Slow week -- stream of consciousness

We played a gig last night for the Chamber of Commerce ... outside in 100 degree weather! Thankfully we were in the shade and had a fan, so it was better than I was afraid it would be. The band played from 5 - 7:30 or so and Clearly Vocal made an appearance in the middle and sang 4 songs. Fun times.


CV has been rehearsing in the mornings this week, so several of our nights have been open!

Gymnastics are going well. Both kids enjoy it. I haven't gotten a good picture of Johnathan yet, but here's Kalleigh in her cute little leotard.


Jonas had his first haircut and did just great. Bye-bye baby curls; hello big boy!


He also is cutting his top front two teeth. They poked through yesterday!

I love my new Asics Gel Nimbus running shoes. They're just awesome. Kreg says that they're going to be my birthday present from Mom and him ( I just haven't talked to Mom about it yet! Ha!)! I just helped them a little by going ahead and picking them out ... and trying them out. :) Thanks!!
On my runs in the mornings I usually see a lot of road kill. This morning I saw a nice sized bass out in the middle of the road ... that had been run over. Odd.

Belle turned 7 the other day. She's down to 3 front teeth on the bottom. Bless her heart.


Our weekend is completely open. How fantastic is that? I hope we're not forgetting something!

Favorite thumb.
Favorite blanket.
Straight out of the dryer.

Best Daddy!

Happy Father's Day!

(Yesterday!)

Subtly Sweet Cherry Treats

I had the urge to experiment with fresh cherries. Here's what I came up with ...

Yeild: 18 treats

Crust:
2 c flour
1 t salt
2/3 c + 2 T shortening (I use Butter Crisco)
5 T COLD water

Filling:
2 c Splenda
5 T cornstarch
Dash salt
2 c water
2 T butter
4 cups fresh, pitted cherries

Prepare crusts: Combine flour and salt in medium bowl. Thoroughly cut in shortening. Sprinkle in water and stir with fork until dough "cleans the bowl." May add up to 1T more water, if necessary. Shape 18 balls about 1 1/2 in diameter. Roll each out to 1/4 inch (should be about 5 inches in diameter). Or you could roll it all out and cut 5 in circles however you like. Press dough circles into muffin tins. Generously prick bottom and sides. Bake at 425 10 minutes, or until desired browning. Let cool until easily handled. Place each crust in a muffin liner and set on serving tray. (I suppose you could just press the dough into lined muffin tins and bake it that way, but it might be harder.) Set aside.

While crusts are baking, mix Splenda, cornstarch and salt in large saucepan or deep skillet (I use a wok skillet). Add water, butter and cherries cook on medium heat, stirring until thickened. May need to add more water if mixture gets too thick.

Spoon filing into crusts and refrigerate, covered until cooled completely. Before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional for those who want it completely sugar-free). If you are too impatient to wait until they cool completely, the powdered sugar will dissolve on top of they cherries, as demonstrated in the following photo:

Mmmmmmm......

Oh my, they were good! Yes, WERE. They're gone.

If you try these, I'd love for you to tweak, and let me know what you did and how they turned out!

Big 5 year old

Right now, 5 years ago today I had just received my epidural and that anesthesiologist was my new best friend. It was a Sunday morning in Colorado Springs -- Father's Day! What a great way for John to spend his first Father's Day! Thankfully his back-up song leader was ready to fill in at Eastside! Johnathan arrived at 2:30 that afternoon weighing 8 lbs. 5 oz. My smallest baby!

Here's a walk down memory lane ...

Birth Day, June 20, 2004

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five!

Love you, my sweet Johnathan! Happy Birthday!

Kalleigh Elizabeth!

Inspired and reminded by Elizabeth to write these things down, here's another round of Kalleigh-isms.

While sitting on the potty (and we have a long way to go), she says to me, "Mommy, you can take a break." Not really knowing what to say or what she meant, I just said, "Thanks."

Passing by an M&M machine: "What are those?" (knowing the answer, of course)
Me: M&Ms, of course.
Kalleigh, looking wistfully at them: "I don't need those."

At Starbucks, after finishing her steamer and then taking a sip of my mocha, "Ooohh, wat's good!"

Kalleigh trying to get my attention: "Mommy? Mommy. Mommy! Mommy Elizabeth!"

And in a weak mommy moment, I allowed this to happen:


She's so very proud of them!

Love you, little girl!

"God wants us to be sore."

Johnathan: God wants us to be sore.
Me: What? God wants us to be sore? I don't think he does.
Johnathan: He does! God wants us to be sore!
Me: Where did you hear that?
Johnathan: On "A Snoodle's Tale" (from Veggie Tales). God wants us to be sore like the eagles!

Those poor eagles! :)

Headinng into the summer

We're heading into the summer with some new and exciting things for the kids. It's already starting to pick up speed!

At church, we sort of kicked off the summer with a Ministry Fair that I got to help plan. Click here to see pictures and a good article by Donna LaRue. This was the first one for Glenwood in several years--the first since we've been here--and I really think it was a huge success. Plus, it's another thing to check off my to-do list. Whew! That was a big one!

Sorry. Kalleigh's potty training days are here, and those last two comments sent me to that world.

Getting back on track ...

Yesterday we got Johnathan all registered for kindergarten. He seemed pretty nervous about the whole thing, but I'm sure he'll do just great. Er, I'm sure I'll do just great. I'm sure.

And today I got the oldest two signed up for gymnastics for the summer. They're both VERY excited about this, so I hope it's a good experience for them. That's our big summer thing for the kids. (Who knew how expensive a 3T required leotard could be?! Good grief!)

The kids have a calendar that hangs in their bathroom that we update every month. Johnathan loves this because he really feels like he needs to know what "the plan" is several days in advance. :) He got so excited as we added each activity: gymnastics, zoo camp, VBS, Father's Day and of course, his birthday party!

He'll be the big 5 this year. Our family has decided to do big "friend parties" every five years or so (5, 10, 16), so this year is the first big one. We're heading to "Jumpin' Jacks Party Shack" on his birthday, which conveniently falls on a Saturday.

And in between all that fun, I'm sure we'll head to the pool, play in the sprinklers, go to the spray park and anything else we can think of to stay cool. We had a mild winter, so I'm guessing it's going to be a hot summer!

Happy June!