Summer Break: Day 81: Last Day of Summer Break

I'm full of disappointment. I feel like I've let my blog readers down this summer. I apologize. I had every good intention to make this, the 3rd season in the Summer Diary series, another fantastic one. But these last few weeks have been filled with nothing but boredom I'm afraid. Unfortunately not full of crafty awesomeness or much of anything creative. Again, I'm sorry. My diary of moving has been a tragic excuse for a summer diary. This packing & moving & unpacking stuff consumed me more than I realized it would.  I even contemplated not posting during my move, since I was just not able to make the Summer Diary as awesome as it should have been. But I decided to keep it up, even with my uninteresting updates of boxes & boxes & more boxes, & mundane entries about being overwhelmed & tired. 

I was hoping, on this last day of summer break, to pause in the unpacking & do something totally fun with my girls. But that didn't happen. Instead, what DID happen was this: I've not been able to hear out of my left ear for over a week. I think this ear problem is messing up my equilibrium because today, while FINALLY getting a chance to attack the boxes in my art studio for the first time & set up my creative space, I began feeling rather dizzy & unbalanced, which led to me feeling nauseous, which meant I had to lay down & keep my noggin as still as possible, which meant I ended up taking a nap.

The most memorable thing that happened today was when Zoey & I had to make a Walmart run to get more notebooks. (On our school supplies shopping trip earlier this week, we accidentally grabbed 'college ruled' instead of 'wide ruled'. *GASP!*) I really don't recommend going anywhere near the school supply aisles on the evening before school starts. Ever. We also snuck over to the pet area to see if the betta fish had arrived. Not yet. On the plus side: the Mr. contaced a fish shop. Hopefully, by this time tomorrow, new little fishy pets will be swimming in homes already waiting for them.

We prepped the backpacks, filling them with all the new shiny school supplies. We laid out the first-day-of-school outfits. (Which, sadly, don't include any new threads. I blame the unpacking.) I even prepped the kitchen for first-day-of-school pancake-making which will commence at 6:45 tomorrow morning. 

This evening the girls & I took a few moments, before their new early bedtime hit, to look back at the blog at all we did this summer. We all chose our favorite activites. Zoey loved shooting the guns. Pazely loved the night she & Zoey made mud pies outside on the sidewalk after a rain. I loved making the stop motion film with Susan, & getting to spend sunrise to supper time with her on that day.

As the new schedule for school begins, I admit I'm not looking forward to rising early. But what I am looking forward to is new adventures in this new town we live in. I have a lot of freedom & a lot less responsibility since moving. I plan on totally jumping into as much of a creative experience as I can this next year. I am feeling this sense of freshness & newness & am going to run with it. As I get settled into this new routine of life in this new place, I'm planning on making time for scheming, concocting, contemplating, & designing. And you better believe I'll be sharing it all with you.

First thing's first: finally setting up that creative space.

Oh,  & thank you for following along on our summer break. We appreciate each & every one of you!

Technically, there's still one month + one week of summer left. 

So, enjoy the rest of yours!! 

♥

Summer Diary: Day 80: New Friends

Yesterday the girls still had friends over that were visiting from Bridgeport. (Where we moved from a week ago.) But they also had a new friend over. (A little girl they met who happens to go to the same church the Mr. pastors at.) The kids filled the little swimming pool with water & I sprinkled in flower petals, leftover from the dying bouquet my Susan friend sent on our first day of moving in. They were playing "spa/hair salon". While everyone sat poolside, Pazely went around & did everyone's hair. There was even a boy in attendance that got in on the action. Hey, gender should not keep you from enjoying a foot bath with petals floating at your feet & some fancy new hair-do.

Somehow the Mr., accompanied by the father of  two of the visiting little friends, had disappeared all morning & early afternoon. I was the solo keeper of 5 munchkins. Which meant that not a lot of unpacking got done. But a lot of picking-up-after did get done.

