Favorite Children's Books

This weeks topic over at Kelly's Corner is Favorite Children's Books. I have a favorite Children's author - Sandra Boynton! One of the first books we received after our son Jack was born was a book by Sandra Boynton : Snuggle Puppy! We immediately fell in love with her cute, quaint, rhyming stories, and looked for more of her books every time we hit the bookstore. Here are some of our favorites:

Over the years we have purchased every book she has written, and love them all. Even though our Jack (now 8 years old) has outgrown them I can't get rid of them - they still sit on his bookshelf and every once in awhile he takes one out and reads it to us - it's great!

One other gift we received was a book/CD of songs made up about the books Sandra Boynton has written - It's called Philadelphia Chickens. If you love reading her books, you love singing them even more. I still remember my husband singing "Snuggle Puppy" to Jack at night - Precious!

Thinking PINK...

This Mother's Day my mom, sister and I participated in the Race for the Cure at Mall of America. I was so happy to spend the morning with them raising money to fight Breast Cancer. We're lucky that this disease has not hit our immediately family - and I pray that it never will. Others have not been so lucky, and for them I pray for healing, peace, and a CURE! Until then, I will definitely continue to contribute to this cause and THINK PINK!

Mom, Sarah and me at 2010 Race for the Cure

~ "Once you choose hope, anything's possible." ~
Christopher Reeve

Birthday Buddies...

JACK had such a FUN 8th birthday PARTY this weekend with his FRIENDS at PINZ!...

Fun Friends

Goofy Shot

~Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.~ Eleanor Roosevelt

What's for Dinner....

Anyone that knows me well knows that I love Rachael Ray's cooking style and her recipes. I will try anything she suggests. I don't always get the same results visually, but it usually tastes pretty darn good. I happened to see the very end of her show the other day and saw her finish off a super yummy looking dish:

Fettuccini with Sweet Corn and Fresh Dill!

Looks SO good so I'm trying it for dinner tonight and thought I'd share the recipe.

Ingredients

• 8 ears of corn, peeled
• About 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• Salt
• 1 pound fettuccini, tagliatelle or egg tagliatelle
• 1 tablespoon EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 6 slices smoky bacon, chopped
• 1 bunch sweet green Vidalia onions thinly sliced or 3 medium leeks, trimmed & thinly sliced whites & greens, washed & dried
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 small red chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 7 to 8 stems of fresh thyme, leaves finely chopped, a couple of tablespoons
• 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
• About 1/4 cup dill, a generous handful, finely chopped
• Freshly grated parmesan or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preparation

Place a small bowl in a larger bowl inverted. Balance the ears of corn on the bottom of the small bowl then scrape the kernels off which will be captured in the large bowl.

Puree half of the corn in food processor or blender with the stock.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta, salt water and cook the pasta to al dente.

Meanwhile, heat EVOO, a turn of the pan, in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook to crisp, drain and reserve the bacon and pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of drippings. Return pan to heat and add whole corn kernels and season with a black pepper and just a bit of salt. Cook corn until it starts to lightly brown at edges, about 5-6 minutes, then add in onions and garlic, chili pepper and thyme and cook together a couple of minutes more. Stir in puree and heat through. Then stir in butter and dill. If sauce is too thick, add a ladle of starchy water to pan just before draining the pasta. Add pasta to sauce and toss vigorously to coat evenly for at least 1 minute. Adjust seasoning and serve with freshly grated cheese on top.

Serves 4-6

Enjoy!

Another Year Older...

Jack is turning 8 today! Hard to believe that 8 years ago I became a mom. Decided to take out a couple of old photos from April 19th, 2002.

Right after Jack was born, 7:30 pm on a Friday night.

On the scale - a whopping 5 lb 7 oz.

Jack at his 8th birthday party with the fam.

8 years old and getting cuter every year! Love being your mom little buddy!!

~ A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip. ~ unknown

Easter 2010 and Blog Resurrection

Haven't posted on the blog for awhile - getting to used to and spoiled by the ease of just posting photos on Facebook. I originally wanted to use this blog as a nice timeline of family events and memories, so I'm going to try to get back to it.

We had a great Easter this year.....

Jack Decorated Eggs.

Jack was serious about his egg decorating.

Colorful Eggs.

The Easter Bunny stopped by and left some presents.

Grandma and Grandpa came over and set up an egg hunt.

Of course the best part of Easter this and every year....

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

– John 3:16

Day trip to Fusson - Bavarian Alps

Photos from our day in Fusson - near the border of Germany and Switzerland...

Waiting for the train to Fusson
Hot air balloons everywhere
On the train heading to the alps
The alps from the balcony of the castle
Downtown Fusson with the alps in the background
Streets of Fusson
A castle (can't remember the name right now)
Scenic
Very Scenic
The climb to Schloss Newschwanstein Castle
Schloss Newschwanstein Castle
Waterfall along the climb
Schloss Newschwanstein Castle
Waterfall in the gorge behind the castle
Bridge over the gorge
Scenic
Another view of the castle
Again
After we came back down the hill
Alps from the train

Dusseldorf Germany

Dusseldorf Germany...

Our Hotel

Me along the Rhine
John in Dusseldorf Old Town Marketplatz...
Old Town signs...
Old Town buildings...
Church and museums along the Rhine...
Oberkasseler Bridge over the Rhine...
A favorite in Old Town Dusseldorf.... Frietbox Fries with hollandaise mayonaise...
John with Frietbox Fries (right net to BK)...
Old Town at night...
The Rhine at sunset... Rhein Tower and Rheinknie Bridge...Dusseldorf landmarks
John along the Rhine...
John in Old Town...
Another Marketplatz in old town...
Old Town - lots of pubs...
Along the Rhine in the AM... Love the palm trees - yes they are real...
Rhein Tower in the AM...
Along the Rhine in the AM...
Loved the city of Dusseldorf! A fun place to walk around, eat, and shop, with great vistas....