~Happy Keeper At Home~

Pie Filling Delight

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1-8 oz. Cool Whip

1-8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

1 c. sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

1 stick margarine

3 c. graham cracker crumbs

1 can pie filling (your choice)

1. Melt the margarine & mix with crumbs.  Pan into 9 X 13" dish.  **Save a few crumbs for topping!

2.  Mix cream cheese, sugar, & vanilla until well beaten.  Add Cool Whip. 

3.  Pour mixture on top of crumbs.

4.  Pour pie filling over top Cool Whip mixture.

5.  Sprinkle reserved crumbs on top.

Dirt Pudding

Our local library has a teen program that takes place on Thursdays @ 11.  My oldest usually goes by herself because she doesn't want my youngest tagging along, although both are old enough to attend.  But you know, you have to pick your battles, right? 

Well, since the oldest is at camp I let the youngest go this week.  They were having a movie/snack party.  Everyone was supposed to bring a "buggy" snack and then they were going to watch a "buggy" movie.  So yesterday morning I had to make a mad dash to Walmart to get the ingredients for her "buggy" snack.  I made some dirt pudding for her to take along.

Here's the recipe:

Dirt Pudding

1 pkg. (4-serving size) vanilla instant pudding mix

1 pkg. (4-serving size) chocolate instant pudding mix

4 c. milk, divided

1 c. thawed Cool Whip, divided

Oreo cookies, crumbled

Gummy worms

1.  Prepare vanilla & chocolate pudding mixes separately with milk as directed on packages.

2.  Let stand 5 minutes.

3.  Gently stir 1/2 c. Cool Whip into each bowl of pudding mix.

4.  Sprinkle Oreo crumbs into bottom of bowl or bucket.  Enough to cover bottom, about 1/2" thick.

5.  Pour vanilla pudding mix over top of crumbs.

6.  Sprinkle another 1/2" of Oreo crumbs over top of vanilla pudding.

7.  Pour chocolate pudding mix over top of crumbs.

8.  Sprinkle another 1/2" of Oreo crumbs over top of pudding.

9.  Add worms & a shovel! 

10.  Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

There were only 5 kids that showed up this week.  Most likely because of it being the 4th of July weekend.  Katie won a coupon to Arby's for "The Best Tasting"! 

It was good!

Diet?  What diet?

An Update...finally!

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My girls have been keeping me pretty busy with running them around this summer so I'm finally posting something.  They each volunteer and that makes my schedule busy!  Katie (youngest) is volunteering at our local library on Mondays & Wednesdays.  Ashley (oldest) is still volunteering at the vet clinic 3 days a week. 

~We have been taking a sign language class on Monday nights.  It is a 10 week course.  I figure that I can count that as school even though we are on summer break.  One of the pluses of homeschooling!  You can count just about anything for school! 

~As you know my brother got married.  We are going over to his house this Saturday for dinner.  We have never been over to their house so I'm really looking forward to spending some time with them.

~I've been defeated!  Yep, the grocery stores are winning!  I can no longer feed my family for $200 a month.  I think I'm up to $250 now!  UGH!  Even with cooking from scratch.

~We have decided to put our oldest back in school come fall of 2009.  We feel it is in her best interest for her future as a vet to go back to either public school or private school (if we can afford it!)  She will be entering the 11th grade by then so we figured that she ought to have some kind of morals by that age.  If not, then we haven't done our jobs!  She will be more eligible to get scholorships if she is in school then if she is homeschooled.  So....DH has her working though a history book this summer to prepare her for going back.  I'm sure that he will have her working on other subjects as well!

~OOH!  My sister and her husband are adopting a baby!!!!  They adopted a little girl about 6 years ago.  She was about 5-6 at the time of the adoption.  This new baby is 2 months old!  So precious!  The biological parents were only 17 & 19 and just weren't able to care for the baby properly so they gave her up.  My sister & her husband got the baby last week and the adoption will be final on Aug. 1.  Their 10 year wedding anniversary!  How timely!

~OOH again!  My brother & his wife are expecting #4 in October.  The first 3 are all boys and they found out this next one is a GIRL!  They are so happy!  We all got to see the 3D/4D ultrasound on the computer as they were finding out what it was.  It was really neat!

