Garden Harvest!

We finally have green beans!!  Last years crop got severely tramitized by a hail storm in late spring and never really recovered from it.  But this year we have beautiful plants covered in blossoms and loaded with beans!  The kids spent just a few minutes this morning picking these beans, our first vegetable harvest of the summer. Can't wait to cook these up for dinner!

Fireworks 2012

We made big changes again for this years fireworks show. For a couple of years now GR has been searching for a new venue ... something better able to accommodate the crowd -- parking, facilities, etc. and didn't include our home within the fall out zone.  We've tried 4-5 different locations, all would have been perfect, but all have said no because of insurance premiums. All that is, but one. The local parks department agreed to let us shoot at the kids soccer fields.  Setting the fireworks up off the soccer/football fields in a farmers field that was mowed just for us, and the crowd sitting on the football fields.

We were worried not everyone would hear the show had moved, thankfully, word spread that the location had changed, and to our knowledge only one family showed up at the house first. Phew!  And with it being in a more public place, people felt more free to invite neighbors, friends and family to attend and we had a great turn out!  GR estimated 400 people, but it's hard to tell given that we were spread out across 1.5 football fields.  It was wonderful to see so many old friends who traveled in to attend the show, and others who were able to work the show into their vacation schedules as they traveled back to KS/MO to visit family.

We had people from CA, CO, AZ, ID, and IA in the audience.  

GR did time laps photography of the set up ... one picture every minute for 7 hours or so.  It doesn't quite give the amount of work, or the extreme heat they endured enough justice when you see it sped up to less than 1 minute.  



And we video taped the show!   For all our friends in fireworks banned states, hopefully you can view this on a large screen and not feel like you've missed out too much.



We served 256 root beer floats, same as the year before, though I was prepared to serve more than that. I kept all by two of my hardworking, trash picking-up cub scouts to the 1 per person rule which I think helped manage the quantities a bit more. HyVee put everything I needed on sale for the weekend which was hugely helpful! I was able to make it a one stop shop for all my float needs which was fabulous, and they were the cheapest in town to boot!

Our one bit of excitement for the evening was, what is now being referred to as the "crazy dog lady" by all who witnessed it. About 15 minutes into the show a dark station wagon with a woman driving, goes flying through our caution tape barricade and finally swerves to a stop. Concerned it was an emergency and someone in the crowd was needed, I went to investigate and see what was going on. By the time I got to her, she was stomping around her car trying to untangle it from the caution tape. She was furious, raging with anger. She had been at a dog park a few miles from the soccer fields and the fireworks frightened one of her dogs so badly that it ran off (the ran off part we pieced together a few hours later). She was screaming at the insensitivity of us shooting fireworks so close to a dog park. I apologized but assured her that we had worked with the city and gotten permission to do this and that rather than all the police she should call the city to complain ... it's 10pm at night, 30 minutes past when the sun was totally set, who is in an unlit dog park past dark?

Anyway, she was so angry that she pealed out of the parking lot, nearly taking out a friends toes and coming within inches of driving straight into me. She then nearly hit the neighbors car and then the icing on the cake that sent us to call the police on her, was she came within inches of nearly hit a mother and her two small boys crossing the parking lot to get to their car.

Sadly the police couldn't do anything about the "distraught dog woman" as, with any kind of driving citation, a police officer must witness it and we weren't able to get her plates.  The officer who came out to take down our concern for the distraught dog woman and any poor soul that got in her way, was extremely nice.  This was our favorite part of the conversation: 

"Driving out here I could feel the vibrations of the shells in my squad car ... that and the size of the shells, it's pretty obvious you know what you're doing and not shootin' off bottle rockets in your drive way, and that you've gotta be legit.  Next time just give us a heads up so we're in the loop." (We thought the fire chief had done that). 

To dispatch:  "All the calls from _____ about the fireworks will be ending now - the show's over."  
Then turning to the small group of people standing around him, he asks, who's in charge of the show and GR says he is. 

