I tried my hand at homemade marshmallows!  They weren’t all that hard to make, even without a candy thermometer, but they were messy!  This is a project for a neat cook, someone who cleans as they go and uses metal utensils instead of their fingers.  I am a messy cook, and it sure made a big mess!  

I don’t think these are exactly good for you, they are pure sugar after all (with some gelatin), but they sure do taste good!

And they look good!  Do NOT ask why we have Christmas tree marshmallows…I suppose it was because I let the kids choose shapes.

super relaxed…

Larger than life!

I’m happy to share the recipe, and the marshmallows, just ask!

Kenan got the chance to burn off some energy at a local gymnastics club during the week Shana was away.
Sorry about the bad pictures, but I forgot to bring the camera on viewing day!

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Shana just returned from her first week at sleepover summer camp! She loved it and had a great time. She learned all the rules and kept telling us: “those are the rules!”
Sorry for the short blog post but we forgot to bring the camera both at drop off and pick up!

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We had a fun birthday party for Kenan today.  Invited over 4 of his friends from school and a neighbor girl to play with Shana.  It was the easiest birthday party we have ever done:  we rented a bouncy tent and just let them play.  It was a risk…they might get wild and crazy with no structure…but apparently there was enough room for the wildness because we had no injuries or meltdowns or any other problems.  Nate also made animal balloons for them, everyone loves balloons!

Everyone loves cake too!  What a cutie!

The cake was dinosaurs playing soccer.

Kenan can read his own cards now!

 

The snake hot dogs I made them for lunch!  

Happy Birthday to the most adorable seven year old I know!  We love you Kenan!

 

 

Finally, CBC Calgary’s OTA (over-the-air) signal has gone digital!  For the first time in my life I was able to see the puck during a hockey game.  Unfortunately Luongo saw more of the puck than he wanted.

We now have three crystal-clear channels coming in through our rabbit ears.  There’s still nothing good on, but at least it’s in HD!

 

Shana’s softball team took part in a tournament this weekend, and came away with gold!

Here she is receiving her gold medal.

Up at Bat

It's a hit!

Coming Home

Taking her turn as "Back Catcher"

Back Catcher in action

We are so proud of you, Shana!

 

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I just can’t get that song out of my head!  Congratulations to Kenan on a successful dance recital!

Congratulations also go out to Grandpa who sat through the whole thing!  Next year I think we’ll just show up at intermission since we’re only in the second half.

Kenan got lots of compliments about how comfortable he was onstage and what a great job he did, even from people we didn’t know!  He got his own little part in the dance where he got to strut and show off his muscles…and he had the chutzpah to pull it off!

Kenan in the dressing room, practicing his John Travolta attitude for the show:

Notice how much room there is to move around in the dressing room?  Basically none, the boys don’t get a lot of space!  So they wait their turn wherever they can, and where it’s cool:  in the dirty stairwell with a borrowed DS to play on.  He couldn’t be happier!

We got him a #1 Ribbon for doing a superb job!

And oh, yeah, he lost his second tooth:

Learning to wait until he can go in and watch the rest of the show.