Peter the Shark!

Spring memories

I love April in Virginia! The Red Bud, the dark Sugar Gum blossoms, the forsythia and peeking green. I found these pictures from this last spring and wanted to share them.

The first are from a road trip we took to the Shenendoah's during Spring Break. James found an old turn of the century Bed and Breakfast where we were the only guests for the night. It was quaint and charming and I felt transported to the past.

These next are from our annual trip to see the cherry blossoms downtown. The Jefferson Memorial sits on the tidal basin which is the center for the cherry blossoms. The trees surround the basin with a walking path just beneath. My camera didn't capture the beauty of the evening. It was truly magnificent.

This is under a magnolia tree near the James Madison memorial across from the Tidal Basin.

Matthew holding the Washington Monument in his hands.

Grandma Suzy

Yesterday was Grandma Suzy's birthday and I wanted to honor her and thank her as a wonderful grandmother! She loves my boys so much and would do anything for them. And she does! She is an incredibly talented seamstress and has helped me so with lots of little projects. When she was visiting a month ago, she happened to arrive just in tme to make Jonny a very cool cloak for medieval day. Here are pictures of her work and as you see she didn't stop with Jonny's cloak, she made one for each of the boys. I am glad they will have these to remember her always and the talent and love she shares. Isn't she amazing?!

I included a picture of the dragon Jonny drew for the day as well.

Steph and Tam flew to North Carolina on May first. Sarah flew in that night and I drove down, picked her up at the airport and took her to Kim's. The five of us were together for a whole week! What a dream. It was more fun than I have had in my lifetime! I was grateful they all willingly came up to DC for three days as well. Kim and I live in the Garden of Eden states and we enjoyed the trees and flowers especially. Here we are all together in my newly arranged Towanda living room!

Coffee House Poetry Night

I love Mrs. Markon! Jonny's Fifth Grade teacher is an amazing woman who had mentored her class with so much love, enthusiasm, inspiration and brilliance that it is a phenomenal place for the students there. They have all thrived under her tutelage and she believes so much in the kids that their lives are empowered. Jonny has become quite the writer this year as was evidenced last night at the class coffee house/poetry reading. One boy strummed the guitar and another beat bongo drums for emphasis during the readings. Each kid had on a groovy black coffee house t-shirt and a black beret. They all read a poem they had written about themselves and several kids read an additional poem they had written. The audience was only allowed to snap in keeping with the cool atmosphere and we were encouraged to have our tissues ready! It was a wonderful evening. Here are Jonny's poems:

I Am Jonny

I am dreaming and imaginative.

I wonder what the world holds from us.

I hear the sound of battle.

I hear explosions.

I want to become one with my imagination.

I am dreaming and imaginative.

I pretend I am a dragon.

I feel calm.

I touch an array of objects.

I worry for the environent.

I cry for peace.

I am dreaming and imaginative.

I understand not, why we have war.

I say things.

I dream wonders.

I try to write this.

I hope for the second coming.

I am dreaming and imaginative.

on the lighter side.....

The Origin of Turdzilla

An Epic

By Jonny Liechty

Once Godzilla the evil one

Had a lunch of sticky buns
And made a turd

Without a word.

The city dump

Made the jump

With some toxic waste

And radioactive paste

Turdzilla grew

Made out of pooh.

He sought material waste

To fill his hungry face

And wandered off

To parts unknown

Without a trace or a

Single bone.

And that is why

No babies cry

Because of Turdzilla

Son of the evil one.

Rather Silversteinish eh?

A new Spring

Finally the lull of my life has ended. For months I have not wanted to engage in anything on my down days other than Netflix and my computer. But alas, I just recovered from a week of the flu and new life has beseiged my soul. I up and applied to finish my BYU degree through the BGS program they offer (I only have 25 credits till I have my bachelors.) I've planned to do that for years, so why the ambition now? I actually feel driven to move forward in my Hebrew studies so doors will open easier to return to Israel, and this is what urged me to send in my application.

