The lone missed sock on laundry day...

Here I thought that ALL the laundry was clean. (At least for a few hours:) And then I find a dirty sock. Of course that means I won't be able to match all the clean socks either. Oh well, it's not like you are ever really DONE with laundry!

off to 7th grade

I guess I should tell people...

No, we are not having a baby. We are moving again. I figured that since I am swimming in boxes and the truck is coming in 6 days, things are pretty much set to go. It has been no secret to anyone that has talked to Jason in the last year that the job here was not a great fit for him. Well, he had a 1 year guarantee for being here and when that ended in the middle of July they told him that they did not have the expected work load to keep him on. That is just fine with him. He has a good lead on a job and some temporary work ready to go back in KC. So that is where we are headed. I will be heading back to work also. I will be substitute teaching this year and getting some continuing education credits to update my teaching license. With Sydney headed to school next fall, the timing will work out nicely. We won't be going back to our house though, since KC may only be home for a few months and then we might be headed somewhere else. (More on that when it gets finalized) So hopefully we will get to visit with our friends and family later this month:)

So Sydney got a hold of the phone and uploaded a photo. The irony is that I had been planning on posting a picture of an ice cream cone just like this anyway. So here is the post I was planning to go with an ice cream cone.

YUM!!

I love ice cream cones. You can have all the extras and fancy toppings you want but the classic simple cone is the best. There is something about the soft ice cream all the way down into the crunchy cone. That is a must, you have to eat them fast enough that the cone doesn't get soggy. In fact last week I went on an ice cream cone binge and had them for a snack all week. I just fill them to the top of the cone and not towering with ice cream. That way I don't feel too bad when I eat 2 or 3 because it only takes 1 scoop to fill the cone and the cones are only 15 calories each. Now don't get me wrong, I like other kinds of ice cream treats, I am after all a Kehr! There's something to be said for a classic treat is all I am saying.

4th of July

Here was the schedule...
8:00 - got out of bed
8:30 - went for a 3 mile run
(training for 1/2 marathon started last week)
10:00 - go for a bike ride
tried to ride to grocery store but the bike I was riding was stuck in low gear so we gave up after 4 miles and headed back to the house.
11:30 - out to the beach - applied sunscreen - swimming and boogie boarding with the kids
(It was a little triathlon for the holiday!)
1:00 - in for lunch
2:00 - back out side to boogie board and read - reapplied sunscreen
4:30 - attempt surfing - got up on one foot and knee
7:00 - dinner
9:00 - took the kids to see some fireworks
Taught the kids a new card game and read a book for the evening. Also applied aloe vera...yup, fried like a lobster. Apparently applying sunscreen twice was not enough.
All in all it was a great holiday and the best part is that we have 4 more days just like it!

Road Trip Ready

I think we are as ready for the car trip as we can be. Here is the pile for car and rainy day entertainment. On the top of the pile is the "I'm bored/Are we there yet?" box. In the box are folded papers of all the activities they can do while we are in the car. I ended up with 21 activities and 5 treat papers. Here is the list I came up with:

Giant Activity Pad (found @Samsclub)

Tic Tac Toe/Dots/Hangman (also Samsclub)

License Plate game

Alphabet Game

Family Questions (in Highlight box)

Hidden picture (also in highlight box)

I Spy

Movie

Coloring Book ($1 store)

Silent Game

Storytelling

Rock Paper Scissor

Car Scavenger hunt (found a list online)

Go Fish

Rummy Jr

Old Maid

War

Spelling Bee

Math Facts

We also have a stack of movies and books on CD. Thanks to my friend I have all 7 Harry Potter books on CD and I added all 7 movies so we will definitely be ready for the final HP movie in a few weeks! We also have most of the Avatar The Last Airbender Cartoon series. The kids love them!

Hopefully this will keep us busy and having fun with cousins and friends for the next 3 weeks. I also have packed up some fun games like Monopoly, Scene it, and Cribbage for evenings and rainy days. Not to mention the treat bag looks yummy!

So I have tried to be fully prepared without going overboard. I restocked the car first aid kit and added some additional meds, flashlights, and towels. Basically I tried to think of anything that could go wrong and think of a simple way to be ready. We will see if it all works out.

