The Glosenger Family

Family Interviews

2010-02-28T20:45:00.003-05:00

We had father and child interviews today. Of course this resulted from a prompting during priesthood meeting where we studied Elder Ballard's address about fathers and sons. Each interview began with a kneeling prayer (as mission president interviews always did) where I expressed gratitude to the Lord for each child's individual positive attributes. Afterwards, Abby mentioned that the part of the prayer that mentioned "Abby" made her feel happy. Nikki was just beaming with smiles and bubbling with joy. Josh also mentioned that he heard the part of the prayer where I was grateful for his love of learning about the world around him and prayed that it would continue. He took great joy in outlining--in quite a bit of detail--his progress thus far in school this year. I was impressed with how little children listen very intently when they hear their own name in our prayers and how much that means to them. It is a simply concept, but incredibly powerful, and one I think I've underestimated in the past.

--Jeremiah

To Jesus

2009-06-08T19:59:00.002-04:00

Dear Jesus Thank you for president Thomas .S. Monson I Even love you. I collected trash from the church. Love: Josh

Isn't that cute? He wrote this letter after he got home from church. He's always picking up trash he finds on the ground to put in the garbage.

Scentsy Party! Come join the fun!

2009-05-15T18:43:00.002-04:00

If you live by me, my party is on May 28th at 7:30pm. It'll be lots of fun! I'll have treats and it'll be a fun break from the kids. If you don't live by me and you want to order for my party you can do that too! Visit: www.scentsy.com/scentsohio Click on "place an order" and the select "Julie Glosenger" and it'll take you shopping. Anything you buy will be credited to my party and shipped directly to you! Thanks for your support! Scentsy smell so yummy and are completely safe for full-time use with young kids in the house (a big plus for me!)

Buckeye Candy

2009-05-13T09:02:00.003-04:00

I needed to give Kim the recipe and I thought I'd post it here for anyone else that might want the recipe because these are really yummy! That isn't my picture, lol. I found one on the internet for you so you can see what the buckeye candy is supposed to look like...just like the nut.

Recipe:
Mix together 3 cups creamy peanut butter, 1 1/2 sticks softened butter and 2 lbs confectioner's sugar. Form into small balls. Using a toothpick, dip balls into 16 oz melted dipping chocolate until almost covered (gotta leave a light brown circle to make it look like the real nut!). Refrigerate.

Super easy snack that is really yummy :)

Happy Birthday Relief Society!

2009-04-07T14:34:00.004-04:00

Here's my cake for the cake decorating contest for our Relief Society Birthday enrichment tonight. I made it yesterday. It's my 3rd time working with fondant. I still have lines in my fondant and what not but oh well. I'll eventually be patient enough to keep kneading and rolling until it's perfect (right?). I was too cheap to buy the gum-paste that I was supposed to to make the bow and I was too impatient to wait 24 hours for the bow pieces to dry before putting it together. After 5 hours of drying, I just wanted the cake done so I didn't have to think about it anymore. I'm so impatient. I don't think I'm cut out for cake decorating. I used my joann's coupon on a fondant mat, next time I'll use it to buy gum-paste so the next time my fondant bow won't be so flat and sad looking.

Sequential Spelling

2009-03-23T15:39:00.003-04:00

We started using Sequential Spelling a month ago. When I decided to do homeschooling completely on my own this year (not through on online school), I found several websites that had spelling lists for each week online. I figured for spelling I'd just use one of those free lists. Some were even from websites from public school teachers that were posting them for the parents of the kids in their class. Josh was way too smart for those. He never got any wrong and we never had to practice them. He's in first grade and I started with the 3rd grade spelling lists and still he was flying right through them, even the bonus questions! I needed to challenge him. So finally I heard about the Sequential Spelling program. It's 7 books. Each book is a complete year daily curriculumn for spelling. This is awesome! Instead of making smaller words for younger grades and larger words for older grades, it has a system. You learn to spell by a pattern. For example, the first day (well, not really the first lesson but for his pattern day one) would be to spell stall, then you'd spell stalls, then install, installs, installing, and then installment. That was totally off the top of my head, but you get the picture. They build off each other and they learn to spell all forms of each word before moving on. At first they are spelling 20 words each day and then they work up to 25. Josh just did the 24th day and we really like it. He gets easy words to do and then learns the proper endings to make the past tense, plural, etc and then he gets some challenging words mixed in. They want the kids to correct their own work as well, which he learns from fixing his own mixtakes a lot. This curriculumn was made by the AVKO Dyslexia Educational Research Foundation to help people with dyslexia as well. I bought the book from Sonlight curriculumn's website for $10.52, I believe. It was well worth it. They also have a student book to use for the kids just to write the words down each day. They have it so that day 1 is on the first page (along with two other days that aren't close to day 1), day 2 on the next page, etc. Anyways, I didn't want to spend the $$ on the book so I made my own. I saw the first 3 pages online for the student response book and know that it goes just like mine...may not be exact, but it's close. So if you're intersted you can download it.

