Family Photography

Check out this!! The photographs are taken by my nephew's wife Rebecca Schlieman. The big one appears in Relevant magazine.

To see more of her photographs go here and here and here.

Let's Try That Again

Remember Megan's first pet?

Gus the Goldfish.

What we didn't know about Gus was that he only had a lifespan of 3 weeks. Yep. :'( He was only a part of our household for three weeks.

We had a moving memorial service. Well, I guess the moving part was the swirling of the toilet water...

So long Gus!

Next came The Four. A friend of Megan's brought these over because she knew what had happened to Gus.These were named Diablo (because he was a bit spastic), Chip (because he was little), and the other two were Dominick and Dominique (because we couldn't tell them apart -- Caleb called them "The Doms"). None of these lasted a week. :(

I had to insert the sad face so you wouldn't hear my laughing at that.

As you might notice, The Four are in a salad bowl. I was fine with letting that be the temporary home, because I knew I wouldn't be without it for long.

And I was right.

Next came Joey.

Joey was actually in the house the same day that Gus was flushed. (Ooo -- that rhymes!) Megan didn't need much mourning time, did she?

Here's a picture of Joey just hanging out and being mellow:

And here's Joey looking pretty. (Can you say that about a boy fish?) That was after he "saw" another fish ... in a mirror I held up to the bowl, that is. Joey has been with us for almost 6 weeks! He even survived a week's stay at The Fish-Sitter's house. (Megan was in New York City.) Remember how her dad and I don't like to be liable for the pets?

So, after over 23 years of marriage, in an 8 week time period, we have had a total of 6 fish in the house. And one remains.

Live! Joey! Live!

Swim! Joey! Swim!

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills --

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip--

he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you--

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm--

he will watch over your life;

the Lord will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.

Psalm 62

I wait quietly before God,
for my victory comes from Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress where I will never be shaken.
Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
for my hope is in Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress where I will not be shaken.
My victory and honor come from God alone.
He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.
O my people, trust in Him at all times.
Pour out your heart to Him,
for God is our refuge.
God has spoken plainly,
and I have heard it many times:
Power, O God, belongs to you;
unfailing love, O Lord, is yours.

-verses 1-2, 5-8, 11-12a

Cookie Recipe

I thought I would post my very favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. But I must give some credit to Alton Brown. I got the recipe from one of his DVDs and then tweaked it a bit. They are soft and chewy and have oatmeal in them. Sometimes I add pecans. Yum.

So, start with these things:
And yes, I am a bit obsessed with the Tupperware. Or at least I was in the '80s & '90s.


Then you use one of these Mixers of Awesomeness to mix it all together. (Don't worry, the list of ingredients is below) My sweet husband gave me one of these mixers last year and I Love It!


Next, use a BIG cookie scoop. Alton also introduced me to the wonders of parchment paper. I am a fan. So easy, and no more washing of a bunch of cookie sheets!

After baking ..... YUMMY! Caleb says these cookies are addictive. I must agree.

Here's the recipe:

2 sticks (8 oz. each) unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups oatmeal

Melt the butter. (If you don't use unsalted butter, cut back on the salt.) Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. (The bread flour makes a difference because of the gluten level in it.)

Pour the melted butter in the mixer's bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, egg yolk, milk and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and oatmeal.

Chill the dough. Bake ate 375 degrees for 14 minutes or until golden brown.

The recipe was without the oatmeal, but I just added it and it turned out great! I'm sure you could add nuts too.

Enjoy!

***In case you looked at that picture of all the ingredients really close and realized I had 4 eggs and 4 sticks of butter and 2 bags of chocolate chips, I usually double the recipe because my Mixer of Awesomeness makes it so easy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday to my Best Friend!

I am forever thankful to be blessed by you.

Thank you, Lord for Peter's life.

My life would be so different (and NOT better) without you. I am so happy that God created you and that we get to spend our lives here on earth together. I love you so much!

