Okay, we moved down to the south a few years ago and it is definitely much hotter down here!  Not complaining, we absolutely love it.  The one thing we are very fortunate that we have is a private lake in our community.  We spend almost everyday at our lake for a few hours to cool off.  This will be until we get our pool in place. How do you engineer a pool off the side of a mountain?!! I am leaving that up to my husband:) Anyways until that time….we settle for a kiddie pool and floaties for the lake.  We purchased a couple of these pools from Amazon and Sams Club last year and got new ones as holes appeared.  This year I discovered Gorilla Glue Silicone Sealant and I have not had to replace our pool yet.

I get the family swim pool for around $30 and it is great for our large crew.  I used a tarp and set it on our driveway.  We live on a mountain and there is not any flat grass land.  Plus now that we have bears in our yard!!! I like my children within view:)

Forgive me for the 1/2 black 1/2 color photo—my phone edited like part of it?!!  When it is time to change the water, usually every 2 days, we let out the plugs and let it flow down the mountain.  I use an electric pump and fill up each ring and it takes about 5 minutes to fill.  Then we fill it with the hose.

This works great for the days we just want to cool off at night and when the lake season ends on labor day, BUT it will still be warm for a while down here!

I purchased some fun floaties at the beginning of the season and have made them last by using this goop over the holes as they would appear.  My children can be rough, as most are launching pads for multiple children:)   Here you can see on the seam how we covered it in goop. If the hole keeps not wanting to seal and air blows through, cover it, let it dry a few moments, and then spread some more on. Eventually the air will not blow out.  It helps to not have the floaties completely full of air—no pressure.

Here were some small holes on the pool.

For the $5 it costs for this plumbers seal, well worth the price, especially at the end of the season and there is no place to get floaties at around here.

Hope this helps someone patch some holes.  Last year, we used the patch kit and it worked for a bit, but this was much better.  I have a red boned coon hound dog that enjoys jumping into the pool and leaves her tiny scratches on the sides and I have been able to patch my holes easily.  Sets up within half hour in the sun and is great!

If you floaties are slowly losing air…..get some of this sealant at your local Walmart or Lowes.

Have a blessed day!

As a mom, I know that I grow tired of making the same meals over and over again. It seems I get in a rut and then I am at a loss for what to make.  I do plan out our meals each month to make our shopping list, but once in a while I like to get some “new motivation” on meals to make for our family.

I thought I would share what meals we have made for the past week, in hopes to inspire you if you were stuck in that “what to make rut”  🙂

These are all easy meals to make, they require simple ingredients and our family really enjoys them.

This one came to me as I was purchasing our ground chuck at the meat store. I saw these chicken cordon bleu’s which were of course ridiculously priced so I thought I could make them myself.

Here is what mine looked like before baking………….Not bad in comparison:)

I then cooked a bunch of fettuccine noodles and added alfredo sauce.  An easy side dish.

Here is what our dinner plates looked like.

If you would like to know how we made it, click here for the recipe. Then we had pizza buffet night.  My friend and I had gotten a hold of a huge box of restaurant style frozen pizza crusts. That was our basis.    

Here are what we made:Ham and cheese pizza–my children’s favorite.

Peanut butter, marshmallow, and chocolate dessert.

Cinnamon and sugar breadsticks.

Apple pie breadsticks.Strawberry breadsticks.

If you want any of the recipes click here to see how we made them. This was one of our newer meals that we enjoy lately.  My children enjoy those Taquitos that are rolled up and you get them in the freezer section of the store.  Well we decided to make them.  I think we have found a very good substitute for them.  These are made with refried beans, shredded beef, cheese, salsa, and corn tortillas.  We serve these along with some mexican rice.  Click here for our Taquitos recipe.

This one I didn’t even want to mention, but you never know who will make it. I am allergic to fish. I don’t make it often because I don’t care for the smell.  Well we were given a bunch of canned salmon. Eewwww! I know, but I didn’t want to waste it.  So I made some salmon patties with them. My guys LOVE these! I will only make when I come into a bunch of canned salmon!!?I made a big batch of these and my guys ate them for days as a quick bite to eat.  Not a family meal, just something I had made this week:)  Click here to see how.

This part is for me the mom:)  Yes, I love all the meals my family enjoys, but if I know it is something with a higher calorie count, I will opt for something like this.  I make these summer pita sandwiches pretty much daily as I do love them.  You can click here and see the various combinations of toppings. I buy pita in bulk and freeze it.  Pull it out when I want it.  Easy meal for mom on the go!

I do a lot of this too. I place a bowl of veges all ready to eat on the counter for when the hunger strikes and I am tempted to eat say….a cookie:)  I also like making Asian cabbage salad a lot. I have found that when I keep it separate like this, it lasts longer.  Again meals for me the Mom. 

One evening we made a chinese chicken over rice meal. This I cooked on the grill and then added a bottle of ginger sesame marinade that I found at Aldi’s.  It was very good.  This was what our plate looked like.  I added the sweet potato for myself:)  Some cut up watermelon, and it was a very light dinner and good! 

Then we made some cinnamon rolls because we had the supplies and ….who doesn’t love homemade cinnamon rolls? Here is the link for our caramel frosting.

We had leftovers two of the nights that we had the chicken cordon bleu and taquitos. I fed the guys salmon patties and I ate my summer pita sandwiches. We then had hamburgers, baked beans, and watermelon for a cookout on the weekend.  It was a week. We don’t always have “new” meals every night.  I just wanted to give you a glimpse of what we have.

I will try and do this each week. My goal is to take pictures of every meal I make…..something I forget:) I am determined to add more and help out where I can.  Pray for me and my consistency:)  As always, be blessed!