Severe Weather

A pic from my phone of downtown Muscatine as the storm approached fast and furiously.

Sleepover Success

4/5 of the kids ranked this Last-Day-of-School-First-Day-of-Summer-Sleepover "the best one yet." Among the various activities, which included an exchange of items-no-longer-wanted, swimming in the pool, makeovers, telling stories, playing tennis, and a modeling show, was the Iron Chef Cook-off. They did something similar last time with the brownies (see March 19 entry).

This time around, the rules were changed up. Each team was made by drawing names from a hat. It was a little worrisome when both sets of sisters ended up on the same team, but it worked out very well!

Each team was given these ingredients: Box of macaroni 'n cheese, toothpicks, Cool Whip, hot dogs, Refrigerator biscuits (crescent rolls), bananas, yellow cake mix, 9 eggs, stick of butter, bag of mini-marshmallows, a loaf of bread, and a Wild Card. The Wild Card could be used towards any other ingredient in the house. They also each had access to Pam spray, oil, and milk. Each team could ask permission from the other team to add one extra ingredient if they so desired....so one team asked for shredded cheese and the other asked for smoky cheddar cheese. The Wild Card for Dining Room team was used for a can of tomato paste, while the Kitchen team used theirs for syrup.

Judges: expert food tasters Dan & Linda Steele :)


"Dining Room Team" and "Kitchen Team"
Moriah, Moriah, Sydney Case, Brooke, Haley


Working on the side dish - cheesy mac with dogs

Working on the presentation of foods

Dining Room Team: Pigs in a blanket, cheesy mac 'n dogs, & pizza

Kitchen Team: Smoky Pigs in blankets, smoky mac, and smoky eggs on bread

Dining Room Team: Braised Marshmallows on Yellow Banana Cake with Cool Whip

Kitchen Team: Yellow Marshmallow Cake frosted with Cool Whip & banana slices, topped with syrups

And the tasting commences...

And the judging continues...

Soccer Weekend

Wow, I only wish I had a video camera for what happened before this picture. It would've been shown on ESPN for sure. Tessa kicked and made a goal from almost the half-way mark. The wind helped push the ball, but it was a perfect arc and it went high and wide. The goalie didn't have a chance. Seriously, it was a goal of a lifetime.

Anyways, here's Brooke (closest purple player) playing her final spring Illowa game. We had a scrimmage after this in Burlington and still have several tournaments this summer. Then, I think, this fall the U11 girls will be a different league, which probably means driving farther.



This is our team: U10 Mystics

This is the pizza party after the scrimmage in Burlington at the RecPlex. This is an annual/semi-annual thing we've begun with the Burlington Yellow Elite team. Our scrimmage ended in a tie 3-3.

Actually....

THIS was the best deal of the day. We easily quadrupled the amount of Brio tracks and trains/cars this morning as a result of yard-sale-ing. We just discovered that among all the tracks, there is a Thomas the Train engine! Case is sooo excited!

Nice Day

It was a nice day for swimming, and the girls invited some neighbor girls over for a fun time.

Deal of the Day

Scored some great patio furniture at a yard sale today. 4 of these chairs, the little table, and a lounge chair.

Catch Me if You Can!