July 11th

This is how we started our yesterday; the kids were picked up by my in-laws and three cousins for a day of fun in the heat and city. They were headed for the IMax showing of Under the Sea narrated by Jim Carrey, and then lunch out on a pier over looking the water and boats, back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for water fun and a sleepover. Kissing them out the door at 10 am meant that the rest of the summer day was just for my husband and me. We spent our day in our backyard in the sun talking. The! entire! day! and it was awesome.
This is how we finished our yesterday; we celebrated my husband's sister's 40th birthday at a Jazz Club in the city. She is a gal that loves shopping, fashion, interior design ... and a good chick flick movie. When she told me that "The guy who sings all the Father of the Bride songs" was playing at this club, I knew her husband had planned the perfect party for her.
Steve Tyrell sang the night away and he is a great entertainer. Telling stories between sets about the song he was going to sing ~ background of when the song was written, or about the artist, or about what inspired the famous creation. By itself it was a fantastic evening listening to him perform. However, the highlight by far was that Tyrell clued in quickly about my sister-in-laws party and her celebration. Oh yes, he sang to her, and weaved her name in his songs multiple times in the night ... in both shows (our cover charged got us into both shows and he sang different songs). I think her smile, laughter, and tears showed her appreciation and enjoyment of her special day. He really was fantastic at working the crowd and making her day unique.And then, look at this fabulous cake!! Her friend bakes amazing theme cakes "just for friends" although it is known that every one shares with her that she needs to open her own cake bakery. Not only is this cake fantastic to look at with all the detail and completely edible (including the car keys on the side), but it was delicious!! You know how sometimes a cake looks good but flops? This had the whole deal. Bravo to her friend!

Good Kings come in small packages

The Music Camp performance of Good Kings Come in Small Packages was performed last night at our church. All the children in camp did a fantastic job. It is amazing and awesome to see the group of 35 students grades 3 to 6 share in a week of team work and devotion to put on a fun and exciting program. The directors, a husband and wife team who are leaders at our church, along with their two main adult assistants (who coordinate the choreography and working with the soloists), are all so talented themselves that it works so well in organization during the week.

A few short examples of the night's program featuring my daughter and son, of course ...

Video #1: My daughter, starts second from the right (blonde), as a Tax Collector
Video #2: My daughter, front, as a Tax Collector
Video #3: My daughter on the left of the duet while my son is on the stairs dressed as Joseph
Video #4: My son as one of King Amon's Guards playing the horn

FedEx delivered

Our new pool arrived on Wednesday and by Thursday afternoon friends were over taking a dip. Never mind the fact that it was barely 70 degrees outside with peek-a-boo sun. The "we'll just get our feet wet" as the pool was filling up, turned into a "full body dip with suits". Better them than me.

The fearless foursome:

His Apple Streudel Recipe

Yesterday my daughter had a date with my mom after camp. That left my son and I alone for a date. I had picked up some ingredients to make a new recipe. Cooking is one of my son's favorite past times. With the Food Network Channel in the background, he was pumped and ready to go.

I found this recipe in the Weight Watchers 20-Minute Recipes magazine that I picked up about half a year ago. It seemed like a good thing when I bought it, but it quickly got stuck in between my cookbooks like many things.

It was super simple and tasted wonderful!! Thank goodness one batch only makes 8, otherwise we would have just had more and more and more. It would be great with vanilla ice cream or whip cream, if you really wanted to indulge. But that would probably take away from the Weight Watcher's purpose. Supposedly one Streudel receives 3 points.

My son likes to retitle recipes to make it his own, so here it is:

HIS APPLE STREUDEL

1/2 of a 12 oz package of Stouffer's Harvest Apples*
8 oz can refrigerated reduced-fat crescent dinner roll dough
1/4 tsp apple pie spice (cinnamon is what I used)
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 to 1 1/4 tsp fat-free milk

Preheat oven to 375 degress. *I could not find this brand of apples at my grocer so I used 1/2 of a 12 oz can of apples that was found in the baking/pie section. If you use a can, you can skip this next step. Otherwise, if you use frozen, then microwave the apples until thawed, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Unroll the dough; separate into 8 triangles. Combine apples and spice; spread about 2 tablespoons apple mixture onto each triangle. Roll up each triangle, starting at wide ends. Curve to crescent shape. Place rolls, point side down, on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray (I used Parchment Paper).

Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden.

For the frosting, combine powdered sugar and milk. Drizzle over warm Streudel. Eat warm, either fresh from the oven, or warm in the microwave about 10-15 seconds.

YUM!!!! And any left over apple mix can be used warm over ice cream or on top of the Streudel.

Slurping my words

I was on a camp schedule; running errands to multiple locations with in three hours and I was ahead of schedule by seven minutes. I was driving by a Starbucks and a last minute thought crept in that had me turning to treat myself to a Vivanno with the gift card my husband had given to me the night before.

