4th of July and birthday festivities

hAppY 4th oF JuLy!  

Thanks to all who have made, and continue to make, the USA a free country.

This weekend was a busy one for us.  On Sunday we had a wonderful church service in the park and then enjoyed barbecue, games, and fellowship.  I love how out-going our new church is, it reminds me of the things I did as a child and I am really looking forward to this next weekend's camping trip with our life group.  I'm sure I'll blog about it and post some pictures. :)

Later, after church-in-the-park, we went home to celebrate E's birthday since we had not been able to do it the previous weekend with Tom and C out of town.  Our good friends also celebrated with us since we were marking their son's first birthday as well.  I made cakes for both kids, so it was fun to diversify a bit and make both a "princess" cake and a "dinosaur" cake. Admittedly, it was a lot of work, but we have such wonderful friends who re-paid us with a delicious barbecued chicken dinner...complete with a spinach and strawberry salad straight from their garden.  Wonderfully worth it.

BBQ chicken, garlic mashed potatoes and spinach/strawberry salad.  Yum!

the birthday kiddos

E's princess cake.  I used "ballerina barbie" since she had a molded top already.  The cake was a 4-tier french vanilla with strawberry and butter-cream filling, and of course very pink butter-cream frosting.

Dinosaur cake.  This was a 3-tier chocolate cake with buttercream filling & frosting.  Delish!

the carnage.

Today we headed to another barbecue for 4th of July...which was hot, hot, hot.  I think it got up to 96 degrees or something this afternoon.  I was happy to return home to air-conditioning for a bit and then head back out at 9pm to watch the variety of fireworks across town from the park across from us.  It's a fun way to see everything "from above" and yet not have to deal with hordes of people (and traffic) afterwards. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend as well!

{we were just happy to not be re-living last year's July 4th fiasco}

p.s.  I had so many problems getting this post to format that I am now considering the "Big Move" to word press. Not to mention my pictures have been disappearing from old posts. Frustrating!

:: Happy Easter!

Just to forewarn you, this is a post with LOTS of pictures of our Easter weekend. :)

Saturday we went to church for an Easter egg hunt with the kids. It was tons of fun and the kids enjoyed crafts, face painting, bouncy houses, an egg hunt, and of course a message about the true meaning of Easter.

:: Happy pre-St. Patrick's Day!

So, I'm not really a fan of St. Paddy's Day...meaning the holiday. The man, St. Patrick?  Good Christian Saint whose death somehow became synonymous with green beer.  I'm sure there is a whole history lesson in there but mostly what I remember about St. Pat's Day is being pinched a lot for not wearing green.   How mean is that, seriously?!   I'm also not Irish and do not like corned beef or cabbage, so there you go.

:: Valentine fun

For Valentine's Day this year Tom and I exchanged (more like shared) a gift that I just had to mention on my blog (could be used for next year's inspiration!).  At Dayspring they have a Mr. & Mrs. Love Collection set that works as a great Valentine's Day gift.

:: Happy 2011!

I can't believe how 2010 flew by. Today I reflected on the past year, and realized that I hope 2011 is better. Not because 2010 was all that bad, but because I see the areas where I want things to improve...and what better excuse to get that ball rolling than a new year?  Here's some random goals:

A Year in Review:

The big thing in blog-land is to re-cap the past year, highlighting favorite posts from our personal blogs. I have a feeling this will be most interesting to family, but here goes anyway...

:: January:  No posts.  Hmmm.  Guess I was still getting this blog going and had no ideas of what to focus on in the Recke household.  Sad.  I'd put a little blurb about what I *remember*, but the trouble is, I don't.  Moving on...

:: February:  Same as January.  C did turn 6 years old, so there's that!

:: March:  One Post.  Improvement! :)

:: April:  A month of ups and downs.  A funny post about the death of "Ollie the Otter 1.0".  And then there were Easter pics of the kids.

:: May:  Again, one post.  As I reflect now, we were so naive (more about that later).

:: June:  E's 2nd Birthday and a new swing-set and visit from Grandpa Al. 

:: July:  when our camping naivete was explored (aka, possibly the worst camping trip EVER).

:: August:  C's first day of Kindergarten (one down, one to go). ;)

:: September:  Our family trip to South Dakota.  That was a lot of fun!

:: October:  A Family Hike and Halloween pictures.

:: November:  Raking up playing in the leaves.

:: December:  torture a visit with Santa and of course, Christmas!

Hard to believe another year is over.  Crazy how fast it all goes.  And lucky me, I'm ending it with a killer head cold.   Yay!

Have a very Happy New Year!!

We pray this holiday finds you happy, joyful and blessed! 

Thank you to all of our dear friends and family who make each year so memorable, 

it's an honor to have you in our lives.

