A few pictures

So here are a few pictures from the last couple weeks!


I've mentioned many times that it's hot in VA. I moved the slide that my mom gave H3 to the lovely indoors.


We've also been doing a lot of puzzles!


Checking out Harborfest in Norfolk. This is a group that does musical instruments out of plastic. It was pretty neat and H3 loved it!





I love my daughter's hair after a french braid!


Dinner earlier this week. Steak and veggies baked on a cookie sheet.


The cookie sheet: Steak in the middle, stuffed mushrooms, zuccini, green beans, bell peppers, and potato wedges


Playing at the park on a slightly cooler day.




H1 shaved his beard.


I was working on something in my bedroom and came back out to H3 passed out on the couch. She slept for a good hour in that position.


H3 and her great-grandma (H1's grandma)


That's it for now!

~H2

The Beginning of the Trip

Our home has been a whirlwind with packing and trying to get every last thing in before the big trip to NY. We have been visiting friends, going to festivals like Harborfest in Norfolk, and trying to assemble all the needed items for our cabin. One of my recent craigslist purchases was a bed rail to attach to H3's twin bed at camp, since she's no longer small enough for a crib or pack-n-play! Our little miss will have her own twin bed this year! I'll be taking pictures once we get that room set up, of course.

On Friday, I began a massive packing endevour. In the middle of it, in the middle of the day as well, the 18,000BTU unit in our bedroom stopped. I tried a few things to get it to restart, to no avail. That unit has breathed it's last. We only have one other large unit in the kitchen, and that one in our bedroom was responsible for the living room as well. Needless to say, the house was toasty on Friday. Thankfully, my landlord has agreed to replace it (he didn't have to, according to our rent contract) and he is going to do so while we are up in NY at camp. The new unit should be in when H1 returns August 1st!

Saturday morning we finished packing the car, took a deep breath and prayer, and started our long drive. It was a very long day. H3 was having a harder time in the car than usual, so we had to stop frequently. We finally arrived at my father-in-law's home at 9:30 in the evening. He is in Germany at the moment, so we are alone at the house for this weekend. On Monday (tomorrow) we'll head up to see H1's brother and his family for a day, and then make our way up to the camp on Tuesday.

My posts will be hit-and-miss, and I'm not sure how many pictures I'll be doing, but I shall try! Summer blessings to you!

~H2

Sunshine and Summertime

Have I mentioned that Virginia is a tad warm? It was pretty hot in Lynchburg during the summer, but this area we live in now is downright miserable. I’m so grateful that in less than two weeks we’ll be heading up to camp! Today’s forecast is sunny and 98. It’s been like that all week so far and tomorrow is more of the same. H3 and I’ve been playing outside in the mornings for a while, but we head in by 10:30 since the temps have already hit in the high 80s at that point! Ugh. And the mosquitoes! My word! There is a drainage ditch in our backyard, and since the town doesn’t keep it cleared, it’s rather clogged and is a mosquito breeding ground. H1 has thought about trying to clear it, but that was before we saw all the poison ivy back there. Forget it! If we owned the house, maybe, but definitely not going that far right now!

When H1 came home from work yesterday, he told me someone had left something for me on the front porch. Yep, he sure did leave something for me!


Our new shed. H1 and I spent a few hours putting this thing together earlier this week. I’m so grateful to have it. Now I can get the carport cleaned out so H3 can play in the shade some days!


We have two little pools. This is her old one that I got for $6 a couple years ago. It’s great for convenience, but she prefers the inflatable one we got her last week. I am relocating that one to the carport, so that’s why she’s using this one at the moment!



Now I'm going to go hide in the AC and plan out some INDOOR summertime fun.

~H2

Yikes!

Well, suffice it to say that blogging in May completely escaped me! We spent the entire month running. I have 0 pictures from our anniversary, May 20th, but we did have a good evening together. My father-in-law surprised us with a visit on Thursday, and he stayed through Saturday so he could watch H3 while H1 and I went out to dinner. I thought that was really sweet of him!

Then on the following Tuesday, H3 and I drove to West Point to see my friend Robyn for a couple days and let H3 play with her girls. Robyn and I got talking Tuesday night and stayed up a little too late. We realized it was 4am and decided to save our chatting for the next morning! It was so nice to hang out, and I even got to sit in on the youth group meeting that was held at her house--a thoughtful bunch of high schoolers, and very energetic!

