WATER We Gonna Do this Week?

Between vacation and throwing my back out...I am so behind in keeping ya'll up to date on what Team Holmes has been up to this summer!  Second theme of the summer was...

WATER we gonna do this week?  

That's right folks, it's water week.  The possibilities are endless!

Here are the supplies you might need to buy for water week:

Mason jar (I used one for each girl)
matches (aerosol hairspray works too)
shaving cream (the thick white kind)
blue food coloring
chalk
white paper
construction paper
water guns (cheap ones from the $ store)
water based paint (AC Moore sells big containers for $2)
strawberries
lemonade

Science Experiment Day 
We did 2 experiments.  One on how clouds are formed and one on why it rains.  My girls love science experiment day, I tell ya'.  I had to tear them away from making clouds to get on with the rain.  I think they would have sat there all day if I had let them.

Supplies for science experiment day

Cloud in a Jar Experiment
I found this experiment on the above link.  The girls loved to be able to "feel a cloud".  We did this one until I ran out of matches.  They just thought it was so cool.  Who knew.

waiting for the cloud to form

Cloud in your face!

 

Why It Rains Experiment
This experiment was found on the link above.  This took some patience for my girls but once it started "raining", they loved it.  Also, the 2 jars "rained" at different rates, which they loved talking about.

Craft Day
We did 2 crafts.  The first was wet chalk drawing. Literally, take a piece of chalk, dip it in water and color with it.  The colors were very vibrant, it wasn't messy and the girls really enjoyed it.  We chose to draw on construction paper.

The other craft we did, I found at this link:  Watergun painting  Well, it's kind of a craft.  I think?  So....here's a funny story.  It didn't really work for us.  We painted and shot the painting with water guns while it was still wet.  Didn't do anything.  Other than get wet.  Then, we painted and let it dry and tried it. Nothing really happened.  Again.  Then I re-read the directions.  Yeah, it helps if you actually do that.  Sooooo....you are supposed to put the paint IN the watergun.  Ohhhhhh!  That was way more cool.  I added a little water because it would take a ton of paint to fill up a water gun.

And then we got some cool abstract art!  I don't have an easel so we just used clothespins on a piece of cardboard.  So fancy, I know.

Food Day

For food day, we made our own slurpees.  Which involve ice.  Which is water.  Right?  Haha, ok, I realize that is a bit of a stretch.

We found several types here.  Homemade Slurpees

We made 2 kinds.  One, which was much more healthy and less sweet, we loved!
Strawberry Lemonade Slurpee 

The other one, not quite as healthy and it wasn't our fav.
Homemade Kool-Aid Slurpee           
You be the judge.

Field Trip Day
For field trip day we headed to Watercountry USA!  This was a first for me and if you live anywhere near Williamsburg, Va, I highly recommend it!  It was not really what I expected and has become our new favorite place.  There are many rides that are multi-person so my daughter, who is not a roller coaster rider, was much more apt to ride things.  We got to ride a lot of things together as a family and just had a fantastic time.  I could stay in the lazy river all day! (I am trying to figure out how to have one at my house.  I'm so not kidding either.)

The last but most important detail of water week was actually something on my bucket list for the summer and was on everyone's daily highlights that night at dinner.  Water balloon fight! However. We jumped daddy when he got home from work and I really think that made it twice as fun!  He did have access to the stockpile once he figured out what was going on.  So it was fair.  Ish.

I don't think sister knew there was one more left...

Last surprise of the day!

Hope you can work some of these ideas into your summer fun!
K

July's Menu - Fire Up the Grill

Happy July!  Hope ya'll are enjoying every bit of your summer so far.  Here is July's menu, full of freezer to grill options (look for the "F")!  Remember, if you aren't ready to start freezing meals ahead of time, just make the recipe for right now!  I do a lot less freezing in the summer, because I have a lot more time. Lucky me!

July's Menu

Week 1
Mon     Grilled Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar  F
Tues     Honey Mustard Brats  F
Wed     Tomato Basil Hamburgers  F
Thurs    Pineapple Lime Grilled Chicken  F
Fri        Homemade Pizza Dough (makes 3 pizzas)  
             Pizza Sauce (one batch will last 2 weeks)
Sun      Pulled Pork with Sweet Chili Slaw  F
      Adapated from original recipe found on howsweeteats.com.  I love making some kind of BBQ or "sandwich meat" on the weekends.  It makes a ton (great if you are having company), it's super easy ( you can go about your weekend business) and if you don't have company, there are lots of leftovers (sandwiches for several days)!

