Goodbye Flat Stacey

Karen sent Flat Stacey to visit us. This doll has done more traveling in her short lifetime than I have in mine. She started in Colorado, went to Australia, on to Alaska, then New Zealand. Then she spent some time with us in West Michigan. Over the weekend she was sent to Jennifer in South Dakota (if she makes it through all the snow!) Here are some of the things she did while staying with us.

Helping to make a cake!













Waiting for the bus in the morning.

















Visiting the muck fields and seeing how celery grows.







It was a fun visit. I hope she has as much fun playing in the snow as she had
by our house!

Shaelyn's latest sport!

Shaelyn started taking cheerleading 5 weeks ago. She loves it!

Slow Cooking Thursday

Hot Fudge Cake

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 3/4 cup boiling water

1. Mix together 1 cup brown sugar, flour, 3 Tbsp. cocoa, baking powder and salt.

2. Stir in milk, butter and vanilla. Spread over the bottom of slow cooker.

3. Mix together 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa. Sprinkle over mixture in slow cooker.

4. Pour in boiling water. Do not stir.

5. Cover and cook on High 2-3 hours, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

6. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

This was delicious last Sunday night!


Here's a bonus "recipe" for you to try too! I got this from my sister, Cheri.

Chicken in the Crock Pot

Take a whole chicken and put in a crockpot. Fill it up 1/2 way with water. Add about 5-6 chicken bouillon cubes. Turn it on low. I usually put this on before I go to bed on Saturday night. It is ready for a noontime meal on Sunday. I take all the chicken off the bones and serve it. It is extremely tender and juicy chicken. It's got great broth to make gravy with. This is one of my daughters favorite meals - Chicken in the crockpot with mashed potatoes and gravy, and some sort of vegetables!

Look who came to Visit!

We were playing outside yesterday when Shaelyn told me there were some ducks by the creek. Sure enough, a male and a female were walking around, probably looking for a place to build a nest. She tried to get closer and the male flew away, further down the creek. So I tried to sneak over and what did I see? There he was with a different female! They were swimming together while the other female was still back by the other area of the creek - two timer!! I tried to get a shot but they both flew away, leaving this original female walking by the trees. I don't know if they'll head back or not but we'll keep a look out for them.
Hope you can spot her - that was as close as I dared to get without her flying away too!

Spending the Night with Chuckie (Cheese, that is)

Friday night we went to Chuckie Cheese with friends we went to China with. The kids always love it there, although parents don't get too much time to talk. I obviously was too busy chasing Shaelyn to take pictures because this is about all I got.
The first is of Elle and her sister Sophie - shooting water at a target. That's one of Shaelyn's favorites. The second is Shaelyn on one of the rides. It was a fun night but next time we're going to a park or something where we can relax! (and just watch the kids run around!)

I Love This Kind of Mail!

Look what I got yesterday! This was part of a package that was sent to Mari for all of us sisters, all the way from New Zealand from Karen. Mari's been holding onto this package for awhile until all of us could get together. It's been a while because of spring break and work schedules. So yesterday was the day we planned and then..... Cheri decided to hurt her leg! Karen's darling little daughter drew a beautiful picture so we decided to pass that along to Cheri to make her feel better. Mari will be dropping Cheri's things off to her.
I have tasted that chocolate and is it good! It's almost worth the plane ticket to head over there and buy some myself. Karen also sent us rulers. I put mine with my scrapbooking supplies, so every time I use it I will think of her.
THANK YOU so much Karen. That was such a nice gift to receive in the mail. Aren't blogging buddies just the best?!!!

What kind of dog...

I found this quiz over at Mari's. Try it out!




The Charmer

Laid-back, sociable and well-groomed, you've got your own hip little pack of groupies who just love to be around you. You have a brain inside that adorable little head of yours, though you use it mostly to organize your hectic social calendar. You never poop out at parties, and since you're popular with ladies and men, as well as children and adults, you dish out your wit, charm and luck to whomever is close enough to bask in it. The top dog likes you and wants to be your best friend, despite the fact that he doesn't really know what the heck you do. No one does, in fact, but everyone loves you all the same. A true foodie, you’ve got your keen ears fine-tuned to make sure you don't miss out on the opening of a trendy new place to nosh. But your youthful days of being able to wolf down food 24-7 are wagging behind you, meaning you've got to watch what you eat so you don’t pull a Brando and outgrow your coats.

A Requirement to pass Kindergarten!

Look what Shaelyn learned to do yesterday!


We started to teach her 2 weeks ago but she just wanted to ride on the grass. She could keep her balance there but wasn't able to pedal far. She did not want to try anymore so we put the bike in the garage. I "kind of" hinted that you had to be able to ride 2 wheels to pass Kindergarten. So yesterday she told me that she practiced with Dave Monday night and did a good job. I took her out and she just took off. Then I showed her how to get started on her own. I think she's got the hang of it!

My Latest Books

I've just finished reading two books - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Many of you have probably already read this one. I chose it because it was recommended by Bonnie. I loved this book. It starts by taking place in Afghanistan before the Russian invasion. I learned a lot about Afghanistan and that culture.

The other book I finished is Uncharted by Angela Hunt.

This is a story about a group of friends who end up on a desolate island. I'm not going to say too much because it would give away the plot but I loved this book. It was easy to read and had a great message.



So if any of you are looking for something new to read; check these out!

How do You Sleep?

How do you sleep? Where do you sleep? If you're Shaelyn, this is how you chose to sleep Saturday night.

No, this was not a punishment that I inflicted upon her. She grabbed a laundry basket and said she was going to sleep in it for the night. I explained to her that it would be cramped and squishy and she said it would be comfortable. So I let her lay in there, thinking that she would move to her bed soon. A bit later she was asking for some water. I gave it to her but told her if she called again, she would have to move out of the laundry basket and into her bed. She didn't call again and this is how I found her when I went to bed later. She woke up Sunday morning without a kinked neck but I have removed the basket from her room!

American Idol

Did anybody see American Idol last night? It was the American Idol gives back show. I was shocked to see that they ended the show with the finalists singing "Shout to the Lord" Do you suppose anyone knew that song before they sang it?

Enjoying Spring Weather

Since the weather was so nice on Saturday, we spent some time outdoors. Shaelyn was busy planting in the sandbox...










climbing the rope ladder and...

















they all enjoyed jumping on the trampoline that got put up again!!

Cabela's

We left Friday morning to go to Cabela's. It's always kind of a fun place to visit. Here's a sampling of some of the animals we saw. They even had a special on fudge so we HAD to buy some. (Yes, Ginger - it's chocolate! It's kind of a spring break tradition that we get fudge somewhere!) In the afternoon, we headed to our hotel to just hang out and go swimming. We came home Saturday afternoon to beautiful weather. I think it was about 60 degrees! I could have been tempted to put on shorts if my legs weren't so white!

Spring Break Get-away

Tomorrow is the beginning of spring break for us. We are going to Cabela's for the day and staying in a hotel overnight. It should be nice to just get away for a day and we'll see what we'll be doing next week - maybe a movie?

Wordless Wednesday

One spoiled dog!