We attended Caleb and Cameron's band concert at the high school tonight. It was a very enjoyable evening! Caleb on tuba and Cameron on trumpet. Great job, guys!
Sandy
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
A Cookie baking day (a recipe!)
Well, with no church and it being too cold to do much of anything else, Rachel and Ethan and I baked cookies today. This is the second round of the Cappuccino Royales this year. The first batch disappeared before I could give any away on trays. They are easy, and delicious! I got the recipe from my PW friend Marg. She recommended them, and I'll second that recommendation.
CAPPUCCINO ROYALES
2 cups melted butter
1/4 cup instant coffee
2 tea. vanilla
2 tea. brandy or rum extract
3 cups white sugar
3 eggs
2 tea. baking soda,
1 teas. baking powder
3 cups chocolate chips (you can use either semi or milk)
5 1/2 cups of flour (pack the flour into each cup)
Melt the butter, and add the coffee and vanilla, extract and sugar. Stir till combined. Add eggs, baking soda and powder and chips. Stir till combined. Add the flour, one cup at a time and blend each one in well.
Form dough into walnut size balls (I made them a bit smaller...used my Pampered Chef smallest cookie scoop) (you can dip in sugar if you want a somewhat sweeter cookie(I did, and we really like them this way!) ) and place on greased cookie sheet (0r parchment paper) and then flatten. Bake at 360 degrees for 9-11 minutes. Let them cool slightly on sheet before transferring to racks to cool.
We also made some of Grandma K's Christmas cutout cookies, too. MMMMM....
Notice the tongue sticking out in concentration, and the front of the shirt...She REALLY gets into her cookie baking!
Sandy
Still More Wintery Weather
Ron's been the pastor here for almost 13 years, and this is only the 2nd or 3rd time we've canceled church due to weather. Baby, it's COLD outside! The wind is blowing and moving lots of light, fluffy snow around, making some white out conditions in the area. But almost worse than that is the temps/wind chill! The temperature here is -6 right now, with a windchill of -23. At times, the wind chill today has dipped to -37!!! That is just plain stinking COLD!
Yesterday, before the cold set in, the kids did play outside for a while. They had fun, but it was snowing and blowing even then!
yeah...that's not a blurry picture...that's a lot of snow coming down!
Rachel did NOT want to come inside. She kept begging for the boys to go outside with her...but when they wouldn't...she just sat on the deck and watched the snow.
Sandy
Saturday, December 20, 2008
An AWARD!
What a good day! I've been unexpectedly and surprisingly given an award from a fellow blogger! Zaroga from Zaroga's Nook has bestowed this award upon me/my blog! How cool is that??
"This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."
Now, I get to pay it forward to others! Hmmmm...how to choose just 8 from all of the blog I follow?!?!
5. Days to Come
Thanks, Zaroga! And send this poor Iowa gal some of your warmer weather!
Sandy
Friday, December 19, 2008
Dude! Where's my Car?
and other winter photos!
While the guys were working on shoveling us out, KT was having fun playing in the snow!
Where did my ball go?????
I KNOW it's down here somewhere!!!!
Ah, HA! Found it!
ok...Throw it again!
Rachel's Christmas program
We attended Rachel's Middle School concert last night. Due to weather, the program was moved up an hour, and was also cut short. Sadly, Rachel's jazz band clarinet solo was omitted, but we still enjoyed the program! Here are some pictures.
Rachel and Nicole play in the Middle School jazz band.
Rachel in the 8th grade choir.
Rachel and Bridget in the 8th grade band
8th grade band
Rachel and her amazingly awesome group of friends!
Elementary Winter Program
Ethan's was the first of our multiple Christmas programs to attend this year. He was excited to have Grandpa and Grandma Koch here for the program. That was a first for him...to have a grandparent here for one of his performances.
He had a speaking role, too. He was the "straight guy" to Trevor's jokes. He enjoys performing and had a good time with this play!
Tree Decorating Fun
We put up and decorated the tree the week after Thanksgiving. Lots of memories as years worth of ornaments are hung on the tree! With all the ornaments the kids have (1 each year from Ron and I, lots from Grandma and Grandpa K, and many from a variety of other sources) we either need a bigger tree or a second one!
Glad to have a tall one to get that topper on the tree!
Once in a lifetime?
We may have had a once in a life time activity here last week. All three of the older kids, Caleb, Cameron and Rachel, played in the pep band together! Our high school pep band invited the junior high band to play with them at the home basketball game last week, so they all 3 played in the same band together! They've never played in a band together before, and with Caleb graduating this year (still can't wrap my mind around THAT one!), chances are slim that they'll ever get to all 3 play in the same band again.
Of course...it was a great photo op!
Rachel had a great time playing the fun pep band songs. The MS kids had only received the music a couple of days before the game, and it wasn't EASY music, but they did well!
Of all of the band stuff my boys are involved in, Pep band is their favorite. They get to play fun music, and play it in more of an informal setting. Caleb on Tuba, Cameron on Trumpet with their friends Anthony and Sam on Trumpet and Danny on trombone.
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