There were dress-up contests & dance contests, all the while "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" & "Funky Town" were blaring over the stereo. The kids played "house" & Legos & watched some "Shaun the Sheep", & played American Girl games on the computer. There was lunch served on vintage luncheon plates, & pudding cups for dessert. There was a tea break for mommy, & a side of pumpkin spice cake.

And then there were goodbyes & we felt alone. But it was a good feeling.

With new schedules & such, we have declared Monday night our weekly "Family Night". And on this evening we made taco salad & sat down for a meal together at the dining table, for the first time since moving in. Then we popped over to the {sad little} mall where Zoey begged for a haircut & we finally found a backpack for Pazely. The Mr. promised the girls their first pet before school began: a betta fish. Unfortunately Walmart was out. (Tantrums ensued.) We've located a local pet shop & will begin immediate research tomorrow.

♥

Summer Diary: Day 79: Sunday

Wow. I had all these plans to finish unpacking after church. But that didn't happen.

The Mr. preached at our church for the first time since we arrived in North Platte. And it was a really awesome morning! A new guy, who we met only Tuesday & invited to church this morning, was sitting next to me in the front row. He shared with me, before service started, that he hadn't been to a church since 2007 & that he was kind of nervous. Of course I told him not to be nervous. And then I encouraged him by letting him know we were in the same boat: this was my first time at church here too.

And then the coolest thing happened. A healing service broke out. And while God was doing amazing physical mending in people at the front of the church, He was also moving in the hearts of the people in the congregation. I felt so peaceful. That's how God's presence often feels. And then my new friend sitting next to me, who is college age, began to weep. He just wept & sniffled on & on. He asked for prayer toward the end of service. Warm hands surrounded him & we all sent up our own prayers for him. All speaking on his behalf, in one giant mumble it rose to heaven, where God could hear clearly each one. If you've never had a group of people, with sincere hearts that love Jesus, surround you, & touch you with their hands & pray for you, you definitely need to add that to your bucket list. Like my new friend, you may begin to weep, & you may feel, inside yourself, what he described as "calming waters". 

After a lovely Fellowship Dinner to welcome the Mr. & our family, we were home by 3:15. With only a few hours left until evening service, I decided to take a nap. But, oops, my alarm didn't go off! So, I woke up late & almost contemplated not going to church. Especially when I looked in the mirror & saw the mark across my face left by the bed sheets. (Doh!) I decided to just show up late to church anyway, & sit on the right side of the church so nobody would see my nap-face. Problem solved. 

The night ended with half priced apps at Applebee's for dinner & then home for jammies & bedtime. 

Tomorrow will start the routine of waking the girls early & getting them to bed early so they'll get in the routine of school mornings. Which means I'll be rising early too. I have enjoyed the lazy summer days. But I can accept routine & schedule & order.

♥

Summer Diary: Day 78: Making Progress

What do you do with an extra box-spring? Why, you make a 'Princess & the Pea' bed, of course!! Little Pazely has to climb onto her bed with the aid of a stool. Which she thinks is pretty awesome. And I don't have to bend down as far to give her goodnight kisses & snuggles.

Can't wait to come up with fun headboards for all of our rooms. The Mr. & I have never had a headboard or a proper pretty bed. I seriously am itching to create. I have 2 more rooms to unpack before I can attack my art studio, the last room in the house to organize. 

The parentals & the grandmother arrive in 9 days. I'm so excited! I can already smell the coffee they'll be making every morning, & picturing them puttering around in slippers & bathrobes & jammies in the morning, all glorious with their bed heads & tired beautiful faces. I can't wait to play card games in the evenings & do some discovering in the days. I already know we'll be cooking meals together in the kitchen & my dad will ask what fix-it type things he can do to help around the house. (I've already got a list started for him.) Mostly, I can't wait to just sit & visit & laugh our heads off. 

But first: unpack, unpack, unpack...

