Let's Party!

Let's Celebrate Summer with a
Thrill of the Grill BBQ

Pampered Chef Party!

Join my friends & I Thursday, June 4th at 6:30pm
Sunnyside Central Park (by the pool)

• Bring a friend & get a gift, bring two friends & get free shipping & handling!
• You can look forward to door prizes & games with prizes!
• Interactive Food Experience ~ Create yummy salads & appetizers using wonderful Pampered Chef Recipes
• BBQ meat samplers so you can try our delicious Pampered Chef spices
• Get the opportunity to try out many unique Pampered Chef tools!

Can't attend? Shop online at www.pamperedchef.biz/bethmulbry Click on "order products", then click on "Invited to a show" Input Tiffanie Bodine as your host and enjoy your shopping experience!

My nerdy tendencies - what are yours?

OK, I guess it's OK to be a nerd once in a while! When I'm NOT taking care of & cleaning up after kids, perhaps when I have an extra hour & I don't feel like reading or getting crafty during naptime, I love to go to Pogo.com for games like Dominoes, Yahtzee, card games, word games, majong, & various other interactive games I play against people from all over the world. Plus sometimes I go to puzzles.com for logic puzzles or sodoku (yes, those "math" games), and the only PSP games I play are the puzzle ones like Lumines (kind of a Tetris type game) or Bomberman (which is vaguely puzzle-like - I beat that one). So I guess I'm a nerdy type, but it's fun! What are your nerdy tendencies?

Bye-Bye Baby beds, Hello Bunk Beds!

Yesterday Jeff went out & got a mattress & dresser for Keira (thank you Craigslist). THAT meant we could take the mattresses she was using & put them on a bunk bed!! While he was out I put the bed together & dismantled/put away the crib and toddler-sized bed. The boys were SO excited that I couldn't get them to nap in their new beds. After naptime I was SERIOUSLY worried about bedtime. How long was it going to take to get them down?

SO bedtime came and went, and after what seemed like hours of reading books, rocking Kalani, singing songs etc... (probably about an hour) Kalani went to sleep (On his own without me laying down with him). Keanu ended up falling asleep on the couch & getting moved to his new bed. I was pretty thrilled though to wake up at 6:30 this morning to the realization that neither one of them had woken up at ALL through the night!! Milestone accomplished, woo hoo!

Keira's Talent Show performances!

Last night was Keira's 4-H talent show and tons of kids were there from the Yakima Valley, showcasing their talents! We had piano, violin, recorder, lip sync, dramatization, skit, puppet show, readers theatre, and dance. The last 4 were things I had worked with kids to do. I think the kids had a real sense of accomplishment, and had lots of fun doing it!
~ Skit was called "Mary had a little goat", and the kids all got blue ribbons for it. It was all about a goat that follows Mary to her 4-H meetings (we had a stuffed goat on rollers). We'll be taking this one to the Central WA State Fair!
~ Puppet show was done with my stuffed jungle animal puppets. The narrator was an alligator, and it was called "Stone Soup". The storyline was all about how animals learn to share & not be suspicious of strangers. This also won blue ribbons & we'll be taking it to the fair!
~ I wrote a spin off "You read to me and I'll read to you", only it was "4-H for me and 4-H for you". This was a readers theatre done by two girls in our drama class. They got blue ribbons for it too!


~ Keira danced her solo jazz chair dance to "Best of Both Worlds" by Hannah Montana. (here she is practicing it at home). Her dance teacher choreographed the dance & I was on the sidelines to help her if she forgot her moves (which, despite daily practicing for over a month - she did forget at least once!) She got a rainbow ribbon (not old enough for competing) and we're so proud of her, she did great! For a 7 year old, solo performing is SUCH a HUGE accomplishment!

water & food & soap, oh my! A blog on emergency prep

Over the weekend Jeff & I ran a booth at the Emergency Preparedness Fair. Jeff was there last year running a booth on financial preparedness, and this year I went with him and we did being prepared by being in good physical shape (exercise). We had tons of handouts from American Council on Exercise, and posters telling ways of exercising and the 3 parts to a good workout routine. Well, we had TONS of fun running our booth & taking turns making rounds to all the other booths they had. There was everything from 72 hour kits, nutrition, gardening, and food storage/preservation, to red cross & fire safety, cooking tips, food demonstrations, and how to cook different ways. One of the coolest things they had was a demo on how to make gluten meat substitute out of ground wheat flour. With enough spices, the finished product looked & tasted like meat, and wasn't too hard to make either!!

Sooooo, we were inspired this time to organize and replenish our 72 hour kit, work on our water storage, and boost our food storage by stocking up on spices and canning things this summer. Here's what we did today to make these goals.
* Jeff went to Tree Top, where they sold him 50 gallon water barrels for a buck a piece, SCORE!
* Jeff & I took off to the store & bought food & supplies to re-stock our 72 hour kit, then we came home & organized it into zip-loc baggies & packed it into a backpack and small suitcase. DONE!
* We also bought tons of TP, soap, toothpaste, candles, matches, and something to make a solar oven with.
* I signed up to attend a workshop in a couple weeks on how to can meat & veggies.
* I planted some tomatoes & peppers.

My only worry is - If power went out in the winter, how would we heat our home? We only have electric & pellet stove (which takes electric). Generators are SOOOO expensive! Any ideas anyone?
What are you working on for your emergency preparedness?

Baby names

Here are some names we are considering for the baby. Still in the early stages of deciding, what do you think? Does anyone have any name suggestions that they think would fit our family?? Keep in mind that the other kids are named Keira, Kalani & Keanu.

Boy names:
Lonikai, Kai Kanoa (named after daddy), Nakia,
(still looking for others)
Girl names:
Eliana Leilani, Chloe, Caitlin (still looking at others)