• Travel & Vacation: Visiting Grand Cayman Island

    Look Out Grand Cayman…..ready or not here we come!!!  All 15 of us riding the ferry boat over to Grand Cayman Island!

    Our first stop on the cruise was Grand Cayman Island!  The kids were so excited to visit Grand Cayman and were really looking forward to exploring and swimming.  Our ship did not dock on the island so we had to take a ferry boat over to the island.  We arrived at Grand Cayman a little early so everyone had some time to shop, relax, and explore before we headed out on our tour.

    Karlie and Brina are ready to go swimming!

    Zach’s ready to go too!  Relaxing on the boat ride over!

    We made it to Grand Cayman Island!  Where should we go first?

    Hey Brina and Karlie, have you seen any pirates on the island yet? 🙂

    Brina and Karlie hanging out on Grand Cayman Island!  Their favorite store was the candy store!  They had giant sized gummy teddy bears, a huge box of nerds, and more (we didn’t buy anything but it was cool to see some of the neat stuff they had in the store).

    Hanging out with my favorite chickies!

    Busy Grand Cayman street.  Did you know that there are over 600 banks on the little Grand Cayman Island?  Guess it is a popular place to have an “off-shore” bank account!

    We found a great spot on a balcony to hang out for a few minutes together before going on the tour.  You can see our ship from Grand Cayman Island, it is the one in the middle.

    Dad and Jojo talking on the balcony.  That huge boat on the left….yup that’s the one we went cruising on for a week!

  • Water Bottle Treats

    The girls love it when I put something special in their lunches!  One of their favorite surprises in their lunch box is when I make a water bottle container full goodies.  The one pictured above was done on their last day of school last year as a way to celebrate the special day with them.  Since they were in the same class last year I just sent one to share.  This one is full of chocolate and vanilla oreos, but you could put anything in the water bottle container (fruit, veggies, crackers, etc…).  I was super excited to hear they ended up sharing the cookies with their friends sitting next to them at lunch!  🙂

    It is super easy to do and the kids will love it!  Take two empty water bottles and cut the bottles in half (I pinched the bottle together and used scissors to cut the bottle in half).  Wash out the bottles and make sure they are dry before filling with the treat.  After putting the food into both halves of the bottle, push the two bottles together, and place a piece of decorative tape around the middle to hold the two bottles together.  Write a note to your little one, put a hole punch in the middle, and tie it on with a ribbon.  Stick it in their lunch box and wait to hear how excited they were when they opened up their lunch box!

  • Space by Twin Sisters

    The girls really love to listen to music whether we are in the car, at home, or even sometimes outside!  One of their favorite groups to listen to is Twin Sisters.  The music CD listed above is on Space by Twin Sisters and is part of their Science Series.  Every night as the girls are going to sleep they get to listen to one CD.

    Before doing this they would keep each other up talking.  With the music it helps give them some quiet time as they go to sleep and typically one or both are asleep before the music ends.  The CD goes through a variety of fun songs about the space including astronauts, jobs, satellites, and more.

    I love the fact that the girls are not only listening to music in the car or at home but that the music teaches them about specific topics like space.  It says that the music is for ages 4 to 9 years old, but even younger or older kids will enjoy the cheerful music on the CD. Here are the songs on the CD:

    • When I Grow Up
    • Many Jobs To Choose From
    • It’s Called Cooperation
    • I’m Feeling Light As A Feather
    • Can We Live In Space?
    • You’re An Astronaut
    • Famous Astronauts
    • Stepping Out In Space With The MMU
    • What Is A Satellite
    • Heroes Of Our Time
    • Space Colonies
    • I’ll Be An Astronaut Medley

  • Giveaway: $10 Panera Bread Gift Card

    I am excited to announce a new giveaway on Blessings Multiplied!   The winner of this giveaway will receive a $10 Panera Bread Gift Card!  The best part about this card is you can use it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack.  If you wanting to meet a client for breakfast, a friend for lunch, or go on a date night with your sweet husband Panera Bread is a great place to go.  Here’s how to enter the giveaway:

    Enter the Giveaway (up to 4 entries per person)!

    1. Sign up to follow my blog (if you haven’t done so already) and leave a comment below telling us how you follow Blessings Multiplied.  Put a separate comment for each way you follow Blessings Multiplied (Email, Twitter, or Facebook) plus an extra entry for your bonus answer!   Each comment counts as an entry into the giveaway.

    All comments must be made by February 28, 2013 at 10:00 PM EST to be entered into the drawing.  Good Luck!

    The actual gift card may or may not be identical to the one pictured above.

  • Sidewalk Chalk Drawings

    The best part of warm weather is outdoor activities, like drawing rainbows with chalk!

