Is it REALLY spring??

This is what we woke up to on Friday morning. Yuck, Yuck, and MORE yuck! We are SO ready for spring! Is it ever going to arrive? The calendar says it already has, but....

This snowfall, while depressing, did give a lovely new, fresh white coating to cover all the mud, dirt and filth that we were seeing this past week. A great reminder this Easter week, that the suffering and death of Jesus, and His resurrection on Easter Sunday, causes God to see us this way. All the mud, dirt and filth that sin brings into our lives are covered and no longer visible!

God is good!

Track Season Has Begun!

Caleb and Cameron had their first track meet this week. It was at Luther College, and it was at their indoor 200 meter track. Which means that when you run the 2 mile race like Caleb does, you have to run 16 (yeah...SIXTEEN) times around that track!

which would explain why he looks like THIS when he's done! Whew!

Cameron ran in the 4 x 800 race...which was "only" 4 times around the track!

which would explain why HE did this when he was done!

They certainly have much more stamina than their mother!

Booty Bag

hee, hee...no one is going to believe me when I say that I AM NOT A SEWER! Here I have two blog posts within a week or so, involving ME and a SEWING machine!

But this one is SOOOOO easy! And CUTE! I followed the directions from a website (www.craftbits.com) You simply take a pair of jeans, (size 0-5 in juniors makes a really cute sized bag) and cut the legs off in a straight line. Turn inside out and sew straight across to make the bottom of the bag. Then, take 2 side seams from the legs you cut off...cut 1/2 inch on each side of the seam, and unravel it/fray it. (THIS is what took the longest time of the whole project!) Then...sew them on for handles. How easy is that? (Of course, I can say this because my mother in law was still here giving her assistance!)

It really only took about 10-15 minutes (except for the fraying!)

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

It isn't often that we get to celebrate Grandma's birthday with her! We had a great day! We made a yummy cake with cool sprinkles, and put x number of candles on the cake. We'll let you guess how old she is :)

We went to an International Buffet for dinner. 168 items on the buffet! NO one went away hungry!

Oreo Cookie Balls

Rachel and Ethan spent one of their Spring break days making yummy Oreo cookie balls! We sent some to a friend, and we ate a few, and we took some to Grandma Marge's for Easter dinner! These are always a hit! And EASY to make!

In a blender, crush a package of oreo cookies. Add an 8 oz pkg. of softened cream cheese, and blend til a sticky ball forms.

Form into 1 inch or so balls, rolling to make them smooth.

Dip in white or chocolate almond bark, and chill til chocolate is hardened.

drizzle with the alternate type of almond bark to make it look pretty!

YUM-O!

Making Placemats

I am not a sewer, but when my Chit Chat friend Marion gave me the instructions for these, I thought "Now THAT I can do!" Of course, I waited until my mother-in-law was here to guide and help me...otherwise I still probably wouldn't have begun!

We purchased the material at Wal-mart on Monday.

We cut the quilt batting into 18 x 12.25 rectangles (figuring the sizes and numbers was the MOST difficult part of making these palcemats!)

We cut the purple and yellow backing materials to the same size.

Then, we cut strips that were 18 x 2.25 out of all of the other material. We planned for 7 strips for each placemat.

All of the materials cut and ready to be sewed!Next we sewed the strips to the batting and the backing. We sewed up 6 of them, (well...My mother-in-law pinned and I sewed...it worked GREAT with the two of us (just don't ask how much we ripped out!) and then we trimmed them to size. The finished size is approximately 11 x 17.
We cut 2.5 inch wide strips and then folded and pressed them, and then we sewed them on for the binding.

The Wizard of Oz

The 7th and 8th grade S-F students performed "The Wizard of Oz" last Tuesday. They did a MAGNIFICENT job! Rachel was one of the little munchkins (she's in the blue dress). They wore knee pads so they could sing and dance and move around easily on their knees...and sing in high pitched little munchkin voices!

She was also one of the people in Emerald City...notice how they are all wearing green?

Parade of Bands

The 5-12th grade band program held its annual Parade of Bands on Tuesday, March 11. It began with both 5th grade bands performing together for the first time. Then, the 6th grade band played, followed by the 7th grade band.

Rachel, of course, played her clarinet magnificently!

She was also recognized for being selected and participating in the Tri-State Honor Band in Decorah on March 1. I was ill and unable to attend that, but Ron attended the concert, and was impressed with all those 7th and 8th grade band students! It was a full day, beginning with a bus ride at 7, rehearsals and lessons and try-outs all day, and ending with a 6:30 pm concert! Rachel did GREAT!

OK, back to Parade of Bands...after the 7th grade band played, it ws the 8th grade band's turn. And finally, the High School concert band had their chance to shine. The progression of the bands from 5th grade to the high school band is always impressive!

Caleb (top left, tuba) and Cameron (second from right, back row, trumpet). The band did a tremendous job!

Following the hour long program, Ron and I determined that, with Caleb in 11th grade, Cameron in 9th, Rachel in 7th and Ethan in 3rd, we only have NINE more Parade of Band concerts to attend! Oh, joy!

The Mouse Catchers...

OK, now that Grandma is gone (or at least not going to be reading this til she IS gone) we can tell about the adventure of mouse catching at our house! One night a month or so ago, Caleb came upstairs needing some soap for the shower. I told him to look in the linen closet in the bathroom. He came out a few minutes later with this really puzzled look on his face. "Umm....mom?"

"Yes?" I replied.

"Why is there a jar of peanut butter in the linen closet?"

Ron, who was also sitting in the living room, quickly tried to hush Caleb and said, "It's that thing we talked about last night...remember? And remember? We AREN'T TELLING MOM!!!"

Well, of course, by then it was too late and they HAD to tell me what they were talking about. It seems that Ron had seen evidence of a mouse a couple of weeks (YES...I said WEEKS!) earlier, and had been working to catch the little critter. But...it's a smart little critter. When Ron would put Velveeta or peanut butter on the trap, the little guy would either trip the trap and eat the snack, or eat it without tripping it. Ron had set the trap in the bathroom, and had been checking it nightly. He had been sneaking into the pantry to get into the peanut butter jar. But he'd have to try to sneak past me in the living room, with the peanut butter. After several nights of this, Ron got smart, and moved the jar of peanut butter in to the linen closet.

Well, the original plan wasn't working. Next, Ron went to the hardware store to get a different kind of trap (since the mouse is too smart for a NORMAL trap). He got one of those sticky traps...where the mouse is supposed to walk on it and get stuck. Yes, I said "supposed to." As I said...it is a SMART little mouse! You know what he did? He PUSHED the sticky trap over to the regular trap, tripped it, and then ate the peanut butter off of it. And he did this more than once. (This mouse also ate through the wire of Caleb's Wii sensor...TWICE!)

Ok, so by now...Ron is getting frustrated! It's Lent...he's been doctoring me while I've been sick and running me all over for surgeries and doctors appointments and things, all the while keeping up with the laundry...and the cooking...and the kids....and work....basically being a WONDERFUL husband, dad and pastor! He was NOT going to let this mouse get the better of him!! By now it's been something like 3 WEEKS that he's been after this mouse! At this point, Rachel said "Gosh, Dad! Pretty soon we're going to have to NAME him!" (which was really NOT a helpful thing for her to say!)

So, it's BACK to the hardware store for Ron...And he really means BUSINESS this time! He is SERIOUS about getting this little creature...by whatever means necessary! So here is what he came home with...

see....I TOLD you he was serious about this!

He and Caleb studied the box and worked at getting it all figured out...

and they get things set up all over the house. Sticky suff...smelly stuff that is supposed to attract the mouse TO the sticky stuff...a trap that he is supposed to walk into and not be able to get out of....

and...well...we STILL haven't caught the dumb thing. Sigh. Maybe Rachel is right. We may have to name the thing!

and maybe we need to trade KT in for a kitten! SHE has certainly been clueless about this whole thing! Ron has even called her into the bathroom with him and shut the door...waiting for her to round up that mouse...and KT just looks at him with a look that says "OK...WHY are we in here again?" Ethan caught Ron and KT coming out of the bathroom together one time and was...rather confused. "Dad! Why was KT in the BATHROOM with you?"