and the winner is...

Aunt Toni! Congrats to you (see answers below). The flowering tea is on its way... I had this for the first time in Japan last year and its both an aesthetic and culinary experience! anyone want to claim a consolation prize? Colleen, you should have posted....

sledding

The middle school near our house has an awesome hill for sledding. The snow was packed just right so it was a fast ride down, and a slippery climb back up! We started off on the "bunny hill" and worked our way up to the big hill. I thought that Bee and Frankie would be scared, but they just kept asking for more! I have to learn how to steer a bit better because we kept cutting sharply to the right, but the heels in my boots, I've decided, have good stopping power! Bee even went down by herself, crashed landed, and came up laughing. I was so proud of her! Go Bee!

here are the girlies going up and down the hill...



and here is bee going all by herself!

snow family

Yesterday we got about 5 inches of perfect snow man snow! We started off making a snowman and ended up with a snow family, which Bee declared was "snow frankie, snow bee, and snow koompa!" The funniest part was when koompa sniffed the snow dogs butt. Frankie just told me when she grows up she wants to be a football player, a doggie or a doctor. I love her mind!

OK, any takers on the quiz? How about if i send a prize to the winner? Lets see, Bee says to give a pack of gum for the prize, but Im willing to up the ante to a box of flowering jasmine tea or homemade dark chocolate oatmeal cookies, your pick!

chilly running

Well the forecast the other morning was for freezing fog. What the
heck is freezing fog? Scott dared the elements and went running in
it. He survived, and sported a really cool set of eyebrows and lashes
to boot! They reminded me of when I used to take
Koompa running in the winter and her whiskers would grow icicles!

Well, we are back from our trek to Wichita as well. More on that trip
later, but lets play a matching game first. Which slogan matches with
each city/state? We had some good laughs as we read the billboards,
water towers (i.e.. onions), and what not where these sayings were
posted. Lets just say that bought us a good hundred miles.

A. Crossroads of Opportunity
B. Crossroads of America
C. A level above
D. Something for everybody
E. The fine art of living well

1. Blue Springs, MO
2. El Dorado, KS
3. Effingham, IL
4. Terre Haute, IN
5. Indiana (the state)

Im still laughing at the billboards. So, I bet you can begin to
imagine our 17 hours (1 way) in the car together. I will tell you
one other weird factoid. Its almost exactly 250 miles from here to
Indianapolis, 250 from Indy to St. Louis, 250 from St.Louis to Kansas
City, and 200 from KC to Wichita. It was nice to have such evenly
spaced cities!

Once we get some quiz takers, I will post the answers.

I hope everyone is having a merry christmas... and get ready for a great 2008!

changing faces...

I saw this on the new york times and thought it was super cool... so anyone out there want to make a new years resolution with me that we will take our picture everyday next year and make a movie. I think I will do it for Bee and Frankie. How am I gonna remember to take a pic everyday??????

see the article at New York Times


Living My Life Faster - 8 years of JK's Daily Photo Project from c71123 on Vimeo.

You know it tastes good when...

...Bee says to Frankie, "Frankie, can I lick your face?" LOL. I guess Koompa has taught her well. We made dark chocolate brownies yesterday and that was what bee said after I let them lick the bowl. It was a new recipe because I usually make brownies from unsweetened baking squares and I didnt have any yesterday so we used dark chocolate cocoa powder. they werent as dense as Im used to, but quite tastey. Tell me this, though: Why does the batter always taste better than the final baked product??????

amazon bean soup

two thumbs up for the amazon bean soup. It was really good and not that hard to make, although i did have to let it simmer for a time on sunday then "age" in the fridge two days till last night. I did not serve it in the breadbowl as advertised, but we had some delicious italian bread, toasted, on the side. here is a picture of it halfway made. After the squash, carrots, onions and garlic sauteed in olive oil, with some thai red pepper paste, i then added water and simmered till it got soft. Then, I pureed half of it, added the remaining chunky veggies, and added garbanzo beans. then it sat for 2 days in the fridge, and then I added a whole bunch of spinach till it was slightly wilted. yum-o-matic!!!!