♥

Summer Diary: Day 77: School Supplies

What started out as a quick trip to Walmart for choosing school backpacks ended up as a spontaneous late night of just getting the whole stinkin' list of school supplies. The Mr. found a bench while the girls & I strolled back & forth (more back then forth) through the aisles. I thought a late night run would have me avoiding the crowds of people. I was kind of wrong. And then, Walmart was out of so many things: scissors & large boxes of Kleenex in particular. Ugh. And, maybe it's only me but I HATE, HATE, HATE washable markers. Pretty much any washable art supply. 

And, have I mentioned that there's no Target around here? I'm trying not to be depressed about that. I will miss Target dearly. I love that place. But I suppose I am giving up a Target to gain a Starbucks in my life. 

Zoey found a sling-over-one-shoulder black backpack that she likes. (She doesn't like anything that's very "girly" anymore. I'm having a hard time accepting the fact that my once "girly-girl" is anti pink.) The littlest munchkin didn't see anything she liked. So, we shall peruse the other shops 'round this town next week & see what we can find.

School starts in 5 days! 

Mind-blowing.

♥

Summer Diary: Day 76: A Break

Yesterday: Pazely's room. Today: the bathrooms.

My life is so exciting these days.

Huzzah.

Our friends left this morning. I woke up late & they were still here. Zoey said, "Mom, they said they are going to leave when you wake up. So, can you go back to sleep now?" 

After they left, all was quiet. I really didn't want our company to leave because it meant that I would be alone. 

After an intense day of working on the downstairs family room, (which has a fireplace so I've dubbed it "the fireplace room") the Mr. came home from his work-ish duties. We decided to take the girls out for dinner. And they've also been dying to go to the Dollar Tree (me too!) so we swung by there, where the Mr. dropped we three girls off. We walked up & down every aisle twice. And then I picked up a few nonsense things that I don't REALLY need (like a pink pumice stone & those little cans of heat used for buffets) but it's so fun that everything's a dollar! I've missed you Dollar Tree!

It sounds so silly, but this hour time zone change has me all goofed up. It's much later than it should be, in my opinion. After our tummies were filled & our dollars were spent, we drove around our new little town, checking things out. We stumbled onto Cody Park, where in the summer there are little Kiddie Rides & a few animals & some concessions. We gave the girls a few dollars & they rode an antique horse carousel & the tiniest, most adorable little ferris wheel in all the land. The Mr. & I enjoyed the most amazing (& tallest!) soft-serve cones on the planet. We plan on going back to see the animals & checking things out in the daylight hours at a later date. As we left, there was a statue of a man rather guarded & locked up in what looked like a tiny prison. (They were just bars to protect it.) I googled when I got home & found out it's a life-size statue of  William F. "Wild Bill" Cody. Near here is his 1880s house, barn & outbuildings of the famous "Scout's Rest Ranch". There is a museum as you enter town featuring memorabilia & a mini wild west show. Can't wait to check it all out! 

♥

Summer Diary: Day 75: Toiling & Foiling

Had a Walmart date with the Mr. today. We've had a friend & his two kids staying with us the past couple days helping us move & unpack & just hanging out. It was awesome to leave the kids in his care & get away for an hour.

On the home-front: the girls' rooms are both unpacked, & most of the pictures are hung on the wall! I cooked my first meal in the kitchen since arriving: foil dinners. There was foil all over the kitchen counters, piled with burger & veggies. I think I made a dozen of them. Some cooked on the grill, some in the oven.
We hurried off to Wednesday night church service where the little kiddos enjoyed some water fun at a park. The Mr. & I observed the youth service. We are anxious to start helping get the youth pumped up & get exciting things happening in their hearts!
P.S. I'm really beginning to love my happy home! I'm anxious to get all the rooms unpacked so I can FINALLY attack my art studio.
And, I'm sorry the "2012 Summer Diary" is a bit of a bore these last few weeks. Amazingly enough, with all this unpacking, unboxing & moving my life around type stuff, I have a couple fun projects buried deep in the back of my tired little noggin. However consumed my summer is with uprooting & rerooting, I promise a few fun ideas in the near future!
♥

Summer Diary: Day 74: The Unpacking Olympics

I am seriously in an unpacking race. No, seriously.

