)
... -Safe Margarine
-Serving dish that will fit into your freezer*

Scoop softened ice cream into a cake pan or other mold. I use a bit of Earth's balance in the pan. (Bundt pans work, as do cupcake tins.) You will need 2 pints for each round layer.

(This was made with a mini cake pan and 2 pints total.)

Freeze overnight until very hard.

Dip into a pan of hot water to release the "cake" from the cake pan.

If you have two layers, you can use crumbled cookie crumbs or cereal in between and you can roll the "cake" in crushed cereal. This gives it a little more support.

Put the unmolded cake back into the freezer* until ready to serve.

 

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