H3 and I came back from West Point on Wednesday late afternoon, then packed for our trip to Ohio to see my parents. We got home Monday evening around 10pm, and H1 headed back to school the next day. Now we’ve got a little over 2 weeks left before going to NY for summer camp.
Ok, I think that about sums up May in general. The good news is that I took a few pictures during the month, so here we go!



Air show at Langley Air Force Base, May 14th. I was volunteering for emergency crew standby, so H1 and H3 hungout for the day together.




Jared's 3rd birthday


Blue-barb pie! Mmmmm.


H3's first slumber party with a friend, Tamar (age 5). Pancake breakfast in the morning!


Robyn and Julietta in Robyn's office


Jules and H3 being silly!


Up in OH, at Chagrin Falls


My dad making fried chicken--so amazingly delicious!


H3 making french fries to go with the previously mentioned chicken


H3 got a new slide, so we took it out front to play on


My mom, with H1 in the background


Giving Grandpa a kiss


H3 playing at a McDonalds



H1 pointing out that parents can play too (in reference to previous pic)


On the way home!


New slide in our backyard.


Grandma got me a new bow!



~H2

The Adventure of Black Bean Brownies

I know I’ve blogged before about my challenges in getting H3 to eat different foods. Oh the adventures of having a picky toddler! I think I’ve also mentioned a black bean brownie recipe that I was wanting to try. Well, this morning I finally did! I have to say that they turned out surprisingly good. When I first heard about them, I was suspicious about them tasting halfway decent. After reading the recipe, I was still dubious, and especially after I blended it all together and stared for a moment at the gooey brown mixture that oozed out of my blender into the pan. Still, I decided to bake it and hope for the best. I was certainly not disappointed! While I have to admit that you can slightly taste the black bean flavor, knowing that it’s in there, I would have to say it’s not very noticeable and if you didn’t know what was in there, you wouldn’t guess it. The texture is really good too, kind of creamy and fudgey. Ok, without any more ado, here is the recipe and the pictures I took today. I encourage you to take a deep breath and give it a try!

Ingredients
1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 eggs
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup white sugar (I used 1/2 cup supar, 1/4 cup Splenda)
1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional)
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (optional)
Squirt of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup (optional)

(H2 note: I did not use the coffee in mine, but I did use the chips on top and the syrup. The syrup is my recommendation, not from the original recipe, but it tasted really good with it in there!)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x8 square baking dish.
Combine the black beans, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract, sugar, and instant coffee in a blender; blend until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Squirt syrup over the top of batter and mix in with a knife in a figure 8 pattern. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the mixture.
Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.


The brownies in the pan.


My piece and H3’s.


Mmmmm….all over her face!


Finger-licking good! Please excuse the tape. We’re trying to get her to stop sucking her thumbs!


More?



H1 will get to taste these when he arrives home from school today. I can decidedly say that these will be a keeper for H3 and me, and I'm hoping H1 will enjoy them too! Hope you will give these yummy brownies a chance!

~H2

Goodbye April, Hello May!

Today was gorgeous! Mid-70s, mostly sunshine, my perfect kind of day. Granted, I was rather sleepy, but I still enjoyed it. I think I got a grand total of 2 good hours of sleep last night. I never sleep well at the rescue squad, even on a quiet night. It's just not the same. My family was still asleep when I pulled in just before 7am. Well, all except Peanut. He is such a guy with his selective hearing. You can call him multiple times and he won't hear you, but let a car pull in the driveway or run the ice machine and he's instantly alert and in tune to the sound. It's rather funny!

We went to Williamsburg today for H1 to get a haircut and for some shopping. He had a giftcard to JC Penney, so we found a couple more pairs of khaki pants that he was needing for work. I took H3 to the park during his haircut appointment, so she got a chance to run around too. Tonight's dinner was leftover enchiladas (refried beans and cheese for H3), and then we all took a walk to a little ice cream shop for dessert. It's a little over a mile round trip and H3 almost made it home. She was so worn out after all the places we've been today, not to mention running about 10 laps around the ferry!

I've realized that the end of the school year and our departure for camp are creeping up on us! Only 7 weeks left of school for H1! My only sadness is that the football season is beginning earlier this year (August 1, which is a week earlier), and H1 will have to leave camp early to be back. They are cutting the number of paid football coaches in half this year, so H1 was required to be back for the starting date instead of a week later as he usually does. It will be a short summer for him! H3 and I are planning to stay up at camp a little longer though. I won't be ready to come home that soon!