The parents & grandmother arrive in 13 days!

And today I made some major headway. The kitchen is done! It felt awesome to not be stumbling & bumbling over boxes. I still can't remember where I put things. But at least I'm not tripping over boxes.

I am making goals every morning. Unpack half of this room & then start another, or hang pictures & do a couple loads of laundry, etc. I always end up going above & beyond my goals anyway. I feel like I'm progressing at an excellent speed. My mind is basically consumed with just that: unpacking.

And sometimes I forget what time it is & sometimes we don't eat dinner until 9 o'clock at night. 

The girls are registered for school & the fam is signed up at the local rec center. The kiddos even enjoyed some pool time this afternoon.

Yikes! I've got to squeeze school supply shopping in here somewhere. The girls will lose one week of summer break as the schools here start earlier than in Bridgeport.

I'm not gonna say I'm terribly sad about that. The munchkins, on the other hand, have their own opinions about the subject.

♥

Summer Diary: Day 73: The Move

I tried to hold it in. But I couldn't. Hugging my Susan friend goodbye was harder than I was expecting it to be. I cried & cried. And so did she. I know we won't be terribly far apart from each other, & in fact we plan on continuing our adventures. But it's the 'not being so conveniently close' part that I'm having trouble with. We joked how we actually communicate via facebook more than anything. On more than one occasion my phone has rung & I notice her name on the caller ID screen. I answer the phone with a "Did you call me on purpose?" We are a texting, facebooking, emailing, instant messaging pair of friends. 

The lump in my throat was finally gone. But so began the hole in my heart.

The 2 1/2 hour drive to North Platte wasn't bad at all. We were part of a caravan heading east. The moving truck, 2 carloads of friends (which, unfortunately didn't include Susan), & then me in the van. (I was the only one without air conditioning I might add. The sweaty stripe down my back & the crazy-woman-windblown hair were awesome additions to my already sad & puffy eyes.)

With a pit stop at a Shell gas station that claims to have "The Cleanest Restrooms on I-80" (& indeed they do), I grabbed some Nutter Butter cookies & some Wasabi-n-Soy Sauce almonds & hit the road for the last leg of the trip.

When we arrived in North Platte, we got to see the inside of the house for the first time. (Can you believe it?!) I was pleasantly surprised. A couple friendly neighbors introduced themselves. And around suppertime, a crew of about 15 or so people from our new church came to help us unload the truck & brought pizzas for feasting! It was pretty sweet.

If I thought that yesterday I felt exhausted....Today I was brain dead & completely delirious. I was tired & just wanted to collapse. I had spent a good part of the afternoon unpacking kitchen boxes. I found proper places for food items, pots & pans. Dishes wrapped in newspaper were washed in soapy suds. 

And all the while I was frantically trying to find the boxes that housed sheets for the beds.

The lovely local people that came to help were full of good intentions, but I honestly didn't know how they could help me. After the boxes were unloaded from the truck, many of the ladies were wanting to be of assistance in any way they could. It's odd having strangers go through your things though, & I didn't have energy enough to tell them where to put what, when I didn't even know where things should or would go myself. And, quite frankly, I was zapped & could barely keep up with the small talk.

The evening ended with some chillin' at Starbucks. I actually live by a Starbucks. Almost 3 years without, & I am now giddy! Seriously, this is going to be so weird to have so much accessible to me, after living in a small town with limited access to much of anything, where the town shuts down early every night. I did grow to enjoy the "frills" & "distractions" not being so readily available. We'll see how I fare...

Our friends that traveled from Bridgeport with us, to help with the move, spent the night in our home. It was a giant slumber party. And I LOVED that they took time to come along!!!!

I cannot describe how wonderful it was to lay on my bed & sleep that night. I felt so heavy & sank deeper into that mattress than I ever had before.

♥

Summer Diary: Day 72: Praying & Scrubbing

Sunday was a big day. A huge day.