We have stuck to our menu eating the salmon on sunday and the soft tacos on monday...more on those later.

Keeping it honest

OK, after saying we were going to get out of our cooking rut, we were terrible last week, with one exception... so Im going to try to keep up honest by posting a week's worth of supper menus. So, if you have other ideas that would be great. In the mean time I will report back on whether we cooked *and* ate it!!!

Here are the meals:
Salmon roasted with tomatillos, cilantro, garlic and lemon, with mushroom risotto and spinach salad
Broccoli rabe, white bean and fontina cheese pasta
Pasta and sauce with roasted green beans and red peppers on the side
Amazon bean soup with winter squash in bread bowls
Roasted vegetable gallettes (kind like a wheat flour pastry crust)
soft tacos of some sort
pizza (what is a week w/o pizza I ask?)

happy eating!

cow fields

I was running through the cow field's today by MSU (my absolute totally favorite run). Its a loop of about 9 miles, and you hitch a left on dirt road off of college road to cross through the fields. The sun was just coming up. It was cold and crisp (17 degrees to be exact) and the snow in the fields was pristine white, untouched except well, by the cows and their ways. I was about 5 miles into the run, and just listened to "eye of the tiger" followed by "semi-charmed life" (great running songs - scott takes care of my ipod for me). So I stopped, made a snow angel and wrote " Hi scott! Love Angie" in nice big letters. Im hoping scott sees it tomorrow on his run, and that the cows dont trek over where I was. Ive only ever seen one other person running in the cow fields. Lets hope his name isnt scott, too!!

I should let scott post about this. He got to go out to dinner last night with Winston Scott, a space shuttle astronaut who is receiving an honorary doctorate from MSU this weekend. I was supposed to come too, but our babysitter didnt show up, and when i was finally about to reach her it was too late and she was confused about the day anyway (she thought it was tomorrow). I was so bummed. I cant tell you how excited I was to go to the dinner last night. Well, my consolation prize is that he is going to send me an autographed picture when he gets back home to florida. LOL. On the brighter side of things, staying home last night was a blast as the girls and I curled up on the couch and watched frosty the snowman, and the house is nice and clean (since we cleaned it for the sitter!).

Going, going, gone...

that is the lamb roast is going to that fine couple from Union Street. Just let us know when you are coming. I promise to do some internet research so I know what I am doing when I cook the darn thing. Actually, I will search youtube for movies on cooking lamb roast. I love youtube. No promises for how it will turn, but I do promise the company will be good.

I *thought* about making tamale pie last night (with black beans and roasted veggies). Does that count for getting us out of our rut? (I will admit to making pasta with sauce and broccoli rabe on the side. I wont admit to how many days a week we eat that...)

Bee's movie

for some reason Bee's movie from yesterday morning didnt add. So Im trying again here....

as typical, the girls were up *before* the crack of dawn, marching around, reading, playing, you name it. I guess it doesnt help that they have a mom who gets up at 5. Sleeping till 6 is sleeping in late around here. Poor scotty! So, we took two pre-dawn movies to get your day started! Next time you're feeling a little sleepy and cant get to your cup o java, just grab your recorder and march around like frankie. Sorry the movie is so dark - but, well, it was dark out here. Guarunteed you and yours will be AWAKE! OK, so now Im going to try the new blogger feature of uploading video directly to this site. hope it works, or else you will have to wait till tonight for me to upload these videos on youtube.

food update and this and that

we ordered in chinese...

However, to our credit, I did not order my usual bean curd delight. Instead got broccoli, eggplant and tofu, and scott ordered something new too, but he placed the order so I dont know what his was called. I do remember it had broccoli in it because I snatched some from his plate. (thanks Scott!). In other news, we got a dusting of snow last night, and on friday we are having dinner with a space shuttle astronaut. suggestions for small talk? Oh, so I guess that i means Im not cooking on friday either!

another rut

about a year ago I posted about what a rut we were in for suppers. We we are back in that rut. So, Im making this post to motivate me to try some new meals. Now, it is true that i have tried some new things lately... but truth be told what i have tried is variations on salmon. I could probably eat salmon 3 days a week and be happy but I dont think the rest of the family could or that is even a globally sustainable practice. I do have an organic lamb roast in the freezer, but seeing as how Bee and I are not big meat eaters, Im saving this for when Kevin comes to visit. Heck, or anyone else who likes lamb want to come visit? I wont have any idea what Im doing cooking the darn thing, but you will get some lamb out of it!

