Happy Birthday Dann!

I am blessed to have spent the last 17 of your 45 years with you!

I love you honey!

"Fun-due"

This past Friday night we decided to stay at home for a family night. While deciding what we would have for dinner it occurred to me that my kids have never fondued (is that a word??) with anything but chocolate. It probably has something to do with the flaming pot of oil that you use to cook your food! I decided that with supervision that they probably could handle it. Fonduing (again, is that a word?) was one of my favorite meals to eat with my family when I was a kid ( can you say 1970's burnt orange fondue pot?) and I wanted to share that with my kids.

They really got a kick out of it and enjoyed cooking their own food. I am happy to report that no one got burned.

Sophie was my most skeptical diner. She did not want to get her food "wet". I explained to her that her food had to get "wet" in order for it to be cooked! I am pretty sure she ate an entire raw zucchini one slice at a time but she did eventually eat some chicken and fried cheese and potatoes.

It was a fun family meal that we plan to do again soon.

Now, if someone will tell me what to do with that nasty pot of oil !!!!!

(Sorry that we didn't think to take a photo until we were almost finished. It was more appetizing at the beginning :0P )

Happy Birthday Grannie Annie!

Grannie Annie's Birthday from Ashley Zehr on Vimeo.

Famous

At least in my world!

Dann is involved in a local theater production of The Music Man that opens tonight.

The above photo was on the cover of the Rutherford Weekend today.

You can read the article here: http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080924/WEEKEND01/809240314/1082/WEEKEND.

The show runs tonight thru Sunday and Oct. 2-5th. Tickets are available at www.lamplighterstheater.net.

A Really Good Photo

I received the following photo via email yesterday. My Uncle Vern took the photo the last time they were here. I don't know which is more precious.......the photo of her grubby hands fearlessly holding the frog or the words he wrote about her:

"Looking at this picture, One would assume that they are looking at the hands of some adolesent boy doing what boys do. But in reality they are the hands of my favorite tom-boy, Macklin Zehr my great-niece, and she is indeed a GREAT NIECE !"

I am very grateful for a family who are crazy about my kids and love them each just the way they are!

Happy Grandparents Day!

Grannie Annie, Papa Ben, Gramma and Granpa

We love you!

Huh?

The other day I came home and checked my caller id and this is what I found........

He did not leave a message!

Maybe he has heard about the stellar job that I do playing the evil stepmother when the girls play princesses!

I guess if Peter Pan and Tinker Bell start calling I will really get concerned!

Happy Anniversary!

My parents have been married 40 years today! My dad likes to say that they got married when they were 10 :0) Truthfully, they were not much older at 18. I am blessed to come from a home with parents who love each other and their kids unconditionally. They are shaping up to be pretty awesome grandparents too! Happy Anniversary! We love you!

P.S. Happy Anniversary to my Aunt Linda and Uncle Mike too! They got married 38 (I think) years ago today! We love you too!

Father's Day 2008

Were they callin' for rain?????

This was my Memorial Day Project.

BEFORE

AFTER
But sadly, I was interrupted by a monsoon! So I spent some time putzing around Pioneer Woman cooks. This is the result:
The recipes are cheese and olive bread, Marlboro Man's 2ND favorite sandwich (the chicken, we didn't eat it on a bun) and bacon wrapped, stuffed jalapeno thingys. We will be scheduling our EKG's first thing in the morning! ~Happy Memorial Day!~

Blessed

Happy Mother's Day to you and yours! We have had a fantastic weekend and hope you have too!

Splishin' and a Splashin'......

with a special emphasis on splashin'! After our festivities last Saturday and all of the outside play the kids were dirty beyond words. Needless to say, a bath was in order. We decided to put Will and Sophie in together and the chaos ensued! We had to dry the walls and I had to change clothes! They thought it was a blast and they really liked their mohawks!

An Update

Brenda's surgery went well. She had a valve replacement. Thanks for praying. Dann's other sister Deanna sent a well written email to her friends and our family outling specific things to pray for. I will (with her permission) outline them here if you would like to continuing praying.

Please pray:

1. for wisdom for the doctors that care for her

2. for quick healing (no infections/complications)
3. for peace for Brenda, her husband, Billy, and their 2 girls: Rebekah, 13, and Emily, 10
4. for school to go well for the girls. Brenda is a very organized, conscientious homeschool mom! It will be hard for her to “take it easy.”
5. for peace for our mother, as her “baby” goes through this time

~Good Night~

A Simple Request

Dann's baby sister is having heart surgery in the morning (3-19-08).

