Youth Lake Trip

This weekend was the youth group's annual lake trip. I have not gone with them for about three years but this year I thought Claire would enjoy going. We bought her a life jacket (on Amazon for only $15) and drove up with the group.

We spent a few days before the trip talking about how she was going to go on a boat and swim in the lake. We put her new life jacket on and talked about how nice and pretty and special it was.

She was so excited.
We set up our little shade camp across the lake. We only had two boats this year so it took awhile to get everyone across. ( about 30 or so people)

Claire played along the shoreline while we waited for a turn to ride a boat.It was nice for me because many of the girls like Claire and Claire loves to be with them so they would watch her in the water and help her swim. Claire loved jumping off the rocks to Denisse. She played a lot with Sara too but I know Sara would kill me if I put one of those pictures up because she would not like the way she looked:)
Claire's friend Keyara came too with her family. They played in the water together and shared snacks with each other.
We finally got to go on a boat. We pulled the banana boat behind us so that was fun to watch. I so wish I could have gone on it!

Here is Claire while we raced along in the boat.

Josh got to ride on the banana and the tube. I got that tube at Savers for $9.99 a little over a year ago. It had never been used and apparently it is one of the best brands you can get.

Sporting my maternity swimsuit - well, it isn't actually "maternity" but the top was long enough that it fits like one now.

It was a fun day all in all. I must say it was so hot a muggy that even I went in the water quite a few times. I preferred jumping off the boat in middle of the lake rather than going in at the shore where the fish were biting my legs and there were all kinds of green floaties.

I'm so glad that Claire had such a good time. Because she did so well, we decided to for sure go camping this next weekend. That'll be an experience I'm sure.

Homemade Yogurt

For the past few months I have been trying to make homemade yogurt. Why? Because store bought yogurt has so many artificial ingredients, colors, sweeteners, and WAY too much sugar.

NOTE: (NEVER buy light yogurt - that just means they loaded it with cancer causing Splenda or aspartame.)

So after some trial and much error, I finally came up with a recipe/method that works for me. It is really quite easy and rewarding.

1. Pour 4 cups of milk into a pot, heat over medium heat stirring occasionally until you thermometer reads 185 degrees.
2. Pour into a bowl to cool. It needs to cool to 130 degrees before you can do anything to it.

3. Once the milk is just under 130 degrees, whisk 1/2 cup of powdered milk and 2 tablespoons of store bought yogurt. After you make a batch, always save a little to be the starter for your next batch. That way you will never have to buy it.

Do not even try to stir it with a spoon, you will not be successful and later when pouring the mixture into cups you'll find lumps.

4. Now, I know you will be tempted, but DON'T try to sweeten or flavor the yogurt now. You must wait until right before you eat it to do so. I have tried several times to add sugar now and it only results on runny yogurt that doesn't set up properly.

5. Pour the liquid-soon-to-be-yogurt into your yogurt maker's cups. I know that not everyone has a yogurt maker and neither did I a few months ago but now I have two. I found them both at different Savers for under $5 and they are the same exact model. If you are serious about making yogurt I'd say they are the easiest way to go.

6. Lastly, pop on the lids, plug in your maker (which I found keeps the yogurt barely warm) and let it sit for 12 hours. I usually do all this at night so in the morning the yogurt is ready.

7. Put the yogurt jars in the fridge until you want to eat it. Here are some ways that Claire and I like to flavor our yogurt. I'm sure there are a hundred ways to flavor it, these are just the things I have tried.

a) add honey to taste
b) add sugar to taste
c) add sugar and your favorite flavor of jam
d) add sugar and vanilla

Having all that plain yogurt on hand also comes in handy for baking, or we like to add sugar to it and use it instead of milk on our cereal.

Delicious! We will never buy yogurt again!

The 4th of July!

For the 4th I made Claire a new dress. I got the fabric at Goodwill for $2. (there was about 2 yards) It's seersucker and I know that is at least $6 a yard in fabric stores.

It was extremely easy to make and I believe it is my best work so far. I plan to make a few different variations of the dress for summer.

Poor Claire, she is such a cheesy poser for pictures. When we tell her to smile she shows her teeth and makes her jaw all crooked so it is hard to get a normal looking mouth shot. I think we will need to practice smiling in the mirror.

Here is a candid one. What a goof.

After church we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner and a swim. Then we had to leave to go see Claire's first fireworks.

Finding a parking spot was very frustrating but we finally found a place and walked about half a mile to Tumbleweed park in Chandler. The main, grass field for spectating was surprising empty considering how many people were driving around and setting up on the side of the road. We were very lucky to get such a great spot considering we didn't get there until 9pm.

Claire was frightened by the fireworks at first ......but after a bit, she grew accustomed to the loud bangs and she watched and enjoyed her candy we let her pick out from the dollar store.We couldn't tell if she was having a good time or not, she did say "That was fun!" a few times on our way back to the car so I guess that is good:)

Let Me Gripe About The Zoo

Last week, I took Claire to toddler time at the Cesar Chavez Library. We had been to baby time, but this was our first toddler time. I had heard bad things about it but we were desperate to get out of the house. The wonderful library didn't open until 11am so getting there at 10:50 was a bad idea. There were about 50 people all huddle in the shade of the building and once they opened the doors it was a race to get inside for some reason.

