So Proud

All we can say and do is Thank God for Josh , He made it home from Afghanistan and we are so proud
When Josh was very young ( 12) I think he decided he was going to be a Marine and follow in his fathers footsteps and the footsteps of many brave soldiers in our family. I hoped and prayed he would change his mind - but he did not he was determined and focused. When Josh graduated from bootcamp I could not believe Josh had grown up in the blink of an eye and I cleary recall the day he called from California and said his foot was fractured  from marches and I was deep down so happy I thought he will have to come home and be out of harms way, but the sound of Josh's voice and dissapointment was so painful I found myself praying that Josh would be able to serve- if he came home dissapointed what would be the point.
This was Josh's dream and he had worked so hard to get there.

Josh was always a perfect kid ( thats all I can remember)and we are so proud of the man he has become.
Of coarse the only flaw Josh has is that he does not allow us to take photos of him any more - I dont understand it . Josh came home from Afghanistan to visit , and will be out of the Marine Corp in September  we are proud and thankful of his service and will always be grateful to all the men and women who serve and have served for our freedom.


THANK YOU JOSH!!!

Mike is 8

Birthday's have always been a greatly celebrated event in our family and they are all so amazing.  The gift of life is always so underappreciated. 8 years ago Michael, the youngest child in our family, was born 2 months early and weighing in at 6 pounds he was hardly a premee .

He looked like a Sharpei puppy with all the extra skin and had no eyebrows and was extremely collic. Mike could outcry any of us and what was an apparant stubborn streak could certainly try anyones's patience.  Michael Lee was named after his father's twin brother who passed away at the age of 21 in a tragic accident.  He has been our baby and after learning this month that Michael is on the Autistic Spectrum and has ADHD has certainly made Steve and I reflect on Mike, and how special he is to us and our family .

Michael loves spiders, of course his 3 pet Tarantula's explains alot. He loves guns and wants to be a soldier like his brother Josh when he grows up . His obsession with bacon makes it his favorite food along with cheese pizza, McDonalds french fries, and Hershey candy bars. Michael loves his grandpa and grandmas and is an Uncle to Michelle, Marissa, Fredy, and Jackson . He was absolutely elated to see his cousin Alexis show up for his birthday party and just loves to play with her.  He waited a whole year for her to come to his party and it absolutely made his day. He forgot about his friends he sees daily.  And of course a party on a budget could only have the kind of games we all love to laugh at.

Hula Hoop Contest

Marshmallow target practice, and of course waterballoon tossAnd of course there is no good spider man party without a pinataAnd of coarse good food and cake. Birthdays are a time for family and memories and as my brother Roland used to say a time to CELEBRATE LIFE!

We are so grateful for Mike and all the spiders, bacon, mud pies, sleepless nights,

the moments he reveals family secrets, and interrupts every conversation we try to have at the end of the day.  He is a special gift and we are so happy Mike is our baby.

A tasty dessert

It's funny how recipes can move around, especially in a family. We got this recipe from our oldest daughter, Katrina, and her husband Brian a couple of months ago. We made this tonight as we had guests over for dinner. So, we thought we should share it with everybody.

Here's what you will need:

2 granny smith apples (need to use a tart apple!!)

1 can crescent rolls

1/2 stick butter (@ room tempature)

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 16 oz. bottle of Mountain Dew

Need to start by peeling apples, then slicing and removing seeds. Begin by quartering the apples lengthwise, then cut the quarters in half and remove any seeds.

Next, open the can of rolls and separate the rolls as if you were going to make crescent rolls. then slice each crescent roll in half, lengthwise, to produce two fairly equal pieces from each crescent roll.

Take a slice of apple (or two) and place on the piece of crescent roll that forms the point. Roll the apple into the cresent roll. Place into a 9 x 13 cake pan. Continue to roll apple slices into crescent rolls, and place into cake pan appx. 1/2 inch apart.

Place butter into a medium mixing bowl. Add sugar and cinnammon, and using a fork push the sugar/cinnamon through the butter repeatedly until a thick/flaky paste is created.

With fingers, put butter/sugar mixture on top of turnovers. Cover to taste (more butter/sugar mixture on top, crustier topping when done).

Now, here is where it gets strange. And we know, it doesn't sound right-->but it is!!

Pour Mountain Dew into cake pan, avoiding pouring directly onto turnovers. Pour until bottom of pan is covered, actually a little more. Until Mountain Dew is about 1/2 inch deep in pan. We know, sounds yucky, but trust us, this is the important part of the recipe!!

Place cake pan into Preheated 350 Degree oven. Bake appx 35-45 minutes (until topping gets golden brown). Removed from oven.

Lets sit about 5 minutes. Serve warm (a must) with vanilla ice cream.

Our guests tonight loved them (in fact, everytime we have made them people have at least 2 turnovers, sometimes 3!!)

Vaseline

Well we live a crazy life - some may say its self induced.
Never put vaseline in anyone hair, especially your daughters.
I will change the names to protect the innocent - My daughter Stephawewee aquired a gift from her 5th grade friends - " Lice "! And as you can guess they outgrew their welcome right away. Not knowing how to rid ourselves of these guests we went to the all knowing "INTERNET" to find an answer. Now this is a prime example of dont believe everything you read. The internet suggested several non-toxic remedies; one bieng to coat the hair with mayonaise overnight ( yuck! ). doesnt mayonaise spoil? Or to coat the hair in olive oil (hmmm) olive oil is expensive, probably should not waste it on these guys. Another option of course, is to coat the hair in vaseline, cover with a shower cap, and sleep on it. This system will smother the visitors and they will realize they are no longer welcome. Well that sounded like a solution. However we did not realize there was no info on how to remove the vaseline once this ritual had transpired! Needless to say, Stephawewee woke up with vaseline saturated hair and I am sure many casualties. We attempted to wash her hair with shampoo just to realize we were beginning a nightmare. We then tried dawn dishwashing soap, a whole bottle of dawn dishwashing soap. And of coarse dad insisted we try Tide laundry soap. We tried vinegar and lemon juice (a whole bottle of vinegar and lemon juice). NOTHING!! Just a full head of shoulder length vaseline coated hair. We were headed to the dog shampoo when we returned to the all knowing "Internet" for more instruction. Oh of coarse! Try cornstarch, the vaseline will adhere to the cornstarch and wash and WHALA no more vaseline. - WRONG!! - Vaseline, lots of it as a matter of fact still there!! We tried a whole box of cornstarch. We are now on day 3 and people are starting to notice her hair. We are in a panic, someone suggests peanut butter and some one suggests head and shoulders (hmmm). decisions, decisions.... we go for... for the baby oil! Yup, thats right, baby oil. And we made some progress. Not enough, but progress, and we finally decided to tried head and shoulders and as you can guess ... It Worked! Wow !! We are proud to announce Stephawewee is Lice free and of coarse Vaseline free! Now moments like this really test a mothers judgement. Siblings start recounting moments when mom ruined their hair, and a person can really start questioning what went wrong- but thank goodness head and shoulders saved the day.

About Us

Steve and I dont like to do things the easy way so...
As we all know 2 children is too few and 4 children is not enough so we had 6 which we will all see that sometimes is too many, never not enough and most times just right.