Peach Season is Here!

First it was the blueberries and now the peaches have ripened here in Western Michigan. Kevin and I took full advantage of the season this week by going to one of our local orchards and picking about 15 pounds. We've been eating peaches like crazy ever since. Not a bad thing either when you bite into a peach and juice literally splatters on all your clothes. These peaches have been heavenly. Thank you Crane Orchards for a beautiful crop!

Next week apple season starts. Kevin and I go a little berserk during this time as well. We pick so many varieties and types our taste buds get confused. Hmmm..I can't wait!

With all this fresh fruit, I've been trying my hand at some new recipes. I've had a couple winners. The crumbles have by far been the best, but I'm holding my own in the pie department, as well. Not even close to my moms outstanding baking skills, but I'm learning a bit more each year.

My Toothless Wonder

Jordan lost another tooth last night
The Tooth Fairy has been kept busy at our house
How many holes can you have in your mouth and still eat right?
Jordan tells me the girls will still think he is cute...I completely agree!!

In addition to my Olympian Caleb, I have another star on my hands. This time it is Jordan. He tells me he is trying to look like a Jack-O-Lantern before Halloween, and I'll tell you what. He's succeeding! The kid keeps loosing teeth. Two more have fallen out this week, and he's loosening a third.
Kyler wishes it would be closer to Christmas so Jordan could sing "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" with pride. Already Jordan's "S" sound is slurred so I can only imagine what he will sound like if he looses the other top tooth!
All I know for sure is that school pictures should be memorable this year.

Happy Halloween in August!!

Team Caleb

My Future Olympian

I have a wanna be future Olympian and his name is Caleb. He is almost as obsessed as I am when it comes to watching the summer games. The only difference is I prefer to watch in my pajamas and slippers, and he prefers to dress for the occasion. If swimming or diving is on he has to grab a funky pair of rainbow goggles he unearthed in his toy box, set out his diving board (which in actuality is a step stool), and he dives and swims away (a little tough to do on carpet, but somehow he manages). And just so you all know....he's as good as Michael Phelps. In fact, it's possible he is better merely because he wins gold whether its the men racing, women racing or the team relays. He's easily up to a couple dozen golds by now. And diving...well let's just say Caleb is superb. Time after time he belly flops to the ground since he has to dive whether it is the Chinese, Russians, Canadians, or Americans turn to go. I'll give him a 10 for difficulty and a 9.5 for execution.

Diving and swimming are not all Caleb is great at. He also happens to be the best gymnast around. Natasia better watch out, because when the gymnasts walk out it signals Caleb to grab his horse (step stool again) and balance beam (mom and dads pillows), and whatever else he finds that resembles gymnast props. When they jump...he jumps. When they flip...he flips (rolls is a way better term here, but really roll does have quite the same oomph). When they are on the high bars...well he raises his arms higher. You get the drill. More and more gold medals are around this kids neck by the minute.

Last night we watched something new. The 4 x 100 relays were on. Caleb saw the men warm up and out came the runner within him. He grabbed his relay stick (happens to be a frozen gogurt bar) and ran circles around his dad passing the stick as he went. Again, Caleb triumphed. He managed to make clean passes 9 out of 10 times. No dropping the relay stick for him (sorry U.S. Men and Women...I guess you should have chosen Caleb as your anchor...you may have made it to the finals). This morning the gogurt reappeared and he practiced with Kyler.

I can't wait to see what tonight will bring.

Ooohhh....Maybe Ribbon Dancing...Keep your fingers crossed!

Way to go Team U.S.A. and Team Caleb!!

No T.V...Horror or Happiness?

Playing at Kollen Park
Jordan trying out a balancing act.
Jordan and Kyler
Caleb (with his reqested mohawk hair style) and Kyler
Somewhere there's a bear back there.
Obviously, something has caught their eyes.
My son...the Lion
And how about a pirate? I wonder which one would win the fight!

Last Saturday our satellite went out, which meant very little T.V. for a few days. We did pull out the rabbit ears and ended up getting a fairly decent reception to watch the Olympics at night, but other than that, our T.V. was mostly powered off. I figured I would have oodles of time to blog, read, scrapbook, and whatever else came to mind. But, the reality of no T.V. didn't seem to give me any of those extra free moments. I managed to NOT read a single page of my book (other than my scriptures...I try and read those every morning while quietness is in the house. That's my peace for the day). I still have 6 months of pictures piled up on my desk begging to be scrapbooked, which has sadly lost my interest over time. And I didn't even catch up on my blogging (this is mainly due to the fact that I inadvertently left my camera home almost every time we went out of the house). Needless to say, I failed these minor goals, but our family still ended up having a pretty fun weekend minus a T.V.

We went to the zoo and the kids got to paint their faces for FREE (one of my favorite words and a bonus for mom and dad)! We had a great barbecue with our friends, the Richards. We released 3 more monarchs (and somehow managed to find 4 ..wait it might be 5 new ones... and the cycle continues). We had a fun playdate at the park. We finally pulled out a bucket and washed our Van and cleaned out the garage, and swept the deck. All of that, and I also managed to pull together a pretty good Webelos calendar since I am now the Webelos leader and I needed a 4 month plan of action. (Whoever thought I would be great in scouts might have had a little too much Nyquil last night. Remember I'm the girl who doesn't even like to camp...I guess we'll find my inner scout somewhere)

My biggest surprise was that I realized I didn't really miss having the noise of the television going throughout the day. Sure, I loved watching the Olympics at night (I'm a bit of a junkie), but it was quite refreshing to focus on things other than what might be playing on T.V. at the moment. They came and fixed the satelite yesterday, so life will resume as normal, but I think the boys and I will be pulling out our Fablehaven book today, and minor miracle here...I am even managing to put together a blog entry this morning. I guess I'm still not missing the tele that much....Not quite enough to tackle my scrapbook problem, but maybe eventually! Hmmmm....Perhaps if the electric goes out! That would mean no T.V., no Internet, no cooking, augggh...no light. Okay...it was just a thought.