Hot Rolls

This weekend I went to visit friends in Branson. I needed some time away and I wanted to be in the place that brings me so many happy memories. To your surprise, none of them involve Shoji Tabuchi. And we have good friends that moved there in March and I haven't seen them since then!

I was able to hang out with Bill & Maria and their sweet little one, Nathan. And spending time with some of the girls in their summer program, Discipleship Focus, was really good for my heart. Discipleship Focus helps staff Silver Dollar City for the summer with Young Life leaders from cities all over the United States.

And my visit back to Kanakuk for the first time in 10 YEARS was truly blessed. I believe that God carved out time for me with people that he knew I needed to see and talk with. It was hard to leave, but I know I will be back soon.

Would you believe that I didn't even take any pictures? I had my camera the whole time but I was too immersed in just hanging out and enjoying my time there that I didn't think of that until I was back on Highway 65 heading north. So in lieu of photos from this weekend, I'm including a couple pictures from my years at K-Kountry that really make me smile.


Me & Daley Niederhofer


Barn 8 Ski Trip day on Taneycomo Lake

On the way out of town I stopped into Lambert's to get a half dozen rolls. They're awesome - even when they aren't thrown at you.

Belated 4th of July Post

I had a few pictures from the 4th that I wanted to share. We had a great day and squeezed in a parade and fireworks between the rainstorms all day. Gotta stick with traditions! So first we had the parade in Webster with the Ewings and then a picnic and fireworks at night with the Nevils. I'm already looking forward to next year.


Miss M painted an American flag at school and I turned it into a cute door hanging.


Two cute girls watching the parade.


Another cute girl modeling my 2-year old's headband.


More parade watching.


A 4th of July cutie.


The Clydesdales served as the Grand Marhsals.


Ending the day with a bang.

Boundaries

The other day Miss M was working on a project. She asked her daddy how to spell "babies". Without any help from us, she finished this sign and taped it on her door.



If you can't tell, that is a baby with a "No" symbol around it. Instead of making me sad that she doesn't want JJ in her room, this makes me proud of her being assertive and creative at the same time. And I know that JJ won't let a sign stop her so I'm not too worried. And the fact that they look for each other in the morning when they wake up and get all excited to see their sister.

Early Birthday Present

My Uncle Richard is so thoughtful. He brought me this beautiful table all the way from Colorado. I admired my Great-Grandma Irma's almost-identical table when we were in Denver last September and he remembered and found one at an estate sale. It is my new favorite piece of furniture. It is from the 1930's and made by a furniture company in Michigan. It has a leather top (the flash makes it look kind of funny, but it is absolutely gorgeous). Now I just need to find the perfect lamp and lots of frames to put family pictures in. Thank you, Richard, for thinking of me. Feel free to think of me any time you are at an estate sale with awesome finds. :)

The first of many trips to Fritz's

Today we ended our lovely 3-day weekend with a trip to Fritz's with the Ewings. So much fun. And lots of messy ice cream all over our cute little kids. We'll be making at least bi-monthly trips with the Ewings the rest of the 2009 Custard Season. Here are some pics to enjoy - Ellen, I'll send you more tomorrow!

The Story of Amy

Don't worry, I'm not going to tell my life story in a blog post.

The other day I found a book that was given to me by my good friend, Eva. I was a counselor at Kanakuk and Eva was a kamp nurse. The book is The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde. I don't really associate him with children's books, especially ones with a Christian theme, but this is one of my favorites. So when I opened it up after many, many years, what should fall out but a sweet story that my BFF Sarah wrote for me during a particularly rough period of my life while I was in college. I was again a counselor at kamp and Sarah sent me a big care package for my barn (that's what they're called at K-Kountry) filled with hair bows, bubbles, play-doh, crayons, and other fun stuff. Basically a little cheer-me-up package for me to share with my girls. It made me so happy to get it (mail is golden at kamp) and it was a nice reminder of how great it was when I read it again the other day. I'm going to post it so you can read it too. Sarah, can you believe I still have it?! Thanks again for being there for me and helping me deal with some tough stuff. You are so dear to me.

Chocolate Chip Expert

At Trader Joe's with Daddy today:

J: Are you going to help me shop?

M: Yes. I'll get the chocolate chips because I'm an expert when it comes to chocolate chips.


True, very true.

I don't have any recent chocolate chip cookie making pictures except for this one from when I was 8 months pregnant and trying to get in as much M & Mommy time as possible. Please ignore my messy kitchen - I was REALLY pregnant but not yet in the last-minute nesting phase where I cleaned a lot.

Goodnight!

*But before I go, I need to give a big shout out and thank you to the crazy woman driving the red Corolla today on Adams in Kirkwood. I know you probably thought that you were being the safe one by driving 10 miles below the speed limit because it's a road with lots of curves. But you're dangerous because the line of 15 cars behind me will get rear-ended when someone expecting a 30 mph speed limit comes around the corner and finds all of us going 15 mph behind a CRAZY PERSON! And thanks for going even slower when you realized my frustration with your slowness. Purposely coming down to 10 mph while approaching the green light so that it turned yellow and I had to sit behind you and glare and shake my head in disapproval. I know you probably were thinking "people are in too much of a hurry these days - what's her deal?". Well, my deal was that my 2 year old fell and scraped her knee in the parking lot of the 4 year old's school and I wanted to get to her school to clean her up. But I wasn't even speeding. I just wanted to go 30 mph! And yes, I was also already late for work. Though even if I hadn't been, I would still have been driven completely batty by your inconsiderate behavior. Thanks for playing that game with me during what might be my most stressful time of day. You really made your point. That you're NUTS!

Thanks, dear readers. Now I can rest peacefully tonight. :)