Shopping, schooling, and some kiddie crafts

While we were in NYC for David's treatment, Rachel was watching the kids for us. She planned on doing some fun crafts with them...trying to make their last day before school started fun. I had some supplies for all these crafts that I had wanted to do over the summer, which of course, we never did. Anyways, Rachel is usually in charge of the crafts for the kids...I have no patience with it. I wind up getting super frustrated and instead of having fun family time, it turns into a witchy mess! lol...we all have our strong suits and our weak points. Anyways, I had several ideas that I'd found on Pinterest that looked really cool; glitter slime, foam dough, paper roll crafts, sock bubbles...Rachel said she'd snoop around my Pinterest and that they'd try at least some of them out.

Glitter Slime

Foam Dough

Toilet Paper Roll Owls

Sock Bubbles

She kept sending me texts of the kids...they were having so much fun! They wound up doing the glitter slime (which worked really well!), and the foam dough (not so great, a little crumbly, but still fun). Rachel even decorated the bags for their slime...so cute!

When we (finally) got home, the kids had had a great day! They couldn't wait to show us their slime! haha

I just have to share this pic with y'all. The youth group at our church had a back to school blast party on Wednesday night. Red One was super excited to go...couldn't wait! They were gonna have games, slip n slide, powder paint fight, and snacks. This is what she looked like when I picked her up!

They didn't actually do the slip n slide (it was actually a little chilly) but she loved the paint fight! And, they even cooked out hot dogs and hamburgers...and tons of snacks. She was a happy camper!

I haven't been shopping in forever! But I had a gift card for Anthropologie (my favorite!) to use...so Rachel and I headed there on Thursday. I love just window shopping there...the decorations are always so unique and cool; and don't get me started on the clothes!!! I simultaneously drool and faint looking at them...drool because I want them so much, and faint because of the sticker shock! I mean seriously, the prices ranges from yikes to what planet are you from?!?!?! The home decor is awesome too! I would LOVE to own almost any of their furniture (which is also insanely expensive!), it's just so pretty! Anyways, I usually check out their clearance, and sometimes find a few kitchen items that are a steal. I actually got the coolest rolling pin there one time...and I love their coffee cups, especially the initial ones. I actually bought myself two of the M mugs...the kids broke both of them! I finally gave up. :/

Anyways, I actually lucked out in the clearance this time. I found the cutest top (that fit!) on clearance of course. I've also been coveting their aprons for months. I found one I really wanted, but it wasn't on sale, and there was no way I would spend $38.00 on an apron...but it was SO cute! Here's a link to check it out.

Sugar-Spots Apron

But, there was another apron on clearance for 14.95 that had all the colors I adore...and it was also super cute. There was no way I was gonna pass that up! Gotta say, I was super excited to actually buy some clothes from Anthropologie (and not break the bank ;)

Malorie Apron

We were on such a winning streak we stopped by Savers too...found a pair of white 7 for All Mankind shorts for $7...woohoo! plus a couple of cute shirts. I love shopping! and even more, I love shopping while not spending a fortune! I'm all about going cheap as much as possible!

I wore my new shirt, and a super cute necklace I picked up at Savers the next day! lol I brought a meal to some people from church who are going through the same cancer fight David and I are. It was nice to be able to help out some. I'm so glad I scheduled it in my phone though! My alarm went off telling me to bring the meal and I was like "Crap!" I had totally forgotten...so I headed to the grocery store to pick up some chicken and veggies. After I dropped the meal off, Rachel got hold of my camera and started taking some pics. She thought my outfit and hairdo were too cute to pass up...lol She's so sweet!

I really love that necklace I got (at Savers for 3.99!)...it actually had two more danglies, but it was too much and didn't lay right. So, I took them off and now it's super cool!

Speaking of school starting, Rachel started up classes at Manchester Community College...so she'll be hanging out here a lot more. She'll probably move in for a bit until she finds a place...at least, that's the plan. ;) She's gonna be going for Computer Programming it seems. Almost all her classes are nights this semester, which actually is working out well. The kids, of course, are loving having her around more. I hope her classes are good and she can make some local friends!

I'll leave you with a pic of my silly dog. Mind you, this is just a day or two after the kids gave her a bath. She's got pink and blue chalk dust all over her...and grass stains from running around outside while the lawn was being mowed...hahaha

1st Day of School! Yippee!!!

Ah, the first day of school...the happiest day of the year, well, almost! ;)



Love that commercial! hahaha

Anyways, yesterday was yet another NYC trip to Sloan-Memorial for David's final IV chemo. The check in with the nurse practitioner went well. David's liver counts were going up, which is great. He still needs to keep monitoring his blood/liver counts weekly though, and still can't have any OTC pain relievers till everything is back to normal. We'll be going back in 3 weeks for an MRI and then to meet with the doctor to find out what's next. The pharmacy was running behind, so we wound up waiting almost three hours to get called back for the 10 minute IV drug...sigh...