Officer Friendly: Who do you work for? 

GR: A hospital in Montana?
Officer: No, no I mean, who sponsored the show?

GR: I did. 

Officer: No, no, who paid for it? 

GR: I did. 

Officer: You mean, like as community service? 

GR: Aahh, kinda, something like that ... you should come out next year. 

Officer:  Ha, that's cool! 

This afternoon GR talked with someone from the local paper who called the city to find out more about the show and if it was going to be an annual thing.  We've been doing this for 5 years, and now that we moved a few miles in town, it get's noticed ... interesting.  Apparently what happens in the country, stays in the country.  Good to know!  

St. George, Utah ... part 1

The kids and I flew out for a family reunion of sorts in Southern Utah, the afternoon of the fourth.  We met up with my parents and brothers family who arrived the day before, and a day later Barb and Stuart arrived.  We had a grand week seeing the sights of Southern Utah, seeing some of my extended family.  One of the highlights was getting to see my grandfather and his wife Ruth.  Oh how we love them and miss them!!  

I would not recommend visiting St. George in July ... dry heat or not, it was blazing hot -- it's no wonder we got a steal of a deal on the condos we rented.  But we stayed at a great resort with lots of good accommodations for the group we had. 

Here are a few highlights from our trip::

Because we were with my Dad and brother in country that screams, "hike me," "explore me," we did lots and lots of both. 

We geocached as often as we could.  We are still looking for a good accurate geocache Android app.  If you know of any, let me know. 

We really enjoyed hiking in Snow Canyon.  On Tuesday we explored the Pioneer Names trail.  It is possible that the Samuel Wittwer listed is my father's great grandfather.  But we have no record or proof of it and consequently are skeptical of it's authenticity.  None the less, it was a lot of fun and I'm really proud of how well the little ones did climbing up the very steep slope.  

Facing the Pioneer Names slope, is large rock/boulder everyone scrambled up for pictures.  

Thursday morning we went to Jenny's Canyon, also in Snow Canyon and another very kid friendly hike.  These pockets in the rock were all throughout the canyon. 

Swimming Lessons

The kids finished swimming lessons today.  We had just the right amount of time free to allow them one, eight class session at the local swim school.  I'm really pleased with how well the kids did with this group.  2-3 kids per instructor, just what my kids need.  I really wanted them to learn more of the mechanics of swimming strokes, not just safely playing in a pool.  Not really knowing what level they were at, I started the three older kids at level three, and Alex at level 1.  

Alex made a lot of progress and is ready for level 2.  He can move around the pool for a little while without his arm floats and it's great to see how excited he is that he can do it all by himself.  Becca and Emily finished at level 5, even passing off a few level 6 skills.  Sam, completed level 5 and is half way done with level 6.  They were invited to try out for their swim team and I have all the paper work to fill out for them to try out/participate.  I had no idea what an investment swim team participation was!  Wow.  I've always wanted them to participate in a swim team, but I'm going to have to think this over more now that I know more about the time and cost commitments. 

VBS - SonQuest Rainforest

Alexander blew me away last night.  I was working with Sam to help him memorize the scripture for tomorrow ... John 3:16 (the girls already have it memorized from primary earlier in the year).  Sam was thoroughly convinced he couldn't memorize it - totally reminded me of half my seminary students - he clearly picked something up from them in utero.  

After working with Sam on the scripture for five minutes or so he totally had it down pat.  I turned to Alexander and asked him what he new about the scripture.  He had picked up all the core concepts, all while dancing around the girls room where Sam and I were working, not paying a bit of attention to us, that it only took a little bit of work for him to have the scripture memorized too!  When he recited the scripture to "parable parrot" for a cracker this morning after VBS, she was blown away that this little preschooler was doing it.  I love how Alex recites it too ... so cute.  I've gotta try and get a video clip done and loaded on here.  