If you will please take a moment to pray for her we would greatly appreciate it!

She is having a valve replaced or repaired (they will not know until they get in there).

Thank you and I will give you an update when I know more.

~Good night~

Just A Little Update

I know everyone has just been on the edge of their seats.....so I thought I would let you know that the Zehrmobile has officially taken a trip to the car wash. It was everything I expected and more! Sophie started screaming when we got in line and did not stop until we were finished. I somehow thought that taking ALL of the kids would make it better but alas, I was wrong. Elijah and Macklin went from trying to comfort her and distract her, to "Mom, make her stop", to hysterically laughing at her. None of these tactics were sucessful. Enjoy the photos of my clean van because it will probably not be washed until the next time we go to my parents. My dad has the best home car wash set up ever : good driveway, great hose, lots of buckets and sponges, special bug scrubbers, drying towels, etc. and pretty much every product known to man! So,until I see my Daddy, I will continue to collect dirt and bugs with the best of them.

Have a good day!

Strep Throat, Ear Aches and Stomach Bugs, OH MY!

Honestly, we are a healthy family 99% of the time but this has not been our winter at all. The current tally is as follows:
Ashley and Sophie: Strep throat for Christmas
Elijah: Strep throat from classmate at school just after returning from Christmas break.
Sophie: Double ear infection two weeks ago
Sophie: Stomach virus this past Friday night.
Elijah: Not feeling well Saturday evening, fever by Sunday, trip to minute clinic....diagnosis.....STREP THROAT AGAIN!
Thank goodness for the free antibiotic program at Publix! It has been a huge blessing in all of this! We have only paid for one prescription! If you are looking for a stock tip I would recommend investing in Oral-B. With all of our strep I have thrown away and purchsed enough new toothbrushes to make their next quarter profits increase by a good margin. We are not sure how Dann and Macklin have managed to stay disease free. ( I believe Macklin moves too fast for anything to stick to her ;} ) If you think about it, please pray that we can shake all of this pretty soon and for Dann and Macklin to continue to stay well! Thanks and good night!

Did I say 16?

In my previous post I wrote that there were 16 cousins on Dann's side of the family......Well, all that is about to change! We got an email from Dann's sister Deanna and her husband Jeff (parents to Brian, Thomas, Matthew and Natalie) they are adopting a child from Liberia! Their paperwork is complete and they are waiting on a match. They will probably be matched with a girl age 7-10. Please pray for them during this exciting time and I will keep you updated!

Going...Staying...Going...Staying...Going...GONE!

We had the privilege of going to the airport on Sunday to see Seth off to Malaysia. It was dicey for a while but he got to go. Amy retells the story on her blog. We are so proud of him and cannot wait to hear of his adventures! He made it safely to Malaysia but his luggage did not. Seth is keeping a blog also so we are all waiting to hear if his luggage ever shows up! It is said that nothing worth having ever comes easy.....I guess this is proof! Keep the Hoods (the international one and the stateside ones) in your prayers!

A Fest of Fun!

Our Fall Fest was today at church. Our small group sponsored a bake sale with the proceeds going to Operation Christmas Child. We had a good time making the goodies and we almost sold out. Each family took home a couple of things. The kids had a great time and Dann was a good sport to take them to all of the booths and games. Thanks to Ruth. Alan and crew for a well organized, fun event!

Welcome HOME!

We are so happy that Jadyn Grace Hood has finally come home! Most of you reading this are familiar with the process and patience that it has taken to get her here. It was such a joy to see her last night (and her family :))!

The thing that struck me last night is how someone you have never met before is not a stranger to you. She has not even been here 24 hours and it just seems like she has always been a part of our lives. (okay she has for two years but not physically). We went back to Pat and Amy's house from the airport and it just seemed so natural to look over and see her sitting in Pat's lap or reaching for her Mommy. I love the way her eyes light up when she sees her "Bubbas"! She is a very blessed little girl who came from very unfortunate circumstances but I believe our families will be receiving more blessings from her! I am looking forward to see what God is going to do in her life!

Welcome Home Sweet Baby! We love you!

(Thank you Amanda and Jeremy for sharing your photos with me! www.norris-family.org)