OK, I dont know what is for supper... but i promise to post a few times over the next few weeks on some new recipes.... and of course Im wide open to suggestions!

Cozy weekend

its been cold and snowy, icey turned raining. So, we had fun with hot
chocolate and christmas decorations! Actually we are heading to
Seussical at the wharton center. Hopefully the girls will love it!

And here is our christmas tree!

We bought this yesterday. The girls each picked out an ornament for themselves, then one for me and one for scott and then one for the doggies to share. (I dont know if we posted this but our christmas decorations bit the dust in our little flood). Anyhow, the girls were sooooooo excited yesterday putting our tree up! LOL. As you can see its not quite as tall as Frankie. Anyhow, when Bee got up this morning, the very first thing she asked me was "did santa come last night?" I guess I didnt really explain well that just because we got the tree doesnt mean its quite christmas yet.

honey oat cranberry bread

SInce it was cold and snowy the girls and decided to make some cranberry bread after school. But we decided to create our own recipe because I wante to put oats in it and Bee wanted to put honey in it. Its baking right now and smells delicious, BUT the real test is in the taste. We will have to report back later on that! So, if you are interested,

Ingredients
1 cup coarsely ground steel cut oats
1 cup flour
1 tsp cinamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups coarsely cut cranberries
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
2 TBS butter
we mixed the dry ingrediants. then we mixed the butter, eggs, sugar, honey and milk. then we put the wet ingrediants into the dry and folded it in, mixing lightly, then added the cranberries and popped it in a oven at 350. I think it will bake about 45 or 50 minutes, but Im not sure yet!!

Oh and pictures to follow too (if it looks edible!)

snow

We had forecast for rain but then we got snow! So, i happened to have the camera in my coat pocket from our trip to the playground yesterday and decided to film my ride home. it was an amazingly beautiful snowfall. not too cold out- about 30F, so it was a nice light chunky snow. Now, my butt got a bit wet from the slush in the streets, but I didnt capture that on film so you are safe! I hope you enjoy the snow as much as I did this afternoon!

posting from email

I just learned how to post a blog entry from my email.... so I am writing this from my koompa.net account! So, this is really just a test!! Did it work? Did the picture work, too? Did the subject line work?

can you guess what we did yesterday?

As you might guess we are into dark chocolate these days....

Koompa update

She is soundly sleeping on the couch. this is after chasing a squirrel all around the snow and then rolling in the snow. that doggie sure knows how to love life! I love that dog! and lets not forget about marker bark, taking it all in on the snowy deck!

3 cheers for frankie!

she's gone in the potty three times today! Whooo hooo!! Ok, so in other news, we couldnt decorate the house today for christmas like we planned because yesterday I learned that if you have a flood in your basement you should probably also clean out the floor level cabinets because they probably flood too. so, there went a sleeping bag and our christmas decorations. they are moldy and smelly now as we didnt realize they were sitting there hidden and wet. But the good news is that our stocking were upstairs and we had just gotten some new chili pepper lights that were already hanging up! So, if we can brave the shoppers this weekend we may go out to get some new lights and what not. Stay tuned, we are making a cake this afternoon, and if it turns out we will take a picture for your viewing entertainment!

sisters!

I just thought these were cute pics. Oh and by the way, scott's rule rocks. We got I would say about 1.5 inches of snow. Like our little snowman?

a white thanksgiving?

I just looked up the weather. Its raining now, but here is the forecast for tonight:

Tonight
Brisk..Snow after midnight. Snow accumulation 2 to 4 inches. Northeast winds 15 to 25 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.


