First Day of School

Our Nathan started Kindergarten!!! And he has the best teacher he could possible have...me! None of the kids in my class know he is my son. He calls me Mrs. Yeates at school and acts just like the other kids. We have a great class this year and he loves it!

Kenny is our big second grader. He has several of his friends from last year in his class and he really likes his teacher. He starts the G/T program this year.

James started daycare. I have been very blessed to have avoided using a daycare center for 8 years but with us both at work and Cassie working we didn't have any other options this year. It has turned out not to be as bad as I thought it would be. I like the center he is at and he likes it as well. It is a smaller place and everyone is very nice and accommodating. He has his cousin Hailey with him and I am told they play together and Hailey has even hugged James when he was upset. I would still prefer to be home with him...of course...or have him with a babysitter, but daycare is working out okay for us.

Baptism

Kenny had his baptism on Aug. 7th at 4:00 in the afternoon. In our faith, we baptize children at the age of eight. It was such a beautiful day. I will never forget sitting there and looking at my little Kenny and seeing the look of pure joy on his face. He was baptized by his father and most of my family and my mother-in-law were there. I am so incredible proud of my son and the choice he made to be baptized. He seems so grown-up and still so little all at the same time.

Kenny's Birthday Cupcakes

Happy 8th Birthday

KENNY

We Re-named Him Mr. Mischief

Cool Creations

Kenny has been working hard on making on making this castle. He wanted to build something special and have us send a picture of it to Lego Club magazine so he can have his picture on the cool creations page. I'll keep you updated on whether his picture gets published or not.

Cooking Adventure

I took a little trip out into the cooking world today and made my very first not-a-graham-cracker-crust pie. I decided to make a strawberry pie and I needed a pastry shell. My first attempt was seriously laughable. I have no idea how people get their pie crusts to roll out into nice,beautiful circles. Mine ended up as a mis-shapen square/circle. And the whole pinching the edges thing- some parts didn't even have an edge! Fortunately, the second crust turned out a bit better (not much but most of it had an edge, though of varying thicknesses).

After I baked my poor sad little crusts I got to make the filling. This is a freezer pie so I combined egg whites, lemon juice, strawberries, and some sugar and beat it into submission. I ended up with a the best frothy pink strawberry meringue. Then came the folding in of the heavy cream. Apparently my folding abilities are about as good as my crust making skills. I killed the meringue on the first pie and therefore put it on the worst pie shell and popped it in the freezer. It didn't look pretty, but we ate it tonight and it tasted good. I learned a bit the second time around and the second pie looks a lot better. It is in the freezer until a later date. I included a picture of the second pie which I think is what it is supposed to look like.

I think it is safe to say I may be pretty good at cookies, but I concede I am NOT a pie maker. Guess I need to work on that because one thing that drives me nuts is messing up in the kitchen.