Harley

Well this young woman has been an amazing part of my life.  It is my hope that she will continue to be so.  But these are a couple pictures from her graduation in June.

 She has grown into a thinking woman that is thoughtful, kind and wants to do what it is right.  She working on reaching her goal of becoming a nurse.

 I don't know her future but God does and just as he told the people of Israel to trust Him it is my prayer that she will also.  Jeremiah 29 says this ¹⁰ This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years^(P) are completed for Babylon, I will come to you^(Q) and fulfill my good promise^(R) to bring you back^(S) to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans^(T) I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper^(U) you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.^{(V) 12} Then you will call^(W) on me and come and pray^(X) to me, and I will listen^(Y) to you. ¹³ You will seek^(Z) me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.^(AA)

 These two have been neighbors for years and like to come by and check if the old folks are still awake.  We can freak them out by leaving lights on. :)

She loves my boys and the boys love her.  Congratulations Harley!!!  Note I could pull out the picture of you trying to catch the flowers at my wedding but I won't.

Where Do I begin...

 Well where do I begin?  This summer has been crazy busy and I kept waiting for it to slow down.  So I will start with Andrew and baseball.  He absolutely loved playing.  He did and has spent hours playing since the season. 

 He played in a coach pitch league.  The coach throws but he got to field at the pitcher's mound.  He loved it because he got to move around alot.  Imagine that.

He loves to hit and run.  And even though he doesn't hit very far he often makes it to base because he has some speed.  He loves his hat and shirt so much he has gotten a hole in his shirt.  Aaron likes the playgrounds that are near the ball fields.

Easter Concert

At the little school, they had their Easter concert.  They had a small skit along with energetic singing.  Andrew really gets into the music.  It is fun to watch.

We enjoyed a time of snacks following the performance.  Andrew loves his teacher and when he puts his mind to it is doing well.  His favorite subject is gym and he loves to play 4 square at recess.  They just finished testing this week so it will be back to homework and the regular grind. 

Resurrection Biscuits

I can take absolutely no credit for this idea.  Thank you Ellen - she posted this idea on facebook I believe.  It should also be noted that she used crescent rolls.  They would probably be less dry.  And I used the idea, Easter Sunday morning to bring our focus back to Jesus and his resurrection.  It is super simple and the boys had so much fun.  So here is how it works.

 One package of grands biscuits.  It should be noted that Andrew thought it was great that ours exploded when we opened it.  I guess I had had those biscuits awhile.  You also need 8 marshmallows, melted butter and cinnamon and sugar ( i used a ratio of 1Tablespoon of sugar to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon).  We then talked about how the the woman had washed Jesus feet with special perfume(the butter).

 And that it was the custom of the time to put spices on a persons body when he died (cinnamon and sugar).

 And that Jesus was buried in the tomb for three days (We pulled the biscuit apart and then had the boys seal the marshmallow in the biscuit).  Then we baked at 400 for about 15 minutes.  During which we read the Easter story from Andrew's children's Bible.

And the result was...

...an empty center.  He is risen.  He is not here.  And it was good eats.  They were so excited they called and invited Abuela over to eat them with them. 

The boys also enjoyed a very low key Easter egg hunt which involved the eggs that they had colored with daddy earlier that week.  I have no photo evidence of this adventure.

Home study

We are in to process of renewing our paperwork for adoption number 3.  One of the requirements is a family picture.  We have a new home study agency due to the retirement of the our caseworker.  So I have been a little more stressed about this renewal than the last one.  However all went well.  We had to do some renewal stuff we hadn't considered because the last time we had a first review we had just moved into our house.  Thus all the permits and stuff had just been cleared by the township.  We are officially waiting 5 months and the average wait is 18 months to 3 years.  We are practicing patience whether we like it or not.

Rice Crispies Houses

I finally downloaded some pictures from my camera and some of them are from Christmas.  So here is one of our Christmas adventures.  I am not a huge fan of gingerbread but I thought decorating a gingerbread house might be fun.  So this is my alternative.



 These are Rice Crispie Treat house.  I put homemade rice crispie treats in 2 - 8 x 8 dishes.  Then I cut out a roof and chimney.  Of course I ate the evidence.  Then I let the boys decorate.

 We used icing as the glue and sprinkles, mixed nut mix, chocolate chips and other cereals to decorate.  We used cookie cutters as templates to trace if they wanted.  They had a blast decorating.  Grandpop and Abuela got in on the act.

Of course we ate the result. But I liked the fact that you actually wanted to eat the result.

The End of Cheese Sauce

Well one large can of cheese sauce can make and be used for all the following...

Tacos
Cheese dip with salsa
Potato soup
Chicken casserole with cheese
A pizza cheese dip

Just a few things that can be done with cheese sauce.