Bum Burp?

Kobe (3): "Mom, Zane just had a bum burp!"

Me: "A bum burp? Do you mean a fart?"

Kobe (3): "Yeah, a fart."

*Warning: This post has descriptive grossness. If you don't want to read about an insect being tortured, stop reading now.

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Tammy is a fellow mom of all boys.

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She's a great 'boy mom'.

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She has a sense of humour and doesn't only tolerate gross things, she often initiates them.

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Tammy's husband had a mosquito biting him on the face. She'd heard that if you pinch the skin, they couldn't get their 'stinger' out and they would explode from taking in too much blood.

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Dennis stood there patiently letting Tammy pinch his cheek and the mosquito draw his blood.

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Guess what? It worked. The mosquito exploded!

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You can view Dennis' blood on Tammy's glasses and on her face.

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Gross!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

Mary, a fellow 'Mom to all boys', asked for my chocolate chip pumpkin cookies recipe.

Here goes:

1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened

1 1/4 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 c. canned pumpkin

2 c. flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp ginger

1 c. raisins or chocolate chips

1 c. chopped nuts

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in 1 egg at a time. Add vanilla and pumpkin.

Stir remaining ingredients together and add. Mix well. Drop by spoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375F for 15 minutes until lightly browned.

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Very important: Don't forget to lick the beater!
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*I use pumpkin from my garden that is mashed and frozen. If it looks much more liquidy than canned pumpkin, I try to spoon off some of the liquid before using.

*I undercook my cookies just a touch to keep them extra-chewy.

Rippin' Up Our Yard

My boys love speed.

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My boys love height.

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My boys thrive on adrenaline.

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I'm bracing myself.

(Kobe wanted to wear his Tigger costume. Next thing I know,

Dwayne has him on the quad.

Go Tigger!)

Pioneers & Wheels

A contest? We're in!

How did 'wheels' help our pioneers when settling here?

Dylan (7)

Kobe (3)

Fathers' Day Fun

Fathers' Day started out with Mr. B's van driving by to alert the village of the pancake breakfast at 9am. He comes by to announce all 'major' events in our town. You hear echoing for awhile before you clearly hear, "Good morning, ______(our town)! It's a beautiful mountain morning so come on out and enjoy..."

There's something oddly comforting in hearing that voice on the loudspeaker. Small-town comforting.


After the pancake breakfast, some childrens' races at the park, and church, we headed out to a friend's farm for some noisy, gas-guzzling fun.

Safety first!

...or not!

My little Dylan was riding a dirtbike for a good portion of the afternoon. I didn't get one decent picture of him. These are some of our friends' children. Sorry Dylan, maybe next time I'll get some good ones.

Wholesomeness

There is a family that we have gotten to know in the last few years.

They are fascinating to me because:

-they have raised/are raising 9 godly children.

-they moved to the Philipines when she was pregnant with her 4th child and had no idea that the Lord would have them serve there for 17 years before returning.

-their children seem so 'wholesome'.

-when you drive in their driveway, it's like entering a different world - a world of friendliness, eagerness, respectfulness, authenticity.

-the children have been trained to be true servants.

-their 16-year-old daughter can keep a house better than I can.

-they desire to be around our family and seem to genuinely enjoy our visits.

We were recently invited to their youngest son's birthday party. Here are some pictures to show of the celebrations.

duck...duck...duck...duck...


...goose!

What time is it Mr. Wolf?

LUNCHTIME!

Today we helped celebrate one of their daughter's wedding. It is a big year for them - two weddings, their first grandbaby and a possible move back to the Philipines.

We are so blessed to know this family! I pray that our friendships continue to develop.

Exploring Our Back Yard

This summer I decided that we would school part-time. We'll stick with Bible, Science and Math. This will give us a chance to take a nice break when our new baby comes along in October.

For science, we will be studying plants and animals. Summer time is the most logical time to study these, so it is a perfect fit.

For this lesson, we explored the many plants right in our backyard. We took a magnifying glass and looked at everything that looked interesting...

After we were finished our observations, Dylan chose 3 different plants to draw in his sketchbook. He informed me later that "it was the best school day EVER!" That's what I like to hear!

Fun In The City

Subway tastes so much better when you eat it at the park...

I know...look at their ribs. I do feed them - honest!

It doesn't help that the water was shockingly cold and making them suck in.

Great Grandparents

Dwayne's grandparents came down for a visit.

They spoil the children with attention and sweets. Would you expect any differently from Great Grandparents?

We took them out on a morning quad trip.

It was a relaxing way to spend some time with them 'boy style'.

We saw many marmots. They are disgusting and they weren't much afraid of us. I was a little worried they might dart up our pants or something.

We did some other sight-seeing, took them to a church bbq and had a great visit with them. They're the main thing we miss from our hometown. We'd love to live closer to them, but we'll take what we can get.