I just finished our traditional flag cake and it is sitting so pretty on the counter. It is so simple to make, yet the kids love it and couldn’t take it if I didn’t make this each year.
Make a simple pound or yellow cake and bake it in a 13×9 pan. Cool. When ready, spread whipped cream and then make stars and stripes out of sliced strawberries and blueberries. So pretty and healthy for you too!
…and wins!!!
Poor Daniel - his beloved computer was attacked by a nasty trojan yesterday and he literally spent THE DAY fighting that thing. For a while in the afternoon it appeared that all might be lost and he was staring a hard drive reformat squarely in the face.
He fought on, however…and by supper time he started one last scan in a last attempt to remove the attacking viruses. The scan continued for hours on into the evening. Finally at about 11 o’clock last night he was declaring victory! We were all very pleasantly surprised that he was able to recover his system and I think he’s learned a few things.
We went strawberry picking two days ago and had so much fun! Picture this…hubby and I and five kids all hard at work in the strawberry field (we left the two teen boys and the baby at home). We picked 20 quarts between the seven of us and it seemed like it took forever to get it done, but it was soooooo worth it. These organic strawberries are just the best.
So far we have had strawberries on biscuits for breakfast and strawberries on our waffles another morning. I will be putting some on a pound cake for the 4th of July, too. Yum!
UGH - David got a call from his former middle school band teacher this evening. If you don’t remember, David has just moved on up to the high school band as he will be a freshman this fall. He has been so excited about playing the quad snares for the Fourth of July Parade this Friday. In order to play, he’s had to work really hard to memorize 5 pages of music and he’s been working on this for weeks.
Anyway, it seems that the middle school band only has two entry-level sixth graders who will be marching in the percussion section. Definitely not enough! So, his teacher called to ask David if he would march with the middle schoolers instead.
Normally, David would walk through fire for this teacher - they really got along great and he likes her a lot. It took a lot for him to not just tell her an automatic YES…but this really hurts. He told her he’d think about it.
I took it upon myself to email her later and explain exactly how much she was asking of him - sort of explaining why he didn’t just automatically agree as I think she expected him to.
We’re leaving this up to him - will be interesting to see what happens.
My littlest guy is a whopping
years old today! Hard to believe these first two years have sped past already. Isaiah was born 5 weeks early back in June of 2006. As I tend to go overdue, we were extremely surprised when he decided to come early.
Mine is…NUTS!
My teenagers are busy (Daniel is working all.the.time, David is playing all.the.time), and it seems like the youngers aren’t quite busy enough during parts of the day and too busy during other parts. Ya know how this is?
Swim team has started every morning and then we have some downtime in the afternoon and then it all picks up again when they want to go back to the pool and then there’s baseball just about every night for someone.
Tomorrow both Michael and David have ballgames and it looks like they will BOTH be pitching. David’s is a away game so both hubby and I will be missing something important tomorrow night as we’ll have to split up and each attend a game.
It’s strawberry season, too! I need to get the kids out to the field to pick…SOON!
Top all this off with my decision to “master the internet” this month and I’m spending all my spare time in SEO and internet marketing and keyword studies, etc. etc. etc.
AHHHHHHHH!
Sharing one of many pictures Michael has taken since receiving a digital camera for his birthday. This was one of his early attempts. He has since improved a lot!
Yes - a few more. Bear with me…
Abby Napping
A little closer - I love it when they’re sleeping!
Michael put Isaiah to sleep
Ruthie sewing…she is soooo proud!
Working Hard
Isaiah did this himself - he’s ready for mosquitoes now!
These are long overdue - as in some are weeks old already…but I wanted to put them up. All taken with my new camera.
Ava bailed out of the box, but Isaiah liked it in there.
Ava…isn’t she breathtaking? I can say that - I’m the grammie!
Ava playing with her aunties and uncle
Ava helped Daniel open his birthday gifts
My handsome biggest boy
Another smile from David - showing off his new contacts!
Pretty Princess Sarah
Michael in his new birthday ballcap
Yes…I haven’t been whining about it, but sheesh…my back still hurts! Tonight I finally decided to google a few things and looky here! Hit it right on the head!
These pains are symptoms, (upper right back pain, pain under shoulder blades pain between shoulder blades), which left untended can cause lost nights of sleep and the sensation of shortness of breath, or the feeling that an anxiety attack is around the corner. Upper right back pain in particular can usually be attributed to one of these key postural strains:
Improper ergonomic setup at the computer-usually a right handed ‘mouser’ has their mouse too far forward or to the side (KEY cause of upper right back pain!)
Yippee! The site I found even gives relief advice:
We find with our clients, the muscles most involved with straining this group in the upper back are the pectoralis muscles. I know, it sounds counter intuitive…my back is hurting, but you are asking me to stretch my chest?? Yes, that’s exactly what will alleviate much of the issues with upper back and neck tension.
We not only suggest, but do ‘pec stretches’ every day. We work with our arms in front of us, ride bikes, hold our daughter…all of which will shorten these muscles. My favorite is in a door way, I put my arm against the door jam and turn away from my arm slightly to get a stretch in my upper chest.
I got up immediately from my laptop and did this and I finally experienced some much-sought relief almost right away. It was amazing!
I am so happy to have found some answers!
http://arteypico.blogspot.com/