Firstly, it was our last Sunday at New Life. The Mr. preached his final sermon there. And I led worship one last time. At the end of service, our church family prayed for us. Surrounded by warm hands, they sent us off with petitions of protection & a future full of reward.

I wept a tiny bit. {Said the girl who likes to hide her sad emotions.} But that was just the beginning.

At home, we ate a quick lunch with friends. The last meal cooked in this kitchen: tater tot casserole. 

Shortly after lunch, a crew of more friends helped to load boxes onto the moving truck, while I scrubbed & cleaned & wiped & polished. 

In the upstairs bathroom lives a tub that has always caused me woes on weekly cleaning day. It is impossible to get spotless. I am convinced t is cursed to be stained forever. Little ole me, trying my darndest to clean that awful tub, inhaling bleach based cleaning products, feeling lightheaded & ready to pass out, began to weep. The tub had won. And I was overwhelmed that this was just the beginning of all that needed scoured & disinfected & sanitized. I was all by myself cleaning, needing the support of friends, but they all had one excuse or another why they couldn't be there to help. 

As I found the Mr. in the moving truck, I snuck inside &, through sobs, explained to him my heavy heart. I just wanted him to listen. Suddenly there were a couple friends at the rescue to help. And I was relieved.

By the evening I was exhausted. Mentally drained. Without a puffy purple couch to cuddle into, or a comfy big bed to melt into. 

I have tried to remain focused & determined & numb. Just trying to get through all the packing. 

And now it is all done.

Tomorrow the moving truck will drive away & another chapter begins...

♥

Summer Diary: 71: Packin' it up

This was day #1 of packing & cleaning. By the end of the day I was exhausted. It was odd to see the moving truck in front of our house. I felt like it hit me, "This is actually really happening." The littles had to sleep on the floor since their mattresses got packed. Pazely pretty much hated that. She threw a very vocal tantrum. I felt so awful for her. I realize that major things like packing your life inside boxes & relocating your family to brand new surroundings affects the kidlets too. I just can't wait to get to our new home & get Zoey & Pazely's little spaces set up as quickly as possible. 

The funny thing {or not} is that we've never seen the inside of the church parsonage we're moving into. 

It was so sad having to wrap up the couch & load it on the van today. That couch is my most favorite comfy spot in all the house. I have a feeling these next two days aren't going to be full of much comfy anyway.

♥

Summer Diary: Day 70: Geocaching

 After my last day of work today, the Susan friend & I took off to retrieve the girls from swimming, head home for a quick change, & get in some geocaching before night fell. 

One particular spot we found was a location that I had previously gone to with Susan & our other friend Sarah a couple summers ago. The cache even still contained the prize I deposited. (A handmade pinback button made with a vintage stamp & a page from a book.)

I love these modern day treasure hunts. Can you spot the hidden cache in the next photo?

We tracked through grasses & brush & pokey little pickers. We even came to a dead end. We seriously arrived at the back of a school during one hunt, then squeezed behind old lockers into a secluded corner of a brick building which housed piles of dirty leaves, a broken mini refrigerator & a giant mousetrap. (It helps if you enter the coordinates into your GPS correctly. Oops.)

 It was important to me that the girls got in some fun with their friend Susan too, before our move. 

I was just glad they let me come along.

♥

Summer Diary: Day 69: Stop Motion Video

me & you. stop motion film from Nikki/WhiMSy love on Vimeo.

I was up at 4:30 this morning. Ready for the sunrise. Ready for my last adventure with Susan before I leave.
It was a memorable day indeed.
We spent all morning, all afternoon & all early evening creating this stop motion video.
We worked so hard. And laughed even harder.
We plan on making more stop motion videos together. This was just practice. And we could totally picture ourselves doing this for a living.
I'm so happy to have this mini film as such a special memory of my friend.
It makes saying goodbye a wee bit less difficult.
But just a wee bit.
♥

Summer Diary: Day 68: Paper/Pen/Scissors

When cardboard boxes are holding your toys captive & all you have around are simple supplies such as paper, pen & scissors, then you do silly stuff. 

