Thai Dinner Club, Die Hard Ice Cream Socialites and Camping

Neighbors Anne and Kevin hosted our recent dinner club and we enjoyed Thai food. It's so fun to try new recipes and get together with friends. Our hosts prepared the main course and we all brought side items. Our dish was chicken satay with peanut dipping sauce. Pictured in the photo is Ellen, Deanna, Julie and Anne. You can see more photos from the evening here.

Another fun neighborhood event (although a little chilly) was the first ice cream social. They are scheduled throughout the summer months and last year it always managed to rain or be generally yucky on ice cream night. This year's first followed the same pattern. There was a break in the rain, so Margaret (who organizes the event) and I started scooping. Helen arrived and said, "Well, you must be die hard ice cream socialites to brave this weather!" I guess we are. (Click here to see the photo album.)

We had a visit from John's cousin, Scott, who was in town for a bachelor celebration for a friend who will marry at the end of the summer. We look forward to the wedding, when Scott's wife and two kids, as well as our Uncle Rick and Noreen will come too!

We went on our first camping trip to Jackson Lake, about an hour and a half northeast of here. We joined our friends, Joe and Wendy, who took us out boating.

The first night was a little stormy, but the second night was more mild and we got to have a campfire, which of course is one of the highlights of camping. We roasted perfect marshmallows, (Lily toasted her first all by herself!) lit sparklers, and we have a new favorite camp recipe: baked bananas. Yum! We will definitely have to make those again on one of our next camping trips. Later this month, John will be taking the kids to Montana camping, while Julie is in Kansas for TAC's Annual Seminar and together we will all travel on a 10-day trip to the Tetons, Yellowstone, Flaming Gorge and Bear Lake in Utah. (Click here to see all camping photos.)

Summer Fun: Digital I Spy

Well, raindrops inturrupted what was a glorious day of outside play, so after the kids were tired of crafts, we tried something new: Digital I Spy.


Jack has been taking pictures with our old digital camera and putting the SD card into his Wii to play slideshows. This gave me an idea for a game. I gathered up a few flash cards, busied the girls with something else and took him around the house, placing each card on an item that had an interesting pattern or texture. We took about 10 photos on the macro setting, then played them back for the girls to guess what the item was. They were so excited when they guessed what the item was.


After a little practice, they got the hang of it and the girls did one round for Jack. This has been great fun! Hopefully tomorrow they can play outside and I can try to get something done in my studio!



Are you a mom looking for kids' activities? Go here! Rocks in My Dryer

Pancake Morning

Memorial Day was a little cool here, so we

started the day with a pancake breakfast, to warm us up. Kate and Lily both helped mix and flip.

We made our favorite: letter pancakes. My mom, Lois, started the tradition when I was a kid. She had a large French's mustard container that she would fill with pancake batter, so she could precisely write the letters to our names. What fun! When I had kids, she even gifted me a recycled mustard jar so I could carry on the tradition, which of course, I have!

Well, with all sorts of new packaging on the market, I've added an additional letter pancake dispenser to my arsenal. It's from a squeezable jelly container (and it has a little wider mouth so I can pour the batter directly into the dispenser.)

I also have another favorite tool, which I feel is absolutely essential if you have kids, but even if you don't, it's super handy. It's a plastic pizza cutter. You need a nice sharp metal one too, but this plastic version is safe for the kids to use and it won't damage your Dora the Explorer plastic plates or non-stick bakeware. You seriously need this thing if you cut your share of pancakes, waffles, pizza or almost anything that you want to turn into bite size pieces in a hurry. If you have a helper in the kitchen, it's an even better tool---what could be more wonderful than a kid that is learning that cooking is fun and she can do it all by herself!

May Days

The days in May go by so quickly! Here are some of May's happenings:

Jack graduated from a Bear Cub Scout to a Webelo. He did trail clean-up recently and will ride a float in our Parker Country Festival Parade. He and John attended an all-day first aid and safety training that is part of his Webelo training. This important info may be helpful during the guys' outdoor trips together--all part of being prepared!

Kate and Julie wrapped up their year of Brownies with some fun outings, which were funded by the girls' cookie sales. They all went skating together even had an overnight trip! They stayed over at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, an hour south in Colorado Springs for the Wild Nights program. They toured the zoo after everyone went home, had s'mores, slept in a lodge building and then visited with the animals again in the morning, just as they were waking up and being fed. We got an intimate and informative tour of the animals and beautiful mountain surroundings.

Julie celebrated a birthday (reluctantly) this month; her 37th. It's actually a week of celebrating, with Mother's Day falling around the same time, so there were flowers, breakfast in bed, window shopping, eating out and other fun stuff. We also had some nice weather, amidst what has been a cool spring so far. One of her gifts was a new laptop (wow!) and it is such a treasured gift, since it's such a useful tool for preserving and enjoying pictures and videos of family events-- and for sharing them with you!

Memorial day brings the end of the school year for the kids. They are now in 4th and 2nd grades! We celebrated by having s'mores and a sleepover in the camper, which we had set up out front to get ready for the season. (Some of the kiddos in the photo just joined us for s'mores, but we did have 6 kids and 2 parents in the camper all together!)

Poetry Tea and Collecting Art

A fun near-end of school activity was a Poetry Tea that the third graders hosted. We got to hear them read some of their favorite poems from the year, as well as a neat poem about fireflies that was read by the entire class in two voices. They learned about different poetry styles and wrote some very interesting pieces.

Everyone agreed that Jack's poem, Pranks, was very appropriate for him. His other favorite selection, which he read is Green. Here they are in text and below and I'm hoping to upload video excerpt. I love hearing the kids written ideas and I'm so excited to be able to share them with you electronically. (Don't you love the Internet?)

Pranks
People like pranks.
Really funny to do.
Any time I'll play pranks.
No one catches me.
Kate my little sister yells at me when I do them.
Sometimes hanging dolls from the neck.
Trouble around my house is pranks.
Everybody gets fooled.
Rely on me for pranks.

Green
Green is like rock.
Green is very colorful.
Green is wet.
Green is my sister's favorite color.
Green is shiny.
Green is slippery.
Green smells weird.
Green tastes bad.
Green sounds like splashing.
Green feels smooth.
Green makes me happy.
Green is wonderful.

We've also been receiving lots of this year's artwork, which has been hanging on display at school. I'm adding a slideshow of kids' art in the column at left or you can see it by clicking here.

Kids in the Kitchen

The girls had a lot of fun the other night making a family favorite: baked clams. Lily was in charge of laying out the shells (which we got from Nana G and we reuse every time). We also let her stir for a little while. Kate filled the shells and sprinkled them with Parmesan cheese. They did a great job working together, and it is such a treat for Julie to have kiddos that are clamoring to help out with the cooking!

Official Cub Scout Business

Cub Scouts Jack, Ryan and Pepe from Den 3, Pack 369 performed the official flag ceremony at Parker Colorado's town council meeting last night. After visiting with the Mayor for last minute microphone instructions, Jack gave the color guard commands for the posting of the flags and led the Pledge of Allegiance for the beginning of the meeting. The boys were in awe of our town hall, with its cool video and sound system and how the meeting was attended by so many official-looking people, including officers from the Police Department!

Scouting has given Jack so many opportunities to learn about our community. Last weekend, during trail clean-up, we found a weathered, old lost wallet. Since he had learned about the police station and some of its functions last year, we returned to the station with the wallet so they could find its owner. We are lucky to live in such a great place and we feel even more fortunate when we can give the kids experiences that show them how they make our community even better!