And yes grandma the boys got haircuts for the family picture:)

Gettin Ready!

Well summer is finally here! School ended last Thursday and Friday I was in charge of the missionary zone lunch so I was busy and gone most of the day. So today is the first day that feels like summer vacation because we have nothing on the calender! We can go to the Rec and swim, walk to the park, or anything else. Of course we still need to clean the house from the weekend, drop the car off at the shop and make sure we have everything ready for the upcoming trip.

I love to get multiply things done at the same time so I think I will drop the car off at the shop 3 miles away and then run home. That will take care of my run for the day and get the car in so we don't run out time this week. Driving a van with 226,000 miles on a long trip would make me nervous if we didn't always take it into the shop for an inspection before we leave. (Needless to say we pray for the van too!)

We also finally ordered a camera. I was not going on vacation without a camera. Our camera broke (Naturally Sydney was last seen with it) back in October and we have only had cell phones for pictures since Thanksgiving. Hopefully it will get here in time for Jason to bring it with him. It took a while to decide on the camera and then find the best deal. I think we did a good job.

Well I am off to make more lists for the trip...

Stopped in my tracks!

The other day I was running down the road. (I really don't like running. I have been working out diligently now since January and am only just now getting to the point where the first mile doesn't feel like torture.) Anyway, back to my point, while I was just running along I stopped dead in my tracks. A smell hit me and I had to stop and take it in. It smelled exactly like grandparent's backyard! I can't describe what the smell is, I just know it. It brought back a flood of memories. Jason's grandma passed away this past Thursday and it made me think about my grandparents.
I never met my mother's father who passed away before I was born and I had only met my mother's mother once when I was 2 before she passed away. So I knew my father's parents best. From the time I was 8 they lived only a few miles away and we saw them all the time. I miss them and I wish I had been able to know my other grandparents. My memories are nothing grand, but they are comforting and happy. We never went on trips, lived on a farm, or even went camping. I wonder if the memories are more poignant because they are remembered from the untainted and innocent view of a child since there is nothing other than ordinary life in my memories. Whatever the reason, here are some of my happy memories of my grandparents...
The "Milk Man" - It wasn't a real old-fashioned milk man but more like a Schwann's guy. I just remember that when we were visiting she would get popsicle's and ice cream bars from him.
TV Trays - They had these beige fiberglass TV tray with fruit pictures. They are hard to describe but we all remember them. The best part was when we stayed overnight we always had breakfast in the family room with Lucky Charms and PERFECT toast. I don't know what it was about grandma's toast but it was perfect! Of course we also got the watch Saturday morning cartoon! (This was before cable when that was the only time to watch cartoons)
The Oak Tree - I am not sure how many hours we spent up in the branches playing house or who knows what from our imagination. I remember pretending to do ballet on the branches that ran parallel. Of course I rarely got to be in the top "nest" because I was not the oldest. It is sad that the old tree is gone now. It was a happy day when we were finally big enough to get into the tree ourselves and play.
The Backyard - Pretty much the whole backyard was awesome. We would set up Croquet, hide in the bushes in the SE corner, talk to the neighbor on the west side, pull out the plastic covered patio furniture pads, and just run around. Of course one of my favorite memories was of grandpa walking around the patio and smiling at us. Which leads to my next memory...
Grandpa's Cigars - I am not a fan of smoking but I will always love the smell cigar smoke because it reminds me of grandpa smoking his cigars in the backyard.
Family Dinners - When I think of family dinners of my childhood I think of grandma's. Now that I am older and have been responsible for a few brisket dinners myself, I am even more grateful for all the work and effort that went into those family dinners. I know I wasn't appreciative of it then so I guess my way of saying thanks will be to do for my family what was done for me and hope that they will have these memories for their future.
Angel Food Cake - Nothing was better than grandma's angel food cake with fluffy white frosting for your birthday. I have never had anything that compares. They were simply the best!
Games - Mastermind, Cribbage, and others. I can't think of any other specific games but I remember the closet in the hallway that had lots of games.
Red Room and Blue Room - Many hours were spent playing house in these rooms. Nothing was better than to play in the red room and climb up into the cut out above the built in dresser or sit at the dressing table in the blue room and pretend you were a princess.
Reel to Reel Classical Music - Grandpa had probably hundreds of reel to reel music. All carefully cataloged in the basment. I think my brother still has them.
p.s. We did ride bikes and trikes in the basement when the weather was bad. We didn't mind the dust but the open stairs were scary when we were little.

