Happy happy day, we love you much.

My on ramp to the information super highway is still blocked off. I’m still not here. I also still don’t have anything to say but I can’t stand the thought of a rattle snake picture topping this page any longer. Speaking of rattle snakes my bare little toe came two inches away from stepping on one yesterday. That time I did scream like a little girl. The first little snake was a baby and I keep kicking my self for not killing it. I was too scared. I had a half intention of killing the giant one yesterday but by the time I got some real shoes on and a shovel I couldn’t find it anymore. I’m not sure I could have build up the nerve anyway. I don’t know maybe, you’d be surprised what a mommy will do when a rattle snake is after her baby. . .No it was pretty big and my babies weren’t anywhere near it. But they could have been…hmm this mama needs a little bit more courage.

Anyone out have any encouraging, affirming, exhorting, wise words about fear/courage?
Or if you don’t have any of that do you have a good Oatmeal cookie recipe, I’d love one of those too. After all oatmeal cookies are sure to calm a case of ophidiophobia.

My modem may have been fried by a recent lightning strike. What does this mean? Well you’ll probably be hearing even less of me than lately, if thats possible. (Of course with my rare posts I’m not sure there’s many of you left out there…)

For special occasions though I can walk myself across the road and borrow a little interenet access to share with you lovely pictures such as this:

Do you see what I see?
This my friends is the my first sighted snake of the mowing season. You’ll be proud I only screamed a little scream, not one that Joshua would describe as a “little girl scream” but one he’d say was a “grown up mommy scream”. Which apparently are a little more dignified or something. Hey, I even stuck around to finish the mowing. . .of course it was a riding mower otherwise I probably would have been in the house instead, I’m not one for hanging around snakes…
of any species.

Click on the picture above to see it closer up
The snake (in case you were wondering) was found behind our house in the volley ball court (other wise known to our family as “the sand box”). Eeeeeeek
You’ve seen other pictures of the kids and this “sand box” here and here. Year round it’s the favorite place to play.

Awh, the joys of living in the country.

I’m calling this a “Week Review” maybe it should have been spelled w-e-a-k. Cause I’m back to rambling again. Either way here’s what we’ve been doing:

Last Tuesday I had an unfortunate hair cut.

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We last talked on Wednesday when I whined about the impending doom that was the Track Meet’

In the end it worked out quite well, it was a lovely 72 degrees with only a slight breeze. Athletically the kids did much better, finishing second to last in stead of last. I’m not sure of the final results in long jump, high jump or obstacle course, I guess we’ll find that out at the Awards Assembly Tuesday night.
Here are a few pics from the day:

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Thursday was Kurt’s birthday, Happy Birthday Kurt.
Joshua and I spent the day doing laundry, making these oatmeal cookies and bolognese sauce for our Lasagna. It’d been a while since I made a baked lasagna so I forgot to keep the sauce a little runnier than usual. Our perfect slow cooked home made sauce turned out a little dry after the additional baking time. I was a bit disappointed but learned a lesson for next time. As for the cookies…well they had a good flavor but needed more oatmeal in them.

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Friday was a “snow day” so the kids spent the day running a lemonade stand. Problem being we live 15 miles from the closest town so the customers were a bit sparse. Things began to look up a bit when Grandma and Gramps showed up for a visit. . .5 hours later.

When they weren’t sitting at the stand they were sitting inside drawing pictures for a mother’s day present we were making for Kurt’s mom. I’ll share some of those pictures later

After a day of meager sales and illustrious art we had a nice dinner created by Mom and Grandma. Mom made us some yummy Philly Sandwiches and Grandma made us these delicious cookies:

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Saturday morning we slept in late. After waking up we spent a little more time with Grandma and Gramps before they headed back to Kansas. Then Kurt and the kids cleaned the mini van until it was sparkling while I finished up some Mommy Day presents and got us ready for a trip to Oklahoma to see Kurt’s family. The kids spent the afternoon playing in Nana and Papa’s back yard helping Aunt Shelly plant flowers. As soon as all the flowers were planted we invited Kurt’s Grandma and Grandpa Wingert over to cook hot dogs and roast marshmallows in the chiminea. For desert we had S’mores, Grandma and Grandpa had never heard of S’mores so we had to make sure they tried some before they went home. After we sent them home to bed the rest of us sat outside in the dark and talked around the fire for a few hours.

What a great day! The kids got to see four grandmas in one day. If it hadn’t have been so late we could have drove through Dalhart and visited the other two.

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Sunday Morn: Mother’s Day. Happy Day Mom!
We woke up at 6 and started getting ready for church. The kids and Kurt surprised me with two Willow Tree figurines, when you set them together it looks like me and my three children. Very Sweet.

