Apples, Apples, Apples

Okay, so Kevin bought me a dehydrator a few Christmas's ago and well, umm, I have never used it. Kevin was getting a little annoyed so he finally pulled it out and put it to work. He really loves apple rings so we got a bunch of apples and we borrowed my sister-in-law (Jennifer's) apple, peeler, corer thing.(?) It's really cool! I have seen it demonstrated before at a few Shar classes that I have been to. (Cooking and baking classes for those who don't know). It is truly an amazing contraption. The kids couldn't get enough of it so pretty much all Sunday that's what we did. The kids also really liked the peel. As the apple was being peeled, they would yell..."The skin!" And they would grab it and eat it like it was candy licorice or something. We probably went through 10 apples that day. (at least!) The kids just loved it!

Here is Kevin showing us how it is done...with his hairy arms. (Funny side story) We were driving in the car the other day and I glanced over at Kevin and his arm hairs were "blowing in the wind" from the AC. I started laughing and then Kevin told me how his brothers have been teasing him lately.
I was downloading this pictures onto the computer and Teagan walked in and said "Oh cool, the apple thing...is that daddy?" "Yes," I said. Then Teagan said "He's hairy!"
Then a few minutes later Kevin came in and saw this picture and said "Dude, I'm hairy, you can't put that picture on there! I am going to shave my arms right now."
We shall see! :)



Here is Teagan grabbing "the skin."



The apple peeler turns the apple into a slinky. My kids like to call it "boing, boing."
(Notice "the skin" hanging out of Maylee's mouth.)



Here is my dehydrator. Doesn't it look brand new? Pretty good for being a few years old, huh? :)

Maylee's Birthday!

Maylee had her 5th birthday this past week! I can't believe how fast time goes. My little Maylee-Moo will be going to Kindergarten this coming fall...so crazy! Well, she had a little birthday party with a few friends. She and I had came up with alot of different ideas, but we decided to go with a "Garden Party." It turned out pretty cute. We just did a few simple games and crafts that had to do with bugs or flowers...something garden-ish. We played pin the bug on the flower, and we had a bug hunt...I hid pretend bugs in the living room while Teagan read the girls a story about Lady bugs. Oh, and they each got to decorate a little pot to put all their goodies in. They also painted sun-catchers that were different bugs. I was going to have them each make a flower pen but I figured I would probably just go around helping them anyway, so I just made them ahead of time and put one in each of their pots to take home. And no birthday is complete without cake and ice cream. Maylee wanted a chocolate-zucchini cake (which I used the zucchini from our garden, not that any of the 4 or 5 year olds cared). And then I just put a few pink flowers on the top.

Here are some pictures from her party...

If want to see some more cute pictures, look on Mandy's blog :) She was my official photographer. She was a huge help with the party! Thanks Mandy!

A few of the girls coloring different pictures...

Kaylie, Maylee, Sydney, and Amberlyn.

Opening presents...this bag matches her party perfect, not to mention Maylee's shirt!

A fairy Barbie...one of many girly things that she got for her birthday.

Blowing out the candles...it took a few blows, but she finally got them all out.

(Cute little Bethany watching in anticipation)

Her actual birthday was 2 days later, so Grandpa Lichlyter came over to help her celebrate. I asked her what she wanted for dinner and she said "fry bread." So, I got out my wheat dough from the freezer and made some fry bread. We sang "Happy Birthday" again and ate the rest of her cake.

I decided to make her an "Artwork book" to put all her pictures in. She LOVES coloring and making pictures and cards. She really likes her book and has already put a few papers in it. :)

Happy 5th Birthday Maylee!!! :)

Craft Time

During the summer I try to keep the kids busy with different activities. On Mondays we have craft time, Tuesday is school time, Wednesday is water/swimming time...stuff like that. When I said it was craft time, Teagan asked if they could do his finger painting kit that he has had for awhile. I said sure and he was very excited. It's been awhile since the kids have painted and it was fun to watch them.

After the paintings were dry we decided to hang them up somewhere. I thought the back door would be a good idea, and it was. I love how the light shines through and brightens the pictures. It's really pretty. You can't really see the kids in this picture...they are pointing to their pictures that they painted.

A few weeks ago it was Kevin's birthday. The big 34! I made him french toast with strawberries for breakfast and made him wear this new birthday hat I bought. The kids each picked out something for him at the $1 store. Livia picked out Fiddle Faddle...so Kevin thought she deserved a kiss. :)

Okay...so here it is! The pool I wanted. I finally found one when I was at the store this past week. Since it wouldn't fit in my van, I called Kevin and asked him to come pick it up in his truck. He was in the middle of studying, but he knew how much I wanted it, so he came and picked it up for me. The kids have played in it everyday. It's not Huge...but it keeps them busy for awhile. It's something for them to do during the hot summer days.

