Watermelon Cookies

I made watermelon cookies for the party yesterday. I had made them once before a little differently. Now I'm not sure which I like better. What do you think?

First try with pink and a "bite out":

Second try with red and no bite:

Second try with red and a bite:

Unfortunately, the red icing didn't set up as well as I wanted. It was still a little sticky and I'm not sure why. Any thoughts? Could it be the humidity? Do I need more meringue powder?

I think that my favorite is the pink. I also liked putting them on the plate some with and some without the bite. It was kind of cute-like someone couldn't help themselves and took one bite out of a few of the cookies. It has been fun to learn how to make the cookies. I just wish I could master the icing. I guess I have to keep trying.

Funny Faces

Our neighbor had a birthday party for their two little boys. They had a sweet teenager that did face painting. Check out these funny faces: And here is Claire with one of the birthday boys.The kids had a ton of fun on the blowup obstacle course they rented. (It was a little hot in there though.) Kaylyn even wants us to rent it for the triplet's birthday next month. Well, we'll have to see.

Happy Birthday Uncle Teddy

Today is my brother's 30th birthday! Here he is with our dad, and his baby:

Here he is compairing muscles with Nathan:

I can't imagine how my "baby brother" got to be that old, but today is his special day. I hope it's the best day he could hope for! Love you!

Silly Boy

Nathan had back to school night last night. He took me to all of his classes and I got to meet all the teachers. It was interesting to see him in his environment. I have to say he is a silly boy-actually he acted like the silly big fish in a small hormone filled pond. All was fine until we went to math. He likes his math teacher and, as a result, is really relaxed around her. Let's just say that after several silly comments from Nathan in front of all the other "back to school parents", I was a new shade of red...a lovely bright, dark, shiny red. Nothing inappropriate, but really silly, airheaded stuff. Afterwards, I talked to the teacher and apologized for his silliness. I told her he must really be comfortable around her and, I promise, he had been taught how to behave. Thankfully she said that she had a boy and said that Nathan didn't "scare" her. That's good 'cause sometimes he scares the life out of me!

Yellow Tomato Sauce

Yesterday Jenny and I had so many tomatoes we had to make sauce. We made red sauce, meat sauce and a surprise.Actually, SHE had so many tomatoes, as I kill any and all plants left under my care for more than 24 hours. This is what we had left from 2 full bushel baskets! One of her giant tomato plants (She can grow anything, but she has an unfair advantage. She's a farmer's wife!) was confused and gave us half red tomatoes and half yellow. (We thought that this yellow tomato was a boy tomato. Wonder why?)Our culinary challenge (and the surprise) was to figure out what to do with the yellow tomatoes. So we just slipped the skins and made yellow tomato sauce, just like we would've with the red. It was a little sweeter than red sauce, but it was delicious! We decided that it could've been served at one of those cool little trendy cafes as "Pasta with Yellow Tomato Herb Sauce and Grilled Chicken". As you can see, because of the light color, you almost can't see the sauce. It just leaves a great flavor all over the pasta that really complements the grilled chicken.Sounds impressive, huh. I bet we could've gotten $12.95 a plate! It was fun to make something that we knew our families would gag over, but we enjoyed. Maybe one day we'll open our own little trendy cafe. It could be fun!

Back to School!

The kids went back this morning armed with all new supplies, shoes and clothes. They were excited, except Claire who was a little nervous and didn't know if she wanted to leave me. (Bless her heart, maybe she will stay my baby forever!) Daddy even went into work late so that he could wish them a happy first day when they woke up.Like last year, I drove Nathan to school since he would have to leave the house at 6:45 to catch the bus. This year he will ride the bus home. We'll see how long he likes doing that. The elementary kids were really ready this morning. They even made their own lunches before I got back from taking Nathan! (I thought Grammy had made them, but they told me proudly that they had made their own.)We even got outside 10 minutes early! That's the first and I am sure the last time that's ever happened! Usually we are rushing out at the last minute, waving to the bus driver so he'll stop.Well, they're off. I hope they have wonderful first days as a seventh, three fifth and a second grader. Wow are they growing up quickly!

