Family Camp 2011

We had another successful family camping trip this year, well that is till the end.  All year long we look forward to the yearly camping trip up at Kennedy Meadows.  Then the week before it’s time to leave Kelly and I always question ourselves as to why we put ourselves through it.  Planning and packing for the camping trip is ALWAYS the worst part especially with the kids.  It’s amazing the amount of stuff you have to pack.  This year we actually had to take two cars and my Dad took the big stuff up with him in the motorhome. 

Here’s just some of the stuff after we unpacked the cars and put up the tents! Once we get there, put the tents up, organize all the other stuff and get the kids settled we’re all good!

We always have fun with the Shupe’s.  I’m grateful that our family’s continue to do this trip every year.  Kelly and I have such fond memories of our camping trips when we were young and it’s really fun to see Thomas, Noelle and Karly making those same fond memories.  Thomas and Noelle talk about camping all year long and by the time we get up there they already have the schedule planned with all the activities they want to do.

This year Thomas caught a fish with grandpa, Noelle played with her babies, we all took turns babysitting Noelle’s babies,  we played horseshoes, soccer, and board games. We went hiking, and the kids were able to ride the horses.  The adults enjoyed some really good food and we had plenty of laughs around the campfire.

This year was the year of firsts.  Karly’s first camping trip, Noelle’s first time riding the horse and sleeping in the tent and Thomas’ first hike/fishing trip alone with Grandpa and they came back with a fish.  It’s also' the first time that none of the kids got sick while we were up there and we didn’t have to come home early.

**For some reason it wont let me post the video and the pictures on the same post today.  I’ve been trying for over an hour so I will post the picture/scrapbook on another post.** 

The Joys of Being an Auntie!

Today is National Sugar Cookie Day and Air Conditioning Appreciation Day so I thought we would celebrate both by baking cookies in a nice cool house. 

My Mom came by this morning to watch the girls while I mowed the “pasture” (my huge front lawn) and then we were going to take the girls shopping but then we figured out I didn’t have a car seat for Karly so she took Noelle while I stayed home with Karly. 

Then I got Noelle to take a 3 hour nap.  Yes, I said 3 hours.  FANTASTIC!!!  Karly only slept for a about 45 minutes but it gave me time to clean up the house and relax a little.  Then the girls went swimming in the kiddie tiger pool. Kelly forgot to pack the swimming suits so we improvised… 

This is where I went wrong. I gave the girls baths after swimming and put them in their PJ’s.  Then we made the fabulous SUGAR COOKIES!  I made dinner, we ate and then the fun began.

They made quite the mess with the frosting but they had fun and that’s all that matters.  I got them all cleaned up and off to bed they went. 

We had a fantastic day.  I love these girls and I love that I get to be an Auntie that gets to do fun things with them.  I love that at the beginning of each week that they come to stay Noelle asks me what we are baking this week and then she reminds me each day until we do it. We have baked since she was just a tiny girl and now Karly had her first baking lesson today.  Oh the joys of being and Auntie!!

Two Sad Good-Byes and Two New Family Members

Noelle has had horrible eczema and allergies since she was baby. She can go weeks with no signs of the eczema and then all of the sudden she will have it all over her body.  Kelly has taken her the Pediatrician several times and she has been given medication for when she does have a breakout however it doesn’t always work right away.  We’ve tried different lotions, soaps, shampoos just about everything you can think of. Then about six months ago she had a horrible breakout so Kelly took her to the Pediatrician again to see if there was anything else they could prescribe or suggestions that Kelly could do for her. There was a suggestion that the family dog, Pismo, could be part of the problem. If that really was the case that was a huge problem because every household in our family has a dog. At this point Kelly was desperate so she and Dave really needed to consider finding a new home for Pismo. They had tried everything else she could think of and nothing was working.  Noelle was scratching herself up to the point that she was bleeding so something had to give.  After a lot thought and prayer Kelly and Dave decided that they needed to find a new home for Pismo in hopes that Noelle would start feeling better.  They found a great home for Pismo with a family that loves her.  The day after Pismo went to her new home Kelly had the housekeepers come in a do a deep cleaning and overnight Noelle started getting better.  Every night for months Noelle would start out in her own bed and then end up in Kelly’s room because she would wake up in the night scratching until she was so miserable that she couldn’t sleep.  However, after Pismo was gone and all of her hair and dander was gone Noelle slept through the night in her own bed.  That was a HUGE accomplishment. Kelly and Dave knew at that time that they had made the right decision for their family. 

I wasn’t as ready to make the same decision.  Living alone is hard and can be lonely. Buttons had become part of my family and I couldn’t imagine having to get rid of her.  About 3 weeks ago it became clear that since Noelle spends so much time here that I needed to do the same thing.  It wasn’t an easy decision to make but it was the right one. I used a rescue agency to help find her a good home and last Sunday I received a message that they had found the perfect home for her.  I took her on Wednesday to meet her new family.  It was really difficult for me to do but I also know that it was the right thing to do.  I have received an email everyday since then with a picture and a story of her day.  The family that she is with lost their Boston Terrier in January and have been waiting to find what they said was the perfect dog and they have fell in love with Buttons.  I feel really good about how things have turned out and that Buttons is with a loving family that will take good care of her!

With all that being said Thomas and Noelle have really wanted a dog and have asked over and over about getting a new one.  My Mom and Chris had recently got a new Shih Tzu, Poochy, and Noelle had been around him several times and too all of our surprise she was fine.  She never broke out after being around the the dog.  Kelly did some research and found that Shih Tzu’s are good with kids and whatever it was that Noelle had a problem with with Pismo and Buttons was obviously less likely with a Shih Tzu.  They also have one at her day care and she hasn’t had any problems with that dog.