Happy Birthday Nikki!

2009-03-23T07:59:00.005-04:00

I know it's been forever since I updated! Not sure really why, but it has! Anyways, on March 8th, Nikki turned 3. It's crazy to think that my "baby" is 3 now. It makes me feel old realizing that my baby is 3 and my oldest will be 7 soon. I'm not old enough for a 7 year old?? What has the world come too, lol. Nikki had a great time at her birthday party. We had a bunch of little kids over to play in the backyard, face paint, pizza and play with water balloons. We threw them at the targets on our fence that I made out of felt and staple low to the ground because it was the first warm day. We got lucky! Her party was very last minute because I went out of town by myself! Yup, you heard me right....I was childless. I was gone for about 4 days. I drove out to Milwaukee and stayed at my friend Paula's house with her sixteen year old, now driving, son (scary!) j/k. It was fun. During the day I was mostly at the Trucksa's house. They are a couple that Jeremiah and I became very close too. They are amazing and I love listening to their stories. Jane Trucksa is the Quilting Bee star and does every craft well, known to man and Ed Trucksa helped body gaurd 5 different presidents. So it was great whenever we went to their house when we were living in Milwaukee. I'd talk to Jane about all the crafty things and Jeremiah would get to talk guns to an experienced shooter :)

Back to Nikki's birthday. She had a ton of fun. Here are some more pictures from her party:

Halloween Pictures!

2008-11-19T14:56:00.003-05:00

Finally, I upload my halloween pictures! This year Josh was Darth Vader and Abigail and Nicolette were Kitty Cats :) Abby and Nikki always have to have a tutu in their costume...they love them too much! We bought Josh's costume and I made the girls costumes. It was just a black and pink tutu and I added a malbou (is that right?) furry boa in the back that was black for the tail. I made matching pony tail holders and bought them headband ears at Joanns. They were super simple and super cute. They had a ton of fun at our Ward's trunk or treat. I dressed up in my old homecoming dress from high school so I could be a prom queen (I had a sash too) and I got to have some fun with my hair giving myself an updo. Jeremiah went has a black belt in tae kwon do. Our costumes were so last minute, but our family won for the best family costumes at our ward's trunk or treat. On friday we went trick or treating with our friends the Johnson's. Their neighborhood is so fun to go trick or treating at. They really get into it and Jeremiah was on-call this year (again) so it was nice to have a mommy friend to take the kids with. Enjoy the pictures!

My Kitty Cats

Tail Shot

Soft Giant Pretzels Recipe

2008-11-19T13:17:00.003-05:00

I found this recipe online about 3 weeks ago. I have made several pretzel recipe before and although they were okay, none of those recipes tasted like the soft pretzels at the mall or the ones I buy at sam's club for my kids while I shop. However, this recipe, tastes just like that. It's so yummy. I 4x this recipe in my bosch mixer so I had about 32 pretzels instead of just 8. Even then, we ate all the pretzels in like 2.5 days. Jeremiah and the kids loved them. It's such a yummy cheap treat and it didn't take very long to make them. I used melted butter and gourmet kosher salt on the pretzels after putting them in the soda bath before baking them.

Ingredients:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water (70° to 80°)
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 quarts water
1/2 cup baking soda
Coarse salt

Directions:
In bread machine pan, place the first four ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select dough setting (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 to 2tablespoons water or flour if needed).
When cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into eight balls. Roll each into a 20-in. rope; form into pretzel shape.
In a large saucepan, bring water and baking soda to a boil. Drop pretzels into boiling water, two at a time; boil for 10-15 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon; drain on paper towels.
Place pretzels on greased baking sheets. Bake at 425° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Spritz or lightly brush with water. Sprinkle with salt. Yield: 8 pretzels.

I didn't make this in a bread machine because I don't have one. I just mixed it in my bosch following the directions for white bread for the settings and how long to mix it.

Horse back riding in Logan

2008-10-27T15:34:00.003-04:00

My dad had a patient that owned a couple of horses and said that we could come ride if we wanted to one night. We had a blast! I can't wait until Jeremiah is done with his residency so the kids and I can take horseback riding lessons together. I want to learn how to jump. One day we'll have our own horses!