So these are a few of my favorite memories from grandma and grandpa's house on Pawnee Ln. Such good times and wonderful memories.

Making cards

I really like making cards and scrapbooking. It is one of the only creative outlets I am good at since I am a left-brained dominant person. I just made a huge batch of cards for my mom so any family reading this will recognize their next birthday card. My favorite part of crafting is doing it with friends or late at night while watching a chick flick. (By chick flick I mean any one of my versions of Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, or other select period dramas) Unfortunately I haven't found a friend to craft with here nor do I have the great space I have had for the past 9 years. I really miss that. It gets old sitting cross legged on my bed with a cutting board for a table while my legs go numb...just sayin'. Oh well, I still love mixing papers, creating balance, and adding a little embellishment. The odd thing is that I like doing math problems just as much!

Playing cars like Jason did.

This car mat has been in the Furnell family for who knows how long! It was actually made by Aunt Dorothy for Darrin Furnell and was passed down to Jason and now to another generation. Just the other day Jason was complaining that the boys didn't entertain themselves as much as he did as a kid. I guess he got his wish, well at lease one of the boys.

Dapper Dude turns 7!

Today was Fancy Nancy/Dapper Dude day for Kindergarten. Just what Luke needed to make his birthday feel even more special. He has been waiting and ready for this day for a long time. So dressed up in his shirt, tie and favorite cut off army shorts, we slicked back the hair and off he went. (No luck on finding his sunglasses that diappeared into thin air. I am sure we will find them tomorrow.) He also got to bring the share bag to school today and we tied a small roll of sticker onto a pencil and eraser for him to give to his classmates at school.
We tried to play dumb this morning and pretend that we didn't remember what day it was when he asked "Do you know what day it is today? You know 7, the big 7 that looks like this!"
So I made his favorite breakfast of french toast with the "fat" bread and dropped him with all his loot at the school. Jason will be surprising his at lunch to take him out and then Aunt Meghann and Uncle Dan are coming over tonight for a small family party. All in all I think he will have a great birthday. As long as we get him to the store to spend some of that birthday money he has already gotten!
Now I just need to fit in some exercise, run to the library with Sydney, get all the sheets washed and back on beds, and finish cleaning the house for company tonight...all in a days work for a mom! It's just a good thing Meghann is making the cake:)

Here is the best french toast batter recipe that I got from allrecipes.com
Fluffy French Toast
Texas Toast
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 pinch salt
3 eggs
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbl sugar

Reunion-Vacation!!

We always say that we are going on vacation when we head out to Florida but really it is just the way Furnell's do family reunions. We don't camp or own a farm so I guess that leaves the beach! And really isn't a family reunion what you call it when all the kids, spouses, and grand kids pile into one house for a week, while sharing cooking, cleaning and activity responsibilities? So in 26 days I leave for my "vacation".

It will include:
3000 miles of driving with over half of it just me and the kids.
2 1/2 days with my brother and family.
2 1/2 days with my long time friend and family.
9 days with the Furnell clan on the beach!
6 days with my sister and family.
2 movies - Cars 2 with the cousins and Harry Potter with my sister. (Yes the movie opening has been part of the planning;)

Now I just have to lose those horrible 5 pounds that keep coming back, decide all the different things we will need for 3 weeks on the road, pick a few new games for some friendly family competition, get all 6 of us haircuts for the family picture (add in a color for me:), make sure we have the right clothes for the picture, finally give myself that pedicure I have been planning on doing since the beginning of May, and make sure everything is taken care of for us to be gone for an extended time.

So whether you want to call it vacation or family reunion it is going to be great!