Like this.

♥

Summer Diary: Day 67: Impromptu Play

Most of the girls' toys are packed away. I am rather proud {& relieved} at how they've kept themselves occupied while mommy & daddy work hard to get things situated for the move. (The fact that we've bought them a new Wii game has helped too. I'm all about necessary bribing for keeping peace.)

On today's agenda: pack the master bedroom. As soon as the Mr. put this storage shelf in the living room (which previously housed my clothes) the girls jumped over with their dollhouse accessories & began to play. I don't know if I would have ever thought of that.

It makes me want to toss random items in front of them & see what they come up with. Kids are so stinkin' creative. I love the way they play & think. 

In fact, I have gathered all the blue tacky poster putty from the walls into a nice sized ball. Pazely has been using it like play-doh, making the cutest little animals. 

And right now the girls are in Zoey's closet. They have collected all the weird bits left on the carpet & from behind the furniture & are performing what they call "scientific experiments". 

I don't even know what that means. I should prolly go check on the munchkins...

♥

Summer Diary: Day 66: Write a haiku

My Mondays are usually filled with one thing: writing.

I get in my cozy space & in my creative zone & begin to work on my weekly column for the local newspaper. On this particular Monday, like many Mondays, I hadn't a clue what to write about.

Sometime during my attempted writing session (which, up to this point, consisted of blank stares at a fairly blank page) the Mr. brought the girls & I bottles of happy cold coffee drinks.

As I sipped gulped it down, I glanced around my bedroom. Everyday for past week or two I've been consumed with getting the house prepared for a move. Boxes are everywhere. Suddenly I was inspired to write. A haiku began forming in my little noggin. And here it goes...

Towers of boxes. 
Cardboard city all around.
Pack. Tape. Stack. Repeat.

If you remember, haikus are formed in this way:

1st line: 5 syllables

2nd line: 7 syllables

3rd line: 5 syllables

And wouldn't you know, this little haiku exercise led the way to a floodgate of even more inspiration. Before long my Monday night article was written & the laptop closed. 

I'm pretty sure haikus are made of magic.

Here is one Zoey wrote about anticipating being in a new place:


Far away from here.
I'm feeling very lonely.
New faces, new friends.

♥

Summer Diary: Day 65: Sunday Speculations

The fam & I enjoyed a lovely carry-in after church today. There was no big hullabaloo about what it was for (which was a bit odd), but it really was for our soon parting. Our church family even had a cake made with our family picture on it. My contribution to the feast were homemade chocolate cupcakes shmeared with the leftover salted caramel frosting I made for the brownie cookie sandwiches earlier in the week. And every last one of the cupcakes were eaten.

My friend Susan came over in the afternoon for some knitting & a visit. We chilled out downstairs on the couch, surrounded by packed boxes. A pumpkin candle flickered & Pandora blasted our favorite mellow tunes. I grabbed a spoonful of homemade caramel for each of us to sample. Can't get enough of that stuff! I taught her the bobble stitch while we talked of an upcoming project we're working on later this week. I'm excited to spend ALL DAY Thursday with that lady. Our final adventure before parting. (But we plan on continuing our adventures even after I move away. So it's not complete sadness & mourning.)

In the evening, Susan grabbed her Mr. & I grabbed the fam & we all went out for a final round of shooting & target practice before we leave.

Afterwards we grilled sausages on the bbq & played UNO.

It is odd to think that we have one more week left.

Summer is winding down quickly. The girls start school just 11 days after we move. 

My final days of summer are full of big change. And while I'd much rather be in my creative space, or building memories with the littles, I'm packing boxes & praying away stress. I'm balancing every emotion, trying not to let the heaviness in my gut consume me. Though I'm excited about the future & anticipating great things, the change still leaves me a bit unsettled. 

I'm sort of pushing down the feelings. Just trying to put myself on auto-pilot to get done what needs done. When the necessary is complete, then the ugly cries can come.

