James' Long(er) Hair is Gone....

It's been about four years that James has worn his hair in a longer style. It all came to an end yesterday when he showed up after work with his new short faux-hawk. His job has a pretty strict dress code which includes hairstyle. He has for the most part kept his hair a bit shorter for work but not by much that one would notice. However, he was told by the "big, big boss" that he needed a haircut so when Mark was getting his hair cut, James got his cut also. Though, at the time I was there, his hairstyle stayed the same - just shorter and above the collar. When he got to work, he was told the big, big boss still would not be happy and he needed to go shorter. So after work, off he went back to our favorite hairdresser and friend and had it cut again. I almost didn't recognize him when he walked in and it was a total surprise. As much as I miss his long(er) hair, (and yes, I felt a bit emotional about it) I like his hair this way too. (I'm glad a took a picture earlier, just because, or I wouldn't have had a before and after shot.)

Random Pictures of Our Summer So Far....

Kaylie's New Summer Do!

Dear Blog.....

I've missed you. It seems such a long time since I've visited you. Life has been super hectic and busy as it always is during soccer season. This spring season was slightly different this year, as instead of 3 kids in soccer, there were only 2 this time playing. Kaylie decided to run track and I think we've got a track star on our hands. She excels at the 100 meter, 200 meter and relay. She has enjoyed it immensely all the while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. I watched with great pride on her Honor's night as she received her Presidential award. Mark's soccer team remains undefeated so far again, 4 years in a row. He's got a great team and a super coach and it's been fun watching Mark start to find his stride in the game. James' season is over - it ended on a win against Granger and even though James struggled with some of the coaching decisions, he proved what a great captain he is on the field and the leadership skills he possesses. Tryouts for club are in a couple weeks, so we won't have much time to rest before it starts up again! Schools almost over but until then, work is busy with CRT's - no rest quite yet!

A Recipe is just a Guide

I love to bake. I love to bake homemade bread, dessert breads, cakes, pies, cookies - you name it. Oh, I don't bake much anymore due to the fact that if it's in the house, I'll eat it. That and the fact that the weight just doesn't come off at all anymore! So, it's a rare occasion that I bake. But today was a day that I decided I wanted to make some peach muffins. I love the Sweet Memory canned peaches that are in a cinnamon and brown sugar syrup and I decided to use those to make the muffins. I always like to try out new recipes so I got on foodtv.com and looked up a recipe for peach muffins. I found one that I liked that had a pecan and brown sugar crumb topping and I got ready to make some muffins. Now, when I bake or try a recipe, I use the recipe as a guide and almost never follow it exactly. I'm not afraid to experiment! So as I'm putting together the recipe I modify, add blueberries, add cinnamon, increase the baking powder, add juice from the can of peaches, deleted the crumb topping, added pecans to the batter and decided my batter would make better peach pecan bread! So I lowered the temperature, poured the batter into 2 loaf pans, added pecans to the top of one loaf, and baked for an hour. I then added a light powdered sugar glaze over the top when they were done baking. Ohh, heavenly bread! The texture is a cross between dessert bread and a muffin so it it so incredibly moist and yummy! Wish I could share it with all of you, but the problem now with using a recipe as a guide, I don't think I could duplicate it exactly - I don't use exact measurements- I just eyeball. But this is definitely one recipe that I'm going to try and go back and write down all my changes!

Posting some Pictures

I've been busy, exhausted, stressed-out, and so busy that I haven't been on the computer in days and days, or checked my email or anything! Unfortunately when you don't keep up with your email on a daily basis, you end up with 500 (mostly junk) emails! I don't recommend that! I end up irritated and not wanting to get on the computer at all and just ignoring everything.
Mark had show and tell last Friday and brought Zorro. We did a little mini-lesson, kids had to even take notes - good for CRT listening section practice - and then we had crossword and word search puzzles for the class to do. Everyone thought Mark's lizard was pretty cool.
Just posting a few other pictures - James working on his truck, Zorro eating veggies on the kitchen counter, and Mark and Lauren sledding one weekend.
An update on Kaylie: she's now playing keyboards every Wednesday night for the youth band. She's totally jazzed about it and is doing a great job!

Woo Hoo, Way to Go Kaylie!

At 5:30pm tonight, Kaylie simply amazed me! She auditioned for keyboardist with the youth worship team and made it! She was so nervous she was literally shaking and even our quick prayer together before she went in did nothing to calm her. But she later said the minute she started playing, she wasn't nervous anymore. Watching her brought tears to my eyes, I was so proud of her. She really only had 3 days to practice these songs using chord charts instead of the normal piano sheet music that she has been taught. Heather, our youth pastor's wife, came over after church on Sunday to help her make sense of the notes; Steven, lead singer of Steadfast and singer with the adult worship team provided additional help to her on Monday after school. Kaylie has a gift with music and I knew that if she could understand the chord chart, she would be fine and she was, and she played perfectly! (I was trying to get a picture of Kaylie telling her Dad she made the worship team, but would not let me take her picture)
As as side note, we became proud owners of a new (to us) old (29 years) piano. Someone from church was giving away a piano that they were given (they didn't play at all) and can I say, Kaylie has just been giddy ever since! It looks mighty nice in our front room.
Also, James is now an official driver as of Monday. Though since he doesn't have a road worthy vehicle yet, it's basically in name only....but he's ready at least!