Tomorrow is the Day (Warning, I'm a little rambley)

I'm up late again. I'm unable to go to bed because when I get up I have to start the school year. Well, I don't start the year, but my kids go back. I was so ready about 2 weeks ago. Now that it's time, I want another week or so before I send them away all day every day. It's times like these that I am more aware that I have them for such a short time...and that time keeps getting shorter and shorter. I just want to hold on a little tighter so that they can't keep growing so quickly. (Of course, as I say that, I realize just how blessed I am to have 5 healthy, growing, happy children that are able to grow, mature and move onto the next phase of life. It's not that I am ungrateful for that, I'm just a little conflicted tonight.)

Oh my, I am really tired I think.

I know that I will enjoy a little time to myself. Even more than that, I know that the kids are looking forward to going back and seeing their friends. It's much easier to get things done while they are at school. It's just that little voice in the back of my head says that I have the rest of my life to do laundry and shopping and cleaning. I have the kids for just such a short time and now they will be in school for so many hours.

Well, now that's enough of that. It's time for bed. Tomorrow will bring the excitement and craziness of a new school year. I'll put on a happy face, take pictures of the kids in their new school clothes with their new school supplies and shoo the kids out of the door to have a great first day. I'm sure at that point I'll be ready for the peace and quiet that comes with an empty house...well, maybe.

Dirty Harrietts?

Look at these two Dirty Harrietts:

Wouldn't want to cross these two.

Uh oh, wonder what they did.

Aaaaahhhh, burning stress before school starts. What fun!

Meeting the Teachers

We went to meet the elementary school teachers today. Collin and Danny are in the same class this year. They just happen to have the teacher Collin had last year. Collin really liked her, so he was excited to have her again this year. When we walked in, she could tell the boys apart right away. Points for her! Kaylyn has the teacher Nathan had for fifth grade. We LOVED her. She really made Nathan's transition to the new school an easy, happy one and she continues to be Nathan's favorite elementary school teacher. Kaylyn is really happy that one of her best girlfriends is in her class. That fact alone has made Kaylyn really excited to start the year. Claire has a teacher new to our school. She took a couple of years off to have her children and is now back to teaching. She seems really happy and upbeat and Claire seemed to like her. It turns out that Gary is coaching the teacher's niece in soccer and Nathan's gym teacher is Claire's teacher's uncle. (Are you confused yet?) I guess she's well connected in the area!

It was really nice to see the teachers in the hall ready to welcome the kids back. So many of them greeted the kids by name and seemed happy to see them. I love that small school feeling. Well, I guess, ready or not, here it comes! Our new school year starts now!

A Day at the Beach

Since school starts next week, I had only a few days left to fulfill my promise to take the kids to the beach this summer. (Who says I procrastinate?) Just for fun, friends from our old church came with us. We had so much fun together. Here are some pictures:

Of course, eating was the first thing on the agenda. Riding in the car for an hour and a half works up an appetite you know!

Please notice the happiest face in the world. Kaylyn can't smile big enough when Nathan gives her his attention!

I love this one. The smiles are just so happy!

These are Claire's treasures.

Collin's treasure. Danny and Kaylyn

My girls, they are so amazing to me!

My big boy. Can he really be 12?

I think a fun time was had by everyone!

And so it Begins...

Soccer started for Nathan last night. He was so excited! The running he did this summer really paid off. He was in great shape...better than the other kids on the team. He finished all of the running before the rest of the team and he was barely out of breath. The coach even asked him if he had been running this summer! He also used Nate to show how to do the first drill. He did GREAT! I think he will really be a leader on the team even though he's not the oldest. It was great to watch!
Collin and Danny start tonight. Gary is their coach, so he already knows how hard they've been working. I can't wait to see their improvement from last year. I know that Gary is counting on our boys to be leaders on his team. I just know it's going to be a great year!

School Shopping Part 2

These are the happy faces you get after spending $466 in one day doing back to school shopping.

Actually, as you can see from the toilet paper and paper towels, I needed some household necessities as well. This tends to happen over the summer break when you avoid a "BIG" shopping trip because you don't want to have to take 5 kids with you.

Once we got the shopping done, I admit it was GREAT to have helpers to load and unload the car. My boys did a great job stacking the trunk. Poor Collin and Danny had a bunch of stuff between them too! And it looks like Collin didn't mind a bit...ha!

