Do it yourself microwave popcorn...

I love popcorn!  It's my go to snack.  I have been buying microwave popcorn for as long as I can remember.  It's convenient, quick, and delicious.  However, I've read recently that the chemicals in the bags may not be that great for you, in fact there are carcinogens that may cause cancer... um... no thanks!  I can't remember where I saw it, but I heard about an easy way to make your own microwave popcorn.  It's just as easy as the store bought popcorn, but with added benefits.  First, your not getting the chemicals found in typical microwave bags, and second you can control the amount of butter, oil, and salt.

All you need are some brown paper lunch bags (you know the ones you always had to bring a bagged lunch in on a field trip, the ones that guaranteed your food would be squished by lunch time).  You also need some popcorn kernels (super inexpensive and you'll be amazed how much popcorn you can make from one jar.  And finally some oil, butter, salt, or any other toppings you desire (you can get creative here).

Measure a half a cup of kernels and put them in your brown bag.  Next you fold the bag top down a couple of times and put it in the microwave.  I cook mine on high for 2 1/2 minutes (wait until there is less then two seconds between pops to take it out of the microwave).

And there you have it, a healthy alternative to microwave popcorn.  Just add your toppings and enjoy!

Magic Beans...

I love looking at comparisons of how the kids grow since I don't always notice it day to day.  This morning I took a picture of them in the same place I always take first day of school pictures.  It's the last day of school and I wanted to see how they compared.  Tyler wouldn't put on shoes so it's hard to get an exact comparison, but you can still see that he's grown a bit.  Juliana has grown so much it was shocking to see the difference.  The pictures are taken at a different angle so it's not an exact comparison, but you can still see where the tops of the heads are on the mantle.  I think they've been eating magic beans!  ;)

First day of 3rd and 5th grade vs last day of 3rd and 5th grade:

A yucky day... but a good day for lighting.

It's been on the verge of raining all day, and just a general "yucky" day.  However, when it's overcast, it's the perfect time to snap some pictures (no shadows or over exposure from the harsh sun today).  I took a little walk around my backyard and got a few good shots. If I was more of a gardener (or a gardener at all) I'd have more variety, but it's not something I will ever aspire to become, so these shots are the best I could find.

My "favorite" cupcakes... lemon cream cheese.

This is a very ease recipe for super yummy cupcakes.  I love cupcakes, and these were extra delicious.  The recipe was quite simple (a semi-homemade recipe), doesn't get better then that.

The recipe:

what you need

1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix

1 pkg.  (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Lemon Flavor Instant Pudding

1 cup water

4   egg whites

2 Tbsp. oil

1 pkg.  (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

2 Tbsp.  lemon juice

1 pkg. (16 oz.) powdered sugar

make it

HEAT oven to 350ºF.

BEAT first 5 ingredients in large bowl with mixer on low speed until moistened. (Batter will be thick.) Beat on medium speed 2 min. Spoon into 24 paper-lined muffin cups.

BAKE 21 to 24 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min.; remove to wire racks. Cool completely.

BEAT cream cheese, butter and juice with mixer until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating on low speed after each addition until well blended. Spread onto cupcakes.

Top with a zest of lemon.

Two more weeks of school... OH MY!

I've said it once, or twice, or a million times... but I will say it again, "WHERE DOES THE TIME GO"?!  It seems like just yesterday I was getting my kids ready for their first day of school and here we are facing just two weeks until summer break.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE summer break, I just cannot believe how fast the school year went.  Juliana is getting ready to complete her first year of middle school!  I don't understand how I can possibly be old enough to have a child going into sixth grade, I can remember sixth grade in such detail, it makes this almost surreal.  She had her end of year concerts for school, she is in both band and chorus and loves them both.  We opted her out of Spanish so she could be in both music programs (I know, bad parents, but does it really matter if she can count to 100 in Spanish).

Ready for her band concert (she's a drummer/percussionist)

Ready for her chorus concert:

She is almost done with her first season of travel soccer:

Here she is sleeping with the cat, it has nothing to do with school, it's just cute:

Tyler is about to end his 3rd grade year, and will be beginning his final year at Elementary School in the Fall.  That just makes me want to scream!  He's my baby, and getting too big.