But pictures ... 

As you walked in these two large "trees" flanked each side of the registration and information table.  I love how all of the decorations used were handmade ... half crafted or constructed art, like this tree, and the other half created art in the form of traditional painting or drawing.   They did use a few purchased props - stuffed monkeys, plastic frogs - but for the most part everything else was done with some sort of paper as the main structure.  And the effect was fantastic for everyone!  

Each morning the children gather in the "gym/cultural hall" and on the stage was this huge 4 panel mural. 

On the far right of the stage, was the jungle lab used by two characters who helped the VBS narrator talk to the kids about the days theme. 

On the walls in the entry/foyer surrounding the registration tables, were mini murals with the daily scriptures the kids will focus on each day this week. 

New Wallpaper

Desktop wallpaper that is.  GR's been desperate for new collages for his work computers, and last night he gave up waiting for me to do them and did them himself.  I teased that I was going to throw them up on the blog as a post and then decided it really wasn't a bad idea since you haven't see all of them.  He just wanted to make sure I didn't take credit for making the collage, which I'm not going to do ... but I can take credit for taking 10 of the 14 pictures shown below.

The kids are attending a bible school this week with their good friends from our old neighborhood. I was completely blown away by the set up this morning when I took the kids in ... there were TONS of kids and the entire church was decked out better than any prom I've been too.  Seriously.  They are encouraging the kids to memorize scriptures.  Really, one for each day, along with a challenge verse.  We're having the kids learn the verses in King James lingo, but they are so excited about it!   I hope to get pictures taken so you can all see just how amazing this set up is.  

Berry Picking

A week ago a friend stopped by and said she needed my help and to grab a couple large kitchen container.  After sending me back to the kitchen for larger containers, she proceeded to dump the contents of two large ice cream buckets into two largest mixing bowls.  Beautiful, red, juicy strawberries!  

She's getting a bumper crop and has more than she knows what to do with, and we got her "leftovers" - such a sacrifice!  If only we were asked to help out like this more.  Saturday she called to say the patch is still loaded with berries and wondered if the family would like to go out and pick berries sometime.
 

As you know, we really like to pick berries, so today, after attending a pancake breakfast and flag raising at the church to benefit the boy scouts, we drove out to the strawberry patch and picked berries for about an hour, coming home with 15 qts or so of beautiful, sweet strawberries.  I'm thinking I may need to make jam this week!  Especially since the kids want to go back later this week. 

On a side note.  We discovered the super scoops featured in FamilyFun Magazine a while back make excellent berry picking buckets, specifically for kids!  Even Anna could pick up a jug and walk around the patch without spilling any berries.  If your picking berries on larger bushes ... say blue berries or black berries, tie the jug around your waist with a belt or length of rope threaded through the jugs handle.  That way you can pick with both hands and not have to bend over to dump the berries in your bucket.  I'm also thinking these will make good containers for the kids to use in the garden (if it survives our really wet spring!) when it comes time to pick tomatoes, peppers, green beans, peas, our own strawberries, and onions.

I've been using a half dozen or so super scoops in the craft room to hold some of the kids craft supplies ... markers, glue, glue sticks, scissors, etc.  I like that they are made from something I have all the time.  I like how easy they are to make, and how nicely fit on the cupboard shelf.  And I like that the contents are always so easy to access for me and the kids.  I think it would be cool to hang them from a rod along the wall using an s hook of some kind maybe, but for now, they are fine sitting on a shelf, or floating around the house from art project to art project.

Good-bye Summer

Summer may not officially end until late on the 22nd of September, but for us, Labor Day means the close of the pool. And in the eyes of our kids, the closing of the pool means the close of summer. This summer didn't prove a fantastic summer for lounging in the pool. Lots of rain and cooler than usual temperatures meant less frequent splashes. Even today, with temps in the mid 80s, it was a bit cold in the water. If you look closely you can see Sam's lips are blue.

