Birthday Girl

Kaylee is 8 years old today. It is this monumental birthday has finally made me realize that I'm getting old! It's crazy that I have an 8 year old daughter, but I can't imagine life without her. It's fun for me to have another girl in the house. We have done some fun girl things together. Today we enjoyed a trip to the orthodontist (the easiest visit yet!), lunch with the boys at McDonalds (they got to play in the toys, which we don't do very often), took treats to her class at school, made her spotlight poster, had dinner at China Isle (Just Kaylee with mom and dad), opened presents and had doughnuts for dessert. Several years ago I learned my lesson on the dessert. After spending all day making a fun cake, Kaylee didn't want to eat any. It was then that I decided that I would let them pick what they wanted and would enjoy eating. Kaylee's choice was doughnuts, which was great for me - no work! Brian even picked them up for me. Overall I think we had a fun day. It's fun to watch Kaylee grow up and see how smart she is. She really keeps us on our toes. We are looking forward to her baptism this weekend, along with

a big family party. I still can't believe my baby is 8!

Brian's 1st Race

Brian has been running a lot this last year or two. More consistently than ever before. Recently he has been running 3 or 4 days a week, and varies between 3 and 5 miles in distance. Well, this morning he ran his first official race wearing his new running shoes he got for his birthday. It was a 5K, a good place to start. He did really good and I think he quite enjoyed it. The kids helped me count people as they finished and we figured that Brian came in 12th place out of over 116 registered runners. Pretty good, I'd say! He also was awarded 2nd place for his age group. His time was 21 minutes 54 seconds. Amazing! There were others that ran the race that we knew including Brians friend, Joey (see picture below), who he runs with once a week. This particular race was to raise money for cancer. Always a good cause.

I really enjoyed myself today watching Brian do something that he has wanted to do for a while now. I was also impressed with how well he did. I'm sure we will have more races in our future and I will look forward to them.

Happy 31st Brian!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful hubby today! He's the best husband and dad around. Thanks for everything. We hope you have a great Birthday!

My new favorite thing....

PRETZEL HUGS

1 bag pretzels

1 pkg. M&Ms

1 pkg. Hershey "Hugs"

Place pretzels on baking stone or sheet. Place a Hug on each pretzel and bake at 200 degrees for about 8 minutes (just watch for the Hugs to melt). Remove from oven and promptly place a couple of M&Ms on each pretzel, pressing into the melted chocolate. Allow to cool before serving. At room temperature, this takes SEVERAL hours. I would recommend making these the day before you plan on eating/delivering. Or you can put them in the refrigerator to speed up the process.

We have made these twice now. My kids love helping! Such a fun treat, you should all try them!

Peach Heaven

Luckily, I love peaches, and luckily the rest of my family loves peaches too. We are all in peach heaven! I tried to count them, but I lost count after 15 dozen! I'm guessing we got pretty close to 300 peaches! Pretty good for one little tree! We have enjoyed bowls of peaches (every day), peach shakes, peach leather, peach jam, etc.... It's been great, and what makes even better is that the peaches came from our own tree. I haven't had a garden spot in my yard, but enjoying my own home grown peaches has given me the encouragement to grow more things. I have gotten satisfaction from giving the food storage a boost and from sharing peaches with family, friends, and neighbors. We had a great FHE lesson last night about food storage and gardens (or growing our own food). The kids then helped fill the jars with peaches to be cooked. They had fun being involved and hopefully they learned a few things along the way too.

A good days work

The last few days I have felt very accomplished. I've been trying hard to keep myself busy while Brian has been busy with scouts and work. So, yesterday, I made a bag. Yep, start to finish. I didn't even start until nap time and had it almost done before dinner. I managed to keep the kids happy, fed, changed, and entertained all at the same time. Not only do I consider that a good days work, but it's also a fun days work for me. (This bag will be gift to my Grandma Shirley for her birthday.) Other accomplishments of this week include making felt squares for Kaylee's class, stapling books for Kyler's class, bottling peaches (pictures to come), making bread, quilting a table runner, defrosting the freezer (thanks for the help Cali!) and doing all the other things mom's do. I did good this week!

Peaches and Pears, oh my!

One thing I LOVE about my yard is my fruit trees. Luckily, the people that lived here before us planted them, so they are finally producing a good amount of fruit. I have watched my peaches grow with excitement, knowing that the peaches that we picked last year were the best peaches we had ever tasted. However, the last week or two I have had some sympathy for my burdened trees. Every time I look at them, I can't help remembering what it was like to be 8.5 months pregnant. They look tired, droopy and ready to break, just like I remember feeling. I didn't know I would ever have these thoughts about a tree, but the pictures tell it all. The pear tree has been leaning on the fence for a while now, too tired to stand up straight! I just have to remember that the rewards will be great, as they have been with my kids!