I took the kids to the playground yesterday afternoon. Emma had to bring her “big Mickey”! Grand-mama and G-pa took the kids to build a bear while I was in hospital with Samuel, and Emma built Mickey. Emma LOVES THAT Mickey. We left the playground and went about our evening. Right before bed Emma says, “Where’s my Mickey?” I look at Andrew in horror realizing that we forgot Mickey at the playground! Andrew immediately got in the car and went to the playground to find Mickey. A little while later Andrew returns and says he could not find Mickey. When I tucked Emma into bed I tried to explain to her that Mickey was lost. I said, “We left him on the playground, and another boy or girl probably found Mickey. Mickey has a new home with them now.” Emma said, “I am so sad.” I say good night and closed the bedroom door. A little while later I hear her sobbing!!! I go into her room and try to console her. She is still saying how sad she is. It is terrible to see your child upset and not be able to do anything about it! I felt just as sad about losing Mickey as she did! Emma finally fell asleep. Today I couldn’t give up on finding Mickey! We returned to the park, and I got out of the car. There was a group of school kids on the playground. I asked them if they had found a mickey mouse? To my surprise, relief, and utter joy, they had found Mickey!!! When I returned Mickey mouse to Emma she gave him the biggest hug and said how happy she was again! 🙂 Andrew couldn’t believe we found Mickey. He utterly swears that Mickey was not there last night! I told him not to worry, he probably didn’t see Mickey because it was starting to get dark. Andrew does have this habit of not being able to find what is right in front of him though! 🙂 It has happened on several occasions when he is looking for something in the pantry. He will say he can’t find ___, and I will go look and it’s setting right there! Hahaha! I STILL love you, Andrew! 😉

I did a thing this week!! I had my hair cut, and I love it! For no logical reason at all, I have some type of phobia when it comes to going to a hair salon.  I think it’s because I’ve had to change hair dressers so often. Regardless, I decided I was going to do it. I was so tired of Samuel grabbing it, and always having to pull it back in a ponytail.

Some highlights from our week include story time at the library, going to the zoo, and kite flying! Emma loved the “Mom and Pop” show at the library! She danced and was really into it for about forty minutes! Then she got tired and we went and picked out books. 🙂 We LOVED the baby ducks at the zoo! 🙂 I don’t know if you can really tell from the picture, but Emma is holding the handle to the kite flying way up in the sky! It was very windy that day! Shortly after I took the picture of Emma flying the kite she let go of the handle!! The kite went soaring through the yard, through the neighbors yard, and over the fencing! Luckily it got stuck in some bushes across the fence and we were able to retrieve it. I probably looked like a crazy person, holding a baby and retrieving a fly away kite at the same time! 🙂

I made this dessert for Andrew for Father’s day. It’s strawberry pie! I chose to make little strawberry pies in ramekins. They look so cute, and I like the individual servings! The recipe I used does not use jello or gelatin. You make your own by pureeing strawberries, adding corn starch, sugar, and water. Bring it to a boil till it thickens. Let cool.  I chose to make my own pie crust as well because I love my pie crust recipe, but you could use a store bought crust. I used the ramekin to cut the crust to size, and then placed it in the bottom of the lightly buttered ramekin. Fully bake the crust until light golden brown. Cool completely. Place the fresh cut strawberries on top of the crust and spoon the glaze over the top of the strawberries. Refrigerate for a few hours. When you are ready to eat, whip up some whipped cream. I use heavy whipping cream, a couple tablespoons of confectioners sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Whip with a mixer until desired thickness and fluffiness is achieved. If you want to make it fancy you can pipe it onto the dessert, or you could just be like me and spoon it on top in great big blobs! 🙂

Love,

PK