Did You Know???

1)  My sister Amber is Pregnant?

She is due Oct. 10th with her little bambino(a), maybe this means a trip to Italia this year

I get to see her this Fri for a long weekend in Philly !!!!

2) My sister Hope moved to Sarasota?

she will be the manager at the Mac Cosmetics Store and we will miss her.

3)  Did you know how big the earth is?

When C asked me, I thought  "oh man, I really don't know the answer", so we looked it up on...

How Stuff Works (dot com)

and watched a short video that was funny and interesting

we learned that the earth is:

8,000 miles in diameter

approx. 25, 000 miles all the way around the outside of the planet. (26,000 if you ask my husband who some how knew the answer right away and made mommy look not so smart)

To put that into toddler language:

we carefully used Daddy's measuring tape to measure each fruit snack they were eating at 4 inches long, 

And if 25,000 miles = 132,000,000 feeet = 158,400,000 inches 

it would take 39,600,000 fruit snacks lined up end to end to circle the earth

C: "Is that alot?"

me: "Yes that is a super big number, but what is even more cool is think about how big God must be for Him to create such a big world that we cannot even comprehend."

One of their earliest Bible Verses was "Our God is Great and Very Powerful"

We learned that when we pray, we can thank God for being so very great and powerful, yet still loving us and that we can believe that God is big enough to answer all of our prayers.

This is one of the parts I love about being a mom, having these crazy, fun discussions over the lunch table.

will they remember these numbers? probably not

But I sure should, since i did all the math on my calculator only later to double check it on the online calculator. 

Just Us Tour

Yippee, they are coming back to FL.!!!

this picture is on a beach in Chile (yes, the country)

I am eagerly anticipating my sister Heather and her family's arrival from Argentina.

 

They have been away since Sept. 08 on a short term missions trip with YWAM

Their ultimate plan is to return to Bariloche, Argentina as full time missionaries and start a skate park ministry.  Brad was the youth pastor at SHEC community center in Missoula, Montana and was in charge of the really large skate ministry there.  They had a skate park inside their church!

It is so exciting for me to watch this family follow God's leading wholeheartedly and not look back.  Our family has really missed them and the boys are so excited to spend time with their cousins.  

If you or anyone you know has a church that would be interested in hearing their God Story and supporting them through prayer or finances, they will be traveling the country starting in May.

Seriously, they are already traveling to Washington, Texas, Oregon, and would go to many other states if that is where God was calling them to speak about HIM and bring him Glory.

So visit their website and read all about their journey in Argentina and their future plans.

Also individuals can sponser them through purchasing appliances that they will need for living a rental home in Argentina.

Addelyn (3 yrs old)

Aspen ( 5 yrs old)

Hot Cocoa

I haven't made this yet but want too before the cool weather ends. found it on this site

eggsonsunday.wordpress

Roasted Hazelnut Hot Chocolate

Adapted from Dufflet Bakery via Hot Chocolate by Michael Turback

view printable recipe

Ingredients 1/2 cup whole hazelnuts 4 1/2 cups milk, preferably whole or reduced fat 1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder 1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar 1/4 cup hot water 4 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate, chopped (I always go for dark!) 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, or 1/4 cup Frangelico liqueur

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet, in a single layer, and roast until golden and skins are beginning to crack, about 10 minutes. Let cool to room temperature, then finely chop (a food processor makes quick work of this step.)

Bring the milk and chopped hazelnuts to a boil over medium heat in a large heavy saucepan. Turn the heat off and let the mixture steep for 30 minutes, so the hazelnuts infuse the milk with their flavor.

Meanwhile, whisk the cocoa, brown sugar, and water together in a small bowl to make a paste.

After the milk has finished steeping, heat it up again over medium heat until it begins to steam. Whisk in the chopped chocolate and the cocoa-sugar paste, until the chocolate is melted. Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla (or Frangelico, if using.)

Strain the hot chocolate into 4 mugs. Top with softly whipped cream and additional chopped hazelnuts, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

Etsy purchase

We ordered our boys Easter Shirts on this Etsy shop 

Check it out for yourselves!

I am so excited and will post pictures when they arrive. Yippee!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patricks Day

In Memory of my "proud to be Irish" Grandmother, we dressed in green, made leprechaun ears for the Woodsmoke Guys, and made 4 leaf clover name tags for the Woodsmoke Gals.  I realized afterward that the Shamrock is a 3 leaf clover. Shhh my kids don't know that yet! oops!

