Earlier this month we joined my parents and Ryan & Ashley at a cabin near Estes Park for a weekend getaway. It was a special weekend as it was Mom & Dad's 35th anniversary ~ yahoo!! We had a great time celebrating with them. In addition to eating some wonderful meals, we also managed to do some fishing, hiking, reading, and chillaxin. What a fun way to start off the summer!

Congrats to Mom & Dad as well as JD's parents, David & Connie, who also recently celebrated their 35th! Way to go guys!

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With Father's Day and JD's birthday falling within a few days of each other this year, we've had a great time celebrating JD this week. He's a fantastic father and wonderful husband. The kids and I are so extremely blessed to have him!!

Happy birthday Jimmy D! As Addie would say, we "love you to the moon and back" and thank God for you daily!

Taken during our getaway to a cabin near Estes Park earlier this month

JD & the kidlets on Father's Day morning; these two think the world of their dad!

O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

~ Psalm 90:14

We've never known anyone quite like Sarah! She is so easy going and wonderful to be around. She has a genuine servant's heart and is ALWAYS a huge help to EVERYONE! Instead of getting moody, she gets silly and funny. Instead of worrying about herself, she thinks of others. Did I mention Sarah has the magic touch with kiddos? Many times over the past few years, Addie has said, "I want to be like Sarah when I grow up!" Most importantly though, she's a godly young woman that loves the Lord with all her heart.

This month Sarah became the fourth one of the Kary cousins to graduate from high school. Now that we are back in the States, we were sad to have to miss out on her big day. She's one of my best friends and I miss her dearly!!

Here are a few Senior photos that JD shot for Sarah last summer. Doesn't she look beautiful?!

Congrats Sarah! JD & I are so proud of you!

Mom & I recently whipped up a few batches of homemade granola. It was my mom's idea. I must confess, I was surprised at how addictive it was. On my list of good eats for breakfast, granola would have been near the end...perhaps right before a bland piece of toast or a blah bowl of plain Cheerios. I tend to gravitate more towards breakfast breads and muffins. My toast is always paired with homemade jam, and bowls of oatmeal are generously sweetened with brown sugar and cinnamon. Come to think of it, the only granola I've ever enjoyed before now would have been dipped in milk chocolate!

So despite my preconceived notions & major sweet tooth, I now declare that NOT ALL GRANOLA IS BORING! This particular mix has just enough sweetness thanks to the coconut and maple syrup. It makes a great snack too; my whole family is hooked!

TOSS & BAKE GRANOLA

Adapted from a recipe from Real Simple

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
• 1/4 cup salted sunflower kernels or mixture of nuts (I used a mixture of sunflower kernels, pine nuts & soy nuts. Pepitas would be good too.)
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup dried fruit (such as cherries, cranberries, or raisins)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the oats, almonds, coconut, and sunflower seeds with the maple syrup, oil, and salt.
2. Bake, tossing once, until golden and crisp, 25 to 30 minutes.
3. Add the dried fruit and toss to combine. Let cool.
4. Store in an airtight container. It should keep for several weeks or so.

Last month John Krajec was in Colorado for a family event so he dropped by for a visit one evening. The kids had a great time crawling all over him and showing him their rooms. They even convinced John to brush their teeth & help put them to bed!

Once the munchkins were down we had a chance to catch up with John. The three of us had fun recalling our time working together in Canada (with GoodSeed) and had some good laughs about funny things that happened on our trip to Moldova back in 2005. Good times!

Where would we be without this wonderful woman!? She is my God-sent helper in all things and an amazing mother to these two beautiful kiddos. We are a blessed family and are so thankful for that!

When I asked AJ who was in the these pictures, he readily declared, "Me!" In actuality, these four photos are of AJ's PaPa (my dad Rick) at age 2 & 3. While I've always thought Ayden looks very much like JD, it's grown-up JD that he favors. After coming across these photos of Dad amongst my Granny's stash of keepsakes, I knew for sure AJ has some Powell in him too!

The upper right photo is the spitting image of Ayden when he cries. It's wild! If I didn't know better, I would absolutely say that was a picture of my son!