Highlights from our time at the pool this summer ...

• Samuel passing his arm floaties on to Alex, no longer needing them to navigate through the differing depths of the water.
  
• Alex going from being a bit fearful of the water last summer, to fearless - dare-devilish - this summer.
  
• Rebecca, Emily and Sam, each tried diligently to learn to dive from the side of the pool rather than plop.
  
• Learning that Anna is part fish, particularly enjoying putting her face in the water and drinking.
  
• Alex mastering arm floaties.
• Discovering that Anna is not rattled in the slightest by falling out of her duck floaty and being suspended below the surface of the water by a foot or so, for a matter of seconds. [Scared her mother to no end. But she never so much as gasped or whimpered - scary!]
• Rebecca and Emily learned to dive down under the water to retrieve things from the bottom of the pool in the deep end. Very helpful in picking up walnuts from the floor of the pool.
  
• Emily learned how to do a handstand underwater, and walk on her hands, while Rebecca perfected both.
• Alex becoming a 3 year old water acrobat. Jump in from the side and going down the slide, in every conceivable way.

After the work comes the play

The kids helped GR wax the minivan today and after wards were rewarded with a run through the sprinkler. They had such a good time. When I saw that they had gotten the umbrellas out, I handed GR the camera. Here are a few of my favorites that perfectly capture their ability to create pure joy and happiness out of something so simple ... water and an umbrella.

Summer's Official Start

This week marks the official start of summer for my kids and they look forward to it every year! Memorial day brings the opening of the pool, a place the kids and I plan to spend a lot of time this summer. We spent the morning lazily getting ready for our afternoon at the pool and barbecuing with a few friends. The weather was just warm enough for an early afternoon dip in the pool. Thankfully, no one forgot how to swim over the winter, Alex is navigating the water beautifully in his arm floats, and we discovered Anna is a total water baby! What a nice change from terrified Alex!

Our friends arrived just as our kids were getting out of the pool and the temperatures were starting to cool. The kids played and played and played in Grandma and Grandpa's field. They took a short break to eat and then went back to playing ... the boys went one direction, the girls in another. The mom's talked and visited and bounced babies while the dad's visited and supervised the driving of cars, the throwing of balls and the flight of frizbees.

Sadly, I don't have a single picture of our blissful day. I'm learning that when I'm totally comfortable, relaxed and enjoying the company of good friends and family, the camera tends to get forgotten and pictures aren't taken. Hopefully, I won't regret that in the years to come. I'm hoping that, the experience, the people and being in the moment, not distracted by other "things" will be just as important too.

Mr. Stinky Feet

We have really been enjoying our libraries special programs for "Catch the Reading Bug" summer reading program. We've made it to most of the programs so far this summer. One the kids really enjoyed was a free outdoor concert by Jim Crosgrove, aka Mr. Stinky Feet. This was our first introduction to Mr. Stinky Feet, and I think everyone really enjoyed the music and performance - it's fun and interactive without being too childish. I think we'll be downloading his CD for $6 and adding it to the car playlist.

The concert was sponsored by LearningQuest. Apparently, 20 lucky libraries in the state of Kansas were selected by LearningQuest to bring Mr. Stinky Feet, to perform a free concert. If they haven't been to your area yet, mark your calendar and go. If he has already been to your area, he will be at the new Plaza Library location in Kansas City on Saturday, August 23rd with other Kansas City area kids bands doing a free concert. My kids have already requested to go, so maybe we'll see some of you there!

Water, water, water

My mother believes that all you need to make a vacation successful in the summer is sand and water. And each summer I understand more and more the wisdom of this belief. Granted there are plenty of fun vacations that don't involve either element, but the ones my children seem to remember the most, do.

Although, Kansas does have beaches, we haven't found any close that are quite like the beaches we have grown to love, and consequently each summer we spend more of our free "non-vacation" time in the water.