At church I helped my pre-K class decorate flower pots for their moms that we later filled with whatever kind of flowers these are:

The children got a chance to perform a song for the ‘grown ups’ in ‘big church’ and did a fabulous job.

After church I was carrying around an armful of flower pots when I turned the corner and ran smack into Tory who was carrying the left over communion juice. It poured all over his shirt and pants. Lovely. My dress is fine.

A quick trip to the Chinese Buffet, the grocery store and Hastings to rent a few movies then we headed home. I tried to take a nap on the couch while Kurt and Joshua watched the race but Charleigh kept kissing me on the nose. Later the kids went outside and helped my Mom plant flowers before we knew it it was time to head back to town for Charleigh’s dance group. Recently a few high school girls in our church have put together a dance class/Bible study for the girls 1st through 6th grade. Charleigh has been wanting to take dance lessons for years now so this little arrangement was definitely a God send.

Joshua and I dropped Charleigh off at the church then headed to the Wal*Mart green house in search of some new herbs. We ended up buying some lavender and tarragon seeds along with a cucumber and strawberry plant. After waiting for 30 minutes to check out we ran a few more errands around town then found a couch in the church and took ourselves a nice little nap. When Charleigh was done we drove home and found Kurt had grilled up some hamburgers, yum. Nice husband.

Finishing the evening up we watched the Survivor Finale. Yes, folks we are Survivor nerds and on Tuesday you’ll find us watching American Idol.

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Now it’s today. Monday. Monday is boy scouts day. A nice 35 mile drive to boy scouts. It also gives us an excuse to visit some more Grandma’s. We love Grandma’s.

Oh, and as for the bad hair cut. I just highlighted it. It’s a well known fact: If you get a bad hair cut, blonder makes it better. It’s true, I don’t make this stuff up.

The Chipmunk
One day a chipmunk named Joshua met a cat named Jill. They played all day. They
had lots of fun. Joshua asked Jill if she wanted to go over to dinner. She said
yes.

The End.

Written by Charleigh

Good Morning, I thought I’d do a “catch all, catch up” post. Here’s we go.

Today at school the kids have their yearly “track meet/field day”. Fun! Fun! Oops sorry, you can’t hear my sarcasm can you. Last year’s event was a little taste of hell. Besides the heat, the repeated 1/2 mile walk back and forth between events, my roaming 3yr old and my bloodline’s amazing lack of athletic ability the wind blew all day and none of the other mommies would talk to me. Is that whiny enough for you. BooHoo the other mom’s don’t like me… Whaa Whaa. Honesty the thought of going back makes me a bit nauseous … Things really should be better today, Kurt is going to try and get off early so he can endure enjoy the day with me. It’s nice and cool outside, Joshua is a year older and much easier to hold on too and I decided to talk to those mom’s whether they like it not. Hey, I’m nice, right? People like me; and these ladies will too…whether they want to or not. Oh, and the kids have new running shoes and have been practicing running and jumping. Today certainly will be better, I’m sure of it.

Wait a minute there. Now listen, I don’t want anyone coming back and telling me I’m mean for talking bad about my kids athletic ability and how I shouldn’t push the kids too hard and how it’s ok if they don’t win each race. Yeah, yeah I know that, I don’t even mind if they come in last, I just don’t want them getting lapped. Each. Race. They. Run.

Moving on.
Tonight is WAR night at Bible Battalions, which stands for Worship and Rewards. The kids get to sing their songs then get their rewards for all the stuff they’ve worked on since Christmas. Hmmm…we haven’t actually been working on getting points and the kids haven’t been memorizing the verses…they brought no visitors…I’m not seeing any awards in our future.

This day is a plowed and fertile field waiting for God’s grace to rain down and set things abloom.

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This week’s Carnival of the Recipe is up, here are two recipe’s that stood out to me:

For Janae: South of the Border S’Mores

For Charleigh (the lover of all meatloaf): Meatloaf Florentine

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I never told you about my Surprise 30th Birthday Extravaganza. On Good Friday I was surprised by around 50 friends and family. It was FABULOUS, the room was filled with some of my absolute favorite people. I loved it, so sorry I don’t have many pictures, I was a little overwhelmed. I do have a picture of the Bday cake Julie made us:


Isn’t that cute! Oh and did I mention Amy was there too? Love ya Amy!

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Speaking of 30, remember when I said I was going to lose 6 pounds before I turned 30…well lets just say I now need to lose 12 pounds.

