Yogurt!

Our New Yogurt Maker

So, I finally busted out the yogurt maker yesterday. It was pretty easy and turned out quite tasty (especially when I added some powdered sugar and fresh strawberries)!

Max, enjoying his homemade yogurt

I used the recipe that came with the yogurt maker and added a little vanilla and a spoonful of powdered sugar when it was all done. It is supposed to keep in the fridge for two weeks, it will not last that long in our house, I will be making more tomorrow, I am sure!

Lulu approves!

Other news... we finally joined the YMCA last week and the kid and I have been enjoying it to the fullest. I have been every day this week, except for Tuesday, trying out different classes. Today, my friend Sarah got me to take a water aerobics class. I always thought that water classes were for old people who couldn't do the real thing any more. Boy was I wrong! I could hardly stand up by the time we got out of the pool! Tomorrow I am going to try the Hip Hop dance class, that is, if I can still walk!

Strawberry Picking and Strawberry Pie!

The kids have been asking daily since we got home from Maryland when we would go strawberry picking so yesterday, after church, we finally went. We are lucky to have a great strawberry patch just ten minutes from out house so once strawberry seasons hits, we usually go once a week until the season is over or until we can't stand to eat another strawberry!

Strawberry Pie is always the first thing I make with our first picking. Everybody loves it, even Micah who does not like strawberries!

Strawberry Pie (makes 2)

Two Refrigerated Pie Crusts
2 Cups 7-up
2 TBSP Cornstarch
1, 3 oz Package of Strawberry Jello
8 Cups Fresh Strawberries, Cleaned and Trimmed
Whipped Cream to Serve

Bring cornstarch and 7-up to a boil, simmer until thickened.
Add Jello, stir until dissolved, cool.

Bake pie crusts according to directions, cool.

Place strawberries in pie crust.
Pour cooled sauce over strawberries.
Refrigerate until ready to eat, at least 2 hours.

Top with whipped cream and eat!

Strawberry Picking!

Off to find more strawberries

Me and the kids with our strawberries!

All tuckered out after all that strawberry eating, I mean picking :)

How much does the tooth fairy leave at your house?

Regan is about to loose her first tooth. There has been much discussion in our house lately about the tooth fairy and how much money she will leave. Someone in Regan's Kindergarten class last year got $5 for ONE TOOTH!!!! Needless to say, our tooth fairy is not that wealthy!
For those of you who have been down this road already, or have an easier time making decision than I do, how much does(or will) the tooth fairy leave at your house?

Walk for Life

Today our family had the opportunity to participate in our local Crisis Pregnancy Center's Walk for Life for the second time since moving to VA. It is great to be able to give to a ministry that has always had a special place in my heart and for the whole family to have fun while we do it! The CPC of Tidewater held three different walks this spring in three locations. The one that we attended today was at the VA Zoo.

Everybody loves the moon bounce!

Rock Climbing

The big Giraffe is sticking is tongue out at us :)

Micah, Max and Regan riding a rino!

Sleeping foxes, so cute!

On the way home Tallulah was singing her favorite new song,
"La la la la, I can't hear you..."

a new camera!

We finally did it! We bought a digital camera!
It has only taken me 2.5 years to finally finish the girls room and put these head boards to use that I made 3 years ago! Of course I decided a few weeks ago that now the beds need bed skirts, but that is going to have to wait :)

This is Lulu's Bed

The closet door opened into the door to the room, so we took it down and I made this curtain to hang instead.

This is Regan's bed. I made her quilt while I was pregnant with Max, it has fun pictures of children holding umbrellas and mountains with trains going through them and various strips of colored/patterned fabric.
I just finished the valance this week. I used seat cushions from Ikea that just happened to match the colors of the girls room perfectly! This is my first official mistreatment. Really, I have been mistreating for years, I just did not know it had a name! Anyway, I did a very poor hand stitching job to create loops for the rod to go through and used my hot glue gun to keep the flowers from "drooping". I think they turned out pretty cute!

Here are pictures of our classroom. The book cases were custom make my my F-I-L, Thanks Dad!

If you weren't sure, I like bright colors! The kids help me to design this space, and even helped with the painting (a little).

Laughter on the road...

We spent a lot of time in the car last week. Driving to Maryland, visiting friends and family, going to my favorite stores (Ikea) that we no longer live near. Last Thursday we went to visit my sister, Becky, in Annapolis. Somehow, on our way home my mom and I were not paying attention and ended up almost to Baltimore, oops! Anyway, it made for an extra long trip which meant more time for car-ride silliness. Here are some of the things that happened on this memorable ride home...

Max was singing a preschool song as we rode along. His version went something like this "every day has 7 days..." Of course everyone in the car had to explain to him that a day can't have 7 days and it was supposed to be "every week has 7 days". The discussion went on for awhile, Max all the while insisting that his way was right. After a few moments of this Max announced very definitively, "Alright, we are done with the discussion!" I wonder where he go that from? :) Meanwhile, Tallulah is sitting in her car seat with her fingers in her ears singing "lalalala, I can't hear you, lalalala, I can't hear you" over and over!
Shortly after this, we were driving through Burtonsville and decided to stop at the Dutch Farm market for soft pretzels. While we were waiting in line, Regan asked me why the girls were wearing dresses and bonnets, I gave some generic answer like, "they are Mennonite and they were dresses and cover their heads". As we were getting back in the car we were discussing how these were the best soft pretzels (think Annie's at the mall, only better) Jokingly I said "maybe we should become Mennonite so that we can get the secret recipe" to which Regan replied very seriously, "No! I don't want to wear dresses and bonnets all the time! And Max, Daddy and Micah probably don't want to wear dresses and bonnets either!" We all got a good laugh at this, especially trying to picture Phil in a dress and bonnet!

The final product

The kids have affectionately named the monster Bucket Bottom!