How fun! But, Im not really ready for it. We havent raked up our leaves yet! OK, we will see if we really get the 2-4 inches. If scott's rule applies, then that means we will get 1-2" max. Good thing we bought new snow pants at Target last weekend. Bee's been wearing hers around the house everyday, practicing just for this moment, I guess!

dark chocolate oatmeal cookies

dark chocolate oatmeal cookies.... Bee and I made up these cookies today and the whole family decided it might be our new favorite cookie! especially for a cold late fall afternoon! As Bee says, "delicious micious!"

Recipe: Dark chocolate oatmeal cookies

So in case you are wondering, here is how we made them:
2 sticks of butter creamed with 1.5 cups brown sugar
then add 1 capful of vanilla and then 2 small eggs (thats the size we had, dont know how much that matters).
then add 1 cup flour, 1 cut oat flour (just put your oatmeal in your grinder to make it yourself), and 1/2 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder.
then add 1 more cup regular oats (not ground).
oh I forgot a pinch of salt.
mix it up and bake for about 10 minutes at 350.
Yummy!

most popular name in east lansing for 2 year olds

Frank(ie). Yep. Poor frankie may be one of three in her class! I kid you not. And we picked her name in part because it was NOT in the list of top 100 names. But last week I was at the library with the girls and I heard someone saying "come on frank. frankie. come here honey." Im like, who is calling my kid???? Turns out they werent calling my kid. they were calling their kid, who is also 2 and who also lives in east lansing. anyhow, turns out Frankie (that would be the boy not our little girl) is really named Francis and is named after st. francis of assissi. Hey, so is our frankie! then friday night we went to chicago pizza house and we were waiting to get seated and this lady is saying "frankie what is that?" and I thought (again) hey who is talking to my kid? Turns out, she wasnt talking to my kid, but her own. and it wasnt even the same frankie as the library. While I didnt talk to this lady cuz our table was ready, I looked over and kid looked about 2 or 3. weird, huh!

follow up to rule 213

it should be stated that (in response to SIL CD) that if one were to engage in such activity, one should remove toys first. But if one does not remove toys, one should be sure that it is raining that morning so the wet soggy toys - say tents, pillow, books and what not, can sit soggy in the gargage, with no real chance at drying. Might I add, that if one's carpet does get covered in water, it might be best to just rip it out then and there, rather than trying to salvage it, as it could possibly lead to a vulgar mold stench.

Homeownership rule #213

Dont leave the washer running all night long after the main water pipe leading from it has broken. Now, Im not saying that anyone I know did this (or knew that they were doing this, because naturally one would be sleeping during the night). But, you might, just might, end up with a basement flood, of roughly 2 or 3 inches of standing water, especially if you do this on an evening your basement drain is also clogged. I suppose if you choose to do this, it is a nice way to be sure to wash out all of that doggie pee you are sure is in the carpet. In fact, it just might be your ticket to a new carpet and probably a huge water bill. But again, Im not reporting that this happened. Its just a rule of ownership you might consider.

the leaves are finally falling!

Its a cold fall day and all of the leaves are falling at once! Literally, I woke up and we had all of our leaves. I go outside now and they are gone. Crazy. We went outside to rake some of them up (and play in them of course) and then spent some time planting tulips and crocuses. We also moved the hasta plants from the sunny to the shady part of the backyard. When we came back inside, frankie sat down and said, "aw, now i feel croasty and warm." I think that must be a cross between "cozy and toasty"!

frankie and johnny

I was sitting in the sideroom watching Bee make a card for her class - she wanted to make a thank you card because when she was home sick last week, all of the kids made her cards. Anyhow, frankie was entertaining herself in the front room. She was running around singing and what not. then I noticed she started singing "frankie and johnny were lovers" (you know that song? its an old folk song. I remember learning it along time ago when I was learning how to play guitar.). We have a book of folk songs that frankie loves to pick songs out for us to sing, and that is one of them. So, I grabbed the camera, and caught it on film. Thing is, she only knows the first line and makes the rest up. And the funny thing is she is singing about our next door neighbor, or so she stopped singing and went to window and asked "where's johnny?"



oh, and i am really proud of bee's card. I helped her spell thank you and k-club but she wrote it all and colored the picture by herself. Actually i left the room to film frankie before she drew her picture so it was a surprise when i saw the picture (which is a picture of our family - but I bet you could recognize us! :) ).

our girlies!

scott took the girlies running in the jog stroller today. we thought bee needed some fresh air, sans tonsils. he took this amazing picture. I know Im bias, but arent these girls cute!!!!! (And, dare I say, scott took this on his iphone)!

