Cat's Eye Blue and the Re-Do

Is it strange to make your blog match your cat's eyes? Tipper's eyes are #C3D9FF in the whole HTML web color code thing. I thought it matched nicely with the pic in the filmstrip in the header. Which brings me to the real point of this post.... How does the header (the title box at the top w/ the filmstrip picture in it) look on your computer? It looked off in the preview when I was working on it, but I finally got it looking right on my screen. But I think it places it differently for different sized screens. So- is it annoyingly off balance on your computer or in the middle?

And do you like the tags (topical listing on the side) or are they useless? Thanks for any input!

Pentecost totally blows, man.....

We had a nice Pentecost service today. I was involved in a reader's theatre-style drama. I was Mary Magdalene, and it went well. We had a lot of neat things for Pentecost today. Gabi also studied Pentecost in her Sunday School class today, so I asked her what she'd learned about it. I think the conversation that resulted is funny.
Me: What do you think about Pentecost?
Her answer: It Blows!
Me: Uhhmmmm, what do mean, hun?
Her: The wind! God sent the Spirit blowing like the wind!
Me: Oh, yeah! Right. Pentecost totally blows.

Maybe that needs to be Blake's sermon title next year: Pentecost Blows!

Wesley Softball Team Wins!

We witnessed the first winning game of the Wesley Church softball team tonight. Well, the kids didn't do too much watching. Micah watched a pitch or two when we first got there, then said "I wanna play with a bat. My turn!" Once he found out he didn't get a turn, there was no use watching. But that's OK- There were 8 or 9 kids from church (including Micah's most talked about buddies, Benjamin and Kylie) so they had a good time running around.

This is Micah with Kylie's sister, Shelby, who runs around with Gabi.

And here's the winning team.....

Gabi's Soccer Jersey

Only a UMC PK....

Gabi has gathered up all her stuffed animals for a meeting. They are each ministers, and she has appointed herself bishop. She is leading prayers and songs and telling them they are all supposed to have children's moment and dancing in their churches. And now she's telling each one their appointment ("Giraffe, you're going to B Church; Angelina, you are the Associate Pastor at Mouseland Church. Purple Shark, you'll be working at Sea World Methodist.") She's holding annual conference in her brother's bedroom!

Blake took these pictures, and my first question: What's with the cash register?! Is she collecting apportionments? But, no, she's just using it for the microphone.

Who knows those toes?

Yeah, OK, I confess! I painted my son's toenails. I painted Gabi's for church and Micah sat down right next to her and said "I pink toes, too! My turn!" And he was absolutely delighted with them. And Gabi was cracking up that I painted a boy's toenails. But then I put socks and shoes on him and figured no one would ever know. Keeping the nail polish under wraps seemed like an especially good idea considering it wasn't that long ago that he wore Gabi's green socks with satin bows to church. But, when he came in wearing Gabi's pink dress-up shoes, I just couldn't resist the picture. Someday he'll need therapy because of this blog posting, huh?

Micah's First Necktie

See what he thought about it?
Gabi tried to make his hair flat for the picture, so he could look handsome in his tie.

She's a pretty great sister, even when a guy has to wear a tie.

Kidtographer at the Zoo

Gabi has been having a great time with her new pink camera. We took it (and her and her brother) to the zoo today. She is getting pretty good at catching a shot. Blake helped her some and I only photoshopped a teeny tiny bit. Oh, she also caught our own wild cats at home.

I bet you can't even pick Gabi out amongst all the pink flamingos....

This is a Sun Bear named Kasey. He seemed to like Gabi.

The baby gorilla is so very cute!

A nice lady took a pic of all of us....

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Random Odd News

Gabi is done being a preschooler. Had her last day of TLC today.

A deer ran down our street today. Actually on the lawns across the street. I'm neither kidding nor hallucinating, although my only witness is Micah who said, "Mom, dat a dog?" But give the kid a break, it was running realllllllly fast and usually when an animal runs through the yard, it is a dog.

Apparently, when they made mother's day cards last week at preschool, they went ahead and made father's day cards, too. Each of them have a portrait of the parent by the child, and the teacher recorded the child's answer to a few interview questions. I thought it was funniest that when they asked how old I am she answered "31," (right-o!) and when they asked how old Blake is, she answered, "like my mom, except not one, it's two." He's 32.

Blake and I are going to Vegas! We booked the trip! In June for our 10th anniversary. Now--- should we renew our vows with Elvis?

If you give a Micah a Muffin....

These muffins got the Micah seal of approval! Shhhh- Don't tell him they are healthy!

Double Chocolate Muffins

2 c white whole wheat flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¼ c unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ c canola oil

¼ c unsweetened applesauce

½ c brown sugar (or ¼ c Splenda brown sugar)

1 Tbs white vinegar

1 c. minus 1 Tbs skim milk

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 c semisweet mini chocolate chips

-----

Preheat Oven to 350.

1. Combine flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and cocoa in large bowl,
2. in another bowl mix oil, applesauce, and sugar. Beat 1 minute. Place vinegar in 1 c. measuring sup and fill cup with milk. And the milk mixture, eggs, and vanilla to bowl.
3. Beat one minute. Add flour mixture. Beat on low speed until ingredients are just moistened. Add choc chips. Blend then pour into lined muffin cups, two-third full.
4. Bake 15 minutes, or until a toothpick tests clean.

Gabi's Graduation from Pre-K

Introducing the newest pre-K graduate.... Gabi!

And her one-eyed brother:

She knew all the moves and really shook her groove thing during the songs.

Mimi & Poppy came and brought Gabi her very own camera- it's pink! And she took pics of some her friends and fans.

Her teacher, Mrs Mary, and classmate Gavin:
Belle:Evan a.k.a. "The New Fowler"- her friend who is a boy....

The Best Pre-K Teachers EVER-- Mrs Shelly and Mrs. Mary:

Getting a dipolma....

Using diploma to smack her boyfriend on the head....

Playing Star Wars light sabers with Evan using their diplomas
(yes, during the ceremony- hee hee).

Singing!

The Stop, Drop & Roll song, a la Elvis....


This is a song about a cat who loves his shoes, and keep stepping in different piles to change the color of them. They're singing "I love my red shoes...." and the video cuts out just before they step in blueberries and start singing "I love my blue shoes!"


The Good Bye song! Notice Gabi's kick-line.

Lake State Park

We have a super cool state park visitors center here which we've visited several times. I took my camera along this time so I can show you all how fun it is. They have all kinds of fish, a beehive, turtles.... and some fur, feathers, and bones on a touch table. And Micah told the painted fox, "no swiping!" and he said there is a picture of Jack fishing in his boat. I got a few pics of the iconic nuclear cooling tower, too, because you just can't live here for years and not have your picture taken with Nuclear One.

these are the bees... Micah's favorite today: