Anticipation ...

OK I admit this last one was not taken in this series, but I PROMISE he smiled like this when he got that bite devoured!!

Tribute

Yesterday afternoon, Merle Phillips, a dear saint and friend of ours went home to be with the Lord after an 18 month battle with cancer. As his wife Charlene put it so perfectly, "At 2:25 p.m., Good Friday got better for Merle." What a joy it will be for him to spend Easter with Jesus, face to face!

This man was a true gentleman, to the very end. Merle was created in God's own image - we all were - but he especially resembled God in this way. One of God's character qualities is that He is the "ultimate gentleman" - in other words, He will never force you to accept the gift of salvation He is offering you, and He will never make you even acknowledge His existence, but He quietly loves you and yearns for a relationship with you just the same, and continues to hold the gift out to you each day of your life until you accept it ... NO STRINGS ATTACHED! Forgiveness is instant and complete, and your eternity with the God who loves you is guaranteed.

Charlene told me recently that one of the verses Merle quoted often is Proverbs 16:7: "When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." Merle didn't just quote this, he LIVED IT!

Wish I had a picture of him to post, but I don't so it must not matter. I know Charlene covets the prayers of the saints as she walks through her grief ... but her tears are mingled with joy because Merle is out of pain and at home with the Lord.

Happy Easter - HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!

I wish ...

This video makes me laugh and laugh and laugh ....



Edit: 4/11/07 - I FINALLY figured out what she is saying towards the end, when I get her to repeat that same phrase over and over - she's saying "I imagined it away" - ok yes that's weird, but I promise that's what it is - I got the little guy for her today because it's been driving me crazy trying to figure out what she was saying, and asked her where his underwear was. She said that same phrase, and I said, "You imagined it away?" and she said "YES! I imagined it away" ... like, it's about time you understood me, ya do-do! So now I could go into a dissertation about whether it makes her smart or a pervert that she at three years old she thinks she "imagined" away his underwear, but I'll just let that go I guess.

Dinner

Diet food? Nope. Delightfully yummy? Yep!!! Here's the recipe - if I remember to take a picture of it after I create it tonight I'll post it, but if I forget you can trust me that it's beautiful and so good. By the way, this thin crust recipe is the best I've found, for any sort of toppings! And the Alfredo sauce, minus the spinach, is my everyday alfredo sauce recipe - really good combined with a red sauce and served over ravioli, canneloni, etc.

SPINACH ALFREDO PIZZA

Thin Crust:

2 ¼ tsp yeast
¼ tsp sugar
¾ c. HOT water
1 ¾ c flour
½ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 500*.

Dissolve yeast and sugar in hot water. Let sit for 8 minutes. Add flour and salt, mix well then knead with mixer for 1 minute or 2 minutes by hand. Spread into a 12-14” circle – you can do this directly on your pizza stone with a rolling pin, or on the counter top and transfer to a greased pizza pan, stretching to the edges.

Bake crust for five minutes; remove from oven, flip crust over and bake for three minutes more. Let cool.

Meanwhile, prepare sauce and toppings:

Spinach alfredo sauce:

2 T butter
½ c heavy cream
½ clove garlic, crushed
¾ c grated Parmesan cheese
5 oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Melt butter in saucepan over medium low heat. Add cream and garlic and simmer for five minutes. Add cheese and spinach and whisk quickly, heating through.

Toppings:

1 T olive oil
Spinach alfredo sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Other optional toppings to add:
Chicken, cooked and cubed
Mushrooms, fresh or canned
Artichoke hearts
Black olives

Spread olive oil on cooled pizza crust, then top with alfredo sauce. (Add artichoke hearts and/or chicken here if desired). Cover with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. (Top with mushrooms and/or black olives if desired).

Bake for five more minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and the cheese is all melted.

Happy Birthday Christa!

24 years ago today ... well, that's a story for a personal conversation, not a blog. Let's just say Christa's entry into the world was every bit as exciting as the ensuing 24 years with her have been! I love you Sis - can't imagine my life without you in it, a block away, calling me multiple times a day, sharing your kids with me, cooking with me, sleeping on my couch, shopping on Fridays, walking at the Mall ... and so on and so on.