Week 2
Mon    Tilapia with Garlic Roasted Tomatoes Corn
Tues    Grilled Lime & Chile Chicken w/ Mango & Red Bell Pepper Salsa      F(chicken only)
Wed   Marinated Pork Chops F
   (made these last month, some of the best pork chops ever!)  Makes 2 bags
Thurs   Pineapple Ginger Flank Steak F
Fri       Homemade Pizza Dough (makes 3 pizzas)  
            Pizza Sauce  (already made)
Sun      Honey-Lime Chicken Skewers F

Week 3
Mon     Island Pork Tenderloin F
Tues     Chicken Apple Bacon Sliders F
Wed     Tex-Mex Burgers F
Thurs    Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
Fri        Homemade Pizza Dough (makes 3 pizzas)  
            Pizza Sauce (one batch will last 2 weeks) F
Sun    

Week 4
Mon    Very Greek Grilled Chicken F
Tues    Marinated Pork Chops F  (second bag)
Wed    Shrimp and Jalapeno Quesadillas
Thurs   Margarita Chicken F (makes 2 bags!)
Fri       Homemade Pizza Dough (makes 3 pizzas)  
            Pizza Sauce  (already made) F


Here is your grocery list for July, listed by menu item in order of appearance!

July grocery list

Enjoy grilling season!
K

Momma's Got a New Ride

Yesterday I got a new car.  The last time we bought a car was when I went back to work after maternity leave with my youngest daughter. Who is now 9.  "Sally Sally", my old car (you can tell she was named by a 3 year old), was starting to have a hard time.  We have been saying we were going to buy a new one since March.  But nobody was ready to have a car payment again.  We are getting ready to go on a road trip to Georgia and it was either replace her, or rent something.  It was time.

While the process was somewhat aggravating, I had some insight about a few things that I'd like to share.

We always buy used cars.  I just personally feel like buying a new car is a huge waste of money.  That's just me.  It's funny when you are driving a car around and falling in love with it and realize that someone else didn't want it.  "One man's trash is another man's treasure" is really true, I guess.

The thing about used cars is, they aren't perfect.  There is going to be a stain or a scratch somewhere.  It's really about what you can live with.  What bothers you so much you can't get past it? We all have our faults.  Some are more obvious.  And some are in the back and you can't really even see them unless you are looking for it.  

I am such a girl when I buy cars.  Find the most ridiculous feature. like a heated cup holder (hey, they should look into that!) and I just geek out.  My new car has a heated steering wheel.  My husband says, "Who would want a heated steering wheel?"  To which I responded, "Shut up!  I would!"  So, as with much of life, it's the little things that mean a lot.  Those little features are what made each car unique from one another.  Kind of like people.

There were a couple of times we were looking at something and it just didn't feel right.  It's like we were trying to force it to happen. I had no peace about it.  Let God help you out.  Pray, ask, listen.  When the right thing comes along, ever notice how the process suddenly becomes super easy?  Everything just falls into place.

I considered buying the Mystery Machine.  I am just entirely too short for it.

We got such a great deal on our car, our initial reaction about the car was, "What's wrong with it?"  It's good to be cautious.  It's good to do your research.  But don't be so suspicious that you block God's blessings for you!  

One thing I read awhile back was that you need to take care of what you have in order for God to bless you with more.  In other words, is God going to bless you with a new vehicle if you don't take care of the one you have and all you do is complain about it?  Made my last few months with Sally Sally a little different.

Sally, Sally (the car, not the girl)

When I went to trade Sally in, as we checked the car for personal items, I got really choked up.  I started thinking about the 2 trips she made with us to Disney.  And the time we went to "Atlantica" (Atlanta for you grown folks) and basially the whole highlight reel from our road trips for the last 9 years.  And I did get a little teary eyed, I'm not gonna lie.  Even when you're ready to move on, sometimes it's hard.  My 9 year old was really upset about trading the car.  It was the only car she had ever known. Sometimes you can be afraid to let go of the only thing you've ever known.  You have to move on to get to the good stuff.