♥

Summer Diary: Day 64: Date Night

We left our children in the care of a trusty sitter & hit the road for a much needed date.

All this packing & stuff can just wait.

The not fun part was driving in 102 degree weather in a car without air conditioning. After arriving at an antique shop that I've been wanting to peruse, but finding that the business hours posted on the door were different than the ones I found online, we decided instead to toodle around the mall & quickly found refreshing drinks. Then I spotted things in shops that Zoey might want for her upcoming birthday. I challenged the Mr. to a Skee Ball competition at the arcade, but his need for a haircut took precedence. A haircut on a date night? Whatevs. I think he was skeered he'd lose. So, I figure I automatically won by default, right?

And I know what you're thinking: a haircut on a date night? I really have nothing to say.

Later we did one of my favorite things: walked around Target! I LOVE walking around Target. And it was kinda especially fun because we were walking up & down the aisles pointing out things we might need in the near future & planning how we'd set up our new house. 

A movie at the theater followed, & then a late {11 PM} supper out at Shari's. Big Breakfast Platter, come to mama!

The weather had cooled down 30 degrees for our drive home. {Phew!} When we walked into our house it looked like the girls' toys had thrown up all over the living room floor. A good time was obviously had.
I baked cupcakes at nearly midnight for a church carry-in the next day, & headed to bed for a read before falling asleep.
Though nothing fancy, quality time with the Mr. is just what the barber doctor ordered.
♥

Summer Diary: Day 63: Battleship

After work yesterday, I came home, picked up the littles, went to the library on our usual Friday trip, made a stop at the pharmacy for swimming ear plugs (the littlest little has an outer ear infection) sped through the drive-thru at the bank, hopped over to the grocery store where we all picked out our favorite frozen TV dinners & soda pops,  & then came home {again}. 

After getting settled {i.e. flipping shoes off feet, plopping on the couch, & sneaking a piece of homemade caramel}, Zoey asked if I wanted to play Battleship. Well, all the boardgames downstairs have been packed away for the move, so I hated to disappoint her.

On Day 11 of our Summer Diary, you might recall some printable road trip games I shared. Well, Zoey had some of the pages leftover in her bedroom: & one of them was Battleship. We had QUITE a fun time playing! I was surprised how much fun paper battleship could be. 

While we sat at the dining table, it started storming outside. Perfect rainy day weather game.

Click HERE to print your own Battleship game.

♥

Summer Diary: Day 62: My Town

I decided, since we're moving to North Platte, that the girls & I could investigate some of the history of our {soon to be} new town. Recently someone showed me a video about North Platte that I thought was quite cool. It described a group of ladies in the 1940's who greeted soldiers on trains that came through North Platte, with cookies & cakes & sandwiches, etc. (Sometimes they greeted 32 trains a day!) I kept thinking, "Wow! That is the ULTIMATE in "Random Acts of Kindess"". I love that this is a part of the history of where we're headed. It just makes me feel all warm & giddy inside.

The girls sat quietly through the 6 minute video, & then we jumped on the dessert theme & spent lots of time in the kitchen attempting to make a brownie cookie sandwich filled with salted caramel creme filling. 

I made caramel for the first time ever in my life. Though my first batch was a dud, the second was a success.

HERE is the recipe I followed. The brownie cookie sandwich recipe (which is from the same site) is found HERE.

Pazely stayed to help me through the whole caramel-making process. When the liquid starting bubbling wildly (as the directions said it should), she kept saying, "Are you sure this is a good idea mom??"

And, as you can see in the photo, she thought it stunk. Until it was real caramel of course.

The creme filling came out yummy. Though mostly it tastes like butter.

The cookies are good, but mine didn't come out all puffy like the recipe said they would. The batter was very thin & the cookies came out flat. The hubby still ate 5 in one sitting though.

We can't wait to explore our new town, once we finally move. (10 more days!)

*Photo at the top found on THIS website.
♥