Bee had her tonsils out this week. She is a great patient, and is doing a great job eating her icecream! We're all taking good care of her, including Koomps, who hasnt left her side! This morning she jumped up on the couch to lie down next to her. This is no small feat for the old gal!

holy cow. what happened to october! The girls are out trick or treating tonight with scott, and our neighbors. Bee is a cowgirl and frankie is pirate. We will post pictures later! I know its not halloween, but the city has a little thing for kids to go out tonight and visit all of the stores downtown. they were so excited! Other than that, things are same old here. We actually had frost last night. the leaves are starting to fall. It will be winter before you know it!

Rhyme Time

Frankie is really into rhyming. She is almost always saying something like this: "Listen to this! Cat Dat!" or "Daddy Waddy!" and then she laughs. Tonight she was on a roll, but she didnt realize it. She had us in hysterics. She said: "Hammock Dammock (which sounded like damn it) and "Cookie Bookie" and "leg keg". Im not sure of what to make of her ryhmes. Maybe we walked by too many tailgaters this weekend!

I'm looking over... a four leaf clover

I had never even seen a real four-leaf clover until Saturday. Then, Angie and the girls found one in the back yard and gave it to me. What a nice present! It's all shriveled up now, but I managed to snap some nice pictures.

Hope it brings you good luck!

And I (angie) would add this is the most awesome image of a four leaf clover ever. great pic, scott!

hopscotch

this is one of bee's favorite games lately, but today frankie and our next door neighbor wanted to play just like bee. she was a great sport and kept leading the way, game after game after game! the movie isnt so good because I waited way too long to get the camera out....

mary had a little lamb

frankie loves to sing. mostly she sings made up songs, but she is known to sing a couple of popular tunes.

happy birthday marky!! Now both doggies have hit the century mark and its time to party! Meatballs anyone?? BTW did you notice the cameo the birthday girl in the video below?

Yah we found the camera! Actually scott did, so he wins the prize!! A foot massage. lucky guy Id say! Here is the fun we had. the girls love to chase each other and play ball. they also love to play wrestle. Sorry I didnt catch that on film but they do get into the rough and tumble here. Frankie loves to watch this video and laughs when she starts "boinking".

We picked about 100 tomatoes from our garden this past weekend, and I decided I better make a big batch of sauce or we wouldnt eat all of those tomatoes before they went bad. Actually i should say that bee and frankie did alot of the picking. bee was very careful not to put any of the rotton ones in our bowls, and also very good about policing frankie on this matter. Then we carried all of the tomatoes inside to wash them. bee and frankie wanted to wash them, so I set up two chairs by the sink, with two big bowls so they could rinse the tomatoes then put the clean tomatoe in the colander to drain off a bit. about an hour later they were just finishing up and the tomatoes were reall quite clean, but they were completely soaken wet from head to toe and so was the kitchen. I wished I knew where my camera was. it was so cute. And hey, if anyone finds our camera, you win a prize!!!

visitor!!

We were sitting in the family room watching dragon tails.. both dogs sleeping on the floor, and then we hear, CRASH, the dog food in the cabinet sounded like it feel down and crashed on the floor. At first I thought, OK Koompa what did you do now... but no. she was on the floor by my feet. Scott ran into the kitchen and found our resident opposum drinking water from the dog's dish! ewwwwww! it came in through the dog door! I guess I will try to get a picture next time!!!