 Hahaha, we found Red Three's sandals caught in the van back door

 Awful quality, but that is gray I'm wearing ;)

We were starving by this point, so we thought we'd check out this curry place we'd seen before. It had a line of people waiting outside though...so scratch that! Then we tried an Irish pub, but they were only open for dinner. David surprised me by actually suggesting a sushi joint. I love sushi, and he loathes it! Not to mention, he couldn't eat it now if he wanted to. I was super excited though...I haven't had any in a while! I wound up getting the lunch bento box and David got some beef udon noodles. Mine was scrumptious...basically a sampler of sushi. David hated his...lol :/ He's just not a Japanese food dude...he sure can chow down on Chinese though! hahahaha

Rachel caught me blogging the other day...bts pic for ya ;)

Although it did seem like the summer was super short (and not all the summery at times) I was so done with all the bickering! So, while on the one hand, I wished they had more time to have fun and relax, I was thrilled that they went back to school! I took the girls to get back to school outfits at Savers last week. They looked so cute today!

 I'm seriously loving Red Two's outfit! I would totally wear it, especially those ikat shorts!

 It was so funny...as soon as I saw that frilly heart shirt hanging on the rack, I knew Red Three would pick it! lol

 Red One found the most awesome Converse sneaks ever! (well, ok, they're not as cool as The Doctor's...but I digress) They have like two different layers of canvas...love them! Red One was very concerned with making sure her outfit looked like her normal style...so cute!

 How cute are they? 

I may have mentioned previously, but today was Red One's first day at the 6th grade academy. New school, new routine, different classes, etc...big changes! I was praying she would have a great day...and she came out all smiles, so thank the Lord for that!

And she wasn't too cool for me to still take pics before dropping her off! lol

It's a little different getting used to dropping kids off at two different schools. Red One's not a walker anymore...I drop her off around 8:10, then head home and walk the other two to school by 8:50...which means we usually leave by about 8:35. Then Red One gets out of school at 2:45 and the other girls get out at 3:25. I was a little worried I'd be super rushed...but it worked out perfectly, so that's great! We decided not to do the bus...so much time is lost with that...and the school is only 5 minutes away, so I don't mind driving her.

Walking to school this morning, Kim (and Torrey) and Sarah were all walking too...we made quite the caravan ;) Kim's youngest started kindergarten this year...she was so excited, had the biggest grin on her face! What will Kim do with all her free time now??? ;) 

After dropping them off, Buddy was sad that he wasn't going to school too. Poor buddy!

 forlorn Buddy :(

 Just ain't fair!

Everyone had an awesome first day of school. The school district just put all the forms online, so I don't have a mountain of triplicate forms to fill out! I just about danced for joy when I saw that last week! hahaha...but seriously! Red One was stoked that our church youth group was having a back to school bash tonight with a slip n slide, powder paint fight, food, etc...she's been talking about it all week! She's there now...hopefully having a blast! In fact, almost time to pick her up... better go ;)

Red Two's Birthday Party - Percy Jackson, Sonic, owls, crafts, candy galore...only thing missing? SLEEP!

My redhead is turning 10 in a week...but since it falls on Labor Day this year, we figured we'd have her birthday party earlier to make it easier on everyone. I only do friend birthday parties for the kids every other year. It's just too much with 4 kids to do otherwise! Makes it so much easier, spacing them out...only two a year instead of four. This year, Red Two decided she wanted to have a sleepover, and either go to the movies or Sonic. I was feeling generous, so I said we could do both...lol

She was really hoping that the new Percy Jackson movie would be out so we could go to see that. David always makes fun of that series...how badly written it is, and how terrible the first movie was. He really tried to convince her to go see Pacific Rim instead! hahaha Anyways, she decided to go with Percy Jackson. She wanted to invite her three good friends from school. One wasn't able to make it...just as well, I would have had to take my car seat out of the van ;) but her other two buddies (we'll call them Thing 1 and Thing 2) said yes. It was so funny though, she kept trying to call Thing 2 and leaving messages...finally, I listened to the message and it turned out she had the wrong number. She'd been leaving messages on some lady's work voicemail...lol...wonder what she thought about that! :D Luckily, Thing 1 had it, so it worked out. Even better, they were both able to come over earlier in the afternoon, so we made the 3:25 showing (yay, cheaper for me!)...plus more time for all the other stuff.

Red Two had been wanting me to recreate the Candy Bar in Jimmy Neutron...basically, she just wanted lots of candy on the table looking pretty...but the main thing was, lots of candy! lol Luckily, Dollar Tree has a great variety for less moolah. I found some really cool owl crafts on Pinterest...Red Two is a little obsessed. We went with a t-shirt decorating craft and some duct tape flowers. I had found a really cute owl print duct tape earlier. We were also going to make duct tape bracelets. I figured that would be a good amount to keep them occupied without being too much.

