VBS Was Amazing!

This was the first year that my girls were able to go to VBS, and they loved it!! The theme was Hometown Nazareth and they got to go to Mary's house, the marketplace, had fun songs and crafts and got to pray for one of Mary's neighbors who did not believe that Jesus is the Messiah. It was amazing!!
Here are some pictures of the girls all dressed up for Nazareth!!

On Wednesday nights our church has a missionary themed program for the kids during the summer. Emily loves to pray for the unreached people and for those whose hearts need to be softened. At VBS when they prayed for Agnus (Mary's neighbor) it seemed to really bring the point home to Emily that we should be praying for lots of people, some right here not just those in distant and remote places. I think of everything that the kids learned while attending VBS, this was the most important!

Did your kids go to VBS this summer? What did you/they enjoy most about it?

Mother's Day 2011

I hope that all of you mommas, grandmas, and women who have influenced lives had a great Mother's Day!
My Mother's Day was amazing. My husband and children made me a card with colorful little hand prints. I am going to treasure it FOREVER!!
Isn't is great that the things that are made are so special? I think it is because my daughters absolutely love to do just about any type of craft!
Here are some pictures from my Mother's Day!!

If you have a post about your Mother's Day that you'd like to share, please leave a link in the comments!

Wordless Wednesday -- Tahoe in February

I have been sharing photos with you of our trip to Monterey Bay and Sacramento in February. I have shared pictures of the Sea Otters of Monterey Bay of the Monkey at the Sacramento Zoo and the Birds from the Bird Man with my Children and I h ave a ton more to share...
But today I wanted to share the weather in Lake Tahoe that we drove through to get to all the amazing fun we had in California. So here are a few shots (from the car) of Lake Tahoe in February

If you have a Wordless Wednesday or a Word-filled Wednesday that you'd like to share, please link up below!

Sea Lions in Monterey Bay, CA

One of the girls favorite parts of Monterey last year was the sea lions. Unfortunately, we didn't really get to see any because it was too late and almost dark when we left the aquarium. This year, we saw tons!!!

Seriously, tons of sea lions - we were able to get pretty close to some when we were boarding the "Sur Randy" to go out on the ocean for our whale watching cruise. We got close enough that when the "big daddy lion" sneezed if we hadn't moved back fast enough we would have been showered in sea lion snot...yuck!!





Here are some sea lion pictures that I wanted to share with you!!

Totally Talented Tuesday -- Crafty Kids!!

Every Wednesday we go to the Dayton Library, where they have story time. They usually read three books, sing a couple of songs, and then make a craft. Here are some of the kids' fall crafts that we have hanging up!

Fun, huh?
:)



If there is some crafty-ness going on in your house, please link up and share it with us, by clicking the button above!!! Thanks Two Of A Kind Working On A Full House for hosting Totally Talented Tuesday!!

Wordless Wednesday -- Baking with the Girls!!! Linky

This is how the baking went yesterday:

We finally got all of the ingredients out, measured, mixed and had the batter/dough in the pans and the pans put in the oven! 

Olivia was a good little "helper" she sat on the counter in her papasan chair and watched what was going on!!

Emily and Natalie had a great time with the measuring, mixin, and pouring...but the best part of baking (if you ask them) is liking the spatula and bowl!!!

MMM...yummy!!

Banana-Zucchini bread!!!

If you have a WW on your blog, please linkup!!

Wordless Wednesday -- Monterey Bay Aquarium

We had a blast!!! If you ever get a chance to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, you should - it is amazing!!!

If you have a Wordless Wednesday or a Wordful Wednesday you want to share, leave a link!!!

Picture Collage

This is a copy of the collage picture that will soon be on it's way to Iraq:

Please pray for Blake's safety while he is in Iraq.

Thank you!!

~ Natalie ~

It is hard to believe how fast time flies. Natalie, my middle daughter, turned two on the 3rd. She is two! It is still hard to wrap my head around. :)
No matter how much we want her to stay our little baby forever, she is growing up.
In the last couple of weeks Natalie's vocabulary has skyrocketed! I have read about and heard of that happening, but didn't experience the same thing with Emily - so I had no clue. For the longest time Natalie only said about 15-20 words, and now it seems like she doesn't stop talking --- 95% of which is understandable! It almost makes me wonder if she's been practicing! ha ha
Last Sunday was Natalie's first time out of the nursery at church. She was in the 2-3 year old classroom and she loved it! For the next couple of months Emily and Natalie will be in class together...I sure hope they behave :)

Here are a couple of pictures from Natalie's birthday dinner:

Birthday Cake -- Of course I got to the bakery when it was closed, so I improvised on her name! Good thing I had some licorice around! lol

She was captivated by the candle!!!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Summer Fun

Summer is finally here, and it is hot!! Here are some pictures of the girls playing outside, and of Emily and Andreu playing on the swing set when they came up from Montana!

Hope that you are all enjoying your summers as well!

