Bet You Didn't Know This...

Bet you didn't know this is my car. Several years after we got married, Kurt asked me if I would like a convertible sports car. It sounded good to me at the time...

Looking back on it, I think this was just an excuse for him to get a TR6. I believe I drove it about 6 times and every time I suggest we sell it (since I don't really drive it any longer!), he says NO WAY!!

I think I've been had....LOL!!

Shaving Cream Anyone?!?!?

Thanks Dennis! Just what a mom wants to see...LOL!!

A Few More Pics

Sleepy head!

Isn't she a cutie-patootie? Doesn't really look like a MOOSE, does she?!?!?!

OK, so they'll never be professional artists, but it's better than anything you'd ever see me do...LOL!! The pic on the left was done by Adam and is to be a self-portrait. The hair's gotta go!! The one on the right was done by Alyssa when she was in 8th grade. I think she drew it from a picture she found in a magazine.

I don't think this was part of any of the merit badges the scouts were working on...

Kid Pix

I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder! I don't think Adam and Alyssa fought once today. Maybe it's because they were apart for the last week!! Note the difference in height...LOL!!

Dance Recital Pics

I'm not ready emotionally to talk about Alyssa's dance studio, but I can certainly post some pictures from the recital today. I really don't want to start crying again today. Just briefly, the dance studio was forced to leave their current setting, as the owner of the building is renovating the building into medical offices. The owner of the studio has searched unsuccessfully for new space. Today's recital was bittersweet; there most likely won't be another one. But that discussion is for another time....




Alyssa and Lindsay have known each other a long time; they have danced together for probably 6 or 7 years. Lindsay is going to be a 7th grader and a new older sis in a few weeks...her mom is pregnant with their 4th child...a girl! (That'll make three girls and one boy...)







Alyssa and Nicole have been in several classes together over the years. They both attend Northampton.













Karen was Alyssa's first dance teacher when she started dancing at the age of 4. She has been with Alyssa ever since! More later....
(Karen is one of my faithful commenters on my blog....Thanks, Karen!!)

Adam's Home!

Kurt picked Adam up this morning after having spent a week at scout camp. He came home with working papers to be filled out; he wants to be a counselor there next year for the entire summer! He loved it so much he wants to work there next year....

It's good to have him home. I guess I didn't realize how much I missed him!

And You Thought We Were Weird!

Warning: Don't try these at home...unless you are really brave! People actually eat this stuff in various parts of the world:


Mexico: Beef tongue & brains
Thailand: Cricket lollipops
South Korea: Dog stew
China: Dried sea slugs
Thailand: Fried locusts
Zambia: Grasshopper paste
Mexico: Iguana soup
Thailand: Pigeon stew
India: Sheep eyeballs
Cambodia: Tarantula kebabs
South Africa: Toasted termites


Snails are sounding better and better, huh?!?!?!?

Information taken from another one of Adam's books (Scholastic Book of Lists)

Annual Handbell Concert

Here is a picture from our handbell concert which was held last month. I had a nicer picture emailed to me by our Pastor, but I somehow lost it in cyberspace! Alyssa and I are second and third from the left.

Father's Day 2006

What a busy day! Immediately after church this morning, we delivered Adam to Camp Ockanickon Boy Scout camp for a week (remember, I warned you about the weather!). It was a lovely relaxing drive down through Bucks County. Hopefully it won't be too hot or too wet throughout the week. If it's anything like today, he's doomed!

From there, we drove to Bubba's Pot Belly Stove Restaurant on Rt. 309 just north of Quakertown. I have many fond memories of this rustic log cabin restaurant from my younger days! I remember spending quite a few evenings there with friends. They still even have my favorite sandwich on their menu...the Mamie Duffy. This is an open faced tuna sandwich piled high with tuna salad and topped with lettuce, tomato, bacon and then broiled with cheese on top. It is served with thousand island dressing on the side, pickles and potato chips. I couldn't resist...it was yummy! Kurt had an open faced Reuben sandwich which looked delish! Alyssa had the best french onion soup that I've tasted in a long, long time. Even though it's been years since we ate there, the food is still terrific.

After our bellies were full, we traveled to visit Kurt's parents to wish his dad a Happy Father's Day. After spending some time with them, we dropped by Kurt's brother's house. Alyssa talked us into going for ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery in Trexlertown. If you've never been there, you're missing out! It's not your everyday ice cream shoppe! They put your ice cream on a slab with these big spoons, then you tell them what ingredients you want in it, and they mix everything together. Then they scoop up the ice cream and load it into your dish.They have every topping under the sun from fresh fruits, to brownies, to every type nut imaginable, to candy toppings, to fudge, peanut butter, caramel....get the idea?!?!? It was quite an experience! Their sizes are 'like it', 'love it' and 'gotta have it'....

And now it's back to work....yuch!

Bee Sure to Read This

You need to read this article from The Morning Call from today. I loved it! Kudos to the author...I think he deserves a Pulitzer!! Bee sure to read it!

