BUDDIES!

Since Chris has moved in, he and Colby have become the ultimate buddies! We will ask Colby, "Who is your buddy?" And if Chris is around they will both point to each other and yell, "BUDDIES!" This pic has become one of my favorites ever... Chris was cleaning and vacuuming out my car (when are you moving back Chris!?! We miss you! ;-) ha ha) and started experimenting with vacumming hair! So they both gave each other fohawks and this is the priceless result! Colby is helping me make this post and I asked him if he had to say anything about this picture and he said, "I love Chris-o-reah riah. He is my friend."

Desert Dance Concert 2008!

Sydney and Mia have taken dance at Desert Dance for a year now- it's a combo class with ballet, tap, and tumbling. They have taken it with their good friend Brooklyn and were so excited for their big spring recital at the Queens Creek Center for Performing Arts! They danced ballet to "A Whole New World" and looked absolutely beautiful in their blue princess outfits. We had downloaded the song on my IPod so they practiced lots and Sydney knew every move- Mia grinned the entire dance and watched Sydney to try to remember all the moves. They were adorable. It was so cute! I was so glad they didn't get stage fright- it was a big auditorium- and they were so happy afterwards! And we had learned from the Christmas Recital that even if the dance school tells you your kiddos can't leave early... they really can. So we took off right after their dance, which Dad was very happy about. But yay Syd and Mia! Fabulous job!

German Chocolate Upside Down Cake

This yummilicious dessert is a fam favorite... dating back to Texas! The Stums and we were practically family there and since we lived two doors down from each other, we often ate Sunday dinner together. Lena made this for us one Sunday and we've been hooked ever since! Super easy, super yummy... here's the recipe in case you're drooling!

German Chocolate Upside Down Cake

1 Chocolate cake mix

1 cup walnuts or pecans- chopped

1 cup coconut

8 oz. cream cheese

1 cube margarine/butter

1 lb. powdered sugar

Oil and flour bottom of a 9x13 (or use Baking Spray that has flour). Place nuts and coconuts evenly on bottom of pan. Mix cake according to directions on box and then pour over nuts and coconut. Warm margarine and cream cheese and mix well. Add powdered sugar to Cream Cheese and margarine and pour evenly over cake. Swirl with knife as seen below!

Bake according to box directions for 9x13 pan- for the longest time. It will seem gooey in the middle when taken out of the oven. Cool and allow to set up for 10 minutes. Cut into even servings and serve with ice cream!

Potato Art!

Growing up one of the funnest art project to make- and probably cheapest- was potato art! You most likely have all done it... And maybe forgotten about it... But I did it with my kiddos and they LOVED it. If you've not tried it before, here are the basics!

*Cut a potato in half.

*Cut out a design on the cut side of each half, or you can use a cookie cutter like I did and just cut around the shape. (The sliced off piece of potato with the negative stamp makes for a great stamp too!

*Dip potato in paint and you are ready to make a beautiful work of art!

*Another great idea is to use fabric paint and stamp on aprons, bags, etc. I've even seen Martha Stewart stamp with potatoes or apples on canvas bags she uses for her Groceries! As you can see, Syd and Mia and Colby really got into it... In fact they just kept going and going as you can see from ALL the pictures drying outside. Thank heavens for lots of construction paper around here! Oh- and we just use that Washable Crayola paint and it works great!

Leker Pannekoeken!

YUMMY! Leker Pannekoeken translates to "I like Pancakes!" Dutch pancakes that is! Chris got back from serving his mission in the Brussels Belgium/Netherlands Mission in March and came to live with us in April- wahoo! One of our funnest summers ever. But anyways, he translated this recipe from dutch and made it for us and we LOVE it. Super yummy. They are thicker than crepes but thinner than pancakes and there's a lot of variation in what you can add to them... We've had them for dinner and for breakfast- the kiddos love putting their own creations together! I'll list out some ideas after the recipe...

(As you can see- they are good to the last drop! Mia ate her very first Pannekoeken in record time!)

Pannekoeken

300 ml milk (about 10 1/2 ounces!)

3 eggs

1 tsp. baking powder

2-3 tsp butter melted

pinch of salt

1 1/4 cup flour

Mix all ingredients together well in a blender. If you are doing sweet Pannekoeken you can add 1 TBS. sugar. Heat pan, spray with Pam, and pour in batter. Cook just like pancakes!

You can do:

*Butter, cinnamon, syrup, and powdered sugar. (spray whip cream is always fun to add to this!)

*Fruit, powdered sugar, whip cream

*Bacon, cheese and salsa (american version of Pannekoeken! ;-) )

*Green peppers, ham, and cheese

*Ice cream, berries, powdered sugar, cinnamon, whip cream

*Scrambled Eggs/cheese/ham or bacon

*Whatever Savory/sweet concoction you can come up with... Chris what are some other authentic ways to serve them up??? I've forgotten...

The spray whip cream is half the excitement for the kiddos! It's a fun meal- a way to celebrate a different culture too! Do you have a favorite ethnic dish even the kiddos love? What's your favorite way to eat Pannekoeken!?!