We had a fun day - went to Blackbob park and let the kids play and had a picnic with Shannon and the girls and GG. Does anyone know exactly where that little kid-warm day-playing outside- funky smell comes from?? Every kid I've ever known smells exactly the same after playing outside. Anyway, fun stuff.



And for those of you who are wondering, here she is last week, at 16 weeks pregnant ... she gets her money's worth out of her maternity clothes, that's for sure! :)

First crush?

Christa and Shannon (my niece, Christa's cousin, mommy to Kylee and Alaina) and I have been meeting to walk and then let the kids play together on Wednesdays. This week we're going to try a picnic at the park to celebrate Christa's birthday! It's neat to watch the babies bond - with each other and with strangers ...

Mason followed this little girl around the ENTIRE time we were there ... kinda freaked her (and her dad) out at first, but eventually she got used to him. He was relentless in his pursuit of her, even turning down a snack to stay by her side!

Kylee and Lexi sitting in a tree ... Kylee OWNED Lexi this day! It was hilarious watching Kylee ordering her around and Lexi obeying in awe and wonder ...
... and poor Alaina was still trying to recover from an ear infection; in spite of that she was in good spirits and made us laugh a lot!!

How do little piggies eat??

Here's a pictorial of this afternoon's snack ... it started with popcorn, but Papa added grapes, and she looked like she had the mumps before it was all over!





This next one is just sweet.



I had a lovely day with Lexi - Christa and Mason had a doctor's appointment this morning, so Lexi and I took advantage of the one-on-one time with her choice for breakfast (corn ... go figure), doing her hair, painting her nails, and playing the games I won't let her get out when Mason's around!

Arizona plant life

Some pictures of plants you're not likely to see in Kansas!
It's amazing to me the vast differences in the landscape from coast to coast - hard to believe it's all the same chunk of land, really.
And the winner is ... GG! She's right - that sewer pump looking thing in the last post is actually a lid to a small in-ground trash can.
It can hold maybe two medium-sized kitchen trash bags - how would you like to be on the trash team out there and have to dig around underground at every stop?? Like I said this was a big topic of conversation while we were there ... obviously it was a pretty low-key vacation! :)

Arizona desert

Here's a few of the pictures I took out in "Green Valley, Arizona" - as you can see, there's not much green there! I actually did not take very many pictures at all on this vacation, which is highly unusual for me - I realized the last day that I'd just been living it instead of capturing it on camera, which is not a bad thing!


This is a sample of what the houses all looked like out there - how foreign to us mid-westerners! But the weather was so beautiful - high 80's during the day (dry heat!) and cooling off into the 50's overnight, and this apparently efficient design of houses that the air conditioner never came on and we were completely comfortable - even me, hot flash woman. :)

More pictures in a minute, but first a word picture that hopefully will impact you as mightily as it did me - first let me set the stage: 79.7% of Green Valley residents are over the age of 72. Now, imagine the pool: Lots of "gaggles" of old ladies in one-piece (thank you) swimsuits in the water, all with hats on. Single scattered instances of REALLY old men, laying out in the sun, heads dutifully covered with hats, but otherwise wearing nothing but a SPEEDO!!!!!!! This should be illegal, I'm telling you - there was one guy right beside me one day that when he turned over from his back to his stomach I had to turn on my side away from him because my eyes kept being drawn like magnets to the wedgie. GROSS!!!!

Linda and Darah and I went for a walk every day, which was wonderful ... until the last day when Linda and I went without Darah, our navigator, and got so lost we actually had to call home for help. We were only three blocks from home. Pitiful. I know now where I got my "birth defect" of not being able to find my way out of a paper bag.


On Friday we went into Mexico - about a 30 minute drive - we parked and walked across the border. We had had several discussions about whether a passport was needed, and were reassured by Darah that a passport wasn't needed until next January (unless you're flying in), that a driver's license would be sufficient. So just as we're walking down the bridge, someone (B.J.?) said, "Now everyone has their driver's license, right?" Oops. I didn't bring my purse, and it never even crossed my mind. After some discussion it was decided we'd go in anyway, because they don't want your ID until you try to leave, and they were all sure I'd get back out. Worst case scenario, I'd spend a couple weeks in jail, right? :) Actually, worst case scenario was that they'd have to drive home for my driver's license, and in reality the guy let me through with only a question about where I was born and if I was an American citizen. By then I was so scared I must have looked pitiful because he actually laughed and waved me through. Whew. All in all it was an interesting experience - a couple hours of hearing "Hey rich American lady, you need to buy my stuff" was plenty for me.