Woo Hoo!!

Don't pay attention to the goofy face! Notice the hair?!?!?!? It's been cut...YIPPEE! And the funny (or more like annoying) part is he kept bugging me til we went to Holiday Hair. He said to me this morning that he couldn't wait to get his hair cut so it wasn't in his eyes. I could've killed him! Well, not literally, obviously! As we were walking in, he said he thought maybe he should get three inches cut off...this was after earlier in the week, I was asking for a mere half inch and he was fighting me! There's no winning!

P.S.- The first thing out of his mouth was, "Mom, now I look like you!" I just chuckled....

One Additional Award

I'm not sure this is an honor, but Adam received this award nonetheless. The award was meant for that person who always has to have the last word and always wants to do things his way when working in a group. I suggested to Adam that this may not really be something to be proud of, but he insisted he was thrilled to receive it. I guess that's another aspect of the award!

8th Grade Graduation

Wow! The school year is over...hard to believe! We now have two kids in Sr. High...one of them being a senior...sniff, sniff...LOL! Adam had his 8th grade graduation this morning. Below are the awards he received and a brief description of each.



This science award is self explanatory. This one was for the highest average in his class, not team.







Adam received this President's award for having a GPA greater than 3.5. It's signed by Dubya!





He received this award for having the highest average on his team of about 120 students in Algebra I. What an honor!






This is Adam's Algebra teacher, Mrs. Sanchez. She was pregnant and having problems, thus ended up going out on her maternity leave a few months prior to delivery. She was out from before Christmas and only came back on May 1st. She and her family recently joined Emmanuel's.






And, oh....what an honor this is! He received this from Ms. Transue, his Science teacher, for tipping his canoe on their field trip a few weeks ago!

Flew The Coop!

I came home from work on Monday, saw one of the birds sitting in the nest. He looked huge compared to even the day before! I went in the house for two seconds to get the camera and by the time I got back outside the bird had flown away!

Kurt wondered if this is where the saying Empty Nest Syndrome comes from!!

Informal Restaurant Review

My friend, Monica, and I recently had the opportunity to go out to lunch together. We discussed where we wanted to go. I suggested The Shanty on 19th St. in Allentown. This had been one of our favorite restaurants for many, many years. They had a gorgeous salad bar. Apparently, the restaurant was sold fairly recently, and as a result, just isn't quite the same! Monica called the day before to be sure they still had the salad bar. They said they did. We were psyched and excited about having a nice big salad for lunch.

Well, they do have a salad bar, but it isn't the salad bar! They had about a third of the items that used to be on the salad bar. It used to have a beautiful presentation. Now it's up along a wall, several of the metal containers were empty, and they only had a few salad dressings. Monica and I are big bleu cheese fans and they didn't even have that. Boo-Hoo!

The salad tasted OK, but it was a standard salad. We could have gone to Ruby Tuesday's and had a much nicer salad.

I can't comment on any of the other items, as we only had salad, so I don't want to tell anyone not to eat there, but if you remember the salad bar at the old Shanty, and salad is important to you, I suggest Ruby Tuesday's!

Weather Schmeather!

Forget about meteorologists!! Forget about Accu-Weather!! Just give us a call and ask if Adam has any scout camping trips coming up. We can assure you almost 100% that if he does, there will be rain, snow, wind, thunder +/or lightning!! He has had three camping trips since the start of 2006, and there has been nasty weather each time.

Snowbound- This trip is held in January/February up in the Poconos. OK, OK, I know....you're asking for bad weather that time of the year! This year the weather was soooo bad, all the troops were asked to leave on Saturday. Very high winds were expected, there are quite a few old trees and they feared that the wind would blow many of them down. Unfortunately, there was not enough transportation to bring everyone from Adam's troop home early, so they ended up staying until Sunday. Fortunately, the scouts that did end up staying were instructed to sleep in the mess hall.

Lenhartsville- They went on this camping trip in April to work on a hiking merit badge. We hadn't had rain for months, there were burning bans just about everywhere, some communities were asking people to conserve water use. I don't know why they just didn't call Adam's scoutmaster and ask them to plan a camping trip!! They had so much rain this particular weekend that there were flash flood warnings!! The kids got soaked. They actually took them to Cabela's Saturday afternoon so the kids would have a chance to dry out!


Klecknersville- The troop is here this weekend to work on merit badges. There are 8 or 10 troops camping with them. D'ya remember what the weather was like last evening? Earlier today?? That's Adam in the picture on the right, with the white sneakers.

Have I made my point?!?!?! I'll tell you all now that he leaves Sunday, June 18th for Boy Scout camp for the week!! You can't say I didn't warn you...LOL!!

Opinions requested

OK, Kurt and I broached the subject last night with Adam about needing a hair cut (actually, it's more like just a trim) prior to 8th grade graduation. He's adamant that he doesn't want one. I'm just asking for 1/4 to 1/2 inch off (and that still wouldn't take the bangs up to his eyebrows...LOL). What's your opinion?

Baby Birdie Update