All of the kids have become little fish this summer - but that is for another post - this post is about one of our favorite non-swimming spots - the public wading pool. Grandma rented it for an hour this morning for all the grandchildren to enjoy and the children had such a good time splashing, filling, dumping, spraying, and simply playing in the water with each other.

A Summer Tradition Continues

Last week on the 18th, the kids and I finally made it to the summer concerts in the park, a city tradition for the last 100 years. We've been coming (some summers more than others) since the girls were toddlers, and last year I don't think we didn't miss a single concert. We won't make every concert this summer, but we'll make at least a few of our favorites.

A simple picnic supper (large hoaggies from the deli - not fancy but very yummy, and cheap - $6 each ... two was more than enough for four adults and four kids; fresh strawberries; Pringles and pink lemonade), followed by homemade ice cream from our favorite ice cream shop, and a relaxing hour of listening to the band and chatting, while the kids play in the field behind us. Summer doesn't get better than this!

Here are pictures from tonights children's concert ... next week, is their patriotic concert, of course, and we'll have cousins in town to share the fun with!

Strawberries

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

One of the great things about living in Kansas is that just about anywhere you choose to live has 'rural' country close by. Consequently, we have lots of great farms to visit to pick our own produce if we so choose. The last time we went strawberry picking as when I was pregnant with Sam ... what is it about me going strawberry picking 8 months pregnant. Thankfully the weather was beautiful, with a great breeze! The kids and I picked 16 pounds of berries ... 3 ice cream buckets full! Actually, Rebecca, Emily, Sam and I picked berries, Alex ate them, nearly as fast as we picked them.


Monday, June 9, 2008

I didn't have time to make jam last week, so Wednesday night GR and I spent a good 2 hours hulling and dicing strawberries. We enjoyed a huge bowl of berries for breakfast and lunch Thursday, and the rest went into the freezer, waiting to be made into jam.

I prefer cooked jam, and I'm loving the new "no sugar" needed pectin that is now available. I opt to use a little sugar in the recipe to help preserve the jam, but it's so nice to be able to make a recipe of jam with only 2 cups of sugar.

So while Alex napped, the rest of the kids, helped me mash the berries ... cook the mixture on the stove ... and then listen for the satisfying sound of the lids popping. We ended up with 11 pints and four 8 oz. jars. Not bad for a days work. And it tastes soo good on all our homemade bread!

Swimming Lessons

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I refuse to not post anymore simply because I can't post pictures - and I'm sorry, but I hate posting pictures via blogger - yuck! They are so stinking small - what is the point of that?! Basically, I've tasted the freedom of posting pictures how I want, the way I want, and to have that disabled ... grrr ...

Sigh ... first it was because the network to the file server with all the pictures was down ... then it was because Dreamweaver conveniently lost all the remote server information for both websites ... we got that restored last night and now poof it's gone again. I think I know what "date" night is going to be this weekend ... honey are you up for reinstalling DW?

eta ... well my website posting problems definitely isn't fixed, but I may ... may ... have figured out a temporary solution at least for the blog.

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This is the first in a series of summer updates ... so much to share!!
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Today the kids finished up their last day of swimming lessons (two weeks M-Th).

I am really proud of how well they did. The girls have really blossomed in the water and I can't wait to watch them practice at Grandma's pool in the coming weeks. Everyone is getting more and more comfortable in the water without their life vests. Becca and Emily can both get to the side from the center of the pool on their own. Sam still has a healthy respect for the water and is still a bit cautious without his life vest on, and his mama is just fine with that! At Grandma's pool with a life vest on, I doubt his swimming instructor would recognize him.



Being downtown for lessons everyday has meant we've spent many more hours downtown than we typically do. Which is good, I'm all for supporting the local economy, but I've finally had to set the kids on a bit of a budget.