Rexburg Pictures

2008-10-27T15:17:00.005-04:00

Finally! With me and the kids getting sick we haven't been able to post our pictures from our trip! I've been busy making cards for homeschooling as well. If you want to see what I've been up to there check out my homeschooling blog. We went to Utah for 3 weeks and during that time we drove to California and saw my grandma and my sister Shauna's family, spent a couple of days in Rexburg with my sisters Jennily and Stephenie, went to Boise to see my nephew get baptized from Kirstin's family and went to time out for women and girls with my mom, Kirstin and Kim. It was loads of fun. Then i spent some time in Kayesville with Kim at her new huge house teaching her how to make a duvet cover and how to make jewelry. Inbetween all that I spent the rest of the time in Logan, hanging out with my mom and dad and we even got to go on their paddle boats for a while and I got to see my dad's new chiropractic office and my mom's music room at the elementary she teaches at now. Here's some pictures from my trip:

Song Writing

2008-08-17T20:34:00.003-04:00

Josh has been into writing stories and sometimes even songs. It's been so fun and hilarious. Today he was concentrating for a good 20-30 mins at the table this afternoon. Then he comes up and tells me he wrote a song. He even wrote on the back of the song that you need to "sing softly". It was cute. Sometimes he even draws notes above the words...not that he knows how to read notes, but he just draws from what he remembers from the hymn books at church. This was his song he wrote today and he says you can't read it....you have to sing it. Yes, he made me sing it. I was not allowed to read it because it's a song, so everyone, sing it...don't read it. Then laugh at his cuteness. LOL.

Josh's song:

Repent is good
Obey the law
We talk about the Spirit
Church
Church
Good
Good
REPENT!!

the end

Yes, he even had repent in all caps. I was impressed it was even a church song. It's his first church song. Don't you love the "the end"?

NRA Instructor

2008-08-16T12:28:00.002-04:00

Jeremiah just got his certification in the mail the other day, so he is now officially one of the National Rifle Association's newest Certified Pistol Instructor's. He took the class to get certified a couple of weekend's ago. So now, if he ever gets free time on the weekend, he can teach the conceal and carry classes! The other weekend we made him a website. Let me know how you like it. It's just a freebie one, since this isn't his career or anything, just something to do. It took us forever to figure it out to make it look as professional as possible. Leave us your comments or any tricks or tips to make it better!

Visit: http://columbusdefensivetraining.doodlekit.com/home

Who cut the cheese?

2008-08-04T14:24:00.008-04:00

Yeah! Jeremiah has a vacation week this week. I'm so excited that I'll actually be able to see my husband for 7 whole days! Too bad I'm babysitting Tues, Thurs, and Fri this week and I'm a back up teacher for our ward's sewing class on Wednesday at 10am and then I get to learn to quilt on Wed at 7pm. So I'll still have a very busy week, but at least I get adult conversation!

Anyways, here's my Abby and Nikki all ready for church sporting their new skirts...

Aren't they cute? I also have been using my Bosch a lot lately. I just got it a month ago, thanks to my sister Kim and her awesome connections, I was able to get everything super cheap (well for bosch). I got the slicer/shredder attachment and I am in love with that thing! I buy the big 5lb blocks of cheese at sam's club and it shreds all 5 lbs in 8 minutes. And that's with my stopping to put the cheese in a bag and reloading it a couple of times. I love have shredded cheese on hand in my freezer all the time for omelets, grilled cheese and pizzas (or most frequent meals). Don't I sound like the greatest cook, LOL. Here's my pictures just to show you my love and my new obsession. For those of you don't know, I have elbow issues on my right elbow (and just my luck, I'm right handed)...so that'll help you understand just why I love my bosch and all it's wonderful attachments so much!

Circle Skirt

2008-07-26T09:56:00.003-04:00

I've been having fun learning about different easy skirts to make! Circle skirts are so quick to make. You really just need a 1/2 hour and your all set! This is the 2 layer circle skirt I made for Abby. Next time I'll have the top layer a little longer. I have some cute fabric to make Abby and Nikki matching circle skirts. I plan to experiment and make Abby's a lopsided circle skirt and Nikki a two layer one. Hopefully, I'll have energy after my chores to get those done today.

