National Cheesecake Day

We've had a pretty quiet week here.  Nothing too exciting or noteworthy going on.  Just life.  Tonight we decided to go out to eat and use a gift certificate that good friends had given us (thanks so much!!) to Ch*esecake Factory.  Good food but large enormous portions!!  We got an entree and split it 3 ways.  More than enough, but ohh so tasty.  Bet ya didn't know that today is "National Cheesecake Day", did ya?  Well it is, and so the cheesecake was 1/2 off.  Even though we certainly didn't NEED cheesecake after our meal, we got it anyways.  It was as delicious as you can imagine.  Afterward, we walked around and attempted to work off a few of the thousand + calories that we had just consumed.  I don't think our leisurely stroll is gonna cut it though.  Sigh.  I LOVE cheesecake.  Too bad it is so bad for you.

Something for Everyone

Yesterday, there was something to be had for everyone. All you had to do was look...and sweat. Second hottest day of the year with 100% (at least it felt like it) humidity--and we picked it to host a garage sale. Sigh. At least we didn't melt away :)

CSA Week 5

J and the Noodle went to pick up the veggies yesterday and were thrilled with the goods. J has been commenting quite a bit lately how he has been hankerin' for some sweet corn. He LOVES fresh corn on the cob, so you can imagine how he felt when he saw what was in store. In our share, along with corn, also included: bib lettuce, tomatoes, beets, a red onion, a yellow pepper, garlic and green beans. The summer produce is in full swing!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy happy birthday!

My wonderful hubbie turns 36 today. I am so proud to be married to this man! He is a true example of a strong, Christian man and I am honored to be his wife. I love you!!

Reunion Part I

2010

2009

We hooked up with some of the families that we traveled in China with 2 years ago, at a picnic today. Some have gone back for their second (or third) and so there were new faces as well as familiar ones. Swimming, jumping on the tramp, swinging, eating, laughing and general mayhem were the order of the day, for both kids and dads--they were just as into it as the little ones. The mom's played it smart and stayed under the umbrellas to socialize. Thanks so much to our gracious hosts! We had a great time and took your advice RE: P*i Wei (the chicken teryaki w/brown rice, chicken pad thai and mango chicken w/brown rice were delish!!). Also, thanks Mr. E for catching up with us and returning the special vest. You're a "lifesaver"--tee hee!

1,2,3,4,5 JUMP!
WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!



Don't let the face fool ya--she loved every minute of it!

Garden Thief

WANTED:

We have a little thief who is running around our garden. Last seen, she was wearing some new, yellow boots and stuffing tomatoes and blueberries into her mouth as fast as she could. You may also recognize her by her chipmunk cheeks. If you have any info. on this little trickster, please let us know!

Referral Call Anniversary

Today is our 2nd year anniversary of "The Call". Right before we had left for our vacation down to Florida that year, the Lord had laid this verse on my heart:

"But forget all that--it is nothing compared to what I'm going to do! For I'm going to do a brand new thing. See I have already begun! Don't you see it? I will make a road through the wilderness of the world for my people to go home, and create rivers for them in the dessert!" --Isaiah 43:18,19

At the time, I thought the Lord was speaking to me words of encouragement for J, since we had just found out our current pastor was leaving to go to another church and that meant that J would be the one "in control", since he was the Sr. Warden. Not more than 3 days later, I realized that yes, the Lord was speaking about the church situation, but He was also speaking about our (soon-to-be new) famiy situation. As so often times happens, we can't see what the Lord is doing, yet He knows that things have already begun. He can make a road through the wilderness. He can bring streams into the dry lands. He can unite a little girl from China with her forever family halfway around the world. He can, because He is a mighty, awesome God and He never tires of miracles.

***If you want to read more about "The Call", go here

Ridin' the rails

Yesterday, 2 of the Noodle's little friends from church and their dads, who are also in bible study with J, went out to ride the rails with us. While taking a ride through the woods was fun, the really good times started when "Thomas" and "Toby" made their appearances. A grandson of another train club member was gracious enough to take the 3 little ones around and around and around, in a big circle, on either Thomas or Toby. They could have kept it up for hours. Eventually, the bigger boys wanted a try too, and even I ended up taking Thomas around for a spin. Moods are always high when Thomas is around!

Patiently waiting their turn at the "station".

The sweet "engineer" who kept the trains running regularly

CSA Week 4

J and the Noodle were getting creative--can you see that they made a veggie person's face? You have to really click on the image to see a bigger picture, but J's old glasses help "pull it all together". I guess that what accessories are suppose to do! The heat continues (I've heard it is all across the North and the NE) so we're doing as little cooking as possible. I finally made zucchini bread the other afternoon and the A.C. couldn't keep up! 2 of the kohlrabi got used up in a veggie curry we took to Lollie and Papa's (we still have 2 more lurking in the crisper drawer), but it didn't go over so well with the rest of the fam--I was the only one who liked it :(

This week we got: green beans, an eggplant, a cabbage, romaine lettuce, a yellow squash, another zucchini, one large white onion, beets, new potatoes, fresh basil and dill. With all the hot nights, our own veggie plants are growing like crazy. Our basil has taken off too, so making pesto is definitely on my to-do list. You use to be able to buy pine nuts at C*stco, but I haven't been able to find them lately. They were a good deal when I got them in bulk. Anyone priced pine nuts lately--exorbitant! I think I saw online that you can use walnuts, but I need to research this a bit further. If you have a good pesto recipe for me to use, I'd love to have it!

Wordless Wednesday

Swimming and Mahjong

Swimming lessons started yesterday, and we couldn't WAIT to get into the pool. The Noodle was very excited and since it was so hot, both J and I were looking forward to it too. She's still in the "parent/child" class, so we were paddling and splashing right along side her.


As it so happens, her instructor this year happens to be Asian. When she got home and cleaned up, she was playing with some Mahjong tiles that were sitting out. She turned to J and said "My swimming teacher is Mahjong." J stopped for a moment and said "That's right, your swimming teacher is Asian. We say that people from China, Korea or Japan (those are the 3 she's most familiar with since that is where Papa travels) are Asian". She then went happily back to clicking and stacking the tiles. What is so interesting to me, is that this is the first time that she has verbalized or indicated that she picks up on cultural/ethnic differences in people. She loves to notice things that are Chinese (i.e. Chinese characters, music, icons of China--Great Wall, etc.) but until this point, hadn't really figured out that someone from Asian descent has a different "look" than someone who is Caucasian. I remember from my child development classes that it is around 3-4 that children will begin to recognize differences in facial features, skin tones, etc. Just another sign that she's growing up, I guess.

Happy 4th of July!

We hope that you and your family have a fabulous Fourth of July. We are so blessed to live in a country that provides us so many freedoms. God bless the U.S.A.!

CSA Week 3

Time for honesty here--we're really falling behind on our veggies! We still have 2 zucchinis left over from the previous weeks as well as the kohlrabi. Aghh! We've been eating our veg like crazy, but still... Time for some zucchini bread and we're taking a kohlrabi/cauliflower dish over to Lolly and Papa's for the 4th--hee hee share the wealth I say :)

This week, we got: more kohlrabi, another zucchini, baby red potatoes, onions, a garlic head, 2 green tomatoes, red/green leaf lettuce, cilantro and REAL maple syrup. Yum! We've never gotten this before so I was excited to see that it was part of the "single" or half share. Usually the "family" or whole share gets the really good stuff. I can already taste the blueberry pancakes covered with real maple syrup that J will make us on Sat. Mmmmmm.