They love "Bob's Bake Shop" (those who have done playgroup or other school field trips I'm sure know Baker Bob) and are becoming very familiar with their array of treats and breads. On Monday we've each ate one of their huge cinnamon rolls (we're making it a quest to try every bakery's cinnamon rolls this summer ... anyone want to join us on this?), then Wednesday, we each had a cinnamon twist (aka "dog bone") and took home a loaf of half and half which was totally devoured by the time GR came home from work - pour guy, this summer we've purchased at least four loaves of bread and he hasn't gotten any of it.

Wednesday we spent about four hours enjoying downtown. The kids and I saw a skirt in a shop window display along with the words "SALE" ... Everyone thought the skirt was super cute, and they all agreed to be really good in the store so I could see if they had my size... I was pleasantly surprised, not only did the kids do a great job of being "quiet" in this small, cramped, occasionally snooty, "department store", but they also had my size, it fit, looked cute and I also found a top to go with it ... oh, and the final price was a bit of a surprise too - woops, but I'm dealing with that too ...

Then it was off to the quilt shops and then to the toy store with the bubble blowing bear - a reward for being good in all the stores! Gotta love quilt shops with bathrooms and kid play areas!! Ahhh ... to have your children actually say they aren't ready to leave a fabric store yet, is a wonderful thing. To finish off the morning/afternoon, we experienced a first for all of us I think ... hot dogs from a hot dog stand. Yummy!

Summer is Officially Here!

School finally let out last Thursday and we are quickly getting into a summer groove!

The girls are both doing t-ball this summer. Monday-Thursday evening is now totally taken up with practices and games. They both have fantastic coaches and we are really excited for the games to begin! Unfortunately Rebecca's first game last night got rained out. Just as we got in the car to head over the the ballfields, it started to rain. Showers here tend to be pretty spotty, especially with the current systems rolling through. It isn't unusual to have a down pour in one part of town and it be perfectly dry in another. When we got to the ball fields, they had just cleared the fields of the previous games and sent everyone home. Other than the rain, the weather was perfect for playing and watching a game ... Low 70s.

In addition to t-ball, Sam, Emily and Rebecca are all signed up for swimming lessons starting next week. Rebecca especially has been begging to be in lessons since last summer. So I'm hopeful these go well and are of benefit to the kids. The kids and GR swam at Grandma's pool Memorial Day and had such a good time playing in the water ... something we plan to take advantage of weekly this summer!

Our other weekly outings (we hope you'll join us!):
Tuesday mornings - Library Story Hour
Wednesday nights - Ice Cream and City Band Concert
Thursday mornings - Library Special Program

Tonight was the first band concert of the summer and the kids were very, very excited about going. The weather was very questionable. We'd had steady showers a various time throughout the day and although the sky was fairly clear when we got to the park, by the time we left, the sky was filled with dark gray clouds. The other great thing was that GR was able to join us for tonight concert - it will probably be his only concert of the summer.

Here are pictures from the night:

Alex turned 10 months old on Sunday!! He is getting to be such a big boy - but I am planning on doing a blog post updating everyone on each child in the coming days (hopefully this won't turn into weeks)


The Summer Concerts in the park MUST start with an ice cream cone. Tonights flavor of choice - a single scoop of Birthday Bash (with sprinkles on top of course!) in a sugar cone for the children and Gold Rush for me. yummm! I still have decided what part of the concert they like most ... the ice cream cones, or getting to stay up late and not go to bed until 9:30!






The city choir was selling drinks, cookies and popcorn as a fund raiser this evening. GR gave the kids a dollar to purchase a bag of popcorn. Sam, Emily and Rebecca were very excited to learn how to dissect a piece of popcorn so Alex could enjoy the popcorn too. By the end of the night, Alex refused to be fed the popcorn, if the kids didn't let him pick up the piece from their hand, he'd turn his head away and not open his mouth. It was quite funny to watch.


This is what the night sky looked like just before we left. The orange glow is actually from a sidewalk lamp not mother nature.