Cookies for Sale!

For the past couple of weeks, Mark and I have been mulling over the idea of taking the kids on a cruise for their Christmas presents this year. Our Friends, the Albrechts, approached us and invited us to go with them and their family because they had found a great deal through the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. The deal they found was that kids sail free. We decided we should jump at the chance, especially since it was a great deal. Neither Mark nor I have been on a cruise before and we thought it would be fun to not only go with another family but go with them since they could show us the ropes since they had been on this particular cruise before. We surprised the kids and since then the kids have been chomping at the bit to earn money for souvenirs. 

The kids have been begging me to let them have a lemonade stand since school let out, but I wasn't too excited about it. I told them that very few people ever stop and it ends up being a sticky mess for everyone involved. I told them that we needed to get creative and we did just that! I had the thought come to me that most people like homemade cookies and so I presented that Idea to the kids. They were on board and they jumped at the chance.

We made a deal that I would make the cookie dough and bake the cookies, while they set up the chairs outside,decorate signs and make thank you notes to staple to some brown paper bags (that i had on hand) to help put their customers cookies in. The kids worked so hard! The three of us decided to sell Chocolate Chip cookies and White Cranberry chip cookies on this afternoon. 

The Cookie stand was a huge success and the kids ended up making a whopping $42! It was so funny to watch the kids in the neighborhood, as well as, some of the adults in the neighborhood stop by and buy warm cookies. We got several requests from neighbors to do our cookie stand more often. Funny things is, is that I have earned a good reputation with sharing my home baked goodies with the neighbors so it was fun to have the neighbors come running for my baked goods! The kids were so giddy helping their customers and with the amount of money they made! 

 In the end it was a lot of work for me but It was worth every bit to see Kaleb and Karmindy so excited. It was also a good lesson on hard work. Unfortunately, now Kaleb and Karmindy think they should do a cookie stand every week now since they earned big bucks the first time around! I think I only have one cookie stand in me each summer! Until next year....

Birthday Time!

When did I get to be so old? I turned 33 this year. I am kind of getting to the point in my life where I don't want to keep track of how old I am and just enjoy living! I am loving my 30's and I love how I finally feel secure in who I am and what people think of me doesn't seem to bother me so much. I truly just enjoy being me and spending my time doing things that make me happy and spending my time with others who make me happy and make me a better person. However, I feel like Time seems to be speeding up and I hate that feeling. 

Despite feeling older, I did, however, have a nice birthday. Mark took the day off from work and we went and saw Disney's movie "Maleficent" while the kids were ate school. We also went to lunch too. I had a nice relaxing day and Mark and the kids spoiled me rotten!

A week later, we went out to eat for my big birthday dinner with our friends, Joe and Crystal Albrecht. Crystal also has a June birthday and we begged our husbands to take us to the Melting Pot  Fondue Restaurant to celebrate our special days for a joint celebration and date night. It was a great evening! We had a great time visiting, enjoying each other company and gorging ourselves on delicious fondue!

Mother/Daughter Lunch Date

I really enjoy spending time with both of my kids. I also love being able to spend some quality "Girl Time" with my little girl. I have enjoyed that Karmindy is getting a little older, and that I can take her and we can go and spend some time together as a mom and daughter. I love being with her and I hope she enjoys our time together as well.

One of my favorite things to do with Karmindy, is to go to lunch and visit and then occasionally treat her to a manicure and pedicure. Mani/Pedi's are expensive but I found a little nail salon near our home here in Riverton, that only charges 10 to 15 dollars for Karmindy to get her nails done. Karmindy has grown to love Mani/Pedis and it is a fun thing for us to splurge on together from time to time. On this particular day, Karmindy and I went and got our nails done and then Karmindy chose to eat at Zupas (a soup and salad cafe) for lunch. We both love Zupas so it is an easy compromise for me. As long as she doesn't choose McDonalds than I am good. I would take her to McDonalds if she asked but I am grateful she has a more refined palette for her age. Karmindy loves Zupas chicken nuggets, their fruit cup with assorted fruits and the special treat that is included with her meal, a chocolate dipped strawberry. I am sure this is the reason why she chooses Zupas!

I truly enjoy spending time with my baby girl and enjoy our girls afternoons out

!

Oh, Sweet Strawberries!

 

Our Strawberry Patch that we planted a couple of years ago has really taken off this year and ended up  producing 3 big bowl fulls of Strawberries this Spring!! I am completely mystified as to how they grew and did so well because I do not have a green thumb and usually kill everything I plant. Nevertheless, it was an exciting event for our family to have something to pick and enjoy eating from our little backyard garden!

The kids especially enjoyed picking our strawberry patch every few days! It was so fun to see them get so excited and race each other to the back yard and see who could pick the most!

 

 

I think I got just as excited as the kids, when it came to picking the strawberries from our patch this year. I especially enjoyed making several strawberry pies for our family to enjoy. The picture of the strawberry pie is just one of several pies I made. Nothing beats fresh strawberry pie and homemade vanilla flavored whipped cream in the spring/summer time!