I like this picture of B.J. and Greg ... but the lady in the picture on the wall sort of freaked me out. This was in the condo, which was REALLY nice - two bedrooms, big eat-in kitchen, dining room/living room (also Darah and B.J.'s sleeping quarters), a big screened porch and then a patio beyond that. Tons of space, and we were able to just hang out, cook and eat our meals there, and really relax with each other. It was wonderful.


OK this was the topic of much conversation while we were there - anyone know what it is? Every house had one in our neighborhood anyway. Give me some guesses!


Grapefruit trees - AMAZING! They were everywhere!


Did you know there are really and truly roadrunners in Arizona? Look closely at the picture above - see the two little birds? Linda and I were so excited that we got pictures of them - we had seen a bigger one the day before but didn't have a camera, and the guys had seen one the same day. Only one problem here - when Greg enlarged this picture and looked at them he informed me they were quail. Darn it.

Well that's enough for now - a long post, I know, but I figure I have some ground to make up for my lax blogging the past couple of months!

Mason the Magician

We're home from a wonderful trip to Green Valley, Arizona. We stayed with Linda and Bill in a condo they've rented for the month of March, and B.J. and Darah joined us there since he was on spring break last week. I will say that there is nothing "green" about Green Valley ... I have pictures to prove it but this video HAD to be my first post.



Takes a little coaxing, and he has to be positioned EXACTLY right in that back corner to pull this off ... love the little "running Mason" dance at the beginning too ... and don't you love how he hangs there suspended until he gets his balance/bearings well enough to drop his short self to the floor?! Life just got a little more complicated at the Kuchta household! :)

Pork chop? Ham hock?

Nope! Just Mason's roly poly arm. I do love that boy naked - can't wait for summer! He loves his tummy and walks around with his shirt hiked up over it (the shirt rests nicely there) all the time.

Painted rooms

Greg's had some days at home in the last couple of weeks, and painted our spare bedrooms - this one is Lexi's - she sleeps in this bed whenever she's here. She only will have the small beige pillows in the bed with her though, everything else has to go on the floor in a very OCD-ish order. :) Shocker.
I really love the gold color - the room feels really cozy and warm. Last night the kids spent the night and the "funder" woke Lexi up - it was so sad! I had to bring her downstairs and cuddle her until the storm quieted down. It's weird the way these pictures don't quite do the color justice - it's not nearly as "mustard" as these look, more gold.
This is Mason's room - more of a cocoa color. Looks good with the pink quilt ... I'm not sure how he ended up in the pink room but oh well.
His crib is on the other wall - didn't take a picture of it because it is stripped down to the bare mattress today while I'm washing all his bedding ... a diaper was never made that that kid can't pee through in a night. :( And, these last two pictures are taken in the same room but the colors look totally different ... the bottom one is really closer to the real color, the top one looks too pink.

I mostly posted these for Emily, who was asking about our new colors - our living room is the next project, which has really high ceilings, one wall painted a sort of dark seafoam green and the rest white. Our furniture is mauve/burgundy/blue/green, and we're having a hard time deciding what color to choose, and whether we should keep the green wall for accent or not. Suggestions?

Simple Pleasures

Remember that tiny little kitty we adopted on our anniversary in October? The one who was so pitiful and sick we weren't even sure she was going to make it? Well she has turned out to be one heck of a cat - funny, dumb as a rock, affectionate, naughty, etc. We enjoy her so much! Greg has taught her how to jump really high - we're such proud parents, here's a video to prove it.

Call of the Wild video

Good 'old Mason, sporting a nasty bruise on his forehead, sharing his vast knowledge of the animal kingdom with us. Nope, he doesn't talk much yet. But you have to admit that he knows what little he's talking about! The thing at the end - "Mason open your mouth" - don't know why he does it or how we even figured out he would do it on command, but it's darn funny!

Seen around town ...

I've seen some pretty funny stuff in the last few days ... unfortunately I didn't have my camera for any of them! So I'll try to paint some "word pictures" so you can enjoy them too.