One day while she and Dave were out shopping at Lowes there was a lady with two Shih Tzu puppies in her cart.  After sometime thinking about it they took the kids to the lady’s house and see how she would do.  Noelle didn’t have any problems so Kelly decided it was the right thing to do.  So, now we have two members of the family.

Noelle with Ollie (he will stay at Kelly’s house and come to mine on the weeks that she works.)

Karly with Salem (He will stay at my house. And yes he was named after my favorite show Days of Our Lives…. I know ridiculous but it fits him perfectly. )

 

They are good dogs and the kids love them.  Noelle can’t seem to get enough of them and carries them around just like this all the time.  The best part….. no allergy or eczema problems.

Another example of how things happen for a reason.  Pismo is doing great at her new home and the family really needed a good family dog for their son.  Buttons is with a great family that had lost their dog and is in love with her already.  Lastly, Thomas, Noelle and Karly have two perfect dogs that make the family complete without making anyone sick!!!!   

These cupcakes deserve their own post…

The past few years I have made made special cupcakes for the 4th of July block party.  4th of July 2009 and 4th  of July 2010  This year I decided to make these

but I called around to every place where I thought I could get brown cupcake wrappers but had no luck. So I moved on to these

But then I couldn’t find the green cupcake wrappers so I decided to go with white wrappers instead.  I went to tint the green frosting but I couldn’t get it the right color green. At that point I hadn’t baked the cupcakes. So I moved on to what I thought would be an easy design.  All you did was bake a chocolate cupcake and use white frosting.  Then you melt down Jolly Rancher candy (red and blue) and use a cookie cutter to make stars and place a red and blue star on each cupcake.  How hard can that possibly be? Right…. Well about the hardest thing I have ever done. 

I broke up the candy and started melting it down on Saturday morning so I could have the candy done and cooled by Sunday night.  Well the project that I thought would take no time started getting extremely frustrating. Out of a tray of 12 stars I would get about 5 or 6 good ones because once the candy got cooled well enough me to handle it was brittle and the points of the stars broke off.  After 6 1/2 hours over two days I finally had enough stars made.

 

Once I got the stars done I thought I was on a roll and decided that I would decorate 2 of the 4 dozen cupcakes so that I would have more time to hang out on the 4th.  Now Sunday was one of the hottest days we have had.  I had the air conditioning and fans going in the house.  I finished the 2 dozen cookies at around 10:30 Sunday night.  When I woke up Monday morning at 6:45 I went in to check on the cupcakes and this is part of what I found….

It’s really hard to tell in this picture but some of the stars had slid down into the cupcake while other stars just fell on the cupcake and the candy melted a little and left a gross syrup on the frosting.  Now the other 2 dozen cupcakes I left on the table were as hard as stones because of the fan and air conditioner.  I was so tired when I went to to bed that I didn’t think about the cupcakes getting hard and that I should put them in a container to keep them fresh.  The candy that I left out on the take for the other cupcakes had melted to the waxed paper and broke when I tried to peel them off.

I was so upset!!!  I couldn’t believe after all the time I had put into those cupcakes and the money that I paid for all the candy, the cake and frostings and the cookie cutters that I had to buy.  What a mess and complete failure of a project!!! 

By the time I had figured out that everything was ruined I had 45 minutes before Kelly was going to be here to pick me up for the parade so I went as fast as ever to the grocery store to get all the stuff for a new batch of cupcakes.  After all I couldn’t show up to the party with no cupcakes.  So I decided to make the same ones that I made last year.  They were on the easy side and didn’t take 6 hours of prep to do.

My mom came over after I baked all the cupcakes and helped me to decorate them. 

  

Again not a great picture. I forgot to take one before leaving the house so I took this one with my phone at that party. 

Next year is going to go much smoother because I’m not going to wait till the last minute to plan!!!!

4th of July 2011

As many of you know I absolutely LOVE the 4th of July. There is something about a flag blowing in the wind that brings such happiness to me.  This year I only managed to cry 3 times while driving down the street looking at the flags blowing in the wind.

We started the day off at the parade on the Miracle Mile.   The kids looked so cute in their first of many outfits for the day.

The kids really enjoyed watching all of the military vehicles and soldiers in the parade.  

Noelle loved it when they threw candy to everyone.  Thomas and Karly loved all of the loud motorcycles. 

After the parade I had to hurry home make the new cupcakes and then headed to Kelly’s house so we could go swimming with the neighbors.  We had such a good time swimming and the water was the perfect temperature. 

Karly had her first surfing lesson and then decided that she needed a little bit of break.

How cute were they in their 4th of July swimsuits??

Then it was dinner and fireworks time.  We had a great potluck with the rest of the neighbors in the court.

And then finally the time that we look forward to all year.  Fireworks!!!  The guys put on a great show for us! Karly absolutely loved all of the fireworks and the loud noises.  She giggled and giggled.

Thomas enjoyed sitting with his buddies in the street wrapped in a warm blanket.

Noelle did great this year also and was happy to have Emma and Alex there to watch with her.

Grandma, Pop, and Poochy  came and enjoyed the party this year too.

Here is a quick video of the fireworks display. 

So grateful to live in this great country and the opportunity to celebrate with friends and family.  I can’t wait till next years celebration!!!