kylie's prayer

this evening we went to serve the homeless with kylie's prayer. kylie's prayer is a christian ministry dedicated to sharing the love of Jesus Christ with the homeless of downtown houston that was started with a 5 yr old's (kylie) prayer to help the homeless. now a few yrs later, the last saturday of the month a group of people meet together to help serve kylie's mission to spread the Word and Love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the homeless, through distribution of supplies, food, love, and prayer. today a group of 15 of us were able to provide a meal of warm speghatti, bread, crackers, fruits, homemade cookies (mommy & i made 5 dozen), juice & ice cold bottles of water. then we also had used backpacks to pass out, clothes & toiletries. all the homeless people we met were so thankful & happy to see us, i'm so glad i was able to be a part of this. hearing their stories & having them ask to pray for them really makes me want to do this as often as i can. these people really take care of each other & they know what each other needs. there was one lady who got there later & the clothes were gone but one of the gentleman had pulled some things aside for her because he knew she really needed a new shirt. the backpacks were a huge hit & my favorite part of the night was when a lady saw that we had a "hello kitty" backpack, it was like she a won a whole bunch of money she was so excited. the smile on her face lit up the sky, she couldn't stop thanking us, she kept going on and on & it was all over a used backpack. to see something that small make such a huge differance was so wonderful, it brought a smile to all of our faces. as of tomorrow houston has passed a law that you are not allowed to serve the homeless anything that isn't passed out prepackaged... so it was very imporatant to us to make sure that they got a homemade meal filled with lots of love. my mission for the evening was to make sure that i smiled at each person so they know that someone cares for them & i loved all the smiles/thank yous/God bless yous i got back. i've already made a list of what i want to bring next time & mommy already started knitting scarves to pass out when we go in the winter & i'm going to learn how to make fleece scarves so i can pass those out too. there are just so many ways to help & if you'd like to find out more about kylie's prayer or how you can serve please click here

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me…” Matthew 25: 35-36

bob's snowballs

today was so horribly hot, we figured the only thing to make it better was driving out to rosenburg for some world famous new orleans style bob's snowballs!!! they are amazing, delish, refreshing & most importantly COLD!!! we were so excited to be going there we could barely keep our britches on & they were sliding off us because we were sweating so much. the hardest thing about going to bob's (besides knowing when they're open, they have a weird schedule) is trying to figure out what flavor you want, then once you pick your flavor you have to decide if you want to add ice cream, cream, milk, sour spray or a pickle shot! then the real excitement starts while you wait for them to make it, wondering how that 1st taste is going to be. it's so much fun & the best thing in the world to do on a HOT summer day!

it's open... YAY

what shall we have today

trying to wait pateintly, not doing so well

so good!!!

by the way for my local friends here are they're hours so you know when to make a bee line for a bob's snowball...
Tues - Thursday 11 am - 2 pm
Friday & Saturday 11am - 8pm
Sunday 11pm - 4pm

oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

today mommy was making a ruckus in the pantry so livi & i decided to see what she was up to. she decided she had a craving for homemade cookies & was checking out our sweet inventory to see what kind of ingredients we had. low & behold we had everything to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, one of our all time favorites... whoo hoo. livi & i ran to get our cooking/baking stools to be mommy's sous chefs & away we went. i have to say these ended up being by far the best batch we have ever made, here's our recipe if you'd like to try them (i highly recommend that you do)...
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cups rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/4 cups chocolate chips
optional: 1- 2 tablespoons milk, if dough is crumbly
Preheat oven to 375.
Beat butter and sugars with an electric mixer until smooth. Add egg and vanilla, mixing well until combined, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon with the mixer on medium speed. Beat in oats. Mix until dough comes together. Add in 1 tablespoon milk if the dough is crumbly. If dough is still crumbly, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until it comes together. Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Remove dough from fridge and roll into big 1 1/2 inch balls. Set on a baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Lightly press down on dough to flatten it. Bake at 375 for 9-11 minutes.

SPLAT

yesterday at my church we had an art class for kids called SPLAT,  where we learned how we are God's masterpiece & it was soooooo awesome!!! before we started painting we all sat down thought about how we fearfully & wonderfully made. then we made a list of what we came up with to always remind us how special we are & to incorporate into our painting. i loved doing this because it reminds me to be proud of how God made me & to focus on how i can use the qualities He gave me to change the world around me! then we painted an owl in our own favorite colors & wrote some of our unique traits. here's my the list i came up with.
i know i am FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY made because i...
~ help people
~ my freckles
~ caring
~ generous
~ artistic
~ read chapters
~ flexible
~ gymnast
~ strong
~ fast
~ silly
~ wear glasses

"i praise you because i am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, i know that full well."
Psalm 139:14

chalking it up

during the summer we like to do fun things with our hair that we usually can't do during the school year because the school doesn't like crazy hair. this summer we decided to chalk our hair, it's so cool!!! it's really easy, all you need is your favorite colors of soft pastels (we got a set of 48 colors for $5 at joann's) & a heat tool: straightener or curling iron. be sure to wear old clothes that you don't mind getting chalked & wear gloves! first you will need to get your hair damp where you would like to apply the colors. where you put the chalk is where it will be in your hair so be careful. then you will need to rub on the pastel on the damp section of hair. straighten or curl on and your ready to go! you can also do this with dry hair, just wet the pastel and rub onto your hair, it's that easy! have fun using the chalk on your hair! your hair will so unique and different so go and show it off. also here's a tip if you have dark hair: you'll have to rub the chalk a harder than if your hair was lighter & be sure to use brighter colors like red, lime greens, light blues, pinks & purples. the fun thing is we can try new looks all summer because it washes right out, so keep your eyes here to see what we come up with next!

kithaka update

today i got an email from the david sheldrick wildlife trust about how my little kithaka is doing... i was so happy to hear how he's doing! it still has been raining a lot so the mornings are very cold so kithaka & his 2 buddies have needed to stay indoors & the bigger elephants have been running back & forth to check on them to make sure they are ok. one day of them snuck off my little kithaka to play with the others in the forest. kithaka has been a big worry to his keepers because he seemed to be getting weaker every day. "with significant testing in early may a south african vet identified his problem to be due to a pancreatic enzyme deficiency, which they have corrected by the addition of enzyme supplements in his milk. this has made a huge difference, to our “bonsai” elephant kithaka, who is now full of beans and becoming quite the handful. we are deeply grateful to dr. clay for his invaluable help which has saved the life of little kithaka!" my sweet little kithaka isn't the only nursery baby that hasn't been feeling well, but now all 3 of the babies seem to be over the hump... thank goodness!!!

kithaka playing with the keepers and naipoki.

kithaka loving shukuru

kithaka getting some mud put on him

kithaka joinging in on the fun

also in my monthly update was a water colour painted by angela sheldrick, isn't it sweet...

daddy's day feast

for father's day, daddy wanted to grill up a feast because he loves to grill things & today is his day. since today is a special day we went all out & got huge shrimp, baby back ribs with zucchini to grill. then we had a salad, homemade bread & baked sweet potatoes also. for desert my tia liz picked up the cutest & most delish chocolate cake, i have to say it was one amazing meal & our daddy is a GRILL MASTER!!!

daddy is so proud of his perfect smoke rings

one of the father's day gift's livi & i made for daddy were one of a kind plates designed by us to use. it's super easy you just get plates from the dollar store, write on them with a sharpie, then bake them @ 175 for 30 mins & the ink sets in forever. so whenever daddy is doing his most favorite thing (eating) he'll be thinking of us.

happy daddy daddy's day

i love my daddy because:

he tucks me in & prays with me.

he's the best cook i ever had.

he looks after us.

he always makes time to play with us.

he takes us to fun parks.

he makes sure we're safe.

he's the best guitar player.

he makes up goofy games for us to play.
he makes the yard pretty.
he takes care of mommy.
he gets up early to take me to school.

he takes care of sick kids.

he takes me on special daddy daughter dates.

he's my super hero.

he always supports me.

he takes me to gymnastics.

he loves me so much!

beane, age 7

i love my daddy because:

he's silly.

he's my cutie cutie

he makes me laugh.

he ties my shoes.
he turns on the light for me.
he gets us in the sprinklers.

he makes good ponies tails.

he checks the mail.
he waters the plants & that's very serious.
he lets me drive the car.
he's strong enough to carry mommy.
he gets me dressed.

he watches tv with us.

he lets me cook with him & unload the groceries.

he lets me paint his toes.

he plays teacher & all sorts of stuff with me.

he gives me my water bottle with water in it.

he makes the best dry bacon.

he jumps in puddles with me.

i love him sooooo much!

livi, age 3

star cinema grill

today daddy & i went on a special movie date to go see madagascar 3, it was super funny! but daddy had a huge surprise for me, he took me to a super fancy movie theater. it's called star cinema grill & instead of movie seats they have these big nice leather chairs to sit in with a table in front of us. after you seated yourself the have menus waiting for you if you want to order something, once you decide you press a little buzzer & a waiter appears to take your order... how cool is that?!?! daddy & i  just had lunch so we ordered desert, i got an ice cream sundae with extra cherries & daddy got a root beer float. it was the best afternoon ever, we had so much fun & we already picked out the next movie we'll be seeing there!

 they had mommy's favorite (the lovely audrey hepburn) so of course i had to take my picture with her!

finally

the other night i was wiggling my latest loose tooth when my fingers slipped & i felt a lil point sticking out of my gums. finally after a year with having a big gap in the front of my mouth, my other front tooth has decided to come in!!! i was so excited i was running around the house yelling in excitement & showing everyone. watch out corn on the cob & whole apples i'll be coming for you soon... whoo hoo!

our very own space needle

we found this really cool wooden puzzle of the seattle space needle & since i was born in seattle & i loooooove the space needle... i had to have it!!! yesterday we decided to try to put it together, when we opened there were no directions so we knew there was going to be some serious teamwork involved.

all the pieces

livi is a lil overwhelmed

look at that teamwork

mommy trying to figure what piece is next

daddy putting the final piece in place

after about 4 hours we finally finished it & now we have our very own space needle... isn't it cool!?!?

pop... a special message just for you

happy birthday to you cha cha cha, happy birthday to you cha cha cha, happy birthday dear pop, happy birthday to you cha cha cha. have a grrrreat day!!! we miss & love you so, so, so much.

sprinkler fun

one of our favorite things to do on a hot summer day is to run through our sprinkler... we love it! since today it's 96 degrees outside we couldn't think of a more perfect day to do it. so this is our way of saying "hello summer!"