You Don't See That Every Day

This birthday was unlike any other. I usually get to pick where we go for my birthday - and I usually head to the beach.  We did make it to the sand on Friday night. We had dinner at the restaurant, and then got a short time to walk on the beach. Little K was not feeling well, and I didn't want to stay out too late because I had plans for the next morning. Beautiful weather, delicious food, good company. It was a great start to my birthday weekend.    Early Saturday morning I got up to run a 5K to raise money for a pregnancy center. I love babies, and what better way to celebrate MY birth-day than to help others get to their birth-day! I had a great run - coming in under 30 minutes... which I haven't done in a long, long, long time. I even placed first in my age group. A BIG thank you to all of you who sponsored me - you gave the best birthday gifts of all! Right after that I hurried drove home ever so slowly and cautiously, to clean-up and head out with the f...

April is a big month of birthdays around here. We've had an enormous amount of cake and ice cream this month, I've also stepped up my exercise routine. The two may or may not be related. Earlier in April I had a hankering for some chocolate cake. "It's April It's cake month" my brain was yelling at me; so I listened. I grabbed a new recipe from my friend Betty Crocker and whipped up a delicious chocolate cake. And that is how we started the week of my husband's birthday! (( Here's a link to the recipe  https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/best-chocolate-cake-with-fudge-frosting/ee6153e7-dd8c-47ae-bd88-8fc70ce57a24   Note - I used my lactose free milk instead of buttermilk and powdered baking chocolate instead of the bars. And I made basic frosting not the kind listed here )) On his actual birthday he got sherbet - because he's not really a cake kind of guy. But he loves sherbet and ice cream. And then we had company over, which means we have to...

It seems like it was just Thanksgiving Day ... but now it's almost Christmas?! We've been going non-stop since turkey day .... The boy had his 19th birthday ... pretty low key this year. Welcome to being an adult, where birthdays aren't always a big deal.  We also had some fun company at our house. The niece and her new husband came for the weekend with their dad in tow. We really enjoyed getting to know the newest member of the family .... He fits in perfectly with this crazy bunch. We also had what we hope is a new tradition -- gingerbread house making. We recruited an honorary family member to be on our team too. Such a fun event at church! Swim has begun in earnest. The Girl Who Swims has had her first meet, and to me, she looks fast! She will have a couple of meets a week until February. I'm sure glad we have stadium chairs to ease our sitting and watching times. This past weekend we got our tree at the same tree farm we've been visiting for year...

Dear Mom , Sorry we haven't been out to see you in a while... we've being taking advantage of the sunny afternoons to play while we can. Let me catch you up on what we've been doing. I took the home school girls out to Dallas Park for an impromptu picnic and exploration. This park has some of the fun 'vintage' play equipment that the kids love - like swings, merry-go-rounds, and teeter totters! You're never too old for a teeter totter.  There were plenty of leaves to crunch through too. We went across the bridge and explored the arboretum that is there. I had never walked through it, but I'm planning to go back in the spring when everything should be blooming. We saw plenty of new plants and trees (thankfully with signs to identify them) and I think it would be pretty to see when they are blooming. The creek was still low, so we went down and threw rocks in it, and saw the tiny fish that are there. Little K even discovered a crawdad (alth...

Dear Friend overseas, I haven't been too good at keeping in touch, and I apologize for that. But you know how summer gets around here! Let me catch you up on the month of August at least. I have to do that before I can post back-to-school pictures. The Cousins came to town. We're naming this summer the Summer of the Cousins. In July as I posted earlier, my kids got to hang out with all their paternal cousins - which hasn't happened ...ever. In August we had cousins come to stay at our place. Which involved the necessary trip to the Oregon coast, since it was in the triple digits at home! What a beautiful day it was too! No wind, warm and just about perfect. It also included the traditional damming-of-a-river. Some of them worked hard at it. We had the traditional fare at Mo's restaurant and ended the day with ice cream. We also spent one of the hot afternoons at a local aquatic center. I got up the courage to go down the big twisty slide, but no way ...