For the instructions on how to make the skirts if you're interested:
http://www.whatthecraft.com/tuts/circ.htm

Green Thumb

2008-07-26T09:44:00.007-04:00

We've been experimenting our green thumbs by planting our first ever garden (it's so nice to have a house so we finally can!). We built a retaining wall so our garden could be higher up and I'm so glad we did because we get wild rabbits in our yard all the time (they are so good at squishing themselves under the fence) and they don't eat my garden. They just eat my grass. Yeah! Here is our garden right after we built it and planted it (we didn't start from seeds this year because we were late in building our garden):

Our garden has grown so much since mid-May. I'm surprised I didn't kill any of the plants. In our garden we have onions, strawberries, romaine lettuce, cherry and roma tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, watermelon, bell peppers, gypsy peppers and green beans.

My New Sewing Project

2008-07-20T15:54:00.002-04:00

I made this skirt for Nikki last night. Nikki and Abby both need church clothes. I had fun making it and it didn't take long at all. She looked so cute. It's not my favorite skirt pattern so I'll be using a different one for the other skirts, but I love the fabric. She was so happy!

Armed and Dangerous

2008-07-15T07:34:00.002-04:00

That's right! We finally bought my gun yesterday. I'm excited. It's a Taurus Millennium 9mm pistol. This wasn't the gun I really, really wanted...however the gun I really wanted is too big to conceal and it was more expensive. We'll have to get it years from now when Jeremiah is officially a surgeon. The gun I really wanted was this one: http://www.taurususa.com/products/product-details.cfm?id=10&category=Pistol Isn't that a sweet gun? We ordered my conceal and carry purse too yesterday. I'll put a picture of it up when I get it in the mail in a few weeks. It has a hidden pocket in the middle with a zipper that locks if you want so the kids won't be able to open it and get the gun. My gun also has saftey locks, it's nice!

Boyd's Bear Country

2008-07-13T18:01:00.000-04:00

When we were out in Maryland, Jeremiah's dad took us all out to Boyd's Bear Country. It's a 4 story store that looks like a barn. They gave the kids all free American Flags and the kids were over whelmed with so many bears and other stuffed animals. Josh and Abby got to do some candle dipping with Yankee Candles there as well. Grandpa got us all souvernirs as well. Joshua picked out a farmer bear that was holding a little roaster. Abby got a baby tiger...she's just too in love with kitty cat's to pick anything else. Nikki loved her baby duck she got that is really pretty, it has so many colors and looks so realistic! All the stuffed animals there did, it was amazing! We had a blast! Here is where we went: www.boydsbearcountry.com

4th of July

2008-07-13T17:24:00.000-04:00

We decided last minute (really last minute) to go visit Jeremiah's family in Maryland. These pictures were taken at the BBQ we had. We gave the kids sparklers as well outside and they loved it. Jeremiah tried to give Nikki one and Josh freaked out and yelled "No Nikki, it's fire! Don't touch!" Ah, always the over protective brother. Ain't it sweet? It was funny, but then Nikki didn't want to hold a sparkler anymore, Josh got her scared. Finally, I was able to get her to hold one though. In the pictures are Grandma Linda, Grandpa Bob, Auntie Deborah and her 2 kids Isaac and Erin, along with our kids. We somehow didn't get pictures with Sariah though? Jeremiah was glad we were able to see his family and even got to talk with Benjamin! Enjoy the pictures!

Crazy Dayz!

2008-07-13T16:32:00.000-04:00

We've been having crazy dayz lately. We've been so busy and it isn't helping that my computer monitor won't turn on and our internet didn't work at all yesterday! For some reason our internet was out most of the day. Now Jeremiah and I get to fight over his laptop when he's home. This weekend Jeremiah and Josh went on our Stake's Father & Son camp out. It was the first camp out for them and they will not forget it! Between all the bugs, a crazy deer running for them and hearing bear sounds in the wee hours of the morning they will have many memories. Jeremiah was too tired and it was too dark to look outside the tent, otherwise I'm sure he would have love to have shot some warning shots with his glock to scare the bear away. He is a little turned off to camping now. Why'd he have to run into a bear? Not that I'm in love with camping or anything, Abby just wants to go in August when Jeremiah has his next few days off. Did I mention that Jeremiah left 2 half gallons of chocolate milk in my minivan? Since before July 4th? Accidently, of course, but man after all the heat they exploded and drenched my carpet nasty chocolate milk and my car reeks now. I've been airing it out all day and it still smells bad (this is after I did a makeshift job of cleaning the carpet). We'll be off to the carwash for a nice shampoo tomorrow!

Once photobucket stops acting up for me, I'll have pictures of the camp out and our awesome 4th of July visit to see Grandma Linda and Grandpa Bob in Maryland and visiting Gettysburg, PA to see Boyd's bears. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved it. On the way to church today Nikki kept asking to go to Grandma's house. Too cute!