We made these fun ears after reading makes and takes.

We took them to Woodsmoke at break time and made the Maintence men wear them.

These are the name tags we made for Daddy and the Office ladies.  Seemed to look more like a 4 leaf clover in real life than in this picture.

While at Woodsmoke today we:

1) rode bikes with Daddy, while wearing a green cape. why not wear a cape, it is green:)

2) rode on the golf cart

3) watched John cut down some really tall trees

4) ate lunch from Jimmy Johns

5) made lasting memories

I will leave you with a quote from used often by my grandmother,

"It is hard to be an Eagle, when you are surrounded by Turkeys"

Banana Muffins

i notice how food photographers always have a background image. this is mine......a cars sippee :)  very professional don't you think?

cooks.com BEST BANANA MUFFINS

1/2 c. butter, at room temperature 1 c. sugar 2 eggs 1 1/2 c. flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 1 c. mashed very ripe bananas 1/2 c. sour cream 1 tsp. vanilla 1/2 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (optional) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and eggs. Sift the dry ingredients and combine with butter mixture. Blend well. Add bananas, sour cream and vanilla; stir well. Stir in nuts and pour into a well-buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pan or several smaller ones. Bake 1 hour. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

website

PINGG

check out this site for evite and ecards

Home Video

A Home Video for your viewing pleasure:

What we are loving right now

1.  BMX

Mike raced BMX bikes from ages 4 - 16. We thought it would be fun if our kids showed a similar interest but, we haven't pushed our kids toward this in any form.

C only started riding a bike in December.  Now, 3 months later, he has developed quite a passion for riding his bike and continually tries to improve his skills on his own.  The other day, I saw him fall and ran over to him because it looked like it hurt.  He stood up, brushed himself off and said, "Was that a good trick, Mommy?"

The above picture is Naples BMX track.  They race on Fri. nights and we went to watch.  It was fun and the kids really enjoyed seeing other kids race on their bikes.  There is a 5 yr and under class and there is a 35-39 yr old class, so Mike and C can do it together.  We will wait until he turns 4 in May to get a better bike and try the track in the picture above.  But for now, we can enjoy ramps in the yard and the cool trails at Lakes Park.

First Wheelie....look close enough and you can see the front tire off the ground

First Ramp attempts

O says, "I may be too young to ride a bike but I can still build ramps"

I like that he has wood in one hand and a pretzel in the other!

New bike, found at the Woodsmoke Dumpster, saving our landfill one bike at a time!

O says, "Yes, I am 2 and driving a truck all by myself............steering a different story, but i can push the pedal and go fast"

This is me and I didn't make it into the video cut. 

I was lying down on the ground to get this shot of Mike

I love this one of C because his facial expression reminds me of what I looked like as a kid.

I really think my husband is sexy, even at the playground:)

C dressed himself today in his favorite type of shorts.... "comfy shorts"

Father and Son bonding 

I dressed O in this picture and just realized he doesn't really match. Although, the boots were his idea.

Socks in my Garbage Disposal

I have always like the name of the blog Rocks in My Dryer because, having two young boys in the house, makes me relate to that phrase.  For some reason, anything that has a lid or door has to have something inside of it; there can be no empty or open cubby space in this house.  Even on the back of the big boy potty seat, there is a little storage space and when O sits down he opens the lid to make sure his toy car is still there.   The seat lid on his firetruck always has toys underneath it, when i empty the clothes hamper I find toys at the bottom, when I opened the drawer to get a diaper out tonight I found a toy airplane; he is constantly moving things from one place to the next.  Funny thing is, he remembers where he puts his stuff, one time I asked him where Caeden's drink was and he went out in the garage opened up the lid to the engine of C's battery powered truck and handed the sippee to me.  It amazes me and makes me smile.  On one paticular day, I had the boys help me deliver the folded laundry to their room.  They hauled the laundry via the bed of their tonka trucks and the clothes ended up in the bathroom sink, play room, and their bedroom floor.  I guess I wasn't watching closely enough because somehow O also placed a sock in the kitchen sink.  A week later, after wondering why the food was taking so long to go down the drain and funny noises coming from the disposal,  Mike asked me to stick my hand down the drain (with it turned off naturally).  And behold, this is what I pulled out, a Sock from the laundry sorting day. We had a good laugh!