Can you bake cookies in a car?

Well, inquiring minds such as Jennifer's wanted to know. So, she is currently baking cookies in her car. The temp outside hit 105 but is quickly cooling down, for some reason, to a balmy 102 at the moment. She didn't have a thermometer for inside the car, but others who have done this with a thermometer had it get over 180 inside (yes she found others on the internet with the same desire for car cookie knowledge). I'll post later on the results. It's amazing what lengths Jennifer will go to for cookies!

4:00 p.m.

Yes you can! They don't brown like in an oven, but they are done.

Need more proof -- here's Jen sampling:

Who would know?

Yesterday, I bought an auto sunshade and I just had to share this brilliant wisdom. It's a good thing they told me, I would have never known! = )

Thank you Cheryl!

We successfully whisked our friend, mentor and favorite Principal away to the beach for a couple of days of relaxation before she begins her next journey in California. The Pacific Ocean was beautiful, weather was a balmy 70 degrees (while everybody at home was sweltering in the 90s), and the kids were able to get wet and sandy which they know drives their mother crazy!
Thank you Cheryl for being there with Seth for his entire elementary journey and for being such a positive influence on Lacey!

Keep in touch!

Baby Taccori

Baby Taccori has arrived. All 6 lbs 12 ozs of her! She is doing well and hoping to come home very soon.

Feeling right at home being held by Auntie Lori. = )

Priceless!

Seth was in his room today and Erik walked by and asked him what he was doing. He replied "Oh, just writing", so Erik figured that was harmless. Apparently, he decided to write his own "agreement" for Lacey. Not sure if Lacey has agreed, but he has it prominently displayed in his room and I think he expects Lacey to oblige. = )

I had to darken the copy quite a bit because it is written in a light blue. Translation is below.

You clean me room all day

1. clean me bed
2. clean me amil (animals)
3. clean me clothes
4. clean book
5. clean game
6. clean me box (toy box)
7. clean me clothes all (apparently mentioning clothes was not enough, he needed to clarify that it meant all clothes)

$39.95

The Cinnamon Roll

What happens when Seth goes to breakfast/lunch with Grandma and Grandpa?? He gets a cinnamon roll as big as his head! Seth attempted to eat one of Stuffy's famous cinnamon rolls. Of course, he didn't even get around the first section of the roll, not even half of the first section, but he (and the rest of the family) are slowly eating our way around it. You would think it would be gooey or hard because it is so big, but a few seconds in the microwave and it is really quite good. I'm pretty sure it will take over a week for us to make a dent in it!

Fishing Day!

The annual Cast for Kids day was held last weekend at the hatchery. Unfortunately, Erik had to work this year, but we had Uncle Bob and Michelle's boyfriend John to help us out. Here is a video of Seth helping Bob cast.

Seth's first fish, a small but eatable, trout. Seth doesn't have any desire to touch the fish, he's perfectly happy letting John be his bait-boy. = ) Fish number two, slightly bigger than the first one!

Seth with Grandpa, John and the entire catch for the day -- 5 fish.

All of the pictures are on the Picasa page.

New Wheels!

Lacey and Seth both have new wheels. I'm a little behind times because Lacey has actually has had a new bike for about a month now, but here is a picture of her on her new ice blue bike. She definitely needed to move up to a larger size to fit those long legs. So far, we have only had a couple of outings other than our driveway, but she is enjoying her new bike and learning how to change gears.

Seth has never been able to master a bike even with large training wheels that made the bike very stable. I started looking into three wheel scooters so he could join Lacey (and me when I get a bike) riding around. I was hoping for the stand up kind -- the GoPet scooter, but he was not able to navigate it, so we tried the eZip Scoot-E below. When he tried it at the scooter store (Scoot On This), he said to me "Tell the man one word -- sold!". Enough said.

He is still getting used to it, but I know he will get the hang of it eventually. We had all of the controls moved to the left and it has a "turtle/hare" knob that can be adjusted to go no more than 2 mph, or up to a maximum speed of 10 mph. He can control the throttle but is still a little anxious about going forward at a steady speed, so right now there is a lot of start/stop, start/stop. I'm hoping by next summer he will be comfortable enough that we can get out and actually go somewhere other than a parking lot. = )