Fog on the Ridge

 This time of year, we often have fog first thing in the morning.  It can be quite beautiful.  

Good News!

So it has been awhile.  What has been going on?  A LOT! 

Many of you know my dad has been very ill since Jan.  He spent about 6 weeks in the hospital.  He then spent about 10 weeks in a nursing home doing some rehab.  I am happy to report he is HOME.  He came home on Friday May 24th.  Not only has his life forever changed with his disability, but also so has ours.  We are learning how best to help him, and support him here at home.  My mom has also had a hip replacement surgery, so it will take us some time for all of us to adjust.  We are just thankful we are all together.  I want to thank everyone for their patience in not having any new blog posts all this time.  Most of all, I want to thank everyone, for their visits, their kind words and their prayers of my dad and my family. 

Spring?

We had a very dry winter...OK; it hardly seemed like we had one...that is until mid-Feb.  Then we had snow almost every week.  It was hard when we were driving to the hospital where dad was (about 75 minutes away).  All spring was really wet.  In fact, we had snow May 1st.  

Venezuela Edel-Zartbitter Edelcacao

Venezuela Edel-Zartbitter Edelcacao, also known as Precious Dark Chocolate, is a 56% cacao chocolate bar. While at the less bitter end of the dark chocolates, this bar has a good flavor . This bar has much firmer texture than any of the Ritter Sports, so the chocolate is not as smooth from the start. But once the bar is in your mouth the chocolate melts and has a little bit of the bitter flavor, which still giving a nice chocolate experience that coats your mouth nicely.

Packaging a little different, and makes it good for not eating it all at once

I really enjoyed this chocolate and would recommend it.

Ritter Sport - Gebrannte Mandel

Today new chocolate is the Ritter Sport Gebrannte Mandel (Roasted Almonds). Like all Ritter Sport bars the chocolate is a smooth, soft, not to dark type of milk chocolate. The only issue I have with the bar is the nuts, no so much in the flavor of them, as they do taste good, but the size of the almond pieces. They are very small and in some cases kinda sharp.

So while this is a good bar, if you have a sensitivity in your mouth or choke on small pieces you may find this a little unpleasant.

Chip and Dale

Introducing Chip and Dale....no not that Chip and Dale....our two new Kittens:


Chip is the one with the white chest and feet.  Here is chip on the "tree" and Dale on the table.

Again Chip on top

Here is Chip playing with the feathers and Dale, thinking about jumping up too

 Here Dale takes a swing at a feather Kevin is holding out...

The two together, they were getting tired.  

Since we had lost Kyburz, we decided it was now time for us to have a new cat.  Well, we found these two brothers and were "sold".  They are adjusting well so far.  The big question "how are they doing with the dogs?"  Well, they had never been around dogs, so we are taking it slow.  They have met both dogs, and are a little nervous but it is getting better each day. The dogs are very excited to have "kittie brothers" again.  Stay tuned here for more updates and antics. 

Christmas...better late than never

I am so late in posting...but here goes...On Christmas Eve, Kevin snapped this picture of a small herd of deer out in the back pasture area.  

Christmas Morning we woke up to a little snow (sadly, I don't think we have seen snow since.  It has been cold but no snow.  Fingers crossed for a VERY wet late winter and spring)

 

Maybe you  are wondering how big is Mobi these days?  Tall enough to put her chin on the table (for which she gets in big trouble)

For Christmas, I was able to go get a massage, facial and pedicure.  The first two, are a little hard to show pictures of...but I did finish up with pretty blue toes and very relaxed.  

So that was Christmas....things were quiet here, we relaxed, enjoyed family and tried to rejuvenate for work.  Hope you all had a great holiday!

Return of the Chocolate Reviews! - Dunkle Nugatcreme

After receiving the Christmas box from Florian's family  I was overwhelmed with new chocolate options. There were a few limited edition items and other things that we don't see in the US. So the first one I tried was the Dunkle Nugatcreme. The snow man on the wrapper is a nice touch.

The wrapper

The chocolate was typical Ritter Sport quality, this is a good thing, and it had a a very good flavor. The dark chocolate in the bar is not very bitter and the chocolate melts smoothly on your tongue, without any grittiness.

Recommended!

Christmas box

Today we got a Christmas box in the mail.     It was from Florian's family.  How very nice they thought of us.   It is always such fun to get a package in the mail.   And Kevin of course is in heaven.

Yes that is pretty much chocolate and so many kinds to try....Kevin is going to have to blog about all the kinds as he did before so watch for those up coming. 

Thank you to the Reichle family!!!!

Yum

Orlando Trip

You may know that I LOVE Mickey Mouse and LOVE Disney Parks.  I would go every time I hear a friend going  But I cannot.  I was in Orlando in Feb, but since then I have had friends go.....makes me very sad (ie Jealous). Instead, I sent them a picture of me and said take me a long....they were great sports and did so.  So I took a trip to Disney as "Flat Jody"

Here Duffy and I are ready to head out...

I had a great trip, I saw Mickey right away at the airport...

I did the toy story ride

 And a bugs life

 

 Did some shopping

Saw the tree of life

 And best of all, I got to have my picture taken with Kim and Mickey

What fun....but of course I really just want to go even more now...

Happy Birthday Kevin

Today is Kevin's Birthday.  About a week ago, he saw a red velvet cheesecake somewhere and decided he wanted one.  Well, I am usually up for trying a new recipe, so I said "find a recipe, and I will make one"  So off he went and he printed out a recipe from http://www.browneyedbaker.com/ 

I made a list and went off to the grocery store.....I didn't do any pretty decorations as it was late last night when I finished it, so it is a little plain on the outside....

But when we sliced into it for coffee break today (Kevin couldn't wait any longer for his cake), it looked pretty good: 

It is really rich and sweet, but it tastes really good....I hope Kevin likes it too.  He is worth all the work!  Love you Kevin!

Watching the the National Dog Show

Mobi is really into it

This is her later

Harlow turns 2!

Harlow's birthday is this week, 2 years old!  So we had a party at Desirae's house....Important piece opening presents....

While Caelum said he wasn't interested in any of the presents, he had a hard time containing himself and not helping his little sister. 

The grandparents chatting it up...

Once the presents are open, you have to put the gifts together, this castle that Tim is working on, almost proved to be too much for both parents...

One of the gifts was a bag with a brush, hair dryer, curling iron, straightening iron, and other accessories...so while Harlow was playing with her other gifts, Joslyn tried it all out on me....I had to get my hair done and a headband put in....

 Then I had to get my pretend lipstick on...

Here is Harlow playing with her castle...

Next up was cake....Dez does a nice job baking and decorating the cakes herself.  

Singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candle...

Happy Birthday Harlow. 

Pumpkin Carving

On Saturday we had a pumpkin carving party at our house.  Doug, Cindy, Greg, Dez, Tim, Harlow, Joslyn, Caelum, Jean, Mert, Jody and Kevin....

We all got started right away, and was prepared for the big mess.....

 Lots of concentration by everyone, takes a lot of hard work to get a good pumpkin

 

Caelum worked really hard on his pumpkin, he did great work, with a little help from his Dad.

 

Joslyn and Harlow had to take a break with a halloween cookie....they were told to stay on the hardwood floor, so they got as close to the carpet as possible.... :-)  cracked me up

This is the finished group.  There were still two not quite finished here.

 The kids were doing their "zomie" faces.  Well at least Caelum said they were....

Here are the two that Kevin and I did....can you guess which one is mine?  

Yoda and Mickey go together right?

Have a safe and Fun Halloween!!!