Imagine midget-shaped Mason (little short legs, long stomach-heavy body, big 'ole head) in a MOOD, lumbering around the play place at the mall among all the other neatly dressed and well-behaved children, his blankie stuffed in his mouth and dragging behind him, barefoot (for better traction) with his two big toes painted bright red (my fault - he pitched a fit when I did his sister's), basically whining and pushing smaller children out of his way. Take that nasty blankie away from him, you say? Just try it, is what I say - hysteria, plain and simple, is the result.

Speaking of the mall, whenever we go walking in the morning there is a Zamboni-like machine driven by a large and unhappy-looking man puttering around. I think it's supposed to vacuum the carpet? But he leaves as much in his wake as he vacuums up, so I'm not altogether sure there's any purpose to him riding this thing around, except to take out his aggression on walkers. It goes super slow - we easily pass him at our walking speed - BUT sometimes he will literally cut you off if you go into his path. He hits the accelerator and the thing sounds like an old muscle car without a muffler - loud, growling, smelly, angry noise. So we're careful around him - wonder if he's ever hurt anyone? And WHY are they paying him for that?

Finally, yesterday I was driving next to a man and his dog. What's funny about that? Well, the man was driving a huge F250 truck, tall and mean-looking (I have a theory about men who drive those big trucks, but anyway) ... the guy didn't look mean, but he had on dirty coveralls, a big wad of chew in his mouth, definitely not an unexpected type of man driving this big truck ... but the DOG, if you can even call it that, sitting on his lap looking out the driver's side window pretty as you please, was some sort of 2-lb more-fur-than-body-weight fluffy foo-foo dog! Christa was with me - we laughed so hard!! Really wish I would have had the camera for that one!

Terrible two's?

If I saw this picture, I would assume a small child had been having a fun time with a new trick. And with the small children in my life, that would be a reasonable assumption to make. But if you look closely at the roll itself, you can see the teeth marks ...



And you will realize it's our Toddler Kitty! She's wreaking havoc everywhere these days - running laps, attacking us from every unexpected position (the stairs, on top of or under furniture, around corners), sneaking into closets and cupboards (sometimes staying there for long periods of time!), and generally being a pest! Oh the energy!

Happy Birthday Papa!!

Happy birthday to my amazing-in-every-way husband! I won't get mushy on here, but trust me it's true ... I can't imagine my life without him!

Can you stand another birthday song video? Here's one of the birthday boy getting his cake ... and blowing out the candles with a little help from a friend ... :)



... the same little friend who helped herself to a swipe of frosting as soon as she blew the candles out!



Oh and he's not really 21 this year, just in case you thought maybe that was his real age. Hee hee.

The weekend in review ...

One of my worst break-out-in-a-sweat-every-time-I-think-about-it fears happened Friday - Greg fell off a ladder. He was standing on an extension ladder, hoisting a sheet of plywood up into an attic (11 feet off the ground). He lost his grip and the plywood started to slide back out - he had to jump off the ladder so the plywood wouldn't take his head off! He was a hurting unit - the whole right side of his body is very sore - but thank God he didn't break anything! He is feeling some better today - I'm glad he had the weekend to rest.

... And a few pictures of my buddy Mason - he's getting to be such a funny little guy! Pictures don't do him justice - you have to spend some time with him to get the "full flavor" - he's stubborn, hilarious, sweet and naughty all rolled into one!

We're going to Christa's today to watch the Super Bowl in HD - should be a fun time. Greg predicts the Colts will win big-time - we'll see!
Tomorrow is Greg's birthday - Lexi is just sure we need to go to Chuck-E-Cheese to celebrate Papa's birthday, since she had SO MUCH FUN there on her birthday!!

For all my chocolate loving friends ...

CHOCOLATE CHIP PECAN PIE

1 c. white corn syrup
¼ c butter, melted
½ c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 ½ c pecans, chopped
1 c chocolate chips
1 unbaked pie crust

Combine corn syrup, sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Bake at 325* for 55 to 65 minutes until filling is set.

This will kill your sweet tooth for awhile, I promise!

This week ...

Long time no post, huh? Just giving the rest of you (except Shannon - you've really been a'bloggin' lately!) a chance to catch up with me.

It's been a rough, sad, painful week around here. I won't share details, but human relationships are just so darn hard. But the good news is that God is on the throne, and He promises to cause all things to work together for good for those who love Him. We're claiming that promise and holding tight to it! AND looking forward to getting to heaven!!


