the undercover dutch girl goes green

so after being married for 13 years and making all the meals that go with it

i finally made my first pot of "stompot"

a friend gave me some kale and i thought why not try it

on a positive note, the girls raved about the meat, it was soft and tender

the rest of the meal went something like this

j said "this reminds me of...well, maybe i shouldn't say that, so let's just say it's not my favourite"

our three-year old is making gagging noises and asking for milk and water to drink

my wonderful husband asks "so is this a dutch dish? did your mom make it?"

and before i could answer

our quiet middle daughter pipes in and says "well that makes sense why it doesn't taste normal because we don't live in a dutch town"

and while I write this I have been informed that we have enough to last for the next 6 months

Oma and Opa you better come soon!

hike to the falls

yesterday was a glorious fall day
so we took advantage of the beautiful day and Rick, Ken and I went up to the falls

i had gone in the summer with the kids and didn't make it to the top so it was a real treat to be able to go all the way
i climbed up the rocks and the boys took the river

short hike but well worth it

a little note to my niece, this is what you missed, not because you couldn't make it but because my girls (especially the youngest) never would have made it

J's riddle

For language arts our daughter had to do a riddle, here it is:

I'm the most powerful cat

I'm meat-eating

I hunt at night

I kill with one leap

Who am I?

trying to memorize

The girls and I, along with their Dad sometimes

are trying to memorize Philippians 4: 4-9

This morning our challenge was

"Finally brothers, whatever is true,

whatever is noble, whatever is right.....

think about such things"

Such simple words to say

yet so much more difficult to live out

Another beautiful fall day

a drive down the highway to the canyon

work outside in the garden

and kickboxing...we never know what torture that might mean

a visit

grandma, grandpa and uncle ken are here for a visit

uncle ken hasn't made it here before

the girls took to him like a fish to water

we went out on a family nature walk
i think everyone one of them held his hand at some point

we have had a few glorious fall days

so uncle ken took a family picture
after the walk we all agreed that

"it's good for the insides to be outside"

who knows it might be a good slogan for an outdoor company

125 girls

spent the night at a GEMS rally

125 girls from 6 to 13

what is laughter and giggles at home

turns to screams and shrieks

lights out at midnight was early

some stayed up till 4

awake in the morning at 7

healthy diet of

sugar, chocolate, syrup, cookies

I am so done

killer kickboxing

today our teacher set out to positively kill us

1 minute skipping

20 burpies

50 push-ups

50 sit-ups

25 sprinters

20 4's

then repeat again and again until told to stop

he left the room

when he came back we still had five minutes to go

and that was only the warm-up

surprise me

There are times when my children totally surprise me...this was one of those days. We were on holidays and spending time by the beach. The two oldest girls found a pile of driftwood and started creating. Everything from a teepee and meat dryer to a fire with food cooking. The picture really doesn't do it justice. It was fabulous and so cool to see what there imaginations can create.

sayings from my 8 year old

Yesterday we went hiking up the mountain. On the way up our daughter complained about having to go hiking. "Couldn't we just go swimming?" Her dad replied that she could go swimming in the glacier lake. Her response was "Is it going to be all gross, yucky and lilly-paddish?"

conversation with a 3 year old

"Mom, I can't go to the bathroom"

"Oh, really why is that?"

"My pee is closed for the night"

just to say hello

this is a test of sorts

might surprise me how it evolves

does it stay untouched

or become a comfortable place

just thoughts