Surprise

We came home yesterday to find these on our doorstep:

landon ran as fast as he could to the door to check out what was waiting: NOODLES

checking to see which one is his

handing out the noodles

reading mauryn's noodle to her

morgan checking out her noodle

landon concentrating on reading his noodle

mauryn always the poser... showing off her noodle

thanks denise and family for the fun surprise. the excitement level went through the roof. see you at the lake on thurdsay ;0)

Just a Reminder

We have had a cold, wet, and windy spring.

It even snowed on Saturday.

At the end of May.

In Idaho.

Strange, strange weather!

We had a nice weekend about a month ago. The sun was shining, it was warm, and we spent the entire weekend outside.

Today, I am trying to warm up and remind myself that summer is on the way... at least I hope so!

waiting to get someone with that squirt gun

playing volleyball with the neighbors across the fence

cooper and mauryn decided to check out the pool

there was just enough water after hauling buckets full, to get her hair wet

relaxing and working on getting a tan :o)

my big girl's shadow {she loves experimenting with the camera}

the love/not so much love relationship between coop and mauryn: he wanted to hit a ball off the tee and she was using it as a microphone. you can see coop is not so happy.

Our weekend would not have been complete without Mauryn giving us a performance. This is my little spitfire in a nutshell... using a tube of sunscreen as her microphone, making up her own song, the drama/expressions on her face, and just giving it all she's got.

One Week

In one week my kids and I will be here

with these two lovely ladies and their families

CAN NOT WAIT!

Wordless Wednesday: Peek A Boo

My New Favorites

A couple of months ago I wrote about my first attempts at making a homemade pie crust and using that crust for a french silk pie.

I am not a big fan of chocolate so the french silk pie was a little on the rich side for me. I LOVE white chocolate. I decided to use bakers white chocolate in the recipe instead of bakers chocolate. I am in love with this pie. It is the perfect combination of flavors.

White Chocolate Pie

recipe adapted from the french silk pie recipe from one of my former students

1 pie crust

1 c sugar
3/4 c butter
3 (1 oz) squares white chocolate, melted and cooled
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
3 eggs

* Cream sugar and butter together for 4 minutes
* Blend in cooled chocolate and vanilla
* Add eggs one at a time, beating on medium speed for two minutes between each egg. Scrape sides of bowl constantly. Turn into pie shell.
* Top with whipped cream {1 cup whipping cream, 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp vanilla} and white chocolate curls.

Yesterday, I was reading Sara's blog and she posted a recipe for Congo bars. I originally saw this recipe over at bakerella but had not copied it

down and forgot about it. Sara's description of the bars made me pull out the ingredients and whip up a batch. It was the perfect mix of chocolate chip cookie/cakey goodness. I used white chocolate chips instead of the pecans {since I didn't have any pecans in the cupboard} and they turned out delicious. They were easy to make and everyone in my house loved them. In fact I delivered half the pan to the neighbors or I knew we would eat them all in one night!

Congo Bars
(recipe from Bakerella - if you haven't ever been to her site you need to. She is amazing. Really, really AMAZING.)

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 lb. light brown sugar (Oh my and thank you!) {I figured out that this works out to 2 1/3 cups}
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
11.5 ounce package milk chocolate chips {roughly 1 1/2 cups}
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
By mixer:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended.
Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition.
Add vanilla and mix.
Add flour and mix until combined.
Stir in chips and then pecans.

By hand:

{This is the way I chose to do it and they turned out super yummy!}

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.

Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.

Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!

Rookie Ball

Last spring Landon played t-ball and loved it. Our neighbor Rick was his coach along with Lance and one other dad from the team. The three dads had such a great time working together they decided to coach a team again this spring. Landon has been so excited since basketball ended to start baseball.

Although baseball is a spring sport, it sure hasn't felt like spring. I think we have had one game where we didn't look like this watching the games:

Rookie ball is a bit of a jump from t -ball. Instead of hitting off the tee they hit off a pitching machine, they can get actually get kids out {or get thrown out themselves}, and they keep score. Overall Landon has done really well, especially being the youngest on his team as well as one of the smallest. I must say as a parent, this is so much more fun to watch than t-ball.
His favorite position to play so far has been second base {just like his daddy}. Since the season started he has been wanting to play catcher. Every game he asks if they will put him in to play. Finally on Saturday he got his turn. The coaches were hesitant because the equipment is so big and heavy but it didn't bother Landon at all. He did great as catcher and LOVED it. Today he even walked to the coaches house to get the catching equipment so he could practice at home with Lance.

Only four games left, and maybe just maybe we will be able to watch a game without being all bundled up!

She's Like a Cat

A few months ago, I posted about Mauryn sleeping in a chair for her naps and in the evenings.

She is still sleeping in the chair most of the time. I don't get it but she loves it.

I have also found her on the floor, on her brother's bed laying right in the sunshine where it is warm and cozy,
and on the cushions of a chair on her bedroom floor {she didn't want the chair put back together so she could keep sleeping on the cushions}.
She reminds me of our cat. All she needs is a warm, cozy spot and her blanket and she will be fall fast asleep.

The Couch

A few months ago, I noticed we had a cut on the back of the couch in our bonus room. It looked like a small number 7. It hadn't come from a puncture or something being thrown into the couch, it definitely came from someone cutting it.

The culprit was Landon. He readily admitted to cutting the couch {he may be mischievous but he is honest}. He had found Lance's pocket knife and wanted to know "what it cut like" and decided to use the couch.

Needless to say, we were not pleased!

The cut is still on the back of the couch as we have not yet determined the best option for fixing it.

A few days ago, I noticed that our cut was now a gapping hole. AAH! How in the world did this happen?

Well, I went to Landon first {usually a good option}. I asked him if he cut the couch further. He told me, with a smile on his face, no I did not cut the couch I stuck my head through the cut.

What??

He stuck his head through the hole so that he could see what the inside of a couch looked like.

{i had him recreate what he did}

The gapping hole is a daily reminder of Landon's curious and mischievous nature. It makes me shake my head and smile.

Landon's Basketball Highlights

I am months behind on getting this video organized and posted. I had finally downloaded all the video and was getting ready to make an imovie when all my videos disappeared. Disappeared! My boy loves watching videos of himself and while watching videos he pushed a button that caused the videos to disappear. I could see them in my trash but could not get them to back into imovie.

Thankfully with the help of an apple customer care representative, we got all the videos back...yeah!

Landon played in two basketball leagues this year. He played a fall league at our local rec center and then a winter league at our church where his dad was his coach! He loved every minute of it and can't wait to play again.

Here are some of the highlights:

Untitled from Kristen Cheney on Vimeo.

Rainbow After the Storm

The clouds were a dark gray.

The wind was blowing.

The blinds were rattling in the windows.

The hail pounded the roof.

When it was all over this what I saw out my bedroom window:

The most stunning and brilliant rainbow.

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind." Genesis 9:13-15