In the meantime, I had a couple of fun days with the kids. Lexi has a new love, washing dishes. Of course, by the time she's done, she's wet up to her armpits and my soap dispenser is completely empty (leaving the thickest, slickest sink full of water I've ever encountered!!) but she will stay at it for a couple of hours if I let her!

Mason's new love/hate relationship is with our kitty - he is so cute, sharing his toys and sometimes even his blankie (that is a BIG BIG deal, I promise!). He is also pretty funny chasing her into a frenzy, yelling nonsense at the top of his lungs, and the kitty tearing around the room, over and under furniture, tail all puffed out, fur all nappy from the static electricity of the carpet, ears laid back, running for her life!

You've probably heard by now that there's another baby on the way at the Kuchta house - Christa is due around September 1st. When she told Lexi she had a baby in her tummy, Lexi said, "Pop it outta there right now!" We're all quite excited, and Christa is looking forward to the end of nausea and debilitating fatigue!

The Beauty or the Geek?

I took this picture of her on her birthday - totally by accident of course - I figure if I take hundreds of pictures every once in awhile I'm bound to get a good one!

She hung out with me yesterday afternoon - we had fun beating tupperware drums and playing hide and seek. At one point she disappeared downstairs, and when she finally came back up at my insistence, I asked her, "What are you doing?" Her answer? "Just checkin' my e-mail."

Happy Birthday Lexi (Dancing Queen)!

Today is Lexi's 3rd birthday - I can hardly believe it. Three years ago about this time (10:26 a.m.) Christa was yelling for an epidural ...

Here's the birthday girl, so excited to be the center of attention, with the Dora cake and tall squiggly candles she picked out herself!



And here she is, all dressed up in one of her birthday presents, showing off all those dance moves she inherited from her mom ... no music necessary, but the shoes are a bit much. (Don't miss Mason wearing the pink tiara ... )

Great Sale at Big Lots - Don't Miss these Bargains!!

What toddler wouldn't LOVE a talking potty! Wonder what I would record? "Push"? "Don't forget to wipe"? "Wash your hands and remember to use SOAP"? Enough.

And isn't this just the handiest combo you've ever come across - Toaster AND Radio - "easy tune" radio no less!! I'd love to be the guy holding the patent on this goldmine.

Brainiac using his head

This is the video I've been begging Christa to post; it cracks me up completely every time I watch it! What a little nut!

Puppet fun

Here's Brenda (aka "Shera" - remember the stud she was when we moved??) playing puppets with the kids - manhandling them to their delight. Yes Mason is wearing a dress. And a pink belt. And yes Christa was there ... not only was she there, she and Brenda dressed him up. For our amusement only. He obviously doesn't seem to mind. The very last shot ... the OCD pile of EVERYONE's shoes in the middle of the living room, that Mason had gathered from all corners of the house. Hmmm. Must run in the family.

The many faces of Lexi ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY B.J.!!

Today is my baby boy's 21st birthday! I can hardly believe it. He is away with friends skiing and snowboarding today and tomorrow, so it should be a very fun way to celebrate. We are absolutely in awe of what God has done in and around this boy we sent to California a few short months ago ... he is now a man truly on fire for the Lord and his light shines so brightly for Him!! He starts his final two semesters of school at Point Loma on Monday, and has been hired by The Rock to work "full-time" (around his school schedule) in the Children's Ministry. I'll let him elaborate as he chooses, so hopefully he'll update his blog soon (hint hint). Anyway, Happy Birthday Son - we couldn't be prouder of you!!

Call the Doctor!

Greg had some t-shirts made for himself to wear on the job ... and had a couple tiny ones made for the babies!
Both kids' T-shirts say the same thing on the back ... as he said, "Do you think I'm stupid?!"
... and I say call the FASHION POLICE on this kid!!

True love ...

Just realized I haven't posted in awhile, don't have any new pictures, and don't have anything interesting to say! Post-holiday bummers for me ... I'm just getting over the flu and am sort of moving at a semi-normal speed again. Anyway, this picture makes me smile - just thinking of this sweet girl makes me smile! (Or her adorable ornery brother ... that works too.) I'll post something worthwhile when it happens! :)