When I saw a newsletter about Foam Day, I knew we just had to try it out. Fire fighters came to a park and sprayed and sprayed loads of foamy bubbles…

It was really awesome. The foam was a foot or so deep all around. It was hard to lift my legs up with my flip flops being sucked under, much easier barefoot.

Carter was really unsure at first, but got into it for a while. Graysen loved it the whole time. I wished we could have played in it longer, but the kids were done and Chad and I needed goggles to really enjoy it best. Walking through the foam spraying area was the funnest part, but we couldn’t see with our eyes shut tight. Next year you’ll all have to grab your goggles and we can all go together!

For our extended family 4th of July party (on the 5th) we were asked to bring dessert. Chad found this super great idea, so we just had to try it out.

We made rice crispy pops! The kids loved them. The adults loved them. They were fun to eat, less sticky to hold and they were all gobbled up quick. Everyone commented on the treats and I heard one of my aunts say “these are the hit of the party”!

They really weren’t too hard to make and Chad and I had fun creating them (though I am sure we would have had much more fun if it wasn’t so late the night before).

Rice Crispy Pops

I make my rice crispies the easy and, I think, best way… (in the microwave).

Spray a large plastic bowl with cooking spray. Put in a few tablespoons of butter and a bag or so of marshmallows. Melt together in the microwave for a few minutes until nice and gooey.

Stir with a large plastic spoon also sprayed with cooking spray. Then start stirring in the rice crisp cereal. (For these cake pops you want to add enough cereal to keep the pops nice and sturdy and not falling off the stick, but still gooey enough to be soft and chewy. Sorry no true measurements, I always just eyeball it.)

Using cooking-sprayed spoon (respray as needed) press mixture into a greased 9×13 pan.

Once mixture is set enough, cut into long skinny rectangles. We got 12 out of each pan.

We pushed in our sucker sticks and then dipped half of the pops into white chocolate and the other half in dark chocolate. (I love using the cocoa covered chocolate truffles sold at Costco for dipping chocolate, it’s perfect.)

Immediately after dipping we shook on festive sprinkles.

We put the chocolate-dipped pops onto wax paper to set.

Ours weren’t boxy enough to stand up like in the above link, so we just served them on a tray stacked nicely, with wax paper in between the layers. I wanted to put the sticks into Styrofoam to stand up all cute, but then decided the rice crispies might fall off the sticks standing there in the heat. It sure was hot that weekend.

(Cousins at the Independence Day party)

Right in the middle of dinner Carter started to look a little glassy-eyed, his head started bobbing, we teased him about falling asleep and he rebutted, but soon enough he was out.

Sometimes I feel the same way, just totally overloaded. It happened to our whole family, after all sorts of busy-ness and then one super crazy 4th of July weekend (nieces’ birthday parties, neighborhood 4th party, extended family 4th party and more and more), we all got sick. There can definitely be too much of a good thing. I felt like I had mono for a day or so; I was completely drained.

The blessing of it was that my kids who had much more energy then me, really had to rely on each other and take care of themselves. It was great preparation for the nearing arrival of our baby.  Instead of waking up and begging for cereal they just woke up and quietly read or played in their rooms until I had energy to get out breakfast and start the day. They began playing better and better together and being very creative (and messy) with all their toys.

Both of my kids are ready to add a new sibling to our family, especially Graysen. She has taken a lot of ownership in my growing belly and is quite excited. So for sure there will be lots of smothering and difficulty in teaching her to allow the baby some space, but she will be a big help.

When I was sick and exhausted Graysen started bringing me cups of ice water and really wanting to help me. She often will ask me if I need water and brought me some earlier today. So there was a great blessing in disguise when I got sick. I think it’s starting to wear off a bit now though and hope these last few days of more frequent fighting won’t continue.

Mostly I have to count my blessings! Graysen is also teaching Carter some things to prepare him for our baby. A few days ago, she taught him how to feed a baby a bottle. They are such cute brother and sister and I am so glad they have each other and seem so excited for a new baby.

Disneyland was so magical that even now, a month after our trip, I often find Graysen wearing her new fancy Cinderella dress, putting her boutique makeup on herself or others, painting nails and just acting like a princess.

Graysen giving me a makeover back at the hotel.

(Back at home Graysen put makeup on herself and Carter and then made him dance with her.)

A couple times she has really played the “I’m a princess!” card. I asked Graysen to go to time-out and she was so mad and upset saying over and over, “Princesses don’t go to time out!”

The kids have also really enjoyed playing with a few souvenir Disney toys they brought home, reading the Playhouse Disney storybook we got and we have made a couple different batches of Mickey Mouse sugar cookies with our new cookie cutter from Disney town.

I really liked making the sugar cookie recipe from Our Best Bites and the fun glace’ icing that allows the cookies to be frosted and still stackable. The kids and especially Chad really enjoy eating them!

Another fun item from our trip was the autograph books the kids got and had many Disney characters sign. Once home, we filled them with pictures from our trip. It helps the kids remember and relive their exciting adventures. They love looking at their books over and over and showing them to others.

Graysen showing off her book to my mom, sister, niece and Carter after a fun Prince and Princess party my mom threw for her grandkids, (more on that later). Graysen felt so special and loved telling them all about her trip.

I hope you all have a magical day!

Funny: Have you seen this commercial? I don’t watch much TV so I hadn’t until someone posted it on their blog a couple months ago.

Funnier: Then today Chad told me about this awesomeness done by BYU.

The first one is alright, but it’s the BYU one that makes me laugh every time!