4th of July Weekend

outside the zoo

Aunt Jenn, Uncle Jason, Jackson & Jacoby

Us in front of the All Star Arch!!!

Cousins!!!

On our way to the zoo. July 3rd, 2009

Jameson and Jacoby!

Aunt Julie & Jameson

Playing basketball and doing quite well!

Jacoby driving the car.

Jameson and Jacoby got in on the action too!

Jackson's 6th Birthday

Jaden bowling!

Jakob on the Frog Hopper!

Jaden on the bumper cars!

We went to Indiana this past weekend to celebrate my nephews 6th birthday! We had a blast at Gatti-Town. Thank you for inviting us Jackson, we had so much fun!!!!

Crocodile Dock VBS 2009

We completed our 3rd annual Vacation Bible School at CrossPointe and it was a success! The kids enjoyed themselves and the adults made it through the week without any major issues. Vacation Bible School is always a fun and rewarding time of year for us, we get to reach out to the community and minister to children in an exciting way. Here are some highlights from our week.

Chocolate Strawberry Pie

So, I made a yummy pie for some friends tonight and it was delicious! I wanted to include the recipe for all of those who were interested in making it. The recipe came from a wonderful place called Miss Aimee B's Tea House in St. Charles, MO. If you are ever in the area it is a great place to eat.

Ingredients: Oreo Cookie Crust, 1 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 (8oz) cream cheese, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 Tsp. vanilla, 12 oz Cool Whip (thawed in refrigerator), 1 quart fresh Strawberries, 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.



Filling: Melt chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler or in the microwave, cool slightly. Beat Cream Cheese until light and fluffy with electric mixer. Add brown sugar and vanilla, mix well. Add chocolate to the cream cheese mixture. Mix Well. Fold in the cool whip. Mix again. Spoon filling into the crust. Smooth out top. Cover tightly and chill at least 8 hours.



To finish the pie, wash strawberries, pat dry, and cut lengthwise into 1/8 inch slices. Arrange around the outside edge of the pie. Make a second row, overlapping the first. Continue overlapping rows until the pie has been covered. Heat the 1/4 cup chocolate and drizzle over the berries. Chill and Serve the same day!

Tornado

Yesterday evening was an eventful one. I had plans to paint some Vacation Bible School props with a friend so my family headed into Mascoutah to grab a bite to eat at McDonald's before I was to meet her. We ordered our food and the manager came out and said that she was locking the doors because a tornado had been spotted and was headed our direction. She said we could either leave right then or come to the back and stay put until it passed. So we trotted our family of five to the back of the store and into the deep freeze! It was a nice June day so were decked out in shorts, and flip flops and needless to say we were FREEZING! The staff was nice enough to offer us all jackets and we waited out the storm. When we were released we found golf ball sized hail and some minor damage to our cars. I had decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea to keep my plans for painting at church so we headed home to find our road completely closed down because the tornado had hit right there. Not knowing what we were going to go home to we got closer and just saw more devastation. Our home was in perfectly fine shape when we arrived Thank God, but we were without power. We checked on Bailee, who road the storm out alone and then headed to Matt's parents for the night. It is now Tuesday evening and we do have power at our house now. We feel very blessed to have a home to sleep in because there are many around us who don't.

Jack & Jameson

Jameson and Jack on the train at the transportation museum. My grandparents are in the background!!! :) I had to throw this picture in because I just got it from my aunt via email and thought it was too cute to leave out. He was Jack's buddy that day. It was super cute!