Bruiser

Hammie and Ree were playing together in the living room yesterday afternoon and suddenly out of nowhere bonked heads. Hard. Ree dissolved into tears and immediately started putting her hand over her eye. I was sitting in the chair and ran over and grabbed her to assess the damage. It turned purple and began to swell right away. Poor girlie! Hammie somehow lucked out with a teeny little red mark. Here are a couple pictures of poor little Miss Ree Ree.
















This stressful episode was the straw that broke my 13 day headache's back. After trying the chirpractor, urgent care, and finally the E.R. last night I think I'm gonna live. I had an i.v. of Torodol, benadryl, and Compozine. When that didn't completely solve the problem, some Dilaudid finished off the pain. I still have remnants of it today, but the pain pills they gave me are helping. I'm feeling MUCH better! I just hope to be able to go running this week. I've missed it.

Thai Chicken Pizza

This is one of Bill's favorite recipes. I don't make it often because I don't typically have the ingredients on hand. But it's pretty good, if I don't say so myself!
















1 Boboli crust (I use whole wheat)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
4 Tbs. pineapple juice
2 Tbs. chunky peanut butter
2 Tbs. oyster sauce (sounds gross, but isn't and is located in Asian section)
1 - 1 1/2 tsp. Thai chili paste/sauce
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup sliced green onion
1/2 cup diced bell pepper (any color ya want)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro (or a sprinkling of dry), optional
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 450. Whisk together pineapple juice, peanut butter, oyster sauce, chili paste and spread over the crust. Top with chicken, veggies, cilantro, and cheese. Bake for about 15 min. or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Yum!!

Theme Park Fun

Here are some pics from our trip to the local theme park. The weather could've been much nicer (these were all taken before the rain started pouring), but we made the best of it! Please excuse the fuzziness of some of these....I need a new camera.

Crafty Project

I saw an example of this project in a craft catalog. I fell in love and decided to make one for our house. I found the pitcher in April, have picked up felt stickers, felt flowers, rhinestone brads, etc. in my travels and grabbed the branches out of our yard after the fire last week. Voila'. I'm pretty pleased with it. I'm thinking of adding some Spanish moss to the mouth of the pitcher. Tell me what ya think.

More Yard Pics

Here are some gardeny pictures featuring.....Bill's new perennial bed, which shares space with my little garden, and one of the flower pots on our deck.

Park Fun

We had dinner in a local park yesterday. We had a nice time and even ran into Auntie Lisa, Kunkle Chris and L!

Strawberry Festival

We went to the strawberry festival up in a local orchard area last weekend. The kids had a lot of fun. Unfortunately due to our cool, wet spring the straws weren't so great, but I ended up buying a half-flat of awesome blackberries. I made 11 jars of jam and froze the rest. G ate a bowlful, too.

Fire!!

So we had a bit of excitement around here Thursday. I had flown to Seattle to work for the day and when I was leaving the airport to come home, I noticed a big cloud of smoke way off yonder in the distance. As I drove closer I realized it was definitely near our area. There was more and more smoke the closer I got. I reached the home stretch, the last looong road, and once I turned the corner saw flames and lots of people rushing around to try to put them out. Some embers had ignited a field directly beneath the burning hills. There was so much smoke it was hard to tell where the fire really was. Anyway, short story long, we weren't evacuated, but my parents were and they reside 3 blocks to the north of us. We were very lucky. I did pack up in case we needed to leave, but luckily didn't need to put any of it to use. It was an extremely stressful night full of Bill hosing down the roof and time spent on the corner watching the hillside burn in the dark. 13 families lost everything. Someone's backyard fire pit had a few hot ashes left from the night before and the strong winds we had ignited them and the rest, as they say, is history.

Here are some pictures G took using his phone, these show the vantage point from our house and the corner. The intersection that looks less smokey shows the Lutheran church where the fire dept. had a staging area and the checkpoint for all of the residents that were evacuated behind the church and to the south. I wish we would've taken some in the dark because you could see the actual flames lots better, but oh well.

Hike through the park and to the river

Around the 4th, we took the kids to a park we visit often. It's by our local YMCA and features great walking paths, a man-made waterfall, lots of picnic areas, and easy access to the river. It's a favorite destination because the park houses wild rabbits, ducks, turtles, snakes (ack!), squirrels, and many different types of birds.

4th of July

Almost every year we go to my aunt's farm to celebrate the 4th of July. We go to the small town parade that is held right in front of her property and then have an awesome barbeque. Here are some pictures of this year's adventure.