I was worried we wouldn't get a ticket for toddler time since they only let the first 15 in but I guess most of those people were trying to get culture passes. While we were waiting for "class" to start, I wandered by the culture pass display and was shocked to find one for the Phoenix Zoo.

"Hmm, do I really want to take this?" I thought. "It is really hot and the Zoo is kind of boring, but then again, Claire would probably like it and we have nothing better to do." So I took it. The only day we could use it was Wednesday due to my work schedule and the holiday so I asked my mom if she wanted to go since that was our day to get together.

We got there at 8am and it was already too hot.

COMPLAINT # 1 about the Phoenix Zoo.
Why are there no trees in the parking lot? The Zoo has been there for almost 50 years! There should be huge shade trees by now. Why are there only a few twigs scattered about the asphalt? Nothing like getting into a 200 degree car at the end of your day...

We gave the Zoo guy our culture pass and I almost died to find that it really cost $16 per person to get in. Thank goodness Claire is still free - although considering the mentality of the Zoo, I am shocked that 2 year olds are free.

Complaint # 2
The zoo is so expensive! I don't know who would pay $16 per person to walk around in that place! It isn't that pretty, or lush, and it really is a pretty sorry excuse for a zoo when it comes right down to it. I went to a zoo in Nebraska that was AMAZING and it was free year round.

We decided to skip the Arizona Trail or whatever it is called. We wanted to see some African Animals. "Let's go see the giraffes!" I told Claire. She gets excited... No giraffes are out. "Let's go see the lions!" I told Claire. No lions. "We're going to go see the tigers!" No tigers.

I learned to not make promises at the zoo.

Complaint # 3
We walked for almost 30 minutes before we saw an animal and it was a bird. Now, I realize that we are stupid for going in the summer, but seriously, if none of the animals are out, why open? They should close in the summer and save a ton of money. Then in the fall, they could charge less.

We took this picture incase we didn't see any animals. We did see a lion - on the Coca Cola machine.Here are the otters. Do you see them? Yeah, neither did we.

The first actual non-bird animal we saw was a rhino. Claire didn't really care about it though because rhinos aren't something we talk about everyday and they aren't in many books. I told her it was a dinosaur just for fun and then she loved it.
The best thing we saw all day was the monkeys. I personally hate monkeys but we did actually see them up close and it was the first time Claire smiled all day.
We decided that this was a complete joke so we made our way to the petting zoo and then after that we would leave. On the way we found this Little People play area.

Complaint # 4

Who designed this thing? There was 1 slide and it was in the sun. The main attraction was a huge stalk of plastic corn along with some various other vegetables. What are the kids supposed to do with that?! Not to mention that the plastic produce was in raised beds, perfect for kids to trip on - which the only other child there did.

Here is Claire playing with the pumpkin. How fun.

Onward to the petting zoo.... Claire kept crying and saying "Back to house! Back to house!"

Complaint # 5

Why is the zoo always under construction? And did I really pass a sign that said they need 20 million dollars to give the zoo a face lift? What a joke.

Complaint # 6

The petting zoo only has goats! Seriously? And why are they all lying under cement benches?

Claire gave the goats a hug and a kiss. Probably because she felt sorry for them.

It took us a long time to find our way out the Zoo and we were all feeling pretty gross from the heat. Let's just say we won't be going back for a LOOOOONG time.

There you have my feelings on the Phoenix Zoo. Sorry for the complaints, it must be my pregnancies hormones:)

On a positive note, toddler time was actually very fun!

VBS Week

I now have some pictures from VBS! Josh was running around all week taking pictures and video along with teaching a Bible study. I was in the kitchen making snacks for all of the kids and leaders. I love working in the kitchen - away from the kids. Claire had to go to the nursery still because the youngest class starts at 3 years old. She had a fabulous time regardless and could't wait to go everyday.

She was actually really happy here, Josh just asked her to make her angry face. I think she has perfected it.
After seeing these pictures, we found out why she had so much fun all day. That is her friend Micah, he is a month older than her and they were the only toddlers in the nursery, the rest of the kids were all babies, so they hung out quite a bit.
and some random pictures of her playing.
On the last day, there is a huge water slide for the big kids and they let the little kids play too for a little while. The younger ones don't understand the concept of running, jumping, and sliding so we always pull them with ropes. Josh pulled Claire for a long time. She loved it.

I am so excited for when Claire can be in the actual VBS program last year. The 3 year olds looked like they were having so much fun. It seems like you can do everything once you're 3, swimming, gymnastics, dance, Awana, and most sports... I can't wait until she can take part in these things but I know it will be upon us all too quickly.

Masterpiece

This week, Claire painted her very first picture. She got these great paint containers and paint brushes from Aunt Faith for her birthday and I bought the tempura paint powder one at a time with 50% off coupons at Michael's.

It was a very serious matter at first, requiring great concentration.

Then she got a little more light-hearted.
She did so well at putting the brushes back in the correct paint canister! I was impressed.She had a good technique going - very evenly spaced colors...
Almost done...
Voila!
It's a masterpiece! (We hung it on our refrigerator:)
She absolutely LOVED painting and asks to do it everyday. She likes to look at her work on the fridge and say all the colors that she used. Good job on your first painting Claire!