If you have a Wordless Wednesday, leave a link and I will be sure to come check it out!!

~Katrina

Wordless Wednesday -- A Look Back to 3 Years Ago -- Wedding Pictures

Today is my 3rd Anniversary with my wonderful husband, Zack. So I am having more pictures than normal in my Wordless Wednesday post, because it is a special day!!
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This is our first kiss as husband and wife!!!!
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This was our first communion together as husband and wife!!!!
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Gotcha!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mr. and Mrs. Zackery Brandenburg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you have a Wordless Wednesday on your blog, please leave a comment and I will be by to check it out! If you just feel like commenting, that is always welcome too!
Hope you all have a blessed day!

Katrina

Wordless Wednesday ~ Easter!!!

I hope that you all had an amazing Easter, celebrating our risen Lord!!!
Here are a few pictures from the night (or two) before Easter, dying eggs, and the girls with their Easter baskets!

I like it...I hate it...I like it

The snow and I have a love/hate relationship.
Today, we are going more for hate.
Yesterday, we were in love. Yesterday, it was awesome! My kids got all dressed up in warm clothes and layers, and went out and played. I pretended to shovel snow for about three minutes until my husband so kindly offered to take over! ;)
Emily and Natalie both had such wonderful times in the snow that it was hard to bring them in. Natalie had to come first because, well, she was taking her boots off...and you just can't do that in the snow! She cried and banged on the door, pleading for someone to open it so that she could excape back into her winter wonderland! Emily learned how to make a snow angel, but didn't really care for the snow falling on her face as she made it.
It was great, we had fun.

How was your weekend?

Natalie's Big Girl Bed - WOW, time flies!!

Natalie turned one year old in September, and now she is in a big girl bed. With Emily, there was no toddler bed until well after her 2nd birthday. But with all the drama involved with Natalie's crib, we decided to just make the switch.
So over the past like week and a half, you have heard me talk about the Stork craft crib recall and my irritation about their lack of responsibility. We heard that the fix for the crib made is a stationary side. I am short. There, I said it. But I have a really hard time getting Natalie into the crib when the side is up, it is just too high for someone who is almost 5'2". Glad we made the switch because Natalie loves having a bed like her sisters!

Wannabe French Hot Chocolate

Oh. my. gosh. This was awesome! For days now, Emily and I have been talking about making Wannabe French hot chocolate, a recipe from Max Brenner's cookbook Chocolate: A Love Story that we got for review a few weeks ago.
Our expectations have been building for days, as we read the recipe, bought the ingredients that we didn't have, and actually got around to making this. Most of the ingredients are those that you would commonly have in your kitchen/pantry: milk, corn starch, sugar, egg (yolks), chocolate (your choice, chopped), cocoa powder, and heavy cream.


We started making our hot chocolate and were to the second step of the recipe when I realized that I had not read the directions very well and had to start over. No problem, except I don't have any milk left now! :) Once I read the directions more carefully, it was easy. Emily had fun helping me mix ingredients in, and lick the adjustable measuring cup after we put the sugar in!

I think that it took us less than 10 minutes from start to finish - granted, we enlisted Zack to chop our chocolate and whip our cream! This was a WHOLE family job!

The Wannabe French hot chocolate was amazing!

Seriously, it has a custard base that you melt the chocolate into, and then a "generous dollop" of whipped cream on top, with cocoa powder (we used finely grated chocolate) sprinkled on top! The hot chocolate was incredibly rich, but not with an over-powering chocolate flavor. The
cream on top was a great compliment to the chocolate underneath, it kept the flavor rich while mellowing out the sweetness.

Zack doesn't generally like hot chocolate, but loved this! So we had fun, and our efforts paid off! Did I mention that I love weekends!

Wordless Wednesday - Breakfast at our house

This is a common occurance at our table - Emily likes to help Natalie, and Natalie likes Emily to feed her. Most of the time when Natalie wont eat something, if Emily gives it to her (bites) she will eat it!


That was tiring, now we need a sip of milk!



If you have a Wordless Wednesday post, please leave a link so I can check it out...I haven't quite got the McLinky figured out yet! :)

Not too shabby - all things considered!

A few hours after Emily cut her hair, I took a picture on my phone and sent it to Zack. I was not sure what his reaction would be, and I wasn't really sure that I wanted to know. When he called, he said "I guess we are gonna have to shave her head." My thoughts - "UH...NO!" We talked about the possibilities that may be, but I will not have a daughter with a shaved head, if there is another choice. Emily cut it pretty bad, there was at least one chuck that is about 1/4 of an inch long. (Click link if you haven't seen her handiwork!) The lady at Great Clips, was wonderful with her, and did a pretty good job all things considered...






So, we are definately not going to put her hair in some beautiful curls, or a bun with strands curled on the side for the Disney on Ice Princess Classics this weekend, but we will survive!!!
What do you think? Just remember, it will grow back!