Sunday, July 13, 2008
Dear Katie
Okay so I know multiple Katies (and find mysteries quite fun)...but one of you left me a message some time ago asking me to email you so you could get my email address. The problem is that I'm not sure which of you it was. How about you leave me a message naming one of your children so I can figure out who to email. : )
Friday, July 11, 2008
Eight
Mitchell then....
Born a little man at 6lbs 12 oz, Mitchell turned eight in June.
Two weeks.
First birthday--included to show his beloved blankie. Oh how he loved that thing....to shreds!
Now....
Now finishing second grade, his birthday landed on a school day so his friend Mason came home from school with him. We spent the evening playing putt-putt before going to Kassie's softball game and then coming home to open presents. I think he liked the cake his dad made for him. (Well he liked the way it looked even if he wasn't crazy about the marshmallow fondant.)
A week after his birthday, Mitchell was baptized in Brookville so that more family could be together for his special day.
Born a little man at 6lbs 12 oz, Mitchell turned eight in June.
Two weeks.
First birthday--included to show his beloved blankie. Oh how he loved that thing....to shreds!
Now....
Now finishing second grade, his birthday landed on a school day so his friend Mason came home from school with him. We spent the evening playing putt-putt before going to Kassie's softball game and then coming home to open presents. I think he liked the cake his dad made for him. (Well he liked the way it looked even if he wasn't crazy about the marshmallow fondant.)
A week after his birthday, Mitchell was baptized in Brookville so that more family could be together for his special day.
Springtime fun at Baugher's
Laura and I took the kids to Baugher's to pick strawberries. I think most of them ate more than they contributed to the boxes! (Anna's friend AJ joined us for the trip.)
My baby's not a baby!
Anna turned three in May and informed me that she is a big girl and not a baby! With her birthday falling on Memorial Day weekend, we were able to have a kicking party including tons of family and a few friends. Margaret blew out the candles but we managed to relight them before Anna got too worked up about it. After presents and a super messy cupcake cake, Anna enjoyed running around trying out all her new goodies. Thanks for coming everybody. She had so much fun!
This was actually a few days before her birthday but since she was so excited about it, I thought Miss Julie should take her place in Anna's birthday memories.
The Wizard of Oz
After one of the other girls dropped the class, Lexi slid into a kindergarten level tap class in Febraury. She and four other little girls danced to the Jitterbug. (Lexi is the last one walking onto the stage.)
Lexi is hoping to have Miss Rachel again for class in the fall.
Cruising
Matt and I spent eight terrific days exploring the Caribbean in April with our friends, Clark and Laura. I took over 250 pictures so obviously these are just some of the highlights!
Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
We actually left a day early for our trip so we had a full day to explore Old San Juan. I'm not sure how many miles we walked but we saw so much including the beaches, both of the Spanish forts and this cute bakery. Although the first restaurants we came to included McDonalds, Taco Bell and and Burger King, we managed to find a neat restaurant that served a Puerto Rican specialty: Mofongos. (Anyone have an authentic recipe?) Mary Poppins' bag lady friend would have loved el Parque de las Palomas that hundreds of pigeons call home.
St. Thomas
Rather than booking a tour, we took a taxi down town. Along the way, Oscar, our driver, pulled over and offered to take us on a tour of the island for a fabulous price. He pulled over numerous times to show us things like these fruit trees, the airport and Magen's Bay. Oscar even agreed to wait a few hours for us at the beach. The water was beautiful and we found some cool shells for the kids.
St. Maarten/St. Martin
Rather than take in the nudist beaches of St Maarten, we opted to spend the day on the zip lines instead. The rotten people that they were, the operators of this excursion took our photos on the very first line...hence the expression that I am about to wet my pants. One lesson learned on the zip lines? DO NOT LET GO OF THE LINE WITH YOUR GLOVED HAND! When you do, you end up spinning in circles and going down the line backwards. I thought the guide was going to wet his pants--he was laughing at me sooo hard.
Bermuda
Everything Else...
Having several days at sea, we still had fun things to do like this demonstration by the chef staff. They showed us how to carve pirate faces into watermelons and make this beautiful "cake" that is really a smoked salmon sandwich. The other shot is our ship going under the Key Bridge. I'm sure it was an illusion but it sure looked like the bridge was going to take off the top of the ship!