Now this morning when i got up I went into the kitchen to make some coffee and I found the dog food spilled on the kitchen floor, and poor poor doggies I blamed it on them!! It looks like we have a repeat visitor. help!

swimming

I need to start bringing the camera with me because my phone doesnt take very good pictures! We all had fun at swimming yesterday. Frankie was in the water tots class and I had to go in the water with her. Her favorite part was playing "humpty dumpty sat on a wall..." When humpty dumpty has a great fall, we were supposed to have her jump off of the wall and dunk her under water. she loved it! Bee was in Shrimpies. Her class met at the same time as frankie's. Last summer when she took water tots she wouldnt even go in the water and cried, even when scott was holding her. Yesterday, she just ran into the water with the other kids. The water was about 4 feet deep and she hung on the edge and used the kick board yesterday, with her teacher helping her. I was so proud of her! I wished I could have gotten a picture of her using the kick board but I was in the water with frankie at the same time. We ended a couple of minutes before Bee's class so I got this one of her at the end of her class. When we got home from swimming we made pizzas with eggplant from our garden!

all i can say is....

go irish, beat the wolverines.....

soccer star

We went to the park today on the way to "Krogert". Bee calls the store krogert because its next to target. anyhow, it makes me laugh. We brought our soccer ball, and played and played! I didnt bring the camera, but I caught a good shot on my cell phone. the resolution isnt so good, but you can see our soccer star! Frankie is providing the color commentary!

Simon Says

Simon says is Frankie's new favorite game. Bee taught it to her. She must have played it at school because it never crossed my mind to play it. We play red light green light all of the time, but never simon says. Anyhow its so cute how she plays it. She says "Simon says jump like a frog!" and then she jumps like a frog (and so do the rest of us). then she says, "Ok. Very good everybody! Now simon says, ..." Each time she tells everyone very good. Its pretty cute.

Bee is also really loving K-club. She loves to play school when she is at home. I guess she cant get enough of it. she likes to be called "Miss Barbara" (as opposed to ms Bee). She makes frankie sit there while she reads a book to her and then asks frankie questions about the book. And Frankie waves her hand in the air to get called on. You know when I was a kid I was the kind of kid that raised my hand straight up and never waved it back and forth. Maybe that is just the serious side of me, I dunno. So when I see frankie doing waving her hand like that made me laugh. I thought, good on her, i hope she gets called on alot at school, rather than not being noticed!

awwww shucks

Bee and frankie wanted to dress up as "princesses" this afternoon, and so they put on their dresses and pretended that straws were magic wands. Bee asked me when the prince was going to come, and I said that daddy would be home from work in about an hour. She said, but mommy he is YOUR prince, what about mine?? Im not sure how I feel about her needing a prince at her tender age but it really made me happy she knew scott was mine!

Koomps

Koompa still has it! We went for a walk last night, and she saw a cat, and she took off. I almost dislocated my shoulder and both hips. It was hard to get upset with her. It just thrills me to see how much she loves life and to see her move her centurian bones so quickly and with such strength! I wanna be just like koompa when Im 100!

Tornado......and Superman!

So Friday was a little crazy for all us - we actually had a tornado! It didnt touch down near our house, but it did near my friend's apartment building, and she had two pine trees completely uprooted, and they crashed into her apartment building and took off part of the roof.

Anyhow, I was returning home from DC on friday and we landed just before the storm started. Just as I got home, the tornado alarms went off. So, I ran inside grabbed my car keys and sped off to my kids school (which is 3 blocks away). I got there and everyone was in the basement. so I went down there, and they told us that city hall called and said the tornado was over the post office (about a half mile away from the school). I dont think the tornado actually touched done, but we had a branch down in our back yard!

So, are you wondering about the branch and what we did about it? Well, superman came and helped us!!!

K-Club

Bee started pre-kindergarten yesterday (they call it k-club here)! We're so proud of her - being all grown up and such. Today we went to the playground before school and we were only on the swings for about 15 minutes when she says "OK frankie we're done, time to go to school!". She jumped off of the swing and ran to the school door. I hope she keeps the enthusiam up for school say, for the next 15 years.... Frankie just loves her big sister and wants to be just like her. She ran into the k-club classroom today screaming "Lets Rock and Roll!" because wants to be a k-clubber too! It was hilarious! So, Bee, being ever so wonderful a big sister, takes frankie's hand and says "Frankie you are just a toddler now, but soon you will be in preschool!" awwwwww, I wasnt sure whether to laugh or cry. It was so sweet! Then we walked together down to Frankie's classroom, and while i was getting a spoon a bib for frankie, Bee was opening Frankie's lunch box, getting out her yogurt and spreading a napkin on the table for her so that she would have a placement. That's my k-clubber!!

