Peeeeach!

Whenever I hear the word "Peach" I think of Blake. When he was 2 years old, it became his favorite word. No idea why. It wasn't like it was his favorite food or anything. But whenever we'd ask him a question, he'd answer with "Peach!"

"Blake, what do you want to name your new sister?"

"Peach!"

"Mommy?"

"What?"

"I love you . . . PEEEACH!"

"Mommy I can count! 1, 2, 3, 4, PEACH!"

The phase lasted a few months but I think I'll forever remember it when I hear the word peach.

On Saturday we headed over to the Peach festival at Schnepf farms. No admission - you just pay for what you pick! The kids had a blast selecting the fruit and picking it right off the tree.

They really got a kick out of the peaches that looked like they had bum cracks. After, we let them play around for a bit and shopped in their bakery. YUM!And so today I got to go through my recipes and decide what to make with all of our very ripe peaches! I pulled out a recipe I had saved months ago but never tried -- Peach Cinnamon Crisp Sundae.

The picture doesn't do it justice. It had a cinnamon syrup, the fresh peaches and a crunchy cinnamon cracker topping with a little whipped cream served over French Vanilla ice cream. Tomorrow I think I'll try a peach cobbler . . . If you have any other yummy peach recipes, please share!

Our little gymnast

So Hayley has finally found something she's passionate about -- gymnastics. After taking soccer, tap, ballet & jazz, and a singing class she refuses to do anything BUT gymnastics. She loves it. I bet I see her do over 100 handstands, backbends and cartwheels everyday in the house. Sometimes I just have to tell her to sit down for a second because she is constantly trying to carry on conversations while on her head.

She takes a gymnastics class from Donna who teaches out of her house. Her "recital" was yesterday and I was so impressed with all that she has learned this past year. She has come so far! She especially enjoyed the class this year because her very best friends took it with her -- Abby, Olivia & Gabbi!

Teacher Appreciation

My sister Tori is a teacher and I have seen the absurd things (i.e. expired sausage and cheese gift set) she gets as gifts from students. So I'm all about making my gifts useful. Here's a cute and simple gift idea that I stole from my other sister Marci!

Fathers & Sons Weekend

Having 3 sisters, Blake gets excited whenever there is some "boy" time for him! Last weekend was the Fathers & Sons campout. Brent invited my two nephews, Tyson & Ryan, to join them. And I have to say I was very impressed with the breakfast they had! Go Letners!

They left Friday afternoon . . . so now it was time for a girls night out with my favorite gals -- Hayley, Chloe & Kate. We saw Hotel for Dogs and then went to Fridays for dinner. YUM!

Saturday morning my mom came over. Ever since I spotted jars of homemade strawberry jam in Natasia's cupboards, I've been wanting to learn how to make it so I could have my own supply! I've only made freezer jam in the past and although it's good, it ain't the real thing!

We had some helpers help crush the jam:

And although the process took a little while, it wasn't hard at all. But I couldn't have done it on my own the first time without my mom. It's moments like this that I am so grateful to have my mom around. That I can call her up and ask her questions. That she can come over and show me how to do new things. I feel so badly for my friends whose moms are no longer living. I talk to my mom every day and I am so grateful for her!

So the first batch of jam turned out PERFECT -- looked perfect, no foam, no floating fruit. The next time we decided to leave the fruit a little chunkier and we used the liquid pectin instead of the powder. This batch had more foam and the fruit floated to the top. Not so pretty, but still tasted great. So next time we'll know!

And the best part of the morning? I had been saying to my mom how great it would be to have some homemade bread or rolls to put the jam on. And what do you know? About an hour later, Richelle shows up at my door with a WARM loaf of homemade bread. I was speechless! How did she know? She'd been making her 5-loaf recipe and decided to share one with me. It was seriously the best homemade bread. And with the jam? De-lish!! Homemade bread is another thing I haven't mastered yet . . . but it's on my list of things to learn how to do.

The boys got home from their trip and I then learned that Brent let my 15 year old nephew drive the 3 hours up and back from the campout! WHAT? Now I know Brent hates driving and for some reason whenever he starts a trip he immediately feels tired! Gag. So when Ryan jokingly asked if he could drive, Brent didn't hesitate to change seats. I guess when Ryan was pulling on to the highway, he said "I've never even driven on a highway before!" Yikes. The only good thing is that Ryan is very cautious. Brent had to keep telling him to speed up before they got run over. And then, while my nephew is learning to drive, Brent took a little nap. (I've threatened my nephew to never get behind the wheel of my car again! Fine if it's Brent's car ... but not mine, thanks.) I guess the good thing in Ryan driving is that Brent didn't get a speeding ticket like he did the year before while driving home from the campout.

Luckily, everyone survived and it was a fun weekend for all!

Happy Day!

It doesn't take much to make me happy -- and this definitely brought a smile to my face today.

Large sodas at McDonalds are just $1 for the summer again. Love McDonalds drinks. Love that they're only $1. Love that I can get them in a drive-thru. Made my day.