I love these goofballs

I really really do.  Steve was home for 3 days (yay!) and we spent a lot of time just snuggling, intermixed with bouts of tackling Daddy :)  Mostly I watched.  I love watching my little people interact with eachother!  I can tell already that Forest adores Olaf and wants to do everything he does.  Got a red car, Olaf?  Well Forest wants a red car.  Running around in circles, Olaf?  Well Foresty is crawling right behind you.  (at about 1/10th the speed...)  Blowing bubbles, sticking your tongue out, petting the dogs?  Yes please!  They are hilarious.

Thanking God for my many blessings today.

How I spent my Saturday morning

Making JAM!

24 cups of crushed berries
16 cups of sugar
6 cups of water
6 boxes of SureJell pectin
Lots of LOVE

Mmmmm strawberry freezer jam for a year! Yes Sue some is for you :) and Jsue I am returning your two jars with jam in them :) best way to return jars in my opinion.

New Recipes

We made pizza the other night with friends.
It was OH so good.

BBQ Chicken with caramelized onions
Tomato, mozzarella w/ fresh basil.
Pioneer Woman's potato, leek and BACON pizza.

Even with me burning the crusts a bit... they were awesome.  I need to experiment with pizza more often.

I could seriously eat pizza almost every night of my life.  With thai food the nights in between.  Sigh.... YUM.

Family Camp V3.0

Last Wednesday we arrived home after 4 relaxing days in the woods... Ahhhh Tall Timber how I love thee.

We stayed in Cedar House, which Olaf and Micah somehow misinterpreted as "Peter's House" all week.  We could not convince them otherwise :)

Yeah... we forgot the pack and play the first night...  he didn't sleep so well in this suitcase...

 
We spent some time singing songs in the fireside room. Boys LOVED standing on their chairs and watching the big kids do the motions. They also loved that they were allowed to wiggle. We all know how hard it is to keep a 3 year old from wiggling in Church or other performances so this was a nice change.  It was also really fun to see some of the "big kids" up there leading motion who were the little kids back when I was on staff in '99 and '00!  Seriously, the wiry little crazy boys grew up to be 16 and 17 year olds who aren't afraid to stand in front of people, speak, dance, sing, introduce their families, and pray in front of others.  I hope and pray that my boys grow up to self confident like that, and not be afraid to share their faith, or their goofy sides, and don't mind spending time with their family!

We spent one night at campfire singing the typical arsenal of TTR songs with Becky :) many of you know exactly what I am talking about... Who's side are you leanin' on, tall timber mosquito, look all around you and see what you feel, father I adore you... And of course, an attitude check! The echo on the mountains was great, and Olaf loved hearing it.

 
 

Of course there was playground time.  And this year we made new friends!  These sisters totally adopted Olaf and Forest and doted on them.  It was such a blessing to watch big kids interact with little ones.  I also hope and pray my boys grow up to have kind hearts like these girls did!






Missing in action this year were my puzzle partners (Kristin and Jenny I picked a WAY easier one this year!) and their families.  Ladies... make it a priority for next year.  Seriously!  It gets more fun every year.





New this year was a GIANT swing, and GIANT blow up water slide, a BMX course, and a sweet drum circle with Stan.  I actually really enjoyed the drumming, it was so different from other activities I have enjoyed up there in years past. 


And of course, what would camp be without a little rock wall now that kids are old enough?  Olaf and Micah both made it a few feet off the ground, and little Serenity (rock star) made it to the top of a few!  She crazy good already and has no fear. 


 
 
 
 
 

All in all, we enjoyed a chance to get away from cell phones and internet, have someone cook (and clean!) for us, listen to a speaker while someone watched our kids, and not have a schedule of any sort.  It is such a great family vacation, and SOOOO cheap compared to other things we could have done.  I can't believe more families with kids our age haven't jumped on this opportunity!

I am just putting this out there... Next year it would be super awesome to see Annie and Becca and Jaimi and your families up here! And Jenny and Kristin come back!  Come be campers again, and see what things the Lord can start doing in your kids hearts... you know you want to :)  Now just talk your husbands into it.  Such a nice chance to just breathe.  What a blessed place it is.

Belated Birthday Party Post

June was birthday month.  Holy moses.  It was crazy.  Seriously.  Too much cake and too many presents.  But so much fun!