Duct Tape Flowers

Owl Sweater Craft

Duct Tape Bow Bracelet

Of course, nothing but an owl cake would do. ;) She browsed my Pinterest cake board...finally narrowed it down to a funfetti cake and cotton candy buttercream frosting (again, David was disappointed in her decision making ;) She also (with my help...I know my limitations) picked a cute owl cake to imitate.

Owl Cake...this was what we used for our inspiration

I made the cake on Thursday...we had found some cool pearlescent pinks and blues sprinkles that we were going to use. It came out looking pretty good, if I do say so myself ;)

Friday morning we headed out to do our shopping to get ready. Target (in and out in about an hour and 15 minutes...that's pretty good!) We needed school supplies! Red Two needed a lunch box (somehow she lost hers last year)...party snacks, party breakfast supplies, streamers, etc. Then on to Dollar Tree for CANDY! Then Joanns's for the craft goodies. We needed fabric paint, paint brushes, transfer paper for the owl shirts...more duct tape (she picked out a cool paint splatter pattern too). After that, we stopped by Salvation Army to pick up t-shirts/sweaters for the craft and the library to print out the owl patterns and Red One's math packet for school. Oops, should have done that a lot sooner! oh well... We made it home by 11:00...plenty of time to decorate and finish setting up/cleaning up before the girls came here at 2:45.

Red Three wore gray, so I had to take a pic of her...and Buddy of course wanted in it too, and yes, he is trouble!

Thing 2 was first to arrive...poor baby had her foot in a walking boot :( Yikes! Thing 1 wasn't far behind...and off to the movies we went (after snagging a few candies first ;) Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters...not terrible for a kids movie.  I'd give it a B-...I think...lol The best thing in it was Nathan Fillion as Hermes (they even threw in a Firefly reference = AWESOME)!  I also enjoyed seeing Jake Abel, the guy who played Adam, the Winchester's younger brother in Supernatural...he was pretty decent as the bad guy.

After the movie it was dinnertime, so we headed across the street to Sonic for some grub and cream slushies. One of the girls had never been, and the other had only been once. Red Two couldn't believe it! Sonic is her favorite! They had a good time reading the menu and picking a drink. Once we got home with our food and treats, they plowed into the candy...Sugar Rush!!! I believe there was even a conga line at one point. The whistling candy was a cool idea in abstract, but it got old in about 10 seconds. David, of course, was hiding upstairs for pretty much all the party...lol...he sent me a text at one point, simply stating "oh my."

Red Two decided she wanted to do presents, then crafts, then cake...so that's what we did.

 Red Three loves Thing 1! I couldn't believe Freckles was actually sane most of the time...she usually freaks out with joy when there are people around...lol, it's so annoying!

 Happy girl with lots of owls! She got an owl necklace and owl shaped gift cards for Target! I'm jealous ;)

The crafts were really fun...they all got into it. It was really neat to see how even using the same owl pattern (well, except for Red Three) they all came out looking so different...shows their personalities.

Everyone was jealous they hadn't thought of the paint splatter idea like Red Two! :)

Since the t-shirts wound up taking awhile, we all decided we wanted cake before doing the duct tape flowers. So Happy Birthday was sung, cha cha chas and all,  candles were blown out and cake was served!

Buddy helped blow out all two candles ;)

 If only duct tape were a viable option every day! hahaha

The duct tape flowers came out really cool also. The girls had fun designing their own flower pens.

Thing 1 left at 9:30...Thing 2 and the girls settled in the living room to watch tv and (try) stay up all night. Red Two wanted to try out a recipe for African Pancakes for breakfast...since the batter needed to sit overnight, I mixed it up and then headed to bed.

 Even the dog was comfy.

About 1:30, a.m. mind you, I get woken up by one of the girls letting me know that Thing 2's eye was swollen and hurting. :( Poor honey...I wasn't sure whether to give her Benadryl or what...especially since she's had eye surgery in the past...her mom wound up coming to get her. She's OK now...and Red Two was fine...she had a really fun party, even if the sleepover part was cut short ;)

BTW, those African pancakes were scrumptious! They're kinda like a mix between a crepe and a regular pancake. We stuffed ours with bananas and/or raspberries and Nutella. Delicious! I'll do you the favor and post the link!

African Pancakes...so good!

Tomorrow, David and I are heading to NYC for his last IV chemo...then we'll head back one more time in two weeks for an MRI and Dr appt. I know I keep saying it, but hopefully this will be the last visit for a long time...at least several months is my hope! For tomorrow, I'm just hoping for no traffic! ;) Send us travel blessings!