Love and Blessings,

The Recke Family

Totally Random Christmas Questionnaire

I found this little ditty at one of my favorite blogs.  Seemed like something fun to do, and it helped distract me from dealing with my crazy, running-a-muck kids...

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?   Egg nog, yuck!  Hot Chocolate is a year-round beverage in my opinion (a MUST for camping), so neither of these fall into a holiday beverage of choice for me.  I will say that Starbuck’s pumpkin spice latte is a fall fave in our household.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?  Wrap…unless it’s a huge heavy boxed item or a really weird shape…then forget it b/c Santa has better things to do than struggle with uncooperative wrapping paper.
3. Colored or white lights for tree/house? White all around.  The tree is already pre-lit with hundreds of tiny lights.  As far as lights on the house, the anal part of me says, “it will be too bright shining into the kids' bedroom windows at night.”  Thus, we end up with nothing at all.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? My husband needs no more incentive. 'Nuf said.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Black Friday, or there about.  I need an excuse not to shop with all the other crazies.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Sweet potato casserole (is it considered a casserole?  You know the one:  where we take perfectly healthy sweet potatoes and add sugar, sugar, and more sugar so that it becomes an excuse to eat dessert in the main course).
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Reading the *true* Christmas story as a family around the tree on Christmas Eve.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? When I saw two santas in the mall…and one was having a cigarette break. (jk, I don’t think I ever believed since my folks didn’t care for that particular part of Christmas).
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yeah, but just one.  It makes the 12 hours until Christmas morning much more bearable.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?  "I take an ornament, put a little hook on it, and hang it on the tree."  Is there any other way?  I’m still waiting for the tree that you remove from the box already decorated…the pre-lit fake trees are only halfway there.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it…for the first couple of hours and then I wonder when we’ll roshambo to see who shovels the driveway.
12. Can you ice skate? Just waiting for the phone call to participate in “Stars on Ice”!  (NOT)
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?  Back in the day when employers had money, my Dad’s company gave the employee’s kids age-appropriate toys.  I got a huge Tippy dog that I loved. 
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family togetherness (within reason) and baby Jesus!!
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? It’s a toss up between pecan pie and the aforementioned sweet potato casserole.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I would like it to be decorating the tree as a family with soft Christmas music playing in the background.  But considering my fear of the kids breaking the fragile ornaments and my husband not feeling the love, it’s usually a one-woman job (i.e., me).  This would explain my answer in question #10…
17. What tops your tree? A big bow
18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Do you want the PC answer??
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?  I readily admit I looooove Christmas music.  I am the annoying one who is so excited when the local easy-listening radio station starts playing them ad nauseam from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  That said, my faves are usually by Christian artists…who truly celebrate the reason for the season.
20. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum?  Mostly yuck.  But the fruity ones can err on the side of yummy once in awhile.
21 Favorite Christmas Show?  Purely from a nostalgic standpoint, "Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer".  Who did not watch this classic as a kid?!  I am still shocked that it is only a ½ hour show though…it seemed so much longer back in the day.
22. Saddest Christmas Song?  Is "Same Old Lang Syne" (by Dan Fogelberg) a Christmas song?  I seem to hear a lot at this time of year, at any rate.  That is a sad song for some reason. 

In the Christmas spirit of giving, feel free to copy this post and fill it out on your blog! :)

I also can't resist putting this in here...I heart her!

Happy Thanksgiving 2010!

 "For this new morning with its light,
Father, we thank thee,
For rest and shelter of the night,
Father, we thank thee,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Special Thanksgiving wishes to all of our dear friends and family! 

Halloween 2010

Labor Day 2010

Hope everyone is having a nice long labor day weekend! Tom is off bow-hunting so I'm home with the kids cleaning and doing laundry. Not very labor-less of me, I know. We do have a BBQ later today to head off to, so that helps. :)

I was trying to master my camera again and got a few shots of the kids playing in the yard...

They still love their sandbox!

I can never get enough pictures of this face...even through the awkward growing of permanent teeth.

Her's too.  She definitely has her Daddy's eyes.

C stepped on a rock and skinned his foot (never mind that I am *constantly* telling them to put their shoes back on).  E ran into the house, brought him back one of her band-aids, and put it on his owie:

I love my kids. :)

Happy Fathers Day!

To my awesome, incredible Dad...

and to the other Fathers in my life...

 love to you all and thanks for being there!

(that "object" in front of them is my first attempt at working with fondant on cakes...
don't laugh.)

Happy Easter!

from our family to yours!

What am I thankful for?

These guys...

and that they get along so beautifully.

C's thankful for the tooth fairy!

Happy Thanksgiving 2009!