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Kurt came home last week with these great frozen POP makers called Twistix. I love these things, they are far superior to any other Popsicle makers I’ve tried. We’ve been making a double batch of their favorite breakfast smoothie in the mornings so I can freeze the rest and they get a yummy, no mess, healthy after school snack. Kurt said he paid somewhere between 4 and 5 dollars. No, this is not a paid ad I just wanted to share a little bit of happiness with my friends.

But if you’re looking for a paid ad and I’m sure you are (still can’t hear the sarcasm, sorry) If you guys plan on buying anything from
Christianbook.com
or Amazon.com come here first and link through my page so I can get a little $. When you click this page to shop you can feel good about things cause you’re helping buy shoes for bare foot kids. . .mine.

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When Rosie first debuted her daytime talk show in 96′ I loved her. The “Queen of Nice” who once threw koosh balls into the audience while sharing light-hearted banter, crafty ideas, and elaborate Broadway numbers somewhere took a turn for the “mean”. Now…well now I just wish she’d stop spewing hate and propaganda. Honestly, I’ve heard too many half truths from her I can no longer trust anything she says. This isn’t a new revelation, it came years ago… I just thought I’d share it with you now. It’s a little sad.

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Did you know if you sign up for the Hearitfirst.com newsletter you’ll get two free Christian music downloads each week as well as tons of other great perks which I don’t really know much about because I only have dial up. You really should go try it out, I’ve gotten some great songs from people like:
Toby Mac, Rebecca StJames, Nichole Nordman, 33 miles, Sanctus Real, and the News Boys
the list goes on and on.

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I think that’s it for now, I better get ready for the track meet. Water bottles? Check. Sun Screen? Check. Camera? Check.

Until next time,
Know you are loved.
Jami Leigh

Delicious!

Savory Gorgonzola Spread

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
4 oz Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese
2 Tbsp. chopped chives
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh sage

Mix till blended.
Enjoy with yummy whole grain crackers, crunchy pita chips, garlic toast or toasted bagels.

After a trip to town I came home craving something savory, I pinched some herbs from the front yard and mixed up a this fabulous spread. YUMMO! At first I thought I’d invented a fabulous new recipe, until just now when I found quite a few similar recipes online. Oh well, great minds think a like, right? Mine was the only one with sage though…I think I’ll go have some more.

Remember Friday’s Smiles Each Friday I used to list 7 random things that make me smile. The last edition was featured in July of ‘06. Since I’ve got nothing to say today I’ll send you to those old posts. After you’ve gotten a chance to read some come back and share with us some things that make you smile.

OK, I’ve been tagged. I don’t always play along but this time I will. The challenge is to show you what’s in my purse right now. I decided to join in because it’s been pointed out to me that I haven’t had any “personal” posts of late. I figure a gal’s purse is pretty personal so here you go. MY PURSE

First we have to figure out which purse I’m using right now.  I’ve got a few I rotate through, no I don’t rotate according to season or outfit. 
The change comes when whichever purse I am using at the time comes too close to
representing the rest of  my life: cluttered, unorganized, messy, and maybe
a little sticky.  When ever I get to the point when I can’t find my lip
gloss or keys then I clean out and move over to another purse.

Today,
you’ll find my belongings in this purse.  Cute huh?  Kurt bought it
for me last year for my Birthday.  It’s pretty big, most of my purses
are…at least the ones I use anyway…

Let’s take a little peek inside:  You know you want too…Here we go from
left to right.  On the upper left you’ll see the little zipper pocket,
we’ll get to it’s contents later.  The purse has two large open pocket
areas with a center zipped area.  Towards the front of the purse is an open
cell phone pocket and next to it is another open pocket.  On the outside
front are two small pockets with snap closures. 

Let’s get started, first we’ll pull out the contents from the larger open
area.  You’ll find my little pocket Bible I got from Kurt and the kids for
Mother’s Day 2000, along side is the ever important always loved, Nikon CoolPix. 
Oh how I love my camera, did I mention it has an 8.3 optical zoom.  How
Lovely…

Now for the wallet.  This is an old one that came with an old purse, I had
a cute little pink one that had a strap.  I really liked it cause I could
slip it on my wrist and leave the rest of the purse in my van.  Alas the
strap popped off and I found this one in the bottom of  my closet. 
While going through my wallet I found a pile of receipts, an expired PayPal
card, Library cards, appointment cards, a bunch of those store cards where if
you get enough "punches" you get a free latte/sandwich/burrito/ or 10% off
something or other.  I also found…oops three drivers licenses.  Yes
I know it’s illegal to carry more than one…I don’t know how they all got
there.  I’ll destroy the old ones after I’m done with this post.  But
hey, while we’re at it why don’t we compare pics.