He had a project to do on the history of our town, he took all the pictures himself:

Yesterday was his 3rd grade recorder/chorus concert:

He made a recycled robot:

And his mohawk is back:

That's all for us right now... two more weeks and our summer will officially kick off!  Woo hoo!!

Making my heart sing...

Sometimes my kids can drive me a little crazy, but then there are those moments that just make your heart sing.  Juliana was working on a book report about Rosa Parks last week, when I looked into the family room I saw her deep in thought and working hard, it really made me proud.

On the road again...

14 hours each way, and we survived!  We went to Myrtle Beach, SC for the kids Spring Break.  Back in February I decided I (we) needed a little vacation to look forward to, so we decided to try a road trip, the longest we'd ever driven with the kids before was 11 hours to Williamsburg, VA and that was a long trip, but we decided we could handle the 14 hour trip, and we'd "try" to have fun doing it.

We set out at 4:30 am on a cool Saturday morning.  The kids were so excited they popped out of bed, they had both showered and dressed in their clothes before bed, so a quick trip to the bathroom and a little teeth brushing and they were in the car and ready to go!  It was smooth sailing (driving), with no traffic in site.  We made several bathroom/snack stops and did stop for a sit down lunch, but I was determined to get to Myrtle Beach before dark and so we drove and drove and drove....  the kids were amazing!  They didn't nap at all, but played ds, watched a couple of movies, colored, read magazines, and played on my Iphone and Ipad (thanks Apple).  We pulled into our hotel (Long Bay Resort) at 6:30 pm (exactly 14 hours after we left CT).

I snapped this on my my phone while Steve checked in... they were all smiles.

Once in our room we ordered some pizza and went to bed!  The next day I was itching to hit the beach and the kids wanted to go in the pools and lazy river (have I mentioned how much I love vacations).  Myrtle Beach really does have a beautiful beach, it looked endless from our hotel.

These pictures are from different days spent on the beach and at the pools, I could sit on a beach all day with my toes in the sand... it truly is my happy place.

I spent some time building a sandcastle with the kids, Tyler basically told me what to do, but it was fun and they were happy with the results.

Later that day I saw that Steve was building on with the kids....  not exactly the same effort was put into his that was put into mine...

We spent a lot of time at an area called Broadway at the Beach.  It was full of shops, restaurants, and many other family activities.  We took the kids to a hands on museum called Wonderworks, we liked it so much we went back at night.  It was all hands on fun exhibits, Steve and I had fun too.  

We spent some time almost everyday at Broadway at the beach.  The kids loved feeding the fish (it was a feeding frenzy) and most of all liked (I should say loved) a store called "It's Sugar", Juliana said it was her Heaven Destiny!

My favorite morning there was when I finally got the kids out on the beach not long after sunrise to take a little stroll, there weren't many people out and about yet and the beach was just pristine.  I would of taken a walk with them every morning, but they didn't always want to.

Steve's parents drove 12 hours from Florida to spend a couple of days with us.  The kids were so excited to see them!  We spent some time on the beach, went to an arcade, strolled the boardwalk, and went to some restaurants with them.  We also visited the Apache Pier (the longest pier on the East Coast), I thought it would be cooler then it was, but it was something to do.

One of the most fun things we did while we were in Myrtle Beach was visit a mirror maze at Broadway on the Beach, it had just opened two weeks prior and was so much fun.  We all laughed and got lost many times.  We could go through it as many times as we wanted, so we took turns with different partners trying to see who could get through the fastest, the pictures really don't do it justice.

Another of my favorite things we did while we were there was go on the Skywheel (the highest ferris wheel on the east coast).  Juliana and I were the only ones "brave enough" to go on it, everyone else had a fear of heights or were having a bad hair day or some other lame excuse.  You ride in a gondola and it goes up 200 feet.  The view was amazing, on the way down you were over the sand and it looked like you were going right into the ocean.

We also spent some time mini golfing, we went to Cancun mini golf course, it was a lot of fun, half indoors and half outdoors.  

I am sure there are many more things that we did that I missed.  Juliana lost a tooth on the first day (a molar) at breakfast, and Tyler got sick one day (I always say it's not a true family vacation until someone gets sick)!

I am sure we'll be visiting Myrtle Beach in the future.