Micah (cousin) turned 3 on May 31st, and Olaf turned 3 on June 20th, so we split the difference and  had a little joint party for them on June 12th.  A nice lady here in Plain has a killer awesome indoor pool, complete with water slide, and she generously allowed us to use it for a swim party!  Pretty nice since it's been so cold this spring and there's no way we have been in the water in Lake Wenatchee or the Wenatchee River.  The kids all LOVE to swim.  We decided to only invite family this year, since once we've invited the whole family, including cousins and grandparents, the guest list is already around 30 people.  Unfortunately most of them could not make it on a Sunday evening, so it was ended up just being our two little families and 5 of the 7 grandparents.  Oh and of course Jaimi and Nick and little Dudley too, can't forget that third musketeer.   But we had a blast!

Of course I have no pictures of the swimming because, HELLO, I was swimming and was probably mid-cannonball or going down the slide.  Ha ha.  Olaf has turned out to be a real water nut and cycled the slide and/or jumping off the edge over and over and over and... well you get the picture.  The only slippery moment came when Steve threw Olaf up in the air (as all dads do) and Oly hit the water feet first, arms up.  Well, that's nice and all but the arms up thing meant his water wings went WHOOOP, right off his arms, and he sank a bit farther than anticipated.  Steve pulled him up right away of course but I had a mini heart attack!

Christie and I spent about 2 hours putting the cake together.  Good thing there were two of us on this joint effort because neither of us knew what we were doing with this home-made fondant stuff.  We followed cake directions from parenting.com, and just modified it to be like the boys' FAVORITE Lighting McQueen!  I think it turned out so very well, especially for two novices!  And it was even decent tasting as well.  As you can see in the photos farther down, Olaf was DELIGHTED and EXCITED about it at the party :)

Well we are off to family camp at Tall Timber in a few minutes, so I'll be back later to share some of those adventures.  But for now just enjoy the sweetness below.

 Just waiting for his piece...

3.

Happy Birthday kiddo!


At our house you get to pick your birthday meal, so Olaf requested "CARS" mac and cheese (of course) and peas and milk.  Gobbled it right up!

Love this guy.  Hopefully this weekend will allow a longer post about how awesome he is, and his little party with his cousin Micah! 

ps.  His birthday was actually Monday the 20th... see how slow I am at this blogging thing!

30.

I didn't think I would really mind turning 30.  After all, most of my friends and family had crossed this line a while back, so it's not like I think it is really old or anything :)  but still, on Wednesday when I turned 30, I wished it was 29!  Doesn't 29 sound so much better!  Luckily none of my coworkers knew it was a milestone birthday, or else they informed me that they would have decorated my cubicle in black.  Phew.

I wasn't sure if I would enjoy the day or not.  Steve found out just last Thursday that he'd be leaving for work in Idaho on Monday, so I spent the weekend having a pity party for myself that he would miss my birthday (again) and a big party I have planned for tomorrow (Saturday).  There were tears involved.  Hosting a party by yourself is just not as much fun.  Especially when you invited a ton of people.  I really wanted to just cancel it.  But I didn't. Anyway, I digress.  Wasn't sure that I would enjoy my birthday.

But you know what, it was a very nice day!  Here are some of the nice things that happened:

• The boys were in good moods when they woke up.  We actually got out of the house by 6:45!  7 minutes earlier than usual!

• Olaf gave me a giant hug in the morning without prompting.  Sigh.
• My projected 4 hour meeting only took 2!
• Got to have lunch with an old friend from camp who I have known since 1996 (officially half my life... crazy)
• Steven sent me flowers at work :)  (you like my work lists hanging up behind?  I am MUCH more organized there than at home!)

• My coworkers bought me cupcakes.  Yum.  In red-neck land where I work there are no "Cupcake Royal"s or "Trophy Cupcakes" like in Seattle, so we stuck to the good old Albertson's bakery.  And they were delicious, at 1/4 of the price I am sure. 
• Home-made pizza with my boys, my folks, and Steve's dad over for supper.
• Got a walking foot for my sewing machine and more bobbins! Thanks mom!
• Got a new cast iron skillet.  Thanks Mark! 
• Got my drip irrigation system installed.  Thanks Hubby!
• (Since when do all the presents I desire have to do with cooking, sewing, or gardening?  Who am I?)
• Got kidnapped by two of my best friends, Jaimi and Christie, for an evening hike to the cliffs/osprey nest, and enjoyed a glass (paper cup) of red wine.

All in all... a lovely day.  Thanks to all who made me feel special!