Yum Yum Yum!

I love pizza on the grill! On Sunday we grilled up pizzas for Matt's birthday party. Max kept asking me if we were having the kind with the "green sauce" (pesto) which is his favorite! I tried making my own pizza dough this time and forgot to put the salt into one of the batches - oops. However, it did come out really well and I think I will make the dough again as it is super easy.

Cooking Lessons

Sophie has decided that it is high time she learned how to cook. Last week she told me she wanted to make a "resipe" (recipe) so I let her flip through some cookbooks and look at the photos to choose something to make. She decided on meringue cookies so I pulled out one of my favorite cookie recipes Chocolate Walnut Meringue Cookies - it is so easy, has no butter and it is fast!
Sophie dried the bowl for us before we whipped up the meringue (which we had to do twice) and then she tried to chop the chocolate which proved too tough for her. She and Natalie really enjoyed scooping the finished product onto the cookie sheet before baking. They were not the prettiest things, but no one complained and they were gone within a half hour of coming out the the oven!

Water Bugs

Our lawn has been scorched by the recent bad weather and by the fact that I keep forgetting to water it. We are only allowed to water every other day, but I cannot seem to figure out how to get the sprinkler system to run on the right day automatically. So, on Thursday afternoon (a non-water day) I put out the hose on a particularly scorched area and told the surprised kids that it was OK if they ran through it. Sophie, Natalie and Calvin thought this was the best idea ever and soon were soaked through - but hey, the lawn got a bit of water and they had loads of fun!

Sun Lovers

Thursday was another hot day here and the kids spent much of the day outside (after a bit of yardsaling). My friend and new Enrichment Leader, Kim came over with her two girls Megan and Emily. We made a little picnic for the kids outside (I love summer) which they ate between trips to the sandbox!

What a good Dad!

I am feeling guilty for not doing a better job of commemorating Father's Day. We all had breakfast together and Bryan received a double water bottle belt for running, some other running gear from Max and good olive oil with tiny dipping plates from Sophie. Bryan is a wonderful father and his children adore him! I thought I'd just post some truly cute pictures of the kids with their dad (these are from last fall at Holtz Farm in Eagan).

Playgroup

On Wednesday we met up at another local park for playgroup. I posted these because I wanted to show what Sophie was doing on this beautiful summer day.
On the way to the park, I stopped at a yard sale (yippee!) and bought the latest hardcover version of the Magic Treehouse series for fifty cents! Sophie was so excited that she kept running back from the playground to take reading breaks!
Sophie and Max have both earned a free book from the local library this summer for reaching their 20 hours of reading goals. They are now working on 100 hours, at which point they can earn Barnes and Noble gift certificates!
Barnes and Noble are also doing a summer reading program and Max has picked up one free book there as well. We love all of the summer programs - such a great way to reward children for reading!

Book Club

Oh, I love Book Club! My dear friend Paula started this book club years ago when she moved to Minnesota and I have been attending ever since I joined the ward. I love meeting together every month and having an excuse to read all sorts of new books! I love being with other women who love to read!
This month we read "The Importance of Being Ernest" and though I can't say we had a very deep discussion about the play, we had a wonderful time quoting all of our favorite lines and just being together on a beautiful night!
Paula is an amazing cook and she made homemade strawberry ice cream served with chocolate wafer cookies. Somehow she always knows exactly what to serve together at what occasion. This is not something I have mastered.

Our Fathers

So, here I am - someone who actually teaches card classes every month, and I cannot seem to get cards in the mail on time. Dates just seem to sneak up on me. Part of the problem is I like to put photos in with the cards if I have them, and then I do not know how much postage they need which means a trip to the post office with multiple children. I just mailed off Jason's birthday card (Happy Birthday Jason back on the 16th), Lindsay's birthday card and congratulations on your baptism card and three Father's Day cards.
We have one Grandfather and two Fathers between us - Bryan's grandfather Erickson lives in Michigan and Bryan's father is in Rochester, NY. My dad is in Idaho Falls. I tried to find some photos and only have this one of Bryan's father with Bryan, David and Max. This was taken on their last visit to our home back in September of last year. (I have not figured out how to post the photos in the middle of the message so they are all at the top - sorry)
I have no digital photos of Bryan's grandfather, but I hope to fix that situation when we see him in July!
As for my dad, I have not seen him since I bought the digital camera, so I only have photos that he has sent via email. They are very small, but there he is with little Soren and the other is my dad masquerading as a grizzly.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Heather and Ross on their new baby boy - Soren Ross Peterson. He was born last night and weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz. and was almost two weeks early! Heather was discussing that once he came out he does not really look like a Soren with all of his dark hair.
I must say Sophie is somewhat dissapointed because months ago Heather told her the baby was going to be called Henry and she loves that name. She is however warming up to Soren because he is so cute!
I like Soren, but Bryan would like to point out that Soren is the guy who killed Captain Kirk in the 7th Star Trek movie!
Click on Heather's blog to the right to see photos of the handsome fellow!

The Eyes Have It

I was playing around with Trisha's camera, trying to take extreme close-ups. This is what I got. I believe the eyes are Max, Sophie, me and the blond eyelashes must be Nicholas.

Memorial Day with family

Bryan's brother David and his wife Trisha invited us over for a Memorial Day brunch. We had a ton of good food including crepes (yum!) and a chance to catch up.
I just received these photos in the mail so I thought I would post a couple. Trisha had just received a new camera for her birthday so everyone was snapping photos including the kids. Sophie took a photo of every electronic item in their home.
David and Trisha have two children, Nicholas and Joshua and the kids all had a great time getting to know each other again and playing with light savors.