Happy Father's Day

Here are pictures from Fathers Day.
Keenan got some great "toys" for his CNA course. The girls thought it was pretty neat to use a Real stethoscope - not just a fisher price one : )
Happy Father's Day Keenan!

We also celebrated my nephew's 1st birthday out at my sisters. It was great to get together with them. Happy Birthday Owen. You big one year old!!

Crocodile Dock - Bible Camp

While Miss M was at camp - we got to spend one on one time with Ava - or work on other projects. (we spent a couple of nights working on the library at our church building) When it wasn't raining that week - Miss A and I went to the park. She had lots of fun having the park to herself.

We all have so much fun at bible camp.

Miss M has a great time with her fellow campers and learning

Old Testament stories and the fun songs.
Here are some pictures of the Bayou Bash the last night of camp.

My favorite memory of camp this year was Miss M sharing the bible stories with us. She reenacted the 10 plagues. Keenan also played with the band the last night of camp, and we all got to learn some fun new songs.

Projects

like I was saying before, Jesica and I are keeping busy with doing things around the house.
we have worked on the girls bedroom, and the pantry (there wasn't a whole lot to do in the girls room - just straighten it up, change a few things around.) Then we decided to work on the pantry - always a work in progress.

Daddy's Birthday

June 12

We had a quiet celebration for Keenan's birthday. K's big present from us was a pick up put into his ukulele. (He's in heaven!) We also got him a few little power snacks for studying and weekend flights. We hung out at the park, enjoyed a backyard BBQ and Jesica made his favorite cake - German chocolate with extra frosting. YUM!

Happy Birthday Daddy - WE LOVE YOU!!!

Mommy is great

She gives us chocolate cake...
for breakfast.

yup, it was one of those mornings when Miss A saw the cupcakes and was ONLY going to have a cupcake for breakfast. I quickly decided to loose that battle (I blame it on the kidney stone) and just let her have the cupcake for breakfast. And my decision was made so much easier
when Miss M was chanting - Mommy is great she gives us chocolate cake.
Hey, if it's ok for Bill Cosby...

Backyard Fun

Our friend Sarah gave us this fun little playground. Miss A LOVES it.
Miss M enjoys it too, she enjoys doing dare devil moves - especially when her little sister
tries to copy the moves. I love watching them play together.
It's great to send them into the back yard when I am making lunch/dinner.
Or if we have a few minutes to be outside before Miss A goes down for
a nap. Someday we will have a nice big jungle gym, but for now
this is great.

I Heart Musicals!

Miss Saigon, Phantom, Les Miserables, WICKED!, Chess, Chicago, My Fair Lady, Grease, Music Man, Oklahoma, Calamity Jane, Sound of Music.

I have been listening to Chess just about every day since April.

Then on this blog I "stalk" (No) Sex in the City
posted that on PBS a wonderful all star cast would be performing Chess. A musical that I fell in love with back in High school. And WOO to the HOO Josh Groban would be singing. (SIGH)

Now I have it saved on my Tivo and can watch it when ever Miss M
and I are in the mood to belt it out!
(Her favorite song is One Night in Bangkok)

Since watching this I can't stop singing this song Someone Else's Story
(but on my Chess CD Someone Else's Story is not on it??? must
be on the London version?) SO its a good thing that I have it saved to DVR!
OR can watch it on You Tube.

Miss M's preschool birthday party

We missed celebrating Miss M's birthday at preschool because we were in Hawaii.
But Ms. Nancy didn't want Miss M to be forgotten so we had a special
snack for her at school.

Aunt Jesica was kind enough to make the cupcakes.
Ocean blue or teal (Miss M's current favorite color) with sea animal sprinkles on top.

It was fun to capture these cute friends at preschool especially because this
was the last week of school for them.

Enjoying the "Wild Life"

Cutest little monkeys ever

Keenan followed this turtle around - and got some great pictures. Turtles are my favorite.

Monk seal at the aquarium
Miss A LOVED it

saying hi to the little puffer fish. Miss M's "Little Buddy"

huge fish and sharks in this tank at the aquarium

Miss M holding the hermit

crab - she is still very proud of herself

me holding the same crab - also very proud of myself for not freaking out and dropping it!

Fish Kisses

cute little girls above and below!

Aunty Kay found a crab and brought it back for us to look at.
This is Miss M and a couple of her cousins.Stacy and I were laying on the beach chatting when I saw this little thing poke it's head up.