I started reading again. After creeping through two or three books this last half a year that I still haven't finished and turning down month after month of two different book clubs, I picked up a book called The Faith Club which I have wanted to read for years. It's engaging for me since it talks about the relationship between Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

I am working on several songs with my voice teacher in anticipation of a Spring/Summer concert at the temple visitors center in Maryland. Two of the songs are in Italian (considerably easier to learn than French) including a long time favorite, "O Mio Babbino".

I started a personal history at dad's request, so that he can include it in his own autobiography. Dad asked for four or five pages from each of us, however I am at six just on my first eight or so years of life. I am really enjoying this, and trying to make it well written.

Along with this project I have felt a renewed fervor for scrapbooking which I haven't done for years. I want to put together my own pre-married life scrapbook now, since each of the boys have one of their early childhood years.

And now, here I am in my jammies at 11:30 Saturday morning working on my third post for the day. You know, it must be that I am finally on top of this virus that layed me and my kids up for a week.

Anyhow, we'll see how long this motivation to be overly occupied lasts. Life is so full, so rich already, these distractions can most often add to the joy but can on occassion get in the way. I think the ebb and flow of it all is natural and good, and if one thing is certain, we should not feel required to overextend ourselves by comparing or guilt.

Happy Spring! We look forward to our cherry blossom and Dogwood visitors!

Creme Brulee

We had a fun evening of making creme brulee. I bought the torch two years ago but only now got it out of the box. It was Jonny's idea. He begged me for a week and later admitted he just wanted to try the torch. But the dessert was delicous! I try creme brulee at restaurants whenever I can and endorse the Zoom creme brulee in Park City, perhaps also available at the Tree Room at Sundance. But ours was pretty darn good. We put a little too much sugar on top, but as a whole, with fresh berries, it was a success. I ate two and a half.

Knights in Shining Armor

Na na na na na na na na na na na na....BATMAN!

Matthew as Iron Man with the tin foil rolls for weapons.

The wicked pringleator!

Weilding the swords with my meat mallet.

My boys love weapons. It's all about the gear! I would rather put it this way than to say that they are violent. They just really dig action. Last week I bought three boxes of aluminium foil and they forged swords and armor for themselves, (and Peter put on his Batman gear.)

National Pie Day

As simple as PIE! Yummy chocolate tarts from Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts. And above the tarts, a layout of the table.

Banana Cream from the Lion House Cookbook. And below, the famous Lady Bird Johnson Pecan.

Cherry with a cheat code lattice cutter from Williams Sonoma. And bottom, Apple from Favorites!

Thanks to Sarah, National Pie Day was a success at the Liechty home, after nearly 10 years of it passing by unnoticed. We had lots of neighbors and friends who joined us and Brent and Ralph were here for the pre-celebration baking, three days earlier, when I made a blueberry, Tollhouse chocolate and pumpkin pie to freshen up my crust skills, and to appease Matthew who just happened to start a crazy pie obsession about the second week in January. I figure that Matthew like his cousin Oliver for the Contreras family, can be our patron Liechty for NPD since his birthday is January 5th. Lucky for Matthew, I had already been sparked with the desire to make pies by Sarah.

I had the happiest day in a long time on Friday January 23rd. Peter and I danced to Sympathique as I rolled out crust after crust, mixed fillings, melted chocolate, sliced bananas, emptied cans and dusted flour off my nose. In the end I made two sweet potatoe pies, one apple, one cherry, 6 chocolate tarts, one banana cream and the winner! the pecan pie recipe that Lady Bird Johnson made for JFK the day he was killed. It rocks! Our friends brought a fruit tart, a chocolate cream and lots of vanilla icecream. James and I agreed, it was one of the happiest nights we've had in a long time. Thanks to the pie, and Sarah and Martha and Favorites and the Daily Universe January 1995, the Lion House and Pink Martini and all those friends who jumped on board and called out Happy National Pie day as they walked through the door. I now believe we will continue this fun mid January American tradition.