One of the best parts was bringing it home.  We came down the street honking the horn.  It was funny to watch the girl's faces like "Who's that crazy person honking the horn?".  As we got to the driveway, then they realized it was their parents!  (I'm sure they thought, "Oh, it's OUR crazy people)  We showed them all the bells and whistles.  They were so thrilled.  It is awesome to share your joy with others.

We took the girls around the block and they just did not want to get out.  "Please take us for a ride somewhere, Mom!" they begged.  So everybody got back in the car and I just drove.  I drove out to the country and half of Team Holmes fell asleep (I was not part of the half, you will be happy to know).  I basked in the joy of my new ride and all it's new fancy features.  I basked in the joy of my family's joy.  I basked in the joy that God blessed us like crazy with a great car at a great price just in time for our road trip.  I basked in the joy that half of Team Holmes was already sleeping in the car, like she had always been a part of our family.  

By the way, we named her Thunder Cat, because she purrs like a panther when you step on the gas.  Oh yeah....Momma's got a V8!

Look out Georgia, here we come!

K

It's "oFISHially" summer!!

For anyone who is already bored with your kids, this post is full of ideas for you!  These things don't take long so you can even do these in the evening or late afternoon, if you're looking for some fun. Teachers, there may even be something in here for you to use during the school year!

Last week's theme was "it's oFISHially summer"!  We (the girls and I) decided that we were going to have different 'days' during the week this summer:

Monday = science day

Tuesday = arts and crafts day

Thurs = field trip day

Fri = cooking day

Monday we were off with a science experiment.  Now, I kind of had a little trouble finding a science experiment that had to do with fish.  Not real fish either.  I found this experiment on Pinterest: Fish Ice Experiment.  I don't have fish ice molds so we just went with the old fashioned kind.  Which kind of made our fish look like whales.  Or submarines.  It's ok, my kids are used to having to use their imagination.


The chemical reaction between the vinegar and baking soda caused the "fish" to move or "swim".  The girls loved watching their fishes move around, even if they did look like regular ice cubes.  I was kind of surprised at how much they were into it!  They sat there until the very last one melted!

For arts and crafts day, we made portholes, an idea I got from this pin here:  fish porthole  I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures as we went, but here is the end product.  They were so cute, my oldest decided to give hers to Dad for Father's Day!  My girls are so creative!

That's Team Holmes in Mermaid form!  

For our field trip, of course we took a trip to the beach!  (Are you suspicious that I came up with this theme so I could go to the beach last week?  You should be!)  My poor baby wiped out on her bike just a few days before we went so we spent a lot of time on land!

Very un-fish like!

We are really lucky to be so close to the beach.  I count myself fortunate every time we are there!

I believe in finishing strong, so Friday could be no slouch!  We finished the week with fish cupcakes, found here:  Fish Cupcakes

It was a great excuse to try out the new Blue Velvet cake mix we saw.  (It was delicious, by the way.)  All you need are some iced cupcakes, m&ms and eyeballs (found in the cake decorating section of Kroger)!  They loved making them almost as much as eating them!

2 fish for the price of one!

How cute are these?

We even got some vanilla Goldfish in on the action!

Last but not least, we made some Sonic Ocean water!
Very easy and the girls loved this last little fishy trick up my sleeve! They had these with their dinner, which of course we ate while watching The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo!

Recipe is here:  Sonic Ocean Water copycat

I would like to state that all these things were:
1.  cheap
2.  easy
3.  didn't call for a lot of supplies I didn't have

Sometimes it's all in the presentation.  My girls played with ice cubes for 30 minutes.  How cool is that?  I doubt if I said, "Who wants to play with ice cubes?" that anyone would have been interested. I do not spend my whole summer trying to entertain them.  We do little things each day.  It's fun for all of us, breaks up the monotony of the day and I am not stressed out trying to do all these complicated things.  Because really, they don't care how hard or easy it is for me to plan.  They just want to have fun and do things together.  They want to make memories.

Hope you are oFISHially inspired to try something fun with your kiddos!  I will keep bringing you each week's activities all summer long!

