June Birthday's & Cherry Pick'in

We spent Saturday out at my parent's house celebrating June Birthdays! It was nearly 100%. GREAT day for a "pool party!

McKenna just loungin'

After an afternoon of swimming, Jeff & Steve headed out to play baseball with the kids and noticed Mom & Dad's cherry trees were full of cherries! We got out the ladder, rounded up the troops and started picking. The kids thought it was soooo cool. Especially because they got to eat them as they picked them.

The kids were getting impatient waiting for Jeff to cut down "bunches", so they took it upon themselves to climb up the fence and start picking the ones within their reach.

Blake got some!

McKenna taste testing.

Thanks for a great day everyone. And Happy Birthday Dad, Jeff & Shannon!

A Weekend of Camping!

With the weather warming up, we headed up for our first camping trip of the summer with a group of friends this past weekend to Sagehen Reservoir. ( or as Blake pronounces it: "SANE" Hedge Reservoir.)


This is our 3rd year of camping here with the same group of friends. We look forward to going each year, as everybody has such a GREAT time. Not to mention, not ONE person got bit by a single mosquito this year. It was AMAZING!


The kids always look forward to spending time in "froggy land". All the kids spend literally hours searching for big frogs, little frogs, and baby frogs. Every frog in "froggy land" gets to be apart of a special frog family and have a special family name. Needless to say, By the time the troops get back to camp, we are prepared with the ANTIBACTERIAL!


Blake caught his 1st fish this year! He said, " After all the times I've been fishing, and I finally caught one!"


We've got all of our friends hooked on the way our family likes to eat a S'more. We actually call it a S'Morrill! You take a piece of a raw crescent roll, rap it around your chocolate and marshmallow, then toast it over the fire until puffy and golden brown. YUM! We love EM!

This was taken on one of the hikes we took. There are great hiking trials, waterfalls, and places to explore at Sagehen. We had a great weekend! Enjoy the slide show...I'm still new to the "blog world" and I couldn't figure out how to attach the slide show, so I had to post it separate. :)

Strawberry Jam Extravaganza

With strawberries in season, and knowing that they are one of our families favorite, we decided to make strawberry jam this year. By the time I got my camera out to cherish some of these memories, we were onto batch # 3!


Here is our little chef! Blake loves to help in the kitchen. Any chance he can get to cut, stir, measure and pour, He'll do it. Makes my job a little easier and I always enjoy the company. :)

Blake also thinks it's great that he's graduated from the use of a butter knife to an actual paring knife. He did a fabulous job on cutting most of the strawberries.

And of course, he had to sample a few along the way.

When he got tired of slicing strawberries, Dad & McKenna stepped in with the crinkle cutter and saved the day. Needless to say, we had berries everywhere!

McKenna loves to bake and follow a good recipe. She's always very precise with her measurements. Here, she is measuring out the sugar for the jam.

After we had finished making jam, I asked the kids if they would write their own recipe for Strawberry jam. I've included those creative recipes for you to enjoy. ( You can double click on their recipes to see them bigger.)

This is McKenna's recipe.

This is Blake's recipe.

Birds of Prey - Art Contest -2008

Blake recently entered the Birds of Prey art contest. He received 3rd place in his age division. ( K-3) His art will be featured in the 2008-2009 Birds of Prey calender.


This is Blake's masterpiece!


Blake and his good friend, Abby. Abby won 2ND place. Blake and Abby have been classmates the past two years. Believe it or not, they're actually cousins! Congratulations to both Blake & Abby.

Go Phillies!

With baseball season just ending, I thought I would share some pictures of our "favorite" player.


This was Blake's 2ND year of playing machine-pitch baseball. He has really enjoyed baseball this season and is finding that the older he's getting, and watching his own ability level change, he's LOVING baseball. This was a "double" he hit in one of his recent games. He loved it when he would hit the ball clear into the outfield. He said it made him feel like a "pro." ( kids are so cute)


He had 2 wonderful coaches this year who were dedicated to the boys and teaching them the fundamentals of baseball. They really worked on Fielding and batting and most of all worked with each player on the team to help them feel successful. With a team of players who had never played before, (besides Blake and a few of his buddies) EVERYONE on the team was hitting the ball by the end of the season. ( and trust me, after watching the first practice, that part wasn't looking promising.)

I love this picture. He's really concentrating on the game play.

And he's off to score another run for his team. Great way to end a great season. Go Phillies!

Clogging Nationals May - 2008

We ended the 2007-2008 clogging season with yet another trip to Nationals to watch these girls climb their way to the top. With a full season of hard work, and hours of practice each week, They were able to take the title of 1st place in several categories at Nationals this year. Congratulations girls!

This is McKenna's second year clogging on the advanced team. After tryouts last August, two new girls joined the team. It will be nice to add a few dancers to the mix.

McKenna & Jeff, her coach. McKenna truly has a passion for clogging. She is in her element each time she gets on that stage and works the crowd with her dancing and facial expressions. Not a day goes by without her pounding on the hard wood floors working on her dances. ( without the clogs of course) She has been known to even clog in the shower!

These girls LOVE Jeff. He has been clogging since he was 3. He recently got married and wants to teach his wife how to clog. :)

This was taken at the competition held at NNU in February. This is one of the competitions they qualified for Nationals at. As one of team mom's would say: " You Go Girls! "

"Group Hug" and Jeff wishing the girls " Good Luck" just prior to dancing their 1st dance at Nationals. This dance was to the song: "That Thing You Do"

McKenna and one of her teammates McKailey, did a duet this year. In the category McKenna is clogging in, if you choose to do a duet you are required to do all the choreography. These girls spent HOURS together, changing, critiquing, and perfecting their dance. It all paid off! In order to make it to Nationals you must receive a 1st place in a prior competition. ( this goes for all dances) They accomplished that and were able to take it to Nationals where they received a 1st place. The video clip is a bit dark as it was filmed in an outdoor pavilion, but you can still hear the sounds of the clogs and the rhythm that they make together as they dance. Enjoy! ( McKenna is on the right with the guitar, and you will have to mute the music on our blog in order to hear their music.)