The first headshot was taken when I was 19  Kurt and I had moved to
Dalhart after being married for 9months.  It took me a while till I got
around to getting a Texas License.  The second one was taken a week before I
turned 23, Amy Glazner kept Kaleb and Charleigh while I went to renew my
license.  When I got back we laughed about how the next time I’d have to
renew I’d be 30!  And finally the last one there I am…30, or a week before 30.  During
this picture I had Joshua hanging on my leg.  While I renewed the lady
behind the desk checked my eyes and asked general questions.  She read
various info about me as it came up on her screen.  At one point she
smirked at the monitor, turned her head and with a laugh said "You don’t
actually weigh 115 any more do you? We’ll have to update that"  Nice.

Another
thing you’ll find in my wallet is this dollar that belongs to Charleigh, I
haven’t given it to her yet because it is marked with
www.wheresgeorge.com and I haven’t
gotten around to going and entering it’s info.

Back
to the Purse.  Here’s a peek inside the middle pocket.

Let’s take a closer Look:
 

Here we find contacts, contact soloution, a Tide to go pen, Ile De Tahiti
Coconut Vanille spray, Excedrine, dental floss, powder, tweezers, clippers, a hair pick, and
a secret box with "secret" things .  You can also see a tube of my Pecan
Passion Totally Tempting Lip Plumper Gloss. Love this stuff, you’ll notice a bit
of damage to the lid, that’s due to it’s being ran over by my mini van. 
Still works, no need to toss it.  Oh yes there’s also a little bottle of Charleigh’s
nail polish, I have no idea how it go there, no idea why my toenails happen to
be the same color… I’ll admit to nothing.

On the inside small zipper pocket I’ve got two pens, another tube of the
lipgloss(It’s the exact same kind. I told you I like the stuff), two ponytail holders, two saftey pens, two pretty bookmarks, (in case
I find someone to give them too) and a pretty pewter stone with a dove engraved
in it.  That too is in there in case I find someone to give it to.  I
used to have lots of them but have already given the rest away.

On
the opposite side are two small pockets one carries my Sprint phone and the
other holds this note pad which I got from Kathy for my birthday, a pen from
Dalhart Abstract I got when we bought our house a few years ago, or maybe it’s
the one from when we sold it…anyway there’s also a green crayon, cause who
doesn’t need a green crayon.

Two
pockets left, in the first you’ll find a stretchy frog and lizard as well as a
blue matchbox car and a polly pocket.

The next pocket holds a fresh new pack of gum, this is thanks to Kurt, he
bought a box of 15 packs.  If it wasn’t for his supply I’d never have gum.

So there you go, my purse…do you feel closer to me now?  NO, where’s
here’s a picture of some of the trash I cleaned out. 

Julie at Paging Polly Prissypants has this weeks Carnival of the Recipes up. In search for quick and easy fare, she came up with quite a few…here are the ones that stood out to me.

Riannan shared a fabulous Rigatoni with Brie, Grape Tomatoes, Olives and Basil. Can’t wait to try that one! Except for maybe the olives, I’m not much of an olive girl…

We’ve gotta try out the Mushrooms a la creme next time we grill burgers.

Another soon to be favorite came from KeeWee’s Corner, I can’t wait to try the gooey lemony goodness that is sure to come with KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF SUPER EASY LEMON CAKE

There were quite a few good submissions this week, another great one was from Amanda at Eat…and be Merry. She shared a great story and recipe for Blueberry Muffins

Last week Revka at The Porch Light had a lot of great Carnival offerings as well. Her theme was Italian and I’ve already tried some of the great recipes.

My favorite find in last weeks carnival was more of an inspiration than the actual recipe. I’ve used The Common Room’s Basil Walnut Mayonnase in various ways. First I substituted toasted pecans for the walnuts added a bit of milk and extra virgin olive oil and made a Fabulous salad dressing. I mean FABULOUS! And good for you too, I used a light mayo so it was quite healthy. After making that dressing I was reminded of how simple it is to make a fresh dressing for each salad so I’ve been making all kinds of delicious concoctions.
Later I made the Mayonnaise recipe just as directed but served it over some tasty chicken breasts. The kids loved that one too. I look forward to trying it on a pasta salad like she did. I think it would make a great addition to any potluck. Yum.

With the theme of Italian there are so many recipes I’ve got to try from last week. One of them being the Spinach, Mushroom & Four Cheese Lasagna from Everything and Nothing. Yum! Let me know if you find any good one’s I’ve missed.

Next week will be hosted over at Trinity Prep School with an international theme. Submit your Recipe and join the party.