Our New Pool

Okay for the past month or so I have been looking for a pool for the kids. One of those small plastic ones with a little slide built in. They have a few different sizes at the store but since I have an almost 7, almost 5 and a 2 1/2 year old, I thought I should go with the biggest one they have. (Even though Teagan would still probably barely fit in it...it would still be a refreshing place to be when it's 110 degrees out.)


(The last few summers we have had the small two ring blow up ones. Which are fine...but sitting outside blowing it up each time the kids wanted to swim was kinda annoying, and it got so dirty and would eventually pop.)


So, I have been looking and looking and every time I am at the store they are out of the pools I want or they only have the smallest size. I have just about given up...I am thinking that nobody is going to have them any more. I guess I will just have to be patient. In the meantime my kids have come up with a solution. :)


It's big enough for 2!

Doesn't that look like SO much fun!?!? If anyone wants to come swimming at our house just let me know...there is plenty of room...lol





The kids also played with this "volcano face" thing. It shoots water out of its head every once in awhile. Teagan would try to jump over it before it would spray out.

I love this picture of Livia. She stands with her hands on her hips all the time...I am not sure where she got it from. :)

Oh, and our grass is getting green again. I love it!

School is out and Summer is here!

The last few weeks have been quite busy. (I will try to give a run down of what has happened.)

A few Saturdays ago...it was an eventful day. (The night before the girls slept in the tent with Kevin, it was set up in the backyard) Oh, and Kevin shaved his head again...

So Saturday we were off to find a bunk bed, I had been searching for one for a few weeks. We finally found one we thought would be good and it was at a decent price. It was all the way in Phoenix, which was not a huge deal, only that we were almost there when I was told to go to Labor and Delivery at my hospital back on Higley and the 60. (No worries...it turned out to be nothing) I was there for a few hours and then we headed back to Phoenix for the bunk bed. And then after getting home we realized that we didn't have a few of the boards and screws that would be helpful for putting the beds together. (We ended up spending our next Saturday driving back out to Phoenix to get them.) But hey...we have bunk beds now, Yeah!

School's Out...

With the end of the school year, comes parties and graduations. Maylee had her Preschool Graduation which went well. She definitely was the loudest singer...she gets that from Kevin's side of the family. :) We also had a birthday party that day. Karalee's little girl Kinlee, turned one. She planned a water-type party...because we live in Arizona. She had borrowed a huge blow-up slide thing and all the kids were dressed in their swim-suits ready for some fun. Of course that was the day that is was windy and rainy and felt great outside...meaning not the best day to play in the water. My kids lasted a little while. But I am sure it was worth it to them...they got hot dogs and cake and ice cream out of it.

The next day was Teagan's last day of school which they had their last assembly. (Teagan got Principles Honor Roll again) So, I went to that and after it was over I was waiting outside for Teagan and a few of my friends (Karyn and Ashley) said they were taking their kids to Peter Piper Pizza. Uhh...sure why not. (I didn't think my kids had eaten enough junk that week so why not bring on some more.) I stopped at home before we left and grabbed a bag of carrots and some peas for us to eat on the way there. The kids enjoyed their pizza and playing on the play thing. They kept asking for tokens so I got $1.50 worth. (I know...my kids are lucky.) Teagan got 3 tokens, Maylee got 2 and Livia got 1. It was fun to spend some time with my friends...we don't hang out as much as we used to. And Karyn invited us to her house that night for games. (Something we used to do often.)

Here is Teagan at his last, first grade assembly.

At Peter Piper the kids had 8 tickets total! The Peter Piper employee was nice enough to give all 3 kids a set of teeth. Here they are showing off their pearly whites...




We had our annual Memorial Day BBQ and swimming party at my mom and dad's house. It was nice to be able to cool off in the pool. The kids love the water probably as much as I did when I was younger (Teagan was the last one out of the pool). Matt and Amanda were also able to come down, so that was fun to see them. It's nice to have cousins the same age as all my kids.

Another thing that has kept me busy the last few weeks...or month was our "Fear Factor" mutual activity. I probably put more effort into it than I needed too, but I wanted it to run smoothly. And I actually enjoyed getting ready for it and planning it, for the most part. It was this past Tuesday night (I am glad it's over.) But I think it turned out pretty good. From what I saw (I was running around from station to station) it looked like the youth were having a good time.