I quickly tossed my camera to Stacy to get some pictures. Later we (miss M and I) got brave enough to see if it would move. After several pokes, it got up pretty fast.
I am sure you could hear my scream all over the island as it ran sideways towards Stacy.

We also saw lots of cockroaches. I did have a couple of pictures.
(but won't share them here)
I thought of the smaller ones as the cute little friend to WALL-E.
But didn't care for the others so much.
I can do with out the roaches.

As we wake up to yet another rainy day...

I am thinking about this and wishing I was there on the beach...

oh sunny beautiful Hawaii, how I miss you

November is so far away

sorry for those of you who are not fans - but I am!

Ridgeville Farmers Market

If you are looking for something to do this Wednesday early evening - come on over to the
Ridgeville Farmers Market.
Bring a picnic dinner and enjoy the small market.
PLUS Keenan will be there playing music!
Here is a link for more information http://ridgevillemarket.wordpress.com/

Little Grass Shack

May 17 - 22

Miss Stacy found a great little rental on line. It was fun to stay at this vacation home enjoy the country side of the island and the great back yard. The whole setting was just full of beauty. We loved all of the flowers around the house too. But we all agreed our favorite feature of the home was the huge outdoor shower. LOVED IT!! (we will just ignore the first couple of nights there - the loud party in the neighborhood, the bass booming and the dog barking...UGH!)

K and I also enjoyed star gazing at night. (It is one of the things I miss most about northern Cali.
I loved looking at the stars.) So when we are in Hawaii I always try to take in the stars as much as I can. K brought me out one night when the milky way was so close I felt like we could touch it. It truly felt like we were in a planetarium. We were gazing up at the big dipper when a shooting star shot right threw it. SO beautiful!

What else do you do on vacation...

BUT EAT!?!?!

While in Hawaii we had many wonderful meals!
here are a couple that we made.

K's famous Hawaiian Breakfast

My Mother in law introduced me to these tasty little muffins while we were in Hawaii.
She served them hot with yummy jams/preserves. Wish I had some right now with guava jelly!

(this is the only picture I could find -I am scooping them into the muffin tin)

It's a Paula Dean recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 2 sticks butter, melted
• 1/2 pint sour cream
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine all ingredients and spoon into small, un-greased muffin tins. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

I found the recipe here

One evening after a wonderful day at the beach we sent the men off to the grocery store to get some food for dinner. This is what we had. It was SO yummy!

they also brought home a butternut squash. Stacy found a yummy recipe for fries. So good. I could go for some right now

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (2 pound) butternut squash, halved and seeded
• salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Use a sharp knife to carefully cut away the peel from the squash. Cut the squash into sticks like French fries. Arrange squash pieces on a baking sheet and season with salt.
3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, turning the fries over halfway through baking. Fries are done when they are starting to brown on the edges and become crispy.

recipe found here

and these are just some of the meals we ate at "home"
it was just an all around yummy vacation!

Willy Wonka

Saturday Evening May 16

As we were getting ready for our trip to Hawaii I learned that my nephew and niece would be in a play. I was so hoping to be there to see it. We made it and the play was WONDERFUL! We still talk about how wonderful it was and how great all the kids were in the play. The sets, the props, the music and costumes. It was amazing to see our nephew up there on stage as Charlie Bucket. He was fabulous! And I must say our little niece was the cutest little Oompa Loompa ever!

I was also amazed at how well Miss M and A did. They had been up for a VERY long time. When the play started at 7pm Hawaii time - it was 12am Chicago time. Miss A was a trooper.

Greeted with Leis

Saturday Afternoon May 16

There is nothing better than stepping foot outside of the gate area in Hawaii. You get the first smell of island air. Then down to baggage and out to the curb to wait for your ride. I had thought ahead this time and had quick change outfits and shoes for me and the girls. It felt so good to get out of the "stuffy airplane clothes" and into fresh island wear.

K's mom picked us up at the airport and greeted us with big hugs and beautiful leis. That is the best thing - Getting a beautiful lei and warm Aloha greeting!
She even had flowers for the Harkers.

We enjoyed those leis all week!

All 7 leaving on a Jet plane

Sat Morning May 16

One of the risks of flying standby is not everyone making it on the flight. And we had 7 who were trying to get on. But we all made it on. Hawaii here we come.



The Harkers were able to sit together, and not to far from K and Miss A. Miss M and I were in the back, but had two seats by the window. Miss M was pretty fun to sit by. She had lots of things to keep her busy. Miss A slept for maybe 30 minutes total the whole flight!

But, it was a good flight and it was oh so wonderful to touch down in Honolulu!