I could have easily pulled in front of the car that was headed towards me, but I didn't, and instead allowed them to pull into the drive through line first. But then I realized the line got longer real quick as they had four people in their car. I am one who likes plenty of time to get to places when there is a deadline and as I glanced at the clock I wondered if I had made a right choice. I started to feel a little panicked as the cars pulled up close behind me. I was trapped.

As I sat, watching the pay window do transaction after transaction with no real improvement of moving forward, I really began to worry I would be late. But being late would really have not been the end of the world, the Directors of Music Camp don't rush out the door as soon as Noon hits; my children would still be there waiting for me safely. It is the principal of being late that I do not tolerate of myself. It drives me crazy.

"Ahhh, enough already! Just get your drinks and move please!" were the words I think I said quietly out loud in my car to the four-passenger vehicle ahead of me. Finally they did. As I pulled up to the window the Starbucks employee apologized for the long delay and I said with a sweet smile, a complete lie, "Oh, no problem." I was handing her my gift card when she announced, "This one is on us. It's free. You had to wait too long." Gulp. I felt horrible. Complain, complain, complain under my breath, and I get something for free.

So I slurped my Banana Chocolate Vivanno all the way to church in a feeling of guilt. And yes, I was five minutes early ...

New Red Bike

We have noticed how quickly our son has grown from last summer. Sometimes it takes a break in the normal routine to notice that it has happened before your eyes.

My son stopped swimming last September. He returned swimming this summer and what a difference in size; his shoulders are above water when he stands and his wet head looks more mature. Not to mention his endurance and quality of strokes have improved too.

My son stopped riding his bike last October due to winter weather and not so great Spring. He rode during Spring Break, once, and it was border line. But when he took it out of the garage for the summer, the bike had shrunk considerably. It was almost painful to watch his knees get so close to the handlebars and his shoulders hunched well over the frame.

While my daughter and I were at Drawing Class this evening, my husband took our son surprise bike shopping. They came home shortly after we did with a new Red Bike!

My son loves it .... "I don't have to pedal so hard to make it around the street!" It now looks effortless to ride and it glides with ease.

Current day and memories

Today marked the start of the five day camp for my kiddos at our church. It is a Music Camp for three hours per day with the end result being a musical performed on Friday evening for family, friends, and the congregation. This is my daughter's third year, my son's first. She has been practicing throughout the month of June on her lines and on all the songs, whereas my son started off strong, and quickly faded. When I picked them up at noon, my son came running across the gym with a smile. He was so excited and had a fabulous first day. I am glad his lack of motivation going into today did not hinder his fun. He definitely got recharged!

While they were at camp, I met my mom at Starbucks. It seems like we've been out of touch since our crazy non-stop schedule in June and the first two weeks of summer. Out of touch, as in, not going to Starbucks or meeting face to face in some other location. Do we talk otherwise? Absolutely! Like daily. Either via email or phone. But there is something about face to face conversations that are just the best.

While we were Starbucking, we planned the food portion of our camping trip adventure that takes place at the end of this month. Two kids, four adults, and one puppy spread throughout one trailer and one tent. We are flipping coins on who gets to sleep with the puppy, who is actually a 40 pound love-bug with a lick that would keep anyone awake. Cora will be vacationing at her favorite location; back at her first love, Carrie's house, at Talbot Hill Beagles among the array of beagle friends and puppies. She will be in perfect hands and always returns worn out; a happy sign.

Last night I finished the book, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, that I picked up from the library on Friday afternoon. It was not a very thick book, so don't think I spent my entire weekend behind the pages. But I obviously relaxed enough. I am number 22 on the wait list at the library for book number two in this series. Boo. I may have to find a bookstore tomorrow.

I enjoyed the book; it was something different than what I've been reading and reminded me of some of the books I read in my all-time-favorite literature class in College. I enrolled in one Summer Semester to speed along my college career (you know, I met this guy and we fell in love, and I wanted to graduate, etc, etc,etc) and one class was Literature where we read books all summer long, and wrote reviews, and had book club type of discussions; it was the best! Since it was the summer, I lived at my parent's house and commuted to school. I remember sitting out back on their hammock or up in their den with all the windows open, reading and sipping on my mom's amazing sweetened ice tea. And then sitting in class discussing the books with the heat pounding through the open windows and the sparse number of students walking nearby on the way to the grassy lawn; with shorts on and my white Buick Skylark parked in the lot, and the car phone with cord and antenna pushed far into my book bag (cuz those were hot enough items back then, that people would actually break into cars to retrieve them). I remember all of that as if it were yesterday .... but I can't remember any of the book titles or specifics. Too many years have passed since '92. That's sad!

But on a brighter note and back to current day ~ it's been a great Monday!