Niece's Tangled Party

Last weekend, we traveled to South Carolina for my niece's birthday party. Since she loves Tangled right now, that is what she chose for her theme this year. It was held at a nearby park. 

It was so beautiful!

 It would have been perfect if the weather was just a tad bid warmer. We were not expecting it to be so windy and chilly! A few of us were not prepared!

I guess this is better than the time I forgot to pack panties for both girls at L2L.

What would a Tangled party be without a Tangled cake?

My niece has some gorgeous red hair!

After cake,  the kids took turns hitting the pinata.

This is what you expect to see after the pinata breaks open.......

not in our family.

 

You don't grab.......you don't get!

(There were no children harmed during this candy grabbing incident)

As we walked around the trail, we noticed a few other treats at the park.

 

 

We had a great time getting tangled up in all the party fun!

College road trip to Freed Hardeman

A couple of weeks ago, we took a few of the youth to check out a potential Christian college.

 Freed Hardeman was the only Christian college I had not seen so I was excited to check it out!

Let me just say........

I was VERY impressed!

Everything was well organized and enticing!
 I almost signed myself up for another round of college.........

until we sat in the dreaded "Reality $ Shocker" parent meeting!

How did college get to be so expensive!!!!!!!

Good thing kids can get their own loan these days!

Laney told me she was attending Freed Hardeman......
I told her she better start saving now!!

It was Maroon and Gold Day on campus this particular weekend so they were expecting quite the crowd.

During a yummy lunch,  a faculty member was seated at each table to answer any questions. It was very relaxed and informative.

After lunch, the future students were able to sit in a classroom of his/her choice while the parents attended another meeting. We met back up later for a tour of the campus.

There were many beautiful spots on campus.
I couldn't help but take a few snapshots every now and then.......

of the ones that would let me!

After the tour, the kids hung out at the student center drinking cokes and getting free t shirts while the parents attended another meeting.

I admit I slipped out of this one, when I realized there was a coffee shop right next door!

Once the scheduled tours and meetings were finished, we were given free tickets to see  Making Music  that night.

It is always fun to see what kind of acts the clubs put on at these types of events.

Once it was over, some of our kids stayed in the dorms while the rest of us crashed at a nearby hotel.

After breakfast the next day, we went to the school store.
 Outside the store is a lion(FHU mascot).
We were told the students regularly paint this lion different colors every so often.

I was hoping to get a family picture but there were only a few times we were actually all together. The hubs was waiting with the bus while we took this picture.

Which reminds me......
a huge shout out to the hubby for driving close to 22 hours in 3 days!

We had a great trip and definitely added Freed Hardeman to the Where I Want to go to College List.

Rudolph came early this year!

Our dog Chewy was sniffing the floor. He raised up to look at me and this is what I saw.

I keep warning my kids about the surprise pictures they take with my camera!

I WILL post them!

Being a mommy can be so much fun!

First pickins of the year!

A couple of weeks ago, we picked our first batch of strawberries. They were scarce but we were able to find some good ones!

We ended up filling a bucket each.

We were able to find several that were big!

They tasted even better than they looked!

We couldn't leave without having some homemade strawberry ice cream!

Doesn't that just make your mouth water?

That was some YUMMY GOODNESS!

What did I do with all those strawberries you might ask?

I made 27 jars of YUMMY jam!

I think I might just head back this week for more ice cream strawberries!

What does your mom do when she comes for a visit?

MINE...............

WORKS.........

AND WORKS HARD!

Since the hubs was out of town, I asked my mom to watch the kids while I did the Color Run. She was only suppose  to come VISIT......instead she helped to get our house ready to be put on the market.

She.......

*pulled weeds

*painted

*cleaned out the sand pit

*cleaned out the garage

*planted bushes

THANK YOU MOM FOR ALL YOUR HELP!

The girls picked out flowers to add a little color to the beds.

Griffin wanted to pick out peppers but with a little research realized he would not get to reap the benefits of his labor before we had to leave. He laid pine straw instead.

It's great when you have AWESOME HELP!

#icecream/turn/frozenyogurt

First of all....what is up with wording having a # sign in front of it? 

I guess it is the it thing now?

I can now say I am with the times because I put it in my title!

Moving on......

Where I grew up, people mostly ate ice cream or shaved ice. I can remember only one frozen yogurt shop called TCBY. You would go in and order just like you would ice cream.

My how times have changed. Where we live now.....there are 5 yogurt shops! You also have to do all the work yourself!

If you haven't been in one, let me explain.

You walk in and they immediately hand you these little sample cups. So...of course.....you want to sample everyone.

 

Now......I could just stop after this and say I have had my fill of frozen yogurt.

But your children are lured to the massive cups sitting on the counter!

This is every owners dream...........children fixing their own!

This is every mothers/payees nightmare!

You have to be quick to supervise........it could become massive!

It doesn't stop there......they have numerous options for toppings.....also self serve!

So end the end you have this nice big bowl of goodness!

Did I forget to mention.........YOU PAY BY THE OUNCE?

It's always a surprise!

Hopefully, we won't get to the point of needing a loan for yogurt!

It is a rare treat that we will miss once we move.

We ended up filling up a card for a free yogurt.

We used it to take Griffin a bowl.