7th and 36th Father's Days

Only God can make a DAD.

~~~~~~~~~~

He does it every time he puts into the heart of a father a special warmth and gentleness, a capacity to enjoy life, and a desire to be with his children because he delights in watching them grow...

Only God can make a dad who admits his mistakes and forgives others, who cheers his kids on, builds them up, and sometimes picks them up until they can stand on their own again.

Only God can make a dad who shares their laughter, dries their tears, and always keeps on loving...

And those who have a dad find that every now and then they just have to stop and whisper, "Thank you, God", because, in their hearts, they know that only God can make a dad.

DADS like my Dad and my Husband are a lifelong blessing!

Happy 7th and 36th Father's Day!

Chugga-Chugga Woo-Woo

We went to Emporia for a visit a couple weeks ago.  Sarah asked to go and ride the train, so we headed down to Soden's Grove Park one evening... It just happened to be the first evening of the summer that the train was running!  The train is a miniature train run by the Emporia Sertoma Club.  They sell tickets for 50 cents each and on the back of each ticket is a coupon for a free dish/cone of frozen custard from Freddy's in Emporia. 

Silas went for his first train ride too!  When he and Daddy got in, Silas kept pulling on the pink hood of the girl sitting in front of them....

Ready for a train ride!

When you pull through the small metal tunnel everyone always makes lots of NOiSE!  There is screaming, hollering, and ear covering.

Popee and I rode with the kids on the second ride.

I remember riding this train when I was a little girl too.  What a fun Emporia tradition and memory for all ages.

Hastings and Loger Grave Sites

Visiting grave sites at the Clearwater, Kansas cemetery.... over Memorial Day weekend.

The first is Howard and Jo Hastings, my grandparents. Sarah Jo was named after my Grandma Jo.  The back of their stone has a picture of mountains and their cabin in Colorado.  The sketch was drawn by my Aunt Jan and then carved into the headstone.

Next, buried right next to Grandma and Grandpa, is Harold Hastings, my Uncle.  Harold was Howard and Jo's oldest son (my dad's oldest brother - Grandpa and Grandma had five boys, Harold, Charles, Paul, Dale, and Larry).

Also buried at the Clearwater cemetery are Ben and Helen Sipult.  Helen was my Grandpa, Howard Hastings, older sister.

Helen and Ben Sipult's oldest son, Clyde.

Tadie and Louis Loger, (sister and brother).  They were my Great Grandmother, Dora Loger Hastings, siblings.

Fern and Henry Loger.  Henry was also a sibling to my Great Grandmother, Dora Loger Hastings.

Laura and Walter Loger.  Walter was also a sibling to my Great Grandmother, Dora Loger Hastings.

At Greenwood cemetery in Wichita, Kansas...

Admiral and Ida Hastings.  Admiral was the brother of my Great Grandfather, Paul Hastings.  (Paul married Dora Loger, and they had four children...Harold, Helen, Howard and Ida.)

??? I am not sure about how we are related to these two. (James was probably also a brother to my Great Grandfather Paul Hastings)???

Paul and Dora Hastings and their first-born infant son, Harold.  (My Great Grandparents and a Great Uncle).

Ida and Duane Hempsmyer.  Ida was my Grandpa, Howard Hastings, younger sister.

Rainforest Fruit Pops

Grandma Sharon came for a short visit over Memorial Day weekend.  Both girls love to "cook" with Grandma, so they got out Sarah's Dora and Diego cookbook before Grandma got here and tried to decide what they wanted to cook with her... When Grandma arrived both girls were running temperatures and Sarah had a sore throat so the cooking was forgotten until Grandma's last day visiting us.  

Rainforest Fruit Pops!  Made with fresh strawberries and Mangos.  (Both girls liked the fresh Mango pieces.)

They helped add things one at a time into the blender... vanilla yogurt, fruit, Apricot nectar, unflavored gelatin...

The recipe said to pour the mixture into paper Dixie cups with wooden popsicle sticks poked into the middles, but I did not have any of either one of those, so we used a muffin tin and Tinkerbell muffin papers.  This actually worked fine.  (Once they were frozen we peeled the paper off and ate them out of a bowl with a spoon.)

The mixture smelled really good!  After pouring the mixture into the cups or papers, place them in the freezer until frozen.  Next eat and enjoy!

Happy "Cooks"!

Oops, The Saltines

One evening a couple weeks ago we went to the grocery store.  We came home with a lot of groceries to put away.  While we were all busy unloading grocery bags and putting things away someone decided to help himself to the container of Saltine crackers that I had left down too low.  That someone made a pretty big mess and ate a few before any of us managed to notice what that someone was up to.  He bit off pretty big pieces, but he did however seem to enjoy slobbering all over them and trying about fifteen different crackers before we caught him and cleaned up the mess.