School Shopping

We are off to go school supply shopping. It seems to me that the kids need more and more each year. I'm not really sure why when I was a kid, these things seemed to be provided, and now I have to go buy them! I mean really, is there a reason that the school can't provide PAPER for the kids? How about tissues? And glue...and crayons...etc. I know that times are tough for the school system, but times are tough for families too! When you multiply all of the supplies by 5 kids, well, it's a small fortune. Oh well, I guess I'll stop at the bank first to take out a loan, and then we are off to get our supplies. Wish us luck!

Bad Dog

See this dog. He is in jail. He will be in jail for quite a while.

See this money. This money used to be in one piece.

Can you guess why this dog is in doggie jail?

The Tea Party

Claire and I traveled back to our old town for her friend Maddie's tea party today. Claire was so excited to see her best-est friend, Maddie. It has been a long time since they had seen one another. I heard them talking about when they met. They thought it was in preschool. I had to correct them and let them know that it was in nursery at church when they were about 6 weeks old! Maddie was born 5 days before Claire, so all of Claire's Sunday School and preschool memories include Maddie. It is really a very special friendship. Both girls just couldn't be any sweeter!

Maddie had worked really hard with her grandmother to create this very special day. They had cooked all of the food for today, including scones, cookies, apple walnut bread, honey dill rolls, blueberry coffee cake and hand dipped chocolate covered strawberries. It was quite the occasion! The little girls looked so cute all dressed up. Claire was so polite and tried some of the food that she didn't think she would like. She sat still and enjoyed the tea (or pink lemonade as might be the case) like a little lady. I do think all the girls were glad when it was time to get up and play.

It just gave me a vision into the future of my little girl all grown up and the beautiful woman she will become. While the vision was nice, I am thankful that Claire promises me that she will always stay my baby. I think I'll hold her to that!

Tea Party Cookies

Claire and I are going to a little girl tea tomorrow. I thought it might be fun to make some cookies to take. Remember, I wasn't thrilled with the icing from my last cookies, so I wanted to try again anyway. I was on a quest for the perfect teapot cookie cutter, but never found it. I did find one that was okay, so I used it. It would've been nice if it had been a little bigger so the detail might have been a little easier. I have to say, teapots are HARD to do. Flowers and pumpkins are much easier!

Oh well, they're not perfect, but it was fun. When Claire saw them, she said, "I don't like it, I LOVE it! Thank you so much Momma!"

That's it, that's all I needed to hear to feel as if I had been successful. She loved them, so my job was done and done well.

While I had the icing made, I decided to make some Rice Crispies treats and decorate them for a family I'm taking dinner to tomorrow. Their family has 1 girl and 2 boys, so I needed to make something less girly. I tried to make basket and baseballs. They're not too bad for my first try with the treats. I just love to learn a new skill!

Marathon Shopping

Every year, Nana Pat and Pap spoil us by giving us some money for each of the children's back to school clothes. The girls and I then spend a day shopping with Nana so that we can spend that money. We look forward to it each year! I have to wonder when I went from 2 little girls to a teen and a preteen. I swear that I didn't blink, but they seem to have grown up before my eyes! Kaylyn, for the first time, was shopping in junior stores. Ouch, that hurts...both emotionally and financially! Nana was a great mediator between Momma and Kaylyn. For some reason-and this has happened the last several years too-no matter what I suggest, it is not what Kaylyn wants to wear. Thankfully, Nana seems to have better taste and Kaylyn loves her suggestions. So, I just made suggestions to Nana and she then took them to Kaylyn. It worked some of the time, at least when I wasn't caught! Claire had a hard time finding jeans that were comfortable. That was really frustrating for her. We FINALLY did find some, but they will have to be hemmed. Bless her heart, she has curves at 7 years old. She's not heavy at all, but she does have hips and a round tush. Most girls clothes aren't made for 7 year old curves.
Anyway, we had lunch (we had really bad service for some reason and ended up back in the food court at the mall!) and then were off to Target to spend some more money. We had a super time. Thank you Nana and Pap for your thoughtfulness and generosity. Nana sure makes back to school shopping a little more fun. We were just exhausted at the end of the day!