Get out there and make some memories!!
K

Lord Have Mercy...

"We need to talk!" says the text to my BFF, who truly understands me more than anyone (of course, next to you, Chris Holmes!).  Being that she does understand me, she calls instead of texting back. She gets no "hello" from me.  She gets, "Lord Have Mercy.  Are you sitting down?"  She says, "I'm driving. Am I going to wreck?"  and I say, "You just might."

We are 2 southern girls serious about our cocktails on the porch.  Just so you know.  The bomb I am getting ready to drop on her?

Deep Eddy has Sweet Tea vodka.

Holy mother of all things southern.  Are you serious?

If you are followers of my blog, you know that I am now a real fan of Deep Eddy Grapefruit Vodka (see 5/19 post).  It has a real grapefruit flavor and they make it in Austin, Texas.  It is absolutely fantastic!  So now you are telling me there is a Texas company making sweet tea vodka?  Again I say, Lord have mercy.

My first thought was that I just wanted to drink it over ice.  Straight. Well....I am not a drink anything straight kind of girl.  Unless you want to see me driving the porcelain bus.  And no one wants to see that. Ever.  So, let's just say that it's not an option to drink it straight like it IS Sweet Tea.  Hubs suggested mixing it with lemonade.  Sounds good to me.
First drink I made:

The Nestea Plunge
1 part Deep Eddy Sweet Tea vodka
2 parts lemonade
spash of lemon club soda
Serve over ice with a mint leaf.  Oh.  My.  Ohmyohmyohmy.....

Second drink I made:

Just Peachy Tea
1 part Deep Eddy Sweet Tea vodka
2 parts Peach flavored water

Serve over ice with a mint leaf.  Also delicious.

Sorry there are no pictures.  We were pretty damned excited to try it, I am not going to lie.

We tried some peach flavored seltzer water, which definitely required some simple syrup in the mix.  It was ok.  I'm sure we will come up with some more recipes in the near future but for right now...the bottle is kind of empty.

Just in case you were wondering, no BFFs were hurt in the announcement and she was kind enough to come over and help me taste test.  She's always there for me!!

Deep Eddy Does It Again~
K

The Soundtrack of my Life

Something really bad happened.  Really bad.  On my very last day of school (yeah!), I grabbed my Ipod to listen to some of our summer kick-off songs.  When I turned my Ipod on, everything was gone.  Everything. Every song.  All 2, 700 + of them.  Yes.  I said 2 THOUSAND.  This is bad. Really bad.  Oh, I said that already.

I love music.  A lot.  I guess you know that since I just told you I have almost 3 thousand songs on my Ipod.  For as long as I can remember, I always said the one thing I wanted on a deserted island was music.  And I can remember so many artists and lyrics, it's crazy.  This coming from a girl who can't remember anything not on paper.

You can always see some of this going on at my house...

That's me singing, not getting ready to bite his face off.  In case you weren't sure.

I had a lot of playlists.  I had the "Run, Forest, Run" playlist.  I had a "Baby Making Music" playlist.  I had a "Jesus Rocks" playlist.  I even had one called "Easy Like Sunday Morning", which had songs for making breakfasts on the weekend.  My life has a lot of playlists.  Which left me wondering....what would be the playlist of my life?

Wow.  Now that is hard when you love songs this much.  I mean, I still think of a certain boy from 7th grade when I hear "Babe" by Styx because he wrote me a letter and told me that's what I was (awww....right?).  I remember the first real album I ever got (yes, I said album).  It  was "Totally Hot" by Olivia Newton John and for many, many, many months after, I sang it into my hairbrush while standing on the bed for hours (because I was going to BE her).  I remember the first concert I ever went to (Rick Springfield at the Roanoke Civic Center).  I remember saving my money for 45's (I know I have lost my younger audience here) and hanging the covers of the cool ones on my wall in high school (Why did I hang Culture Club in my room again?) My husband and I probably have 50 songs alone that mean something to us.  My Ipod on shuffle was kind of like being in the mind of a schizophrenic.  I had country, jazz, Christian, 80s pop, southern rock...It was DMX one minute and Barry Manilow the next.