Sometimes I see my Granny gazing at Ayden, seemingly lost in thought, and I know she's in another place & time imagining her little Ricky toddling around ~ probably making trouble! Ha ha!

This past September Addie's Canadian Grammy, Esther, bought her the Mary Poppins movie to watch in the car as we made our way down from Alberta to Colorado. Before we knew it she was walking around singing "A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down" and begging to watch the movie all the time. While we stayed with my parents during the fall months Addie talked GG & PaPa into watching it with her on multiple occasions.

So you can imagine her excitement when my parents invited Addie and I to join them to see Mary Poppins at The Buell Theatre in Denver last month. Here is a picture of Addison all dressed up for the outing. GG & PaPa bought her a special dress, and she insisted on getting her hair curled. Doesn't our 3 year old look so grown up?! JD & I were a bit shocked after she got ready; our little girl suddenly didn't seem very little anymore.

It was a very impressive performance ~ Mary Poppins flew around with her umbrella, and Bert walked up the stage wall & even upside down on the ceiling! The cast and crew did a fabulous job of making the show perfectly magical. Thanks Mom and Dad for treating us to such a fun day! What a great memory Addie will have!

The boy decided he wanted to learn to use the potty and has successfully done it many times. What? He's still only one. More importantly, Mom's not ready for this yet; in fact, the thought hadn't even crossed my mind! But one evening Ayden told Uncle Ryan he wanted to take care of big business the big boy way, and sure enough when we got home he had a surprise to show us. A nice, big surprise! Adyen was so proud as was Uncle Ryan!

So, even though I wasn't prepared to tackle this stage of toddler-hood just yet, I've decided to follow his lead and give it a go. I guess we'll see. Addie first used the potty at 18 months, but then boycotted it for a while thereafter. So far though, Ayden has been the initiator so maybe it's just his time.

Jim snapped a few pics of AJ in action last weekend. Take a peek! He looks so cute! Hmm, surely he won't hate us for this post one day? Ya think? Naaah.

This Toddler Talk is a few months overdue! Ayden's verbal communication really started flourishing back in February. The boy is on a roll now!

• I suppose his first sentence was "I don't want it!" That's a phrase we hear all too often! He also loves to ask about people when they leave. So when JD goes out the door, it's likely that I will answer the "Where'd Daddy go?" question at least a dozen times.
• He started referring to himself as "Me" and saying "Addie" instead of "Ad" and saying "Bandit" or "Dito" for the dog. I think he used to just call him B.
• It's so cute when he sings "E-I-E-I-O" for the Old McDonald song!
• He knows some of his ABCs and can recognize a few of the letters. Anything Addie is learning or talking about grabs his interest as well.
• When I put him to bed at night, I ask him who loves him or who he wants to pray for. He then proceeds to name off names one by one.
• He can now say "Mickey Mouse" but originally called him "Ma Mouse." He also has a thing for Curious George as does Addie.
• Adyen's favorite color is blue, and he knows that Addie's favorite is pink. If he sees something pink, half the time he will call it "pink." The other half of the time he calls it "Addie blue" indicating that it's Addie's favorite just like blue is his favorite. Clever, huh?
• Everyday we are amazed at how his vocabulary multiplies. Our eyes grow wide with surprise when he pops off a new word we didn't expect him to know. This is such a fun stage! Life is much easier when the kidlets can tell you what they want or need. What makes it even better is that he has the cutest voice EVER! Seriously. It's totally boyish and full of inflection. I love it!

We chose to turn the study on the main floor into a playroom. Okay, I begged and JD conceded. What a great decision though ~ A&A spend so much time in there! Plus their bedrooms are upstairs so it's nice that they don't feel the need to haul toys up and down the stairs all day ~ (insert huge sigh of relief here!) One might say I don't do well with messes...when things are in disarray I get all topsy-turvy myself! Speaking of which, both kids seem to have a natural desire for order ~ bless their little hearts!

Anyway, the kids were interacting so sweetly last Friday that I had to try to capture some of their playtime together. We're so thankful that Addie & Ayden are such good friends. They make quite the team!

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