10 Years Ago...

Wow! I can’t believe that I am saying this (or writing it) but 10 years ago this week, I graduated from Gilbert High School. (Go Tigers!!!) It’s crazy to think that it has been that long. Some days I feel like it was not that long ago, and other days I feel like it was a life-time ago. When I think about how much my life has changed since then, it’s amazing. So, in honor of my 10-year reunion I would like to share 10 of my favorite things from then, and now.

Then: 1999
Color- Baby blue, light purple
Sport- Volleyball
Store- Dillards (really? I don’t ever remember going there…)
Food- Mexican and Pizza
Holiday- Christmas
Animal- Dolphin, monkey, horse
Thing to do- Dance, Rollerblade, go on dates
Snack- Anything with peanut butter
Movie- Ever After, Apollo 13, That thing you do
TV Show- Wonder Years, I love Lucy

Now: 2009
Color- Go Green!
Sport- Volleyball
Store- Whole Foods
Food- Mediterranean Roasted Chicken Pita from Pita Jungle
Holiday- Christmas
Animal- umm...cat???
Thing to do- Go to Disneyland with my kids...and hubby
Snack- Smoothie and homemade muffins
Movie- Pirates of the Caribbean, Get Smart
TV Show- The Office, Heroes

Please don’t laugh…I have never been a good writer or very big on details… (obviously) And I apologize for it being soooo long...lol.
My journal entry 5-22-99:

“…And now I am a graduate from Gilbert High School. Graduation was Wednesday night and it was so awesome. We partied til about 3:00am. I was falling asleep so I decided to go home. We went to one party til about 1:30, then we went to Denny’s, then we went to another party, then we went home. On the way home we drank Kristyn’s “Orbit,” a weird drink that has red floaties in it. She had it on her dresser for the past 2 years. So that’s how I celebrated. Eric and I saw “Stars Wars; Episode 1.” It was so awesome! It opened on Wednesday and we saw it Friday morning! Cool! I quit my job at Island Pizza. Finally after 2 ½ years. In 2 days we leave for Spain! I am so excited! Yea!!”

Wow, sounds really exciting, huh? :) I was very happy to graduate from High School and to move on to the next phase of my life…College. I would have never guessed how much the little town of Thatcher would have changed my life. Living on my own, the friends I would make, the memories I would keep forever, growing spiritually, and meeting my future husband.

Camping & Girls Night

The boys had their Father/Son camp out this weekend. Teagan was very excited about going...and of course Kevin was too. I went and picked up Teagan early from school so they could get going. They were packed and all ready to go and they drove up with the Hallidays. They both seemed to enjoy it, they got home Saturday afternoon about 4pm. Teagan said his favorite part was..."watching a movie with Kaleb and Maxwell in the tent. And playing a game where the bad guys had to run away from the good guys and the good guys had to run away from the bad guys. Me and Magnum had walkie-talkies so we could talk to each other cause if we were getting chased by bad guys."

While the boys were gone, us girls had to do something fun! So we spent all day Friday out and about. We packed a lunch and ate it in the car on the way to our first stop...the Mall. We just walked around for awhile. The girls played but that didn't last very long, so we started making our rounds. (We always have to stop at the book store and the pet store.) The only store in the mall that I actually made a purchase from was Hi-Health. After we left the mall we headed to Sonic for 3 cups of ice. (Their ice is my favorite. I usually get a cup of it and then just fill it with my water, but this time we actually filled them with something else! Some vitamin water that I had just bought from Hi-health. The girls were very excited about that.) After feeling refreshed, we headed to Micheal's for a few craft supplies. I saw an idea of felt pizza online and thought it was cute, and since I already had a lot of felt I decided we would try it out. (It's been awhile since we have done craft time and I thought we should get going on that again.)

When I asked Maylee what she wanted to do for girls night, she said she wanted to watch a movie and eat popcorn. So, I thought it would be fun to let her choose a movie from "the movie store" aka: Blockbuster. We ran in to Subway (which was right next door) to use the restroom, but we were all so hungry because we had an early lunch, that we decided to have an early dinner too...it was 4:30. After we ate our sandwiches we picked out a movie from Blockbuster. First, Maylee choose a Care Bear movie, but I told her if she wanted me to watch it with her she might need to choose a different one. So, she went with "Shark tale." We drove home and put on the movie and I made popcorn and chocolate milk...I had made some for the boys to take with them and the girls were a little jealous. After the girls went to bed that night, I stayed up and cut out the stuff for the felt pizza, which the girls spend awhile playing with today.







I also painted Maylee and Livia's toe-nails today, which went perfect with "girl time." It wasn't planned but I walked into my bathroom to find Livia sitting on the counter painting her own toe-nails! Luckily she was on her first one and there was no polish to be seen any where else.


We love when the boys are home...but sometimes it's nice to have a little girl time! And I am sure that the boys enjoyed their time away too!