So...as I took a trip down memory lane and thought about songs that reminded me of certain parts of my life, I came up with a sort of soundtrack for my life...here it is, in no way exhaustive, because I made myself stop at 10.  And don't read anything into the titles.  Seriously. "I Get Around" reminds me of being a little girl in my next door neighbor's pool.  Thank you very much.

Kim Holmes' Life Soundtrack
I Get Around...Beach Boys
You Light Up My Life...Debby Boone
Brandy...Looking Glass
Hopelessly Devoted to You...Olivia Newton John
Don't Talk to Strangers...Rick Springfield
PYT...Michaal Jackson
Material Girl...Madonna
In Between Days...The Cure
Blister in the Sun...Violent Femmes
Sitting on the Dock of the Bay...Otis Redding
Bleed to Love Her...Fleetwood Mac
Bell Bottom Blues...Eric Clapton
Please Come to Boston...Dave Loggins

Where Would I Be...Ja Rule

The Way You Look Tonight...Tony Bennett
Biggest Part of Me...Ambrosia

Sunrise...Norah Jones

OK, I only went over by 7.  You know you just counted.  I'm really glad I did this post.  It was fun reminiscing and leaving my pity party for awhile.  Now...what am I going to do about my Ipod?

Listening to Pandora~
K

Ready or Not, Here I Come!

Summer break looms a glorious 7 days away.  I know that all of us are not fortunate enough to get "summer break" like teachers do, but most parents I know are still pretty happy about it.  Gone is helping with/checking homework.  Gone are making lunches.  Gone is worrying if today is spirit day or do you have enough money on your account or did I sign the field trip form or hurry up before I get stuck behind a school bus on the way to work.  So, while teachers and kids may sigh the deepest, let us all take a deep, cleansing, collective SIGH OF RELIEF. Summer is here.

And while summer may not officially start until June 21, we all know that when school is out, it is summer (heck, some of ya'll start on Memorial Day, which is alright with me).  Are you ready?  Oh sure, I know many of you mommas have your kids signed up for 16 different camps. But are you ready for summer?  Have you stopped and thought about what you want to do this summer? What do you want your summer to be?

Summer is a time to slow down.  Life moves a little slower.  Whether it's the heat or having less on the to-do list, I don't know.  All the sudden, you don't have 8,000 things to do at night.  How are you going to take advantage of that?  Slow down right now and ponder that thought.

Years ago I started doing bucket lists for summer (then fall, then winter).  OK, go ahead and joke about my list making again.  The reason I started a bucket list though, was not to check things off a list.  I REPEAT, it was NOT to check things off a list. I would hear something or see something and think "Oh!  We should do that."  And then, at the end of the summer, I would think, "Oh man, we forgot to....(fill in the blank)."  So I made a board on Pinterest of summer bucket list ideas so I wouldn't forget what I wanted to try or do.  And then, that kind of got me thinking...what did I really want to do?  What makes summer special to me?  It might not be what you think...

Catching fireflies.  Stargazing.  Reading outside on our swing.  Making homemade ice cream.  Going to the beach.  Having a water balloon fight. Eating watermelon.  Running through the sprinkler.

You know what's really funny about that list?  All of the things on it are things I did when I was a kid.  Those are my memories of summer.  And guess what?  I still want to do them.  I want my kids to do them.  What will your kid's memories be?  Don't let them fool you into thinking they want to be on electronics all day.  They might think they do, but they don't.  They will love to do something with you, and I find the more simple it gets, the more they love it.  By the way, these things aren't just for your kids to do.  You do it too.  They'll love it and so will you.

Many things on my bucket list are repeats from last year, because we want to do it again.  Some have become traditions.  Some are new things. And some are things we never did last year.  Because the bucket list, is not meant to be a checklist.  So if you don't get to something, you don't get to something.  This is not a to-do list.  This is not a source of stress. It's an idea generator.  It's a reminder.  A reminder to slow down with the season.  Be a kid again.  Don't be so structured.  Relax a little.  Allow yourself to make some memories.

Here are some of my favorite memories from last summer!

Busch Gardens - one of our fav things to do

Gem mining!  We go every year!

Acting out life at Jamestown

Baseball game

Slightly obsessed with Sonic milk shakes

Watching movies in the backyard

Watermelon seed spitting contest

Now Go Make Some Memories!
K