High Five For Friday! (H54F!)

I am linking up with Laruen's blog "From My Grey Desk" and starting a High Five For Friday (H54F) list.  I love this idea, it helps reflect on the good things from your past week. This will evolve for me, I hope, and become more interesting for you, I hope, over time.  (i.e. I will hopefully add pics in weeks to come when I am more prepared for this.)  So, here goes!

1. Aiden had 2 full days of Vacation Bible School this week.  It was great for all of us.  It gave him 2 full days of 'kid' time and it gave Bren and me 2 full days of Pea Pod time (we are 2 peas in a pod).  The theme this year was about Daniel in Babylon.  They went to the 'market' and 'bought' things, learned to play some musical instruments (guitar!) and made small crafts.  Both days he was exhausted when he came home, it was so great for him!

2.  MY HUSBAND CAME HOME!!!  He was getting certified to be a bridge inspector this week over 2 hrs away so he stayed in a hotel for the week.  This was his second week to be gone for this.  The first week we went to stay the night and play in the hotel pool but this week we couldn't work it out between tball and VBS.  We all missed him like crazy and are so glad we're all back together again!

3. Even though it's not Saturday yet, I have to include this in this week's H54F.  Aiden turns 6 Saturday!  I can't believe my little guy is 6 years old!  He's 1/3 of the way though living at home, isn't that weird?  So for his big day he is having his 4 best buddies over for some water fun.  It's supposed to be 90+ degrees Saturday so we'll be outside playing with water.  I have a few water games for them to play, plus we'll rig up the good ol' sprinkler and slip-n-slide for them.  Should be a fun afternoon.  And Sunday our family will come over for supper to celebrate.  What a great weekend this will be!

4.  I canned 17 pints of green beans!  I love harvesting my garden.  "And they'll taste so good this winter!"  ;)  < ------ wink!

5.  TBall finished up.  Not sure if I should consider this a 'high five' type of thing, but it was a big event in our lives this week.  I can't believe how much the kids improved in 4 short weeks/games.  Aiden had an awesome game, he really knocked the stuffin' out of those balls!  He even knocked one over the fence (yes, it was a foul ball but still!!)!  I think baseball is going to be his game.  Or football.  Or both.  He just loves sports all around, as long as he's playing he's happy.

Happy Friday to all and have a great weekend!
Erin

So Long, Ann Curry

It's official, they've give her the 'boot' over at the Today show.  I am a little sad.  No, I was not happy that she was going to be the new co-host, it is a little hard to watch her interview people when she stumbles over her words and makes rough transitions.  However, she was this way when fillling in for Meredith Viera so why in the world did they give her the job when it came open?  I feel that they treated her very poorly in this departure.  Their only saving grace is that Matt is still there. Yummy! 

Goodbye, dear Ann.  You have a big heart, I can tell from watching you every morning.  Keep your chin up and don't let them bully you!

Erin

P.S.  The boys and I had our dentist appts this morning, we were all given a clean bill of health.  30+ and never a cavity!  I hope I pass that on to the boys. :)

The Joy Of Canning

I love to can my veggies!  It makes me feel like a housewife from the 50's. :)  Plus, (brace yourself, inside joke coming) "it sure will taste good this winter!"  (My mother-in-law used to say that to my husband when he was whining about snapping beans, podding peas and hoeing the garden.)

This is as good as I can get Blogger to load this pic.  You get the idea tho.

I went out to the garden last night with a small bowl thinking I'd be picking just enough for a meal.  I ended up filling my mop bucket and large bowl.  Thank goodness the boys were here to help me pick! They had fun, too.  It took me over an hour to snap them all, with the help of the boys again.  And I just pulled the canner off the hot burner to cool down, I put up 17 pints!  I can't believe that!  And I still have 2 more plantings I spaced out coming on.  It's going to be a great crop this year!

Again, darn Blogger.  Grr!  It was such a pretty picture.

Happy Canning!
Erin

Dr Seuss' The Lorax review

Let me start by saying I'm not the biggest fan of kids' movies.  Mostly because of the adult humor they inject, thinking they'll slide it past the kids when in fact they just start mimicing it and it just gets really old and annoying. So I am always hesitant of taking my boys to a new movie.  The good old Disney movies are great, love those, never have to worry about those.  But Pixar and whoever the other animation giant is thinks of entertaining the adults a little too much for my taste.

Anywho, I digress.  The Lorax.  LOVED IT.  Super cute, awesome animation -- the colors were amazing.  The story was a good one, too. Taught kids to take care of nature, which I love.  And I was very surprised to see that the Lorax wasn't really the main character in the movie.  I was a little bothered thinking I'd be staring at him the whole time, but he wasn't annoying like I thought he'd be and he wasn't there the entire time. 

So what is my review of 'Dr Seuss' The Lorax'?  I give it 2 thumbs up, 5 stars, the Mom Seal of Approval!

Oh, and why am I just now seeing it? Because we have an awesome movie theatre that plays free movies for kids for 6 weeks in the summer and 4 weeks at Christmas time.  Can't beat that!

Happy Tuesday, All!
Erin

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

My garden grows quite well, thank you for asking! 

I haven't had a good garden for two years.  Two years ago was a bad year for every gardener here in my area, and last year I didn't plant one because we knew we were moving.  So I haven't canned any veggies for 2 years, and my shelves are bare!  So this year I have been praying to the gardening gods asking for rain, sunshine and NO WEEDS!  The soil here is amazing, nice and black.  I have done a good job of keeping on top of the weeds, too.  Here are a few pics of my goodies.

My tomatoes.

Scratch that 'few pics' part.  Blogger isn't loading my pics clearly.  Not sure what's wrong, but when I figure it out I'll get those other pics posted.  In the meantime enjoy my 'maters! :)

Erin

Swimmer's Hair

You know how after a few weeks of swimming in the pool your hair takes on a green sheen and, when wet, a slimy feel? It's super easy to get rid of with a simple trick -- baking soda!  All you have to do is shampoo your hair like normal, and while you're all sudzed up use a handful of baking soda to run through your hair.  It'll feel really weird, kind of gritty and yucky, but just keep running it through your hair for about a minute.  Then rinse, shampoo again and condition your hair.  If you're a regular swimmer (a few times a week) you'll want to do this daily.  If you swim daily, maybe every 4 days or so.  And if it's your first time doing this and you really have a chlorine buildup you might have to do this a couple times to get it all off.  Then you can go to doing it weekly or as needed.  Your hair will be soft and shiny!

Happy swimming!
Erin