    Brina’s chalk person

    Colorful sun

    Brina’s rainbow name

    Karlie’s rocket ship taking off

  • Travel & Vacation: Kennedy Space Center (part 2)

    We got to hear, Bob Springer, an astronaut that has been in space more than once speak and take a picture with him afterward! The girls were very excited to meet someone who has actually gone into space!

    I shared a little bit about our trip to Kennedy Space Center earlier today.  Here is a little bit more about what we did during our adventure.  Thankful for the opportunity to spend some time in Florida, tour Kennedy Space Center, and spend some time catching up with our friends too.

    Live feed of them docking!  So neat to watch it before it is posted to the public.

    After talking with an astronaut for a few minutes the girls wanted a picture in front of the live feed so they took a seat on the edge of the stage.

    Two little chickies are ready in their 3D glasses for the NASA show!

    Pausing for a moment to relax while waiting for our food.  Karlie is processing it all and so THRILLED to be finally exploring Kennedy Space Center!

    Having a BLAST at Kennedy Space Center!

    Brina having fun and enjoying her Icee treat!

  • Travel & Vacation: Kennedy Space Center

    Karlie has had a fascination with anything space related for several years now.  She loves to talk about rockets, planets, astronauts, and more!  Back when the girls were in preschool (more than 3 years ago) she received a Chic-Fil-A Kids Meal from school and inside it was a coupon for Kennedy Space Center.  She asked if she could hang the coupon up on the refrigerator so maybe sometime when we go to Kennedy Space Center we can use it. The coupon was on the refrigerator for a long time (even after it expired).  We did get a great deal online for a food package while at Kennedy Space Center (buy one get one free coupon) which covered all our food and snacks for the day.

    A few months ago we made it to Kennedy Space Center.  I still remember the day we told her we got tickets and were going to Florida.  I think she jumped up and down, clapping, and giggling for several minutes.  She was over joyed and immediately counting down the days until we would leave for Florida.

    Our whole family had a blast exploring Kennedy Space Center.  It was really neat to see all the history and learn so much about space, rockets, and everything else we could soak in that day.  We arrived at Kennedy Space Center a few minutes before it opened and left as they were closing the gates.  It was a neat experience!

    We are getting closer!

    Starting to see some cool  stuff – United States Astronaut Hall of Fame

    Karlie is on-the- edge-of-her-seat excited her dream to visit Kennedy Space Center is coming true!

    We made it!

    Daddy and girls strolling on into Kennedy Space Center, so cute seeing the girls excited and holding hands.



    They look so tiny next to the base of this rocket!

    Daddy and the girls trying it out!

    Karlie is soooo excited and has looked forward to going to Kennedy Space Center for YEARS!

    Sweet Brina had a grand time.  Even though rockets are more of Karlie’s love she had a lot of fun exploring the area with us.

  • Dogs Are Kids Too

    Skipper climbing into the jungle gym

    Our dog is one of our “furry four legged” kids.  She loves to be in the middle of the action whenever the kids are outside.  I am not sure when it began, but our dog Skipper decided one day, with the encouragement of the kids to climb up the jungle gym ladder.  She has gone down the slide a few times too.

    Many times when you see the kids playing on or around the jungle gym you will also see Skipper up in it as well.  Occasionally, she’ll even sleep up there during the day or at night even when the kids are not outside, see my Skipper’s New Dog House post. She climbs up and down the ladder by herself without assistance from anyone and rarely with any encouragement.

    Skipper loves to play in the jungle gym with the kids and when there is a bunch of kids it can get a little crowded with a black lab in the mix too.  If she doesn’t want to go down the slide she’ll come back down using the ladder.  It is hilarious watching her go up and down, but she is pleased with herself for doing it and the kids love it!  Thankful for a dog who loves playing with the kids.

    Skipper hanging out with the kids in the jungle gym

  • Would You Rather Hold A Scorpion, Spider, or Snake?

    Karlie was so excited to hold a scorpion!

    I was going back over some pictures from a few months ago and came across these…..pictures from the Critter Keeper event we attended.  The girls are fascinated by animals, bugs, and any other kind of wildlife.  I love animals too, but I like to keep a safe distance between myself and certain critters like large scorpions, spiders, and snakes!  One of the biggest highlights for them was being able to hold, touch, and learn more about a variety of different animals.  They LOVED it!

    That’s one big spider!

    Do you see the huge yellow and white snake?  Yikes!  Can you find Brina and Karlie in this picture?

    So proud of her “I held a Scorpion!” sticker

  • Go Ape by Patch

    I picked up the Go Ape game by Patch at the grocery store on clearance for the girls for Christmas.  It was a huge hit!   Our family has already played this game several times since Christmas.

    The Go Ape game adds a fun twist to the traditional game of Go Fish!  Instead of asking another player for a card you act out the funny monkey picture on the card!  The person who collects the most monkey matches wins the game.

    It is hilarious watching the girls act out the various monkey faces!  The girls is for 2 to 6 players and for ages 4 and up.