Field Trip with Blake

Friday I farmed the younger kids to friends and babysitters to take Blake on his school field trip. We went to Greenfield Village which is a historic village focused around 1880's, the time of Henry Ford. (This is Detroit after all!) There were exhibits on Henry Ford and how he changed the automobile industry, Thomas Edison one of the people that inspired Ford, and other building that show what life was like on farms and in schools during that time. It is really pretty cool when you think about how much the personal mobility that was made available with the invention of the automobile has changed the way we live. It was cool to see the ways life has changed and the ways it really hasn't changed all that much in the last 130 yrs. One thing that I am pretty sure that hasn't changed is how fast kids grow up. I am still in denial that I am entering the age of teenagers later this year! So here is a picture of Blake on an old bridge striking a goofy pose, because goof and sarcasm is what he does best.

Post Memorial Day Picnic Dishes

I was asked to be in charge of food for our Church Memorial Day picnic, so I picked up food last Friday night when I was doing my shopping. On Sunday I started asking around to get an estimate on the number of people that planned on attending and there were double what they thought might attend in the beginning! No big deal since I being a typical mom, I was already worried there wasn't going to be enough food and had bought extra. I just needed to make a quick trip to the store this morning and pick up a few more hamburgers, hot dogs and buns. (We were providing the burgers and dogs with pot luck for the sides and dessert.)

Last night I made plain jello, garbage bars and deviled eggs. Then because we were expecting 90 degree weather I grabbed a bunch of bowls from the church kitchen. That way we could put some ice in the bottom of the bowls and then put potato, egg or other side dishes in them so they would stay cool in the heat. I think it worked out pretty good. The only down side was the pile of dishes that I brought home. Between the bowls, cooking pans I used to make my own sides, the plates for serving my sides, coolers, and a few hand wash dishes that I must confess had been sitting on the side of the sink for a few day, there was a huge pile of hand wash dishes to be done. So I should rest easy tonight knowing that they are done and not waiting for me to do in the morning.

Michigan has also had a VERY WET spring. So the park had many pools of standing water in and around the pavilion and playground. At least the baseball diamond was dry enough to play on! On the down side though most of the kids were covered in wet muddy clothes and shoes by the end of the day. 4 loads of laundry later the kids should be set to go back to school tomorrow as long as their shoes dry in time.

So over 12 hours after I started to day I am ready to relax. And next time I feel guilty about reading a book for an afternoon I will try and remember that it is okay to relax sometimes because not everyday needs to be this exhausting!

Here is the breadstick recipe that people ask me for...enjoy! Sorry there are no pictures, it would help if I had a camera.

Breadsticks
By Janelle Tebbs

¾ cup warm water
½ tbl yeast
1 tbl sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cup flour
2-3 tbl melted butter
Garlic, salt, and Parmesan cheese

Start yeast, water and half the sugar. Add to flour, salt and the rest of the sugar. Mix until a soft dough. Pour half of the melted butter onto the bottom of pan and place rolled out dough on top. Pour the rest of the butter and spread on top. Sprinkle with garlic, salt and parmesan cheese. Cut into breadsticks. I usually use a pizza cutter. Let rise for 45 minutes and then bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes.

unwanted house guest

spring break fort

This year for spring break we stayed home. We would have loved to go back to KC for a visit but with a long driving trip planned this summer we decided to stay put. Of course, the weather didn't work out for the soccer camp we planned to put the boys in for the week so we were left to our own selves for entertainment. The kids are really into making forts on the weekends. This usually just ends up with a bunch of blankets that I feel like washing because I have a laundry compulsion. Anyway, after watching their attempts to make separate forts and seeing my couches turned upside down, I decided it was time to teach them how to make a real fort.

So using their bookshelf that is anchored to the wall we lined up all 3 twin size mattresses and turned the bed frames on their sides. All it took then was a few hockey sticks lashed together in the middle to hold the blankets up. We used some chairs from the table for an entrance and even put the small TV and DVD player from my old stamping office on one of the chairs for their movie watching pleasure! (It's the same TV I bought to take with me to college with a built in VHS player:) All in all they had a fun time in their fort and the best part was that it never collapsed on them in the night. It did have to be rebuilt every evening before bed though.

First day of Spring Break

The toothless wonder gets a haircut!

playing at the park

The tempurature broke 60 for this first time since november! So naturally we headed off to the park. Especially since the sun made an appearance too. The boys brought along some friends and played some form of dodgeball until someone got mad and quit. Naturally taking turns burying each other in the sand is the only thing left to do.

The Toothless Wonder!

