Sunday

Sundays are always full. Today we had two services (typical). The boys had a Chick Fil A blow out at the lake (atypical).

Josiah came over at the end of the evening and we enjoyed watermelon and ice cream. They tried tubing for the first time and so had many stories to tell us. I think one needs to wear TIGHT pants when indulging in this sport. ::snort:: Jamin and Jared went to spend the night at Cy's.

It's been a full day. I was thrilled to capture a few moments with 7 children at home...and I'm dreaming of August when for a brief span of time we'll have all 9 together in the CO mountains.

I have photos from Sat night - but they'll have to wait another day, I'm too tired to deal with loading them tonight. LOL

©2008 D.R.G.

Another Zanderism and One from Stacia

We have a lovely dog - Beatrix. She's 17 years old. We can't stand the idea of her aging - but she is. Mike has talked to the older boys to warn them of what may be approaching.

She is a pound puppy. We were told we were too rowdy of a family for her - but Josiah fell in love with HER at the pound. So we tried. She's been a GREAT family dog. She had been abused and has a crooked leg. The last few days she is having visible trouble moving, walking etc.

I told Zander, "Bea is a very old lady. She's over 100 years old in dog years." He looked at me and said, "Bea's an old lady? Huh - then whys her hair black instead of BLUE?" ::snort::

One more? This is from Stacia. She is opinionated. She is vocal. She has determined that if Krista (20 yo) is Zander's lover than Bre (23 yo) is HER lover. Today during an innocent conversation she told Miss Joyce, "I have a lover on a plane. Do you LUF my lover?" Joyce said, "oh my, where does she get these ideas?" and I told her we may not want to know what else Stacia was saying. LOL

Stacia has begun talking this week about her Bama and Bampa Plane (Grandman and Grandpa) and her Be (Bre) Plane and Krista Plane.

©2008 D.R.G.

Jamin/Jamir's First Published Newspaper Article.....

Feel free to click here and read Jamin's first article for the paper. Comments are welcome as well. LOL

Jamin says Jamir may make a nice pen name...though it was his last name we had worried about publishing. ::snort::
©2008 D.R.G.

ROCKETS

We've been running most the day. The highlight of the day, by a long shot, was watching Jared stretch as a leader. Jared, our 14 yo, has been working hard on a CAP project for the past few weeks. The local squadron had a rocket demonstration at a school around the block from us. The cadets earn rocketry badges by taking tests, building rockets and such. Today the plan was to demonstrate their models and to provide material for others to make paper rockets. They expected 20 - 30 people.

That all changed when Jamin advertised it in the paper. What a blast when they had over 100 people show up. They were busy all day showing kids how to make paper rockets.

Jared helps Zander and Nolan make a rocket.

Cody helps the boys attach fins


Then it was time to launch! I had been thinking we could make paper rockets at home and have a great time with this. No motors are needed to launch these....but this air tank and pipe contraption was a bit more involved than I had imagined. I'm not sure how to make one. I'll have to search the internet.


A cool thing happened because of the notice in the paper. A gentlemen from the National Association of Rocketry showed up. What a fun man. He gave the squadron one rocket kit. He asked to meet Jared (as he was the organizer) and gave him a rocket kit too. BUT they were nothing like THIS rocket. Can you believe this thing? It's TALLLLLLL.....and has a huge parachute that comes out of it.

This was the start of our busy day. I must go to bed now and try to post more photos tomorrow.....
©2008 D.R.G.

Love As A Way of Life Winner

Kristine from NE is the winner of this copy. For more on this book click here. \

Super Size Saturday

Cool Treats for *H*O*T* Days

I thought I'd take a break from "preaching" on Saturdays and share a practical tip. Hot summer days are amazingly wonderful......but they are H*O*T* if you live in the south!

Here are some of our favorite cool treats for summertime.

Fresh Fruit and Veggies: Obviously these make great snacks. Storing celery and carrot sticks in the fridge in water even makes them "cool"....but around here we need COLD snacks too.

Frozen Fruit: grapes, bananas, peaches, strawberries et al. We like to pop them in our mouth fresh from the freezer, occassionally I coat the bananas in chocolate and nuts.

Smoothies: We eat these year round but they are especially nice on a hot day. Honestly, they are nearly as good as ice cream AND they count as a serving or two of fruit. I use my frozen fruit in my smoothies to make the smoothie THICK like icecream. If you don't have frozen fruit, throw some ice cubes in.

My General Smoothie Recipe:1 large orange (or a couple of smaller ones) peeled and thrown in blender; 1/2 - 1 C yogurt (flavor your choice); 1 or 2 bananas; 1 - 2 C of other fruit - I usually use blueberries or strawberries, T of flaxseed oil, almond or vanilla extract. This makes a quart. If you find this too tart (we don't) add a T or 2 of honey or agave nectar.

Smoothie Pops: Freeze the smoothies in popsickle makers. Again a serving of fruit, cool and refreshing. I've also frozen them in ice cube trays. These can be eaten (a bit messy) or thrown in to the blender when making other smoothies.

Slushies: Deja got us started on these. We haven't been buying jucie but I have started buying a couple of types of no-color-no-preservatives-all-fruit juices.....NEWMAN O IS NOT HEALTHY but is yummy. We'll be switching to Minute Maid lemonade and pineapple/orangey that Deja likes. LOL I actually may try this with fresh squeezed orange juice and pineapple. Hmmm...

This is all you need

Pour juice in blender & add ice (I always have to add more juice)

Mmmm....Straw is essential around here

Enjoy

I did measure to make a personal 8 oz slushie: 1/2 C lemonaide, ice - 1 point (50 cal) I'd still rather have ice cream - but I like the cool treat without "spending" a lot of my daily calorie/point total. ::snort:: Deja has a cool blender with a spigot to make these and I'm thinking it would be so nice to have one that "pours easily" but it's a luxury at this point.

Click to read more Super Sized Saturday posts.

©2008 D.R.G.

Friday -

I didn't take a single photo.

Produce co-op filled the first 1/2 of the day.

I took Jamin to the library and stopped by the gym on my way home! YES - got those 5 negative points for the day. ::Snort:: I knew I'd need them because I had a Girls' Night Out coming. I know I have banked/bonus points but I wanted to stay within the days points. I did. Shew...and I ATE a full meal and a dessert at Peasant Village.

Morphed right into the evening here.....I went out with the Chaplain's wives for a girl's night out. It was a great time for all to meet Tammy (our new wife) and to visit with Mandy (dh is deployed). Martha, Tammy and I walked over to catch the water lilies but it was still to early to see the spectacular blooms.

Jared spent the afternoon with Josiah. Josiah came over for the evening. Jamin was off. They had pizza and were watching an old Don Knotts movie when I got home. We finished out the rest of Family Friday Night. I love watching Stacia demonstrate her love for her big brothers. When Jared left to spend the afternoon with Josiah and later when Josiah left to go home she had to walk out to the car and told them she loved them and promised she'd see them again. I've decided to follow her lead with friends and family. I may not tell my friends I love them each time they leave my home....but I could follow them out to the car and let them know that even the small leave takings are important to me. LOL

A well-rounded day.

©2008 D.R.G.