For a girl that doesn't really care for the water, this was one of my favorite sights on the entire trip. Sunsets at sea were gorgeous! The moon reflecting off the water on clear nights was equally beautiful--but much harder to capture with my camera.
Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
We actually left a day early for our trip so we had a full day to explore Old San Juan. I'm not sure how many miles we walked but we saw so much including the beaches, both of the Spanish forts and this cute bakery. Although the first restaurants we came to included McDonalds, Taco Bell and and Burger King, we managed to find a neat restaurant that served a Puerto Rican specialty: Mofongos. (Anyone have an authentic recipe?) Mary Poppins' bag lady friend would have loved el Parque de las Palomas that hundreds of pigeons call home.
St. Thomas
Rather than booking a tour, we took a taxi down town. Along the way, Oscar, our driver, pulled over and offered to take us on a tour of the island for a fabulous price. He pulled over numerous times to show us things like these fruit trees, the airport and Magen's Bay. Oscar even agreed to wait a few hours for us at the beach. The water was beautiful and we found some cool shells for the kids.
St. Maarten/St. Martin
Rather than take in the nudist beaches of St Maarten, we opted to spend the day on the zip lines instead. The rotten people that they were, the operators of this excursion took our photos on the very first line...hence the expression that I am about to wet my pants. One lesson learned on the zip lines? DO NOT LET GO OF THE LINE WITH YOUR GLOVED HAND! When you do, you end up spinning in circles and going down the line backwards. I thought the guide was going to wet his pants--he was laughing at me sooo hard.
Bermuda
Unfortunately for us, our ship had some problems so our time in Bermuda was cut to less than four hours. Not much time do snorkel or even shop since we docked thirty minutes from the shopping district, but we did get to see some beautiful gardens and architecture. Like the building on the right above, many Jolly Rogers were flying high in the Caribbean.
In case you can't make out the girl's sign, it reads : I was on the phone while driving. One person we asked said that she was serving a sentence for being in a traffic accident and another said she was a model so we aren't quite sure how she ended up in the middle of the road bandaged up like an ICU patient.
In case you can't make out the girl's sign, it reads : I was on the phone while driving. One person we asked said that she was serving a sentence for being in a traffic accident and another said she was a model so we aren't quite sure how she ended up in the middle of the road bandaged up like an ICU patient.
Having several days at sea, we still had fun things to do like this demonstration by the chef staff. They showed us how to carve pirate faces into watermelons and make this beautiful "cake" that is really a smoked salmon sandwich. The other shot is our ship going under the Key Bridge. I'm sure it was an illusion but it sure looked like the bridge was going to take off the top of the ship!
For a girl that doesn't really care for the water, this was one of my favorite sights on the entire trip. Sunsets at sea were gorgeous! The moon reflecting off the water on clear nights was equally beautiful--but much harder to capture with my camera.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Happy Birthday Matt!
We didn't have any grand plans for Matt's birthday this year but thanks to Kassie's thoughtfulness, he awoke to scrambled eggs and cinnamon toast. She even spelled his name out on the toast with Nerds and set her alarm for 3am to make sure it was done when he woke up!
Little Lexi Lee turned 6!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to Lexi!
Happy Birthday to you!
Here are a few shots of the big day!
Domesticity
I typically consider myself to be somewhat domestic. Matt's coworkers go crazy when I sent in giant chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter eggs. The neighborhood kids seem to think that I always have great treats in the summer time with things like soft pretzels, pizza rolls and shaved ice.
That said, every now and again I find a project that seems to baffle me--like why can't I make oatmeal cookies? Last month, I was asked to make cookies for a zone conference which shouldn't have been a big deal. Three batches later I managed to pull together the needed 36 cookies that fit the description for the ice cream sandwiches. 2-3 inches shouldn't be hard to pull off but I am so accustomed to making monster cookies that I just couldn't make it work--and the time? I forgot to set the timer once or twice, used the wrong temp first tray, etc. (Sorry Donna. Hope they didn't look to nasty next to Christine's.)
Now on the other hand, sometimes I surprise myself the other way. Kari and I were banging our head together trying to find something for Mom's birthday when we stumbled onto an ad for Edible Arrangements. There is a store in Westminster so we thought we'd check it out, but then decided that we could do just as well our selves. Here's the finished product next to the store's version. I think we did very well for first-timers that completed the project in under 45 minutes!
Happy Birthday Mom!
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