memorial day

For Memorial day we had Grandpa and Grandma S. , the Other Strands and the Hill family over . We had tons of fun... Thanks for coming guys. :)grillin'

fun and games

here are just a few of the pictures of us playing games

I can't remember what this game is called, the Hill family brought it. The first round started off guys vs. gals...but after one game it changed to Uncle Michal and I (lauren) vs. Grandma and Daniel. It was a lot of fun...and by the second or third round we had gather quite and audience. In fact everyone was watching and cheering .
Next came volleyball, the sides where pretty evenly split up...we played two games, but half way through the second we where interrupted with the announcement that dessert was served.


some of the spectators- grandma started playing volleyball with us but decided she had better stop since she had to work the next day.

piano/stuarts b-day

-Friday Erik and Eleanor had the opportunity to perform in a piano recital. They both did just fine, and had big smiles afterwards. (Erik reassured us many times that he was never nervous at all)
After the recital there was some delicious treats and snacks....and lots of talking.
-Saturday, our family went to a seminar at karate ( we where to busy to take pics sorry).
Then came home and celebrated Stuarts birthday.

Peoria

Last Wednesday the Erber family and ours headed to Peoria IL. For the presbytery meetings and ordination tests that both Mr. Erber and Papa have been preparing for, for the past few months. We went out to dinner together Wednesday night. Thursday the two fathers headed off to their oral exams...while the rest of us went to the mall which was just across the road.Later we dropped off some of the kids at the hotel and headed to kohl’s and Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. -After the first hard day of testing it’s always good to kickback and relax.

Hotel life

While the guys where gone getting tested and going to meetings. We spent a lot of time messin' around in the hotel. Friday afternoon was spent by most in resting and napping. But some of us thought we would get together in one of the rooms to play games and eat food...but to our great distress we found out that the room service had kindly relieved us of our bag of snacks which contained a whole pkg of unopened oreo's, bags of chips, breakfast bars, chex mix, pop tarts....and then there was the guy in 211 lol. which we kept running into.

Friday

Friday we went with some of the other families of the presbytery to the Wildlife Prairie park.
We saw all sorts of animals bears, wolves, eagles, deer (which Maggie called lions) and many other animals that where native to Illinois. The weather could not have been better.



That evening we all got dressed up and headed over to the church for the ordination ceremony... then it was off to dinner and dancing.

Saturday morning

There where more meeting Saturday morning. So while the guys where gone the rest of us hung out in the hotel, playing games, coloring, swimming, talking and eating

ice cream

After the last few meeting on Saturday, we all decided that we needed to go out to ice cream and celebrate. So off to coldstone creamery. Which was across the road from our hotel.

waiting and waiting-we where a good sized group and they only had two people working.

mmmm-mmmm good :)
the girls- Eleanor, Jessica, Maggie, Joanna, and Lauren...sitting outside coldstone creamery

homeward bound

After ice cream it was time to sit back and get ready for the 3 hour ride at home...and that is exactly what Maggie did. :0)

HaPpY BiRtHdAy StUaRt!!!!

the b-day King (queen:0)

Wow 13-way to go stuart.

today

There is nothing like a sunny spring day to put you in the mood for being an Indian.
We had sent the kids to play outside, when a little while later we heard lots of running and war woooping. On looking out, to our surprise we saw a tribe of 5 little Indians running around done up in mud war paint and feathers with broomstick spears.

Grant's B-day

Here are some pictures from Grant's Birthday

getting their belts

Happy 16 Birthday Grant

up to date...

A lot has been happening since we last posted anything about our doings.
Lauren went down to Granny's for a week and a half. But last Wednesday Colleen dropped the kids off at the Erber's while she and Mrs. Erber went down to Mahomet and got Lauren...it turns out that it was a good thing that Mrs. Erber went along, because Colleen ended up with a migraine. So on the way home Mrs. Erber took over driving. Thank You Erbers for your help.

Also This past Saturday Marlin, Lauren, Grant, Stuart, and Evin took their first karate test and passed!!!!! So they have graduated to orange belts.

the answer to the M&M question

The making of "M&M's"® Milk Chocolate Candies begins with milk chocolate centers, which are formed in a machine and then "tumbled" in order to obtain a smooth, rounded center. For "M&M's"® Peanut Chocolate Candies and "M&M's"® Almond Chocolate Candies either a whole peanut or a whole almond forms the center, which is first roasted, then surrounded with milk chocolate. For "M&M's"® Peanut Butter Chocolate Candies, a center made with real, creamy peanut butter is first formed and then surrounded with milk chocolate. The process for "M&M's"® Crispy Chocolate Candies begins with a crisp rice center which is then covered with chocolate. What follows is a process known as "panning". Panning involves coating candies by rotating them in a coating material in a revolving pan. Panning can be done using syrups and other materials such as chocolate, fats, etc. The principle, briefly, is to coat the center with a layer of materials, which on evaporation leaves an even layer or shell of dry substance. The chocolate (or chocolate-covered peanut, peanut butter, almond and crispy) centers are color-coated by rotating them in a revolving pan, while a sugar and corn syrup mixture is added. This process is repeated several times until "M&M's"® have a thin, smooth shell with the desired thickness. Then, the machine specially designed for the purpose gently imprints an "m" on the surface of the fragile candy shell without cracking the thin sugar shell.