If you all really want to know what I think about him, go here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
I love you!

(And boy am I glad that you are as old as me and can stop hassling me!) :)

75-68!!!!

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK KU!!!

I know I'm not a sports fan, but hey -- when your kids' school wins a national championship, it's hard not to get excited. I even yelled at the TV!

Yep It Did

So KU beat UNC Saturday night (84-66) and I was right -- the town exploded! We went outside after The Big Win because Caleb & Amanda wanted to see the reaction. There were a few thousand in the field house watching the game and as we stood outside we could hear this dull roar starting up all over! From the field house to the dorms on the hill...

KU!

Rock Chalk KU!

It was fun to see and hear. Pete ran to the car to get my jacket and he said some random guy ran by and gave him a High-Five. The cars were every where and honking their horns. Pete said as we were driving back to the hotel that he couldn't tell if he was doing something wrong or not because there were horns honking all over the place.

Go here to read Caleb's article about the clean-up.

And these are some photos of the celebration after the win.

But all-in-all those KU fans were not unruly. I don't think there was any major damage done -- except to the tulips that were coming up in the planters along Massachusetts Street. We saw on TV from the hotel that there were wall-to-wall people along Mass St. It was probably in about a 5-6 block area. It was amazing. Caleb said that one of his friends counted that she got something like 174 High-Fives!

The funny thing is that we SAW Caleb & Amanda on TV when they were showing the Mass St. celebration. They just happened to walk by a camera and Caleb looked at it and yelled! It was so funny. We had spent an hour that morning watching The Early Show trying to see Megan. She was in New York City and they were outside the CBS studios. So we knew Megan would be there and never saw her, but we didn't know Caleb was on Mass St. and we saw him... Go figure.

And tonight is the final game against Memphis. Get ready Lawrence!

Lawrence

The husband and I are in Lawrence visiting our son. We've had a fun time. The town is nuts today in anticipation of the KU/UNC game. I would say 80% of the people we have seen today are wearing KU Tshirts. We hope KU wins, of course, but the town just might explode if they do!

Probably the best part of the weekend has been meeting Caleb's girlfriend, Amanda. We have heard about her for a long time. And it has been great to meet her. After supper last night I told Caleb that I think Amanda is adorable and his dad said that she is really sweet and that we like her. We do like her and, ummm.... well.... you can tell they like each other:

(Yes , Megan, Caleb gave me permission to use his picture!)

We ran some errands around town today. Yes, I know it sounds weird to run errands in a town where we don't live, but when you are from a small town you take advantage of theses things. We got a ton of things for Megan's Open House party.

We went to the KU Bookstore and this is what I bought my 21 year old:Can you tell what it is? It's a marshmallow blaster! Yes, it shoots marshmallows. He just came in the room and shot me in the head with a marshmallow. (No it didn't hurt) He is such a fun guy.

Psalm 61

Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.

From the ends of the earth I call to you,
I call as my heart grows faint;
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the foe.

I long to dwell in your tent forever
and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

For you have heard my vows, O God;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

Increase the days of the king's life,
his years for many generations.

May he be enthroned in God's presence forever;
appoint your love and faithfulness to protect him.

Then will I ever sing praise to your name
and fulfill my vows day after day.

Another First For This Family

We experienced another first in this family. Megan did this to herself on the day we were getting off the cruise ship. (She smacked her mouth on the back of a chair as she was leaning over to pick something up off the floor, and yes, there was lots of blood...) Thankfully it didn't damage her teeth other than push one of the front teeth out of place.

So now she has a retainer... and now she talks funny. (Ask her to say a few words with lots of S's in them...) She only has to wear this retainer for 3-4 months. After that she will have a beautiful smile with straight teeth -- again!
No one is our family has ever had braces or anything like that. As a matter of fact, everyone except me has only one filling! We certainly don't help the dentist make much money. So we though we'd help out a bit with the retainer. :-)