~WE HAVE ANTS!  We have had this rustling sound in our ceiling for about a year or so.  DH has gotten up on the roof numerous times to inspect for holes.  We thought maybe a squirrel had taken up housing in there but there were no holes for something that big to enter.  Dh drilled holes in the ceiling & sprayed bug killer in them but no luck.  Dh called the exterminator yesterday and they said that we DEFINITELY have carpenter ants between the ceiling and the roof!  UGH!  They chew non-stop!  Constantly!  So they are coming out this Saturday morning to spray.

~I have started my diet.....AGAIN!  Why is this so hard for me?  Because I like to eat, I guess!  On this diet I have to eat every 2-3 hours because I have low blood sugar.  So you would think that eating every 2-3 hours would be really nice for someone who likes to eat, huh?  NOT!  It would be nice but I don't get to eat the foods I WANT TO EAT!  It is hard for me to eat fruits & veggies & protein at every meal.  Now give me something salty or sweet and I'm good to go!  I think that I will start up exercising when our summer activities are over.  Which should be this month. 

~I have just gotten over another case of a UTI.  I'm about sick of these things!  I think I've had my share now!  This time I didn't go to the dr.  I just took the little pain pills that he gave me last time and have been drinking cran-grape juice & water along with taking cranberry pills.  It cleared up!  I decided to wait to see if it would clear up on it's own because too many antibiotics are bad!  I can't keep taking them all the time!

~We still haven't found Frank.  He will be missed!

~Oh yeah!  Did I mention that my DH took me golfing?  LOL!  We went golfing about a week ago.  Now I have never been "real" golfing before in my life!  Only putt putting!  We golfed the first 9 holes.  I guarantee that I won't be entering any tournaments any time soon!  After about the first 2 holes I just started hitting (or trying to hit) the ball with the same club.  When you golf as bad as I do it really doesn't matter which club you use!  It was fun.  I think I irritated DH more than anything because I wasn't taking it seriously.  Golf is a serious game, you know!  LOL!  Not to me!  I was just out there having myself a good ole' laughing time.  It's quite funny when you swing the club and expect to hit the ball and it is still sitting on the tee when you look down. 

~For anyone who actually knows me and has seen my hair worn down knows that I have very, very, kinky, curly hair.  I have always wanted to be able to wear my hair down and be able to run my fingers though it.  That just isn't the case with my hair.  It looks like a perm when it's down which is great but I have to put so many styling products on it to keep it from being frizzy.  So I decided that I would buy a chemical straightener and run it through my hair to get rid of the curls for a while.  What was I thinking?  It didn't work!  It is still curly!  Not as curly as before but still curly!  Guess the curls are there to stay!  It is really straight when it's wet but as soon as it dries it's curly again so I guess the manufacturers will still be getting my money for their styling products.

Well, I think that is about it for an update.  That's all that I can think of right now.

Have a blessed day!

I Now Pronounce You Husband & Wife

My brother, Eric, and his fiancee, Danielle, were married yesterday!

Here is the wedding in pictures!

Here comes the bride

Standing before the minister

The prayer

The exchanging of the rings

The kiss

I now pronounce you husband & wife

Coming out of the church

The BEST picture ever!

The s-t-r-e-t-c-h Excursion

Away they go!

Table decoration

The cake

Bride & Groom dance

Daddy & daughter dance

Mother & son dance

Time to get funky!  Get your groove on!

Ashley & Uncle Eric

Throwing the bouquet!

Look who caught it!  UH OH!!

Trying to find the garter

Got it!

3....2....1....Fling! 

The bride's 16 yr. old cousin caught it.

Homemade Father's Day Cards

This year the girls & I made our own cards for DH.  I found a pattern for the head in our local newspaper.  They had a "Draw Your Dad" contest so I just cut out the pattern, copied it onto cardstock paper & then we used our own imaginations & skills(?).

We were all trying our best to draw DH.

Here's the outcome:

From left to right:  Ashley's; Mine; & Katie's.

Who's the real dad?