Talent show

Frankie wanted to put on a talent show! So, she pulled her chair in front on the TV cabinet, sat down and sang songs. We got a few on camera. Her last song was her rendition of wheels on the bus a la Darth Vader. Too bad our camera ran out of memory before the song was over! Bee also sang during Part 2 of the talent show. She is quite expressive in her song!!

Ok Im gonna get better at this

I will try to post more than, oh twice a month... for those of you waiting with baited breath, or how ever that saying goes... Frankie's pizza at the dollop of sauce in the middle, bee's all cheese, and mine was the one with basil. YUMMY!! tonight we are having pasta with sauce made from the garden. I have about a million and one tomatoes, so I made a big vat of sauce last night. pictures to follow!

pizza

we made pizzas for supper.... Im posting a bunch of pics detailing the process... but at the end you will see three pizzas. can you guess which family member made which? Oh yes, and lets not forget the roasted asparagus we ate with the pizza!

trying again...

frankie's gymnastics...tell me if this works!

how much difference a year makes!

Grow Frankie Grow!














































And not to be outdone.... Go Bee!

frankie's gymnastics

Here is how frankie spent the morning. She must have done the dive onto the couch from the toybox about 100 times. OK pardon the mess that is our side room or "parlor" as Bee likes to say!

More Kal-Haven

Click on the image above for a slide show of our trip.

kal-haven trail

we took a little family vacation this week, and packed up the kids, some clothes, and some beach items and headed out to the kal-haven trail. Scott pulled the girls while I pulled the clothes through the green, lightly rolling hills of south western michigan. We stopped half way in Bloomingdale for popsicles, blueberries, and nice cold water. We spent a couple of days in south haven at the beach. Frankie fearlessly waded out to her shoulders, while Bee became an expert sand castle and moat builder/digger. The sunsets were beautiful and the weather was perfect! I cant wait for our next bike trip!

Here are a few action-packed flicks from the covered bridge about a mile west of south haven.





And now for some fun pictures!

This picture was at Bloomingdale's Old Train station, and the girls loved the flag decorations, the train, and the creepy boy! (picture of creepy boy is too creepy to post...)


Bee getting water for the moat


















Scott taking frankie out of the water... that girl was a little duckie!!



















enjoying popsicles halfway home!

tagged...

Colleen (my SIL) tagged me to list 4 things I have learned/did in the past 4 years and 4 things I hope to learn/do in the next 4. So here goes:
1. had not one, but two kids and am learning how to be what I hope is caring, loving, good mommy
2. bike trip with scott and girls to the lake along the Kal-Haven trail (where we carried everything on our bikes!).. see upcoming post
3. started a blog with scott for our family, and also started a blog with my sisters and parents for our family
4. visted Japan with my family

what would be new adventures
1. visit a few states we've never been to before (the dakotas, montana, alaska)
2. teach the girls to read
3. teach the girls to ride bicycles
4. plant and cultivate some blueberry bushes in our yard (yum!)

OK, stay tuned for the details on our bike trip. But suffice it to say that was a BLAST!!

Koompa Loompa

a poem by Bee and Frankie

Koompa Loompa sat on a wall
Koompa Loompa had a great fall
Koompa Loompa come and play
Koompa Loompa run in the hay
Koompa Loompa she's a good dog
Koompa Loompa grampsed on the log!!
Koompa Loompa likes to eat food
Koompa Loompa eats all the food
Koompa Loompa find Cinderella
Koompa Loompa find her magic shoe
Koompa Loompa find Snow White
Koompa Loompa then take a bubble bath
and go to bed!

The end!

making up for lost time

...3 posts in day...


here is a picture from our garden. We've been eating tomatoes this week!