It's official that Luke has no front teeth. Just a few months earlier and it would have been perfect for Christmas.

The Stamping Area

Here is the makeshift stamping area. Of course it is temporary since it is in the dining area but at least with the side table I can leave the projects off to the side when I am not working. But it will have to do for now. I definitely miss my basement craft room, much more convenient. For Christmas suff I just took over the whole table and it was cluttered. Bringing up the side table will be a huge addition.

Snow Day Project

We are having the 2nd snow day of the school year today. The blizzard only yielded us 6-8 inches so I doubt they will miss anymore school this week. We have also learned that plowing is optional in our city unless it is 12 inches in 1 storm. So Jason's car is grounded probably for the rest of the week. Anyway, we finally got around to making a cat scratching post for Twilight. She had better like it! Well it's off to make lunch, play dominos, and make some treat I can't eat. (Only 4 weeks left!)

A project goes bad...

I had this great plan for my Sunday School class this year! So I thought. My first mistake is fairly obvious and Jason was so kind as to point it out to me immediately after I returned from my hour long visit at the printer. 2010! Yes I printed 6 books of 46 pages with the wrong year.

I think the plan was sound. I wanted to have something for the girls to be able to write down ideas and other thoughts that we talk about in the scriptures. Also, to be able to refer back the different scriptures and challenges issued in class. And in Activity Days we started our SPS. Instead of our GPS we wanted to look at our Spiritual Positioning System. Which stands for Scripture, Prayer, and Serve. These are the daily things that the girls have been challenged to do on their own. So I thought it would be super convenient to have it all in one place the same size as their scriptures. Too bad the execution of the plan was a disaster.

Mistake 1:

2010

Mistake 2:

I thought that I wanted the SPS page in one direction on the back page but then when it was done it would have been better going in the other direction. In other words, it looks upside down when you look at the book!

Mistake 3:

The cost was $45 for 6 books. I couldn't believe it cost that much!! Had I realized how much it was going to be and planned ahead better, I could have printed at the church and saved half the cost.

Mistake 4:

This was due in part with mistake 1. My repair of mistake 1 included adding a color strip with the right year onto each page. The girls then used the same color to decorate the front. I thought this was a decent fix. Now that I have added the color strip to each page of course the spiral binding is quite tight. Oh well...

Basically, I lost my MoJo. What should have been a simple project was not up to my usual standards.

I guess I left the MoJo in MO:)

Dreaming of Sugar...

LITERALLY!
I am participating in a diet challenge with my sister-in-law. It lasts for 8 weeks and you earn points based on different activities. You get 3 points for eating 3 veggies and 2 fruits a day. 2 points for drinking water. 5 points for a weekly challenge that has included eating leafy green, beans or stretching. Up to 5 points for exercising up to 60 minutes. 5 points if you log all your food and stay in your calorie goal. And last but not least 5 points for no sweets! For anyone who knows me well, I LOVE TREATS! I love to make them to. In fact since the challenge began 3 weeks ago I have had to make cookies at least 5 times. We can only log the exercise and sweets points for 6 days so you get one day off exercising and one day to have sweets. It has been a real challenge to make cookie dough and not have any at all!! So since I can't eat sweets, I have begun dreaming about eating sweets.
This morning in my attempt to sleep as long as possible, I was having a dream about making cookie dough. And even in my dream I looked at it and said, "No, it's not my sugar day". This was not my first dream where I have denied myself sugar and it probably won't be the last in the last 5 weeks of the challenge. But today the dream is going to be real. With monster cookies and leftover ice cream treats from Jason's birthday I can deny myself no longer. So here on Wednesday, the first day of the diet week, I will give myself sugar. In fact I will probably only eat my fruits, veggies, and beans with my ice cream and cookies. Then it will be back to just dreaming of sweets:)

FYI

I got a smart phone for Christmas!!!
Unfortunately it is not that smart.
When I linked my phone to upload directly to my blog I thought it was going to be a great way to actually get some blogs posted. I might get that figured out soon, but in the mean time I have realized that the phone does not distinguish between me and my 4 year old.
Translation, when Sydney gets ahold of the phone and takes a picture, it sometimes get uploaded right away.
So if unusual pictures that look like they were taken by a 4 year old show up on the blog...they were:)