Jake's First Game of the Season

Jake's first baseball game as a Rockies player was last night. He pitched for two innings in a row and struck six people out. We were so proud of him.
This year he is playing on a team in Wheaton instead of Geneva. It's fun because now he can play with kids that he knows from school. One of the things he misses is playing with his cousin, Jack Krieger. Another thing he misses is having a number on his shirt. His coach is one of his friend's dad. John sure wishes he could help out. He is going to go to practices and give pointers from the bench. :)
Oh . . . Jake wants me to let you guess who won the game. . .


Luke was having fun playing baseball at Jake's game, too. :)

After the game, I asked Luke if he wanted ice cream or pumpkin granola for his snack and he shouted "pumpkin granola!!!!" That's how good it is!! :)

My Absent Blessing

There haven't been many pictures of this blessing lately because he is never home!! His life has been filled with fun play dates, school, baseball practices, and birthday parties. Jake is a happy guy when he is a busy guy, so I am glad when he is out doing fun things with good Christian friends. He LOVES to be around his friends and he absolutely has so much fun playing baseball. His first real game is tomorrow evening. I am praying that he will be able to play in it. .. as he was going to bed, he told me how bad of a sore throat he had. Uh oh . . . hopefully a good night of sleep will do the trick.

I'm always so thankful when Jake comes home and we get a chance to read together (we've been reading the Hardy Boys every night for a couple of years now. .. it's "our thing"). I cherish my time with Jake.

He's Awake!!

John is finally feeling a little better.
He is no longer sleeping all day. :)
The pain is still there, but not as great.
He is trying to get caught up on all of the papers that his students have been doing while he was away.

There were high hopes of returning to work tomorrow, but unfortunately, that will have to wait just a little while longer. His foot has some swelling because we have not been elevating it as much.
I have to keep a close eye on him because he tries to "get away" with things while I am not looking.
The other day, I busted him in the kitchen with no crutches!
When I asked him how he got there, he said,
"I hopped!"
Arg!
Oh well.
He is getting frustrated because he just wants to get back into normalcy again.
I keep reminding him that this is very temporary.

Do you see the blue tube coming out of his ankle??
That is our cool IceMan machine.
It is basically a cooler that I keep filling up with ice and water that is attached to a tube which runs really cold water through a pad on his leg.
Modern technology.
At least we don't have to use bags of frozen peas. :)

Soccer in the Rain

We are thankful for the blessing of rain today. Despite the rainy weather, Caroline played in a soccer game this morning. The rain came and went throughout the game. Her games are at 8:00 on Saturday mornings!! It is sooo hard to get everyone up and out the door on time, but we did it! :) Caroline played well and,more importantly, had a lot of fun with her friends.

Favorites on Fridays . . . Like Oprah's "O" List, But Not Really

Favorite Cereals: Kashi Cinnamon Harvest and Nature's Path Organic Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola

I am a picky cereal eater. In order for me to like a cereal it must:

1. be made with all natural (preferably organic) ingredients
2. have a little sweetness (made possible by evaporated cane juice)
3. have 5 or more grams of fiber

4. NOT taste like cardboard!!!!

These cereals pass the test and my kids LOVE them. . . even LUKE!! :)

(oh. . . you can get them at the grocery store, TJ's, Whole Foods, Target. . . but they are the cheapest at WalMart. . . under $3.00!)

Creative Caroline

I'm thankful for my Caroline who is always making things out of materials that we have around the house. I have stopped buying craft kits for her because she is so good at figuring out what to make just using odds and ends. This is my new favorite thing she "whipped up" the other day. She found a white piece of material in the costume bin which had previously been used as a sash for a jedi costume. She took that piece of fabric and drew a picture of a dog on it. Then she proceeded to cut up the fabric. When I asked her what she was making, she casually told me she was making a shirt. This time I really didn't think that she would be able to pull it off. A shirt. . . really? Well, the next thing she did was ask me for a needle and thread. I always give her a blunt tapestry needle when she asks for one. Look what she did! Lo and behold. . . a shirt! I'm proud of my little seamstress. :)


She was not quite finished sewing after she made the shirt, so she decided that she would mend one of Luke's Dinosaurs that had a hole in the neck.

My Nonny would be so proud.

Flowers for Daddy

Caroline and Luke had fun painting pots and planting flowers for Daddy today.

A happy Daddy.

John is doing well.
He still sleeps a lot because of the pain medicine.
He is in quite a lot of pain every time he gets up, so he still spends the entire day and night with his "toes above his nose" and on ice.
We are excited for Wednesday to come because we are going back to the doctor to see how everything is progressing.

Update on John

John's surgery went well today. The doctor said that everything went as expected.
Now, I just have to make sure that he stays put and keeps his "toes above his nose" for a while.
He slept most of the day as the anesthesia was wearing off. Before the surgery they put a block (like an epidural) in his leg, so his leg is still totally numb.
He cannot feel it at all.
I'm keeping up with his pain medicine for when the feeling starts coming back.

While John slept the day away, Grandma Koz planted some flowers outside with Luke and Caroline.

The weather was so nice and the kids had so much fun.

They can't wait for daddy to be able to go out and see their flowers.

Pure Maple Syrup

As I have stated in earlier blogs, I try not to buy anything with high fructose corn syrup in it. Have you ever looked at the ingredient list on pancake syrups such as Mrs. Butterworth's? The very first ingredient is high fructose corn syrup!! I only buy pure maple syrup now. (and forever more!) My brother, Steve, and his family tap maple trees on their land and work really hard every year to produce very delicious maple syrup. I like it so much that I wanted to share it with all of you!! Their 2009 Pure Wisconsin Maple Syrup is here! They just finished their last batch yesterday. The bottles will be labeled before they are delivered or picked up. They produce their syrup in the far north woods of Wisconsin at Maple Crest Farms. Every year they put out more and more taps and produce more syrup. This year was their biggest "run" .

They have put together a variety of sizes and styles to meet everyone's needs. Some sizes do sell out faster than others and may not be available at the time that you order.

From right to left.

Decorative glass 12oz. gift or sampler size $7.00
Pint glass 16oz. $9.00
Quart glass 32oz. $15.00
Quart plastic 32oz. $15.00
1/2 gallon plastic 64oz. $30.00

* * Steve will be in the area for the next two weeks and will have bottles of syrup with him, so if you are interested, give me a call at 630.293.8893 or e-mail me at FiveKoz@sbcglobal.net.

For those of you who live out of town and would like some, I need to check on shipping details. The plastic bottles ship nicely. :)

Easter 2009

Happy Easter everyone!! We started off our Easter celebration by going to Willow Creek Church on Saturday evening. He is Risen!!!! He is Risen Indeed!!!

Then we stayed at Auntie Diane's and Uncle Colin's house. The kids had a great time finding their baskets and eating what was inside of them. :)

Luke and Caleb.

Auntie Diane and Caleb.
Grandpa putting batteries in Luke's new Diego walkie talkies.

Grandma and Caleb.

On Sunday, we went to Auntie Diane's and Uncle Colin's country club for a wonderful Easter brunch. The kids enjoyed every morsel.

The men with their "bibs" on. (they were trying to encourage Caleb to wear his, but it didn't work)

Posing with the friendly Easter Bunny. This is the first year that no one was scared of him. :)

After brunch, there was an Easter egg hunt.
Happy Easter!!!