Bethany really surprised me last week and bought H3 the entire cd collection of GT and the Halo Express. If you haven't heard these, you need to. All the songs are Bible verses, word for word, and H3 loves them! I hear her singing them around the house, even when the music isn't playing. My favorite is when they sing Deut. 7:9 "Know therefore that the Lord your God is God. He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands." I think that is one of my favorite verses in the Bible because it describes the character of my God. This is Who I serve. This is what He has done and will do for me, as His daughter. Anyways, I've been extremely excited to have these cds around the house as a fun way for H3 to start memorizing Scripture.

April has been busy, and we look forward to May being even more so. We'll be celebrating the wedding of a couple at church, H1 and I will celebrate our 6th anniversary, and we have every weekend packed with activity! Off we go!

~H2

Easter and the week after

Have I mentioned that it’s been warm here? Well, it has. There are a million and one beetles invading my yard right now. I should look them up to see what kind they are. I really should, but I haven’t yet and have a feeling that I won’t. They’re these little black and red things that are about ½ inch long. They love one side of my house and the 4 windows on that side. I don’t see any on the other side, so apparently they love the sun!

Last Saturday I made a double batch of pan rolls in anticipation of Easter lunch on Sunday. H3 helped me with the dough.



In almost 6 years of marriage, H1 and I are still working on family Easter traditions, other than church and participating in our church programs. There’s no debate over the bunny. Neither of us are big fans of anything to do with the “Easter Bunny”, unless you’re talking about a chocolate one. In that case, I will gladly eat the ears and give you the rest. So no Santa and no Easter Bunny. If you try to ask H3 about either, she will have no clue what you’re talking about. Anyways, H1 grew up decorating eggs and going on egg hunts. I did a couple egg hunts as a kid, but they were for plastic eggs with Bible verses inside. Nothing formal, just me and my parents in my front yard. H1 is very fond of his childhood memories and wants H3 to participate in all the hoopla. This year and last, H3 has participated in the egg hunt at church. The 8-11 year old class fills eggs and hides them for the two younger classes (4-7 and toddlers). H1 does love any kind of “seek and find” game, so egg hunts are right up her alley for fun. She ran all around that church yard in her hunt! I don’t really have any pictures from that, since I was trying to make sure everything was running smoothly, so everything is from Amber’s.

After church, we went to Amber’s house for Easter dinner. Her family has been gracious to invite us to join them this year and last year, and Amber has a little egg hunt set up for H3 when she arrives.




H3 is fascinated with the little fish pond!





After hunting for the plastic eggs which had fruit snacks hidden in them, we took a detour to the chicken coop so H3 could check out the chickens and collect real eggs for the house.





Dinner was delicious and I wish I had pictures! There was ham and smoked turkey, baked beans, salad, green bean casserole, regular and blue potatoes, and so many desserts! I especially loved the strawberry shortcake and the lemon bars. That meal was both lunch and dinner! I really enjoy spending time with Amber’s family. Her mom is so sweet and I’ve enjoyed getting to know her sister-in-law, Katie. Amber is a wonderful aunt for H3, and H3 adores her.

On Tuesday another of my former roommates, Becca, came to visit us from Lynchburg. I hadn’t seen Becca since before we moved here. In fact, I was 6 or 7 months pregnant the last time I saw her! She just drove down for the day, since she had a meeting on Wednesday and then is flying out to WA later in the week. We had a really good time catching up and taking walks through the neighborhood. I’m hoping to reciprocate the visit one day soon!



Last night H1 decided to give me a break as a mom. I had a few things on my list, so he took H3 out to Sam’s Club and Walmart for a shopping trip, stopping to eat pizza at Sam’s along the way. They were gone about 3 hours. It was a nice break. I didn’t have to make dinner or clean up a kitchen afterwards! Seeing as I didn’t have to make dinner for everyone else, I reverted to a childhood dinner favorite: popcorn. I took a walk, went on another walk with the dog, then sat and read a book for a while. It was so nice and relaxing! A couple days ago I had realized I needed a brain break, and told H1 that I would like to have one sometime soon, when I wasn’t volunteering up at the squad or running errands. He called yesterday afternoon to say that he would take H3 out when he got home. It so sweet and such a blessing!

Today is supposed to be a bit cooler, in theory, so I'm hoping to spend a lot of time outside with H3 today. H1 has a baseball game tonight and when he's done, I will be up at the squad for an overnight. Tomorrow's agenda includes a haircut for H1 and maybe a trip to JC Penneys to make use of the coupon I found - $10 off any purchase of $10 or more. Have a good weekend!

~H2