Audra gets her BRACES!!!

Before~

During~

After~

Tin Grin! Brace Face! Metal Mouth!

She's mighty happy about finally getting them, I only wonder how she'll handle it once they start to hurt?

FIG GELATO

Fresh Figs

Cooked down & mashed up with a bit of sugar...

Add honey, cointreau, mascarpone, milk & a pinch of salt & chill...

The cooled, pretty, pinkish cream goes into the ice cream freezer...

and Voila! We had Homemade Gelato for dessert!

Now I'll admit that it was good... but we all really LOVE Vanilla Bean THE BEST here in our house, So, I guess that's on tap for next week now.

Buttermilk Pastry cream!

Sue (a foodie, scrapper, photographer, mom, wife, lawyer & all around great gal) shared a recipe for this pastry cream with me & I just had to play along!

~My little taste tester gives it a BIG thumbs up!

It seems like only yesterday...

That I was taking this little boy to his 1st day of Preschool.... and here we are, & High School is already half way over!!!

Today is the 1st day of his JUNIOR year. You know, they say: "Time Flies When You're Having Fun!"

Audra's Big Concert Night

Audra received a last minute invite to attend the Jonas Brothers Concert & a special pre-concert event held earlier in the day with her pal, Claire & Claire's cousin, Jeanine...

Just before 4pm & they are about to go into the Sound Check Party!

Up close & personal with the Jonas Brothers! Woohoo!

Next the girls get to make a 'video' (which will have the JB's dubbed into it) They had a blast with this!

Now for the Concert~ Jordan Sparks was the guest star... ...what a treat!

The Jonas Brothers!

...and introducing....the Wonder Girls!

Great Fun! Audra screamed her head off, sang & danced the night away... She came home so excited she could that she could hardly go to sleep.

Souvenir T-shirt, a gift from Jeanine~ (...too nice! as I sure wouldn't have sprung for it?!)

A Quick trip to the Zoo

I think they liked the reptile house the best!

Audra & I delivered lunch to the scouts working on my son's Eagle project this weekend (and then decided to kidnap our little cub scout friend, John) & take in a little visit to the Zoo!

It takes 2 kids to reach the 10 ft. wingspan of a condor

I think our little Zoo gives a great bang for the buck, and all in about an hour's time. :0)

Eagle Scout Project Weekend

Pinocchio's Theater in Storyland needs a bit of freshening up!

Clearing out the benching & pressure washing the amphitheater...

That is A LOT of benches that need fixing!

Cleaning off the fire hazardous pine needles from atop the theater's awning...

Cleaning, then spraying a fresh coat of yellow paint on the bottoms & side of the benches...

re-painting the safety stripe on the amphitheaters curbs...

Louis (dad) & Jared (Eagle Scout project leader) are assessing the project while the crew takes a lunch break...

now, back to work...leading the touch-up teams to finalize the re-furbishing...

Here are the scouts & parent helpers...on a CLEAN stage...

Such a BIG job, Well Done guys!

My little VBS staffer

Audra is such a big girl now, that she was a staffer this year. (she still got to do the crafts if wanted to, which she did!)

Mostly, she enjoys